OUT NOW: "How Good Is My Pitch Deck? Ignite Your Startup’s Story and Attract Investor Capital"

In the fourth quarter of 2022, Wall Street Journal reports that Venture Capital firms have hit a nine-year low.

“'The amount of money raised in new funds in the fourth quarter of 2022 was the lowest total for that quarter since 2013.' The amount of money raised was 65% lower than in the fourth quarter of 2021, while the number of VC funds plunged from 620 during the last three months of 2021 to 226 in the same quarter of 2022, according to the report."
- PYMNTS, citing Wall Street Journal's report.

The number of VC funds has also plunged from 620 in Q4 2021 to 226 in Q4 2022.

So, what does this mean for startup founders?

The reality is that raising capital for your startup is harder than ever right now.

As hard as it is to raise funds, it’s become even harder—especially for first-time founders. Market conditions right now are causing investors to set different standards when choosing startups to invest in.

In the world of fundraising, “no” has always been the default answer.

Before enjoying the immense success they have today, the multi-billion companies that we all know and love (or hate) were rejected many, many times.

AirBnB was rejected by five out of seven investors they had reached out to; the other two ignored them completely
The Foundry Group had initially passed on Fitbit, only for them to offer an investment eight months later
Bessemer Venture Partners even put together what they call the Anti-Portfolio— a collection of now successful companies they passed on investing in. One entry notes how investor Byron Deeter met the Tesla team and even put a deposit on a car after getting a chance but eventually passed on investing. Tesla passed $30B in market cap in 2014.
Christoph Janz from Point Nine Capital passed on Soundcloud, despite spending a considerable amount of time studying the opportunity.

The truth is, many founders have had to endure multiple rejections before finally getting funded. As investors become more selective, founders need to create a perfect pitch that gets them noticed.

A good pitch deck gets ignored, a great pitch deck gets funded.

Your pitch deck is a reflection of your startup—the company’s accomplishments in the past, its current structure, and its future iterations. So, if a pitch deck is unfocused, this reflects poorly on the founding team.

However, it's unfair to think that a founder can also become a pitch deck expert overnight. In order to create a winning pitch deck, a founder needs to be a great copywriter, designer, and presenter.

Unfortunately, these are skills that must be learned and practiced. This is especially true for founders that don't come from a writing or design background.

Adding to the immense stress of fundraising, founders also have to worry about their startups’ day-to-day operations. In fact, in our survey of 300 founders, we found that 69% are employed full-time while others are freelancers. It’s no wonder we found that 84% struggle to build their pitch deck.

"But, isn't there some secret formula for pitch decks?"

Every startup is unique. So, every pitch deck is also unique. There is no one-size-fits-all formula or silver bullet for writing a great pitch deck every time. Founders have to build their pitch deck from the ground up and continuously edit their way to perfection.

This is a good thing.

Why? Even if the odds are stacked against today’s first-time founders, the right expert guidance can give you a higher chance at securing funding.

However, there are frameworks that founders can use to tangibly improve their pitch and our founder, Keane Angle, just published a book with them.

How Good Is My Pitch Deck?
Ignite Your Startup’s Story and Attract Investor Capital.

Since founding STORY Pitch Decks in 2020, Keane Angle and the team here at STORY have helped clients raise over $250 million in early-stage funding with a fundraising rate that’s 40x higher than the industry standard.

In How Good Is My Pitch Deck? we share our winning frameworks to evaluate your strengths, elevate your startup's story, and eliminate the distracting fluff from your pitch.