My pitch deck got shredded at a Denver startup mixer

I was at a founder meetup in Denver last month, feeling pretty good about my slides. A guy who sold his company for 8 figures asked to see them and spent ten minutes pointing out every single weak spot. He said, 'Your financial slide looks like you just guessed the numbers.' I went home and completely rewrote my deck to focus on clear metrics and a real five-year plan. Has anyone else had a tough but helpful review like that?

4 comments

4 Comments

mark4361mo agoMost Upvoted

Ever consider thanking that guy later?

evan_green526d ago

Right? Feels like a trap question sometimes, like they're just waiting to poke holes.

the_claire1mo ago

That five year plan you added... did you build it from the bottom up with real assumptions, or is it still a top down market share guess? That's usually the next thing people pick apart.

robert4241mo ago

Read a blog post from a VC who said the best decks he sees treat the financial slide like a story. They show how many customers you need each month, what it costs to get them, and how that adds up to the big number. Your guesswork comment made me think of that. He said founders often just pick a big market and take 1% of it. Real plans show the steps, like needing ten sales calls a day to hit your first year goal.