You're overcomplicating things + Fundraising Fieldnotes - 7.16.21

You're probably overcomplicating your pitch. Here are 2 tips to help

July 16, 2021

Hey - it’s Jason Yeh 🕺🏻

This is my Friday recap of thoughts I’ve had while helping founders solve their fundraising challenges this past week (7.16.21)

If you have any questions, please reply! I try to get to every comment/question I get :)

You’re overcomplicating the pitch. Here are 2 tips to help

Pitch the circle, not the equation

No matter how much I push founders to simplify their pitch, they almost always can simplify it even further. There are a multitude of reasons why this happens: 

  1. Not realizing the pitch is more about emotions than data (I will convince this investor with pure logic and numbers alone are the answer!)

  2. Suffering from Imposter Syndrome (They won’t think I’m good enough unless I add more information to prove I’m smart)

  3. Confusing complexity with quality (Our product is so sophisticated. I need to show how deep and complex it is!)

  4. Wanting to be clever (Here’s a fun, 3-word, hyphenated way to describe what my company does! ☠️😵)

  5. Adding “choose your own adventure” scenarios (I’ll put a variety of elements in to excite a wide range of investors)

  6. Thinking the deck needs to close an investment on its own and answer every question (Let’s include every detail and make the deck 30 slides long)

  7. Wanting everyone to like you / the pitch (I’m afraid of rejection so I’ll try to add things that everyone will like)

These are typical mistakes that will make it even more challenging to get an investor interested in your deal. In order to avoid many of these pitfalls, remember these two tips: (continue for the tips…)

On to the Fieldnotes for 7.16.21…

This this this (related to pitch decks)

Also, don’t try to be clever…

Till next week. Stay adamant and be chased.

Jason

p.s. I still quote this meme ha. WHAT’S YOUR NAME??

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