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The Chia Chronicles

8 Mistakes Startups Make in Their Investor Pitch Deck

Updated: Apr 30



Whether you’re at the pre-seed or seed-stage or looking to go for yet another round of investment, this is probably the most important piece of content you’ll ever create so don’t cut corners here. With around 500 Israeli Agtech startups vying for investor’s attention and cash, you’ll need to make it as easy as possible for them to spot your pitch from amongst the pile and then put their faith (and their money) in you.


A great pitch deck should give the potential investor just enough information to help them decide if they want to invest in your company, but should definitely not bombard them with endless waffle about every tiny detail of your business. If you’ve piqued their interest, you can be sure they’ll ask for any further information they need!


A pitch is occasionally delivered verbally at an event or in a face-to face meeting, but more often than not, (particularly during the current Covid-19 pandemic), your pitch will be emailed to prospective investors as a PDF, making the job of attracting their attention that much harder.


As you already know, you only get one chance to make a first impression. Investors are savvy and busy people. They don’t have time to wade through endless slides crammed with teeny text or to be bogged down by technical terminology that might be understandable to you but that goes straight over their head.


An effective investor deck is smart, sharp, direct, and compelling. It adheres to a designated formula that has been proven to work and builds an interesting and irresistible story.


Broadly speaking, a rocking pitch deck must include:

  1. Title slide

  2. Problem / opportunity

  3. Unique value proposition

  4. Your product/ service – What’s so special about you

  5. Business model

  6. Go to market plan

  7. Competitive analysis

  8. Management team

  9. Financial projections/ metrics

  10. Status, accomplishments, timeline, use of funds


This outline is based on Guy Kawasaki’s “The Only 10 Slides You need In Your Pitch Deck” post. There are other formulas that Purple Chia can guide you through.


Common pitch deck mistakes Purple Chia See:

  1. The slides don’t follow any organized structure or story

  2. Too much information is cramped onto each slide

  3. Trying to say “everything” instead of picking out the most relevant parts that will interest the investor

  4. Using technical jargon that is meaningless to the reader

  5. Listing all the team members instead of giving the selected information about the key players

  6. Using poor, incorrect, or unclear language

  7. The delivery is boring – no usage of headings, clever titles, and other “tricks” that raise interest.

  8. The slides are visually unappealing (don’t underestimate this one!)


If you’re making any of these mistakes get in touch so we can help you get your pitch deck in top form!


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