Show them, don't tell them.
When making a presentation, we make lots of arguments and points. We talk about falling sales, competitors becoming aggressive, changing market dynamics and about our innovations.
The problem - most of the time we only tell them, never show it to them.
Jul 30, 2015
The simplest way to remove bullet points from your presentation
Bullet points are considered a bad thing in today's times. Steve Jobs never used it. Most TED speakers don't use as well. If you have a slide with 4 or 5 bullet points and you want to make the slide visual and professional looking, what should you do? There are many ways of removing bullet points. The simplest way is to use icons. Here is the usual PowerPoint slide:
Here is the modified slide. The bullet points have been replaced with icons and text. Looks so much better. As much as possible, refrain from using bullet points. Try using icons. Icons are cool.
Jul 20, 2015
7 ways to ensure less people Sleep in your Presentation
What makes people sleep during presentations? They are bored. They don't find anything new and exciting. The presenter is lifeless (devoid of passion). They just had lunch and its cozy in this boardroom. They've had a long day at office. Yawn...
Here are few things you can do to ensure fewer people sleep when you present.
1. Keep it short - Long presentations induce sleep
When people know they are attending a short presentation, their likelihood of sleeping is less. As per molecular biologist John Medina, our attention span is only 10 minutes. Since most presentations cannot end within 10 minutes, your best chance is to stay as short as possible and create an engaging presentation. How? Read below.
2. Engage them
Even though our attention span is only 10 minutes, we still watch TED talks (most of those are 18 minutes) and we still watch movies. To engage your audience, ask questions. Show a video. Bring in a new speaker. Make them do an exercise. Maybe move their bodies or stand and do some action. Make your presentation a conversation. A one way street will always make them sleep. You are not here to deliver a sermon.
Jul 16, 2015
Say hello to "JazzFactory.In" - The new Blog and Website
Hi guys. I am renaming All About Presentations as JazzFactory.In. That's the name of my Presentation Design Firm. I had quit my job in December '14 and was working as a presentation consultant so far. My nameless firm now has a name; JazzFactory.In
A new name also means a lot of new stuff. In the coming weeks and months you will find loads of content, e-books and articles on the blog. I will be writing mainly about PowerPoint speed hacks, sales presentations, investor presentations, answer common queries, discover resources, etc.
This blog is now part of the new website JazzFactory.In. Check out the website and share your comments or feedback. My old email ID will be in use. You can also contact me on my new email ID if you want to collaborate with me.
If you are making a high-stakes presentation, remember JazzFactory.In. C ya!
Jul 15, 2015
How to pitch to Sequoia Capital? [Business Plan Template]
If you are pitching your startup to Sequoia Capital (or any other VC), here is a business plan template you can follow. Sequoia Capital has shared two articles on their website where they talk about how startups should pitch and how a business plan looks like. Here is a template which captures lessons from both the articles. I have added my views and comments below to help you make the most of this template.
Please note the following:
Please note the following:
- You only have 20 minutes to pitch, even if you have been allotted one hour. It is better to leave enough time for discussion.
- Audience interest begins to fall as you start presenting. You have to engage the investor in the first 5 minutes so that you earn the attention for the coming 15.
First 3 Slides (5 minutes)
The first 5 minutes is all about setting the context so that the investor understands what you do, how long you have been doing it, how is the business going (traction) and what funding are you seeking.
Slide 1 - What has changed in the environment?
Have you noticed a trend or do you have a breakthrough technology or product that gives you the scope to start a new business which will potentially become a blockbuster?
Slide 2 - What you do?
State in one or two sentences what business you are in. Show it to a layman and check whether the understanding is clear. Sequoia's Aaref Hilaly says, "It still surprises me how often we can get 20 minutes into a meeting without a clear picture of exactly what a company does."
Slide 3 - Fast Facts
This is where you give them a snapshot of the overall business. It can be like a timeline. When did you start? Funding so far? No. of employees. Traction numbers. Stages of product development. How much funding are you seeking?
Reality Check (5 minutes)
Now that the investor has understood your business and is visibly excited, you can put up an Agenda Slide (Slide 4) of what's coming up next. But before you start, pause a little. The investor now knows enough about you to start asking questions in his / her mind. They would have invested in some similar company before. They might have rejected someone who was in the same business. They might have some biases about the industry. No one makes money here? Too much regulation? Scalability is a problem. This is the time to address all of that. Let their mind be free when you start the detailed story (in the next 10 minutes).
Detailed Story (10 minutes)
Slide 5 - Problem
What problem are you solving and for whom? What are the existing solutions to the problem? According to Aaref, "If you cannot convince an investor there’s something broke, they will not be interested in a solution." Hence, this slide is more important than what comes next. You have to convince the investor about the problem.
Slide 6 - Solution
Show don't tell is the advice. It is better to give a demo, else show screenshots. The best way to 'see' the solution is a demo.
Slide 7 - Market Size
You need to calculate the TAM, SAM and SOM (click here for definition). TAM is the Total Available Market for your service / product. This can be given top-down (a figure from Gartner or some big research agency). SAM or the Serviceable Available Market is the portion of TAM that you can reach. SAM figures need to be bottoms up (you need to compute it yourself). SOM or the Serviceable Obtainable Market is the portion of SAM that you can hope to capture.
Slide 8 - Competition
Never claim lack of competition. It is better to reveal all names than letting VCs eventually find out for themselves. Having stated the competitor names, do state what sets you apart.
Slide 9 - Product
Showcase all your products / services along with a development roadmap. What new features will you add in the coming months to stay clear of any competitor. This is also the place to share how your product actually works and secret sauce (if any).
Slide 10 - Business Model
How do you make money? What are the various pricing plans? What would be the average spend by a customer. What is your go to market strategy (how are you going to attract new users?). Names of some large customers (if you are in B2B business).
Slide 11 - Team
Who are the founders and what is their background. Do they have any special achievements or talent worth talking about. Do mention names of your advisors. Read a detailed post about this slide by clicking here.
Slide 12 - Financials
Aaref advises startups not to lose themselves in the numbers. He suggests keeping things simple. Show your top level revenue and expense statement (P&L). How much money are you seeking and how will you utilize it to achieve specific milestones?
Jul 13, 2015
What to write on the Team Slide of your Investor Presentation? #StartupFundingFunda
Team slide is often the most overlooked slide in most pitch presentations. Most of the time it looks like a short bio of the founders and nothing else. This needs to change. To write this post, I have drawn upon the knowledge of scores of experts and VCs. I have seen startup decks and read a lot of books and online material.
What does the investor want from the Team slide?
It does not matter what you want to say. What matters is what the investor wants to hear. So what does the investor want to hear about your startup team? What is he concerned about?
Domain expertise - Has any member in your core team worked in the real estate industry before. If someone has, that's a huge plus. If there are none, do you wish to hire someone (once you get funding)? Or do you have advisors on board, who will supply the much needed domain knowledge. Then name the advisors and what they bring to the table.
Skill sets - Running a business needs multiple skills. Technology, sales and marketing and operations. Does your team have all the skills it needs? Who will head technology and why is he suited for the job. Tell me that. Who will ensure that customer acquisition is taken care of. Who will work on operations.
Experience - Has anyone in the core team worked in a startup before? Startups are very different from normal businesses and need a different mindset. If the founder is a serial entrepreneur, that's the thing you need to communicate first.
Chemistry - Has the team worked together before? Will it stay together when the going gets tough. If both the co-founders were in the same team for 5 years in their previous jobs, that takes care of this concern.
Your attempt is to address all the concerns of the investor in as less words as possible. You will only write stuff on the slide so that you address these concerns.
Who all are part of the team?
Your core team comprises of the founders. But for the purposes of this slide, your team means all of these
What to write about the team?
I met an investor a month back who looks at hundreds of decks (presentations) every year. He said, "Degrees matter less to us. Tell me why will this member do a good job in this company?"
Remember your job is to tell the investor your team has the domain expertise, skills, work experience and the required chemistry.
The key word here is relevance. For each member, pick something from his / her past which is relevant to your startup. Just throwing names will not help. I like this example from Guy Kawasaki's book 'The Art of the Start'. If your slide says Ms. Mary is on our board of advisors, that says nothing to the investor. Ask yourself 'so what?'. Ms. Mary is blah blah blah and we are doing so well as a company that we are attracting such talented people. Then follow it up by saying 'for instance' she has already opened many doors for us in the industry. That is relevant and useful for the investor.
Here are few team slides from publicly available decks. I have put these up for discussion. These are by no means ideal in all respects. This one is from buffer. A startup which raised $500,000 using this slide deck.
Let us see how they have addressed investor concerns. Joel took the idea to revenue in 7 weeks. That's a significant achievement. He has a Masters in CS. He's the tech guy. Leo is the marketer and his achievements are mentioned. Have they worked together before? We will never know. Many things are said but never written on a slide. Look at the advisors list and you see big names there; Guy Kawasaki. That says a lot about the potential of this startup. After all Guy is backing this.
Here is a slide from Dwolla's slide deck which they used to raise $16.5 million.
Ben is a successful entrepreneur who built his first company at age 18. Took it to 1 million+ revenues and sold it as well. He handles technology, product strategy and marketing. Charise has had good experience. She heads operations, finance etc. and she has spent 3 years in the company (working with Ben). She joined in 2010 and the date of the presentation is 2013.
Looks like too many roles for each person. That's why at the end (of the deck) they mention key hiring plans for 2013: product, BD, marketing, etc. The positive is the focus on Ben as a successful entrepreneur. However, Charise's background gets into too much detail. Here is another pitch deck from square.
This is visually a bad slide. But then this post is not about design. Look at the content more carefully. Each member has startup experience. CEO co-founded Twitter. COO has worked in LinkedIn and PayPal. CTO was a software engineer at Google and so on.
When you make your team slide, spend some more time and think what is there about each member that is remarkable. That makes that member valuable to the startup. Share that.
I have found these articles very useful while doing my research. Check these out: Mukund Mohan Mark Suster Stewart Masters (see point 8) and Nicole Gravagna.
Check out more articles on investor funding.
What does the investor want from the Team slide?
It does not matter what you want to say. What matters is what the investor wants to hear. So what does the investor want to hear about your startup team? What is he concerned about?
- Does your team have domain expertise? If you are selling software for doctors, what do you know about doctors and about software?
- Does the team have the skills to run the business and minimize the risks?
- Does the team have experience of running a business (especially experience of working in a startup)?
- Will this team be able to work and stay together? Is there chemistry between the key members?
Domain expertise - Has any member in your core team worked in the real estate industry before. If someone has, that's a huge plus. If there are none, do you wish to hire someone (once you get funding)? Or do you have advisors on board, who will supply the much needed domain knowledge. Then name the advisors and what they bring to the table.
Skill sets - Running a business needs multiple skills. Technology, sales and marketing and operations. Does your team have all the skills it needs? Who will head technology and why is he suited for the job. Tell me that. Who will ensure that customer acquisition is taken care of. Who will work on operations.
Experience - Has anyone in the core team worked in a startup before? Startups are very different from normal businesses and need a different mindset. If the founder is a serial entrepreneur, that's the thing you need to communicate first.
Chemistry - Has the team worked together before? Will it stay together when the going gets tough. If both the co-founders were in the same team for 5 years in their previous jobs, that takes care of this concern.
Your attempt is to address all the concerns of the investor in as less words as possible. You will only write stuff on the slide so that you address these concerns.
Who all are part of the team?
Your core team comprises of the founders. But for the purposes of this slide, your team means all of these
- founders
- key employees
- advisors and mentors, and
- investors
What to write about the team?
I met an investor a month back who looks at hundreds of decks (presentations) every year. He said, "Degrees matter less to us. Tell me why will this member do a good job in this company?"
Remember your job is to tell the investor your team has the domain expertise, skills, work experience and the required chemistry.
- Write down names of 2 to 4 key people
- What role they play in the company (handle sales, product development, etc.)
- Key achievements from past jobs (increased revenues in company X, developed some product or have successful exits or IPO).
- Write one sentence about each of them that addresses the four key concerns. Who brings the domain expertise, who brings in startup experience, who has relevant work experience and do you have chemistry.
- Mention educational background (if its a big name)
The key word here is relevance. For each member, pick something from his / her past which is relevant to your startup. Just throwing names will not help. I like this example from Guy Kawasaki's book 'The Art of the Start'. If your slide says Ms. Mary is on our board of advisors, that says nothing to the investor. Ask yourself 'so what?'. Ms. Mary is blah blah blah and we are doing so well as a company that we are attracting such talented people. Then follow it up by saying 'for instance' she has already opened many doors for us in the industry. That is relevant and useful for the investor.
Here are few team slides from publicly available decks. I have put these up for discussion. These are by no means ideal in all respects. This one is from buffer. A startup which raised $500,000 using this slide deck.
Let us see how they have addressed investor concerns. Joel took the idea to revenue in 7 weeks. That's a significant achievement. He has a Masters in CS. He's the tech guy. Leo is the marketer and his achievements are mentioned. Have they worked together before? We will never know. Many things are said but never written on a slide. Look at the advisors list and you see big names there; Guy Kawasaki. That says a lot about the potential of this startup. After all Guy is backing this.
Here is a slide from Dwolla's slide deck which they used to raise $16.5 million.
Ben is a successful entrepreneur who built his first company at age 18. Took it to 1 million+ revenues and sold it as well. He handles technology, product strategy and marketing. Charise has had good experience. She heads operations, finance etc. and she has spent 3 years in the company (working with Ben). She joined in 2010 and the date of the presentation is 2013.
Looks like too many roles for each person. That's why at the end (of the deck) they mention key hiring plans for 2013: product, BD, marketing, etc. The positive is the focus on Ben as a successful entrepreneur. However, Charise's background gets into too much detail. Here is another pitch deck from square.
This is visually a bad slide. But then this post is not about design. Look at the content more carefully. Each member has startup experience. CEO co-founded Twitter. COO has worked in LinkedIn and PayPal. CTO was a software engineer at Google and so on.
When you make your team slide, spend some more time and think what is there about each member that is remarkable. That makes that member valuable to the startup. Share that.
I have found these articles very useful while doing my research. Check these out: Mukund Mohan Mark Suster Stewart Masters (see point 8) and Nicole Gravagna.
Check out more articles on investor funding.
Jul 6, 2015
6 Tips to design better slides [Before and after examples]
In my last post I shared experienced investor Vinod Khosla's tips for startup funding. In this post I will share 6 tips which Vinod Khosla has shared in the same talk. These tips are meant for startups (investor presentations) but can be used by every presenter. These are general presentation tips to help you design a better slide.
#1 Reduce clutter
This is a pretty common tip. We all know this, but still we cannot seem to follow this. After you have designed your slide, go back and cut down lots of words. If you are going to present the deck (slides) in person, then you do not need so much text on the slide. One way you can cut down stuff from your slide is by asking "do I really need this?" to everything (and every word) you have put on the slide.
Here is a before and after slide from his talk. The original slide has way too many images, creating clutter.
#2 Five second rule
Khosla talks about the 'five second rule'. If I put up a slide and then remove it after 5 seconds, what will my audience notice? Given this background, our main message has to be in the title of the slide. Write the crux of the slide in the title itself because every member in the audience will first read the title. Our job is to make the life of our audience easier. They need to get the main message quickly and clearly. Read more about this here.
Here is an example of a slide which follows this rule. The one on the left is the original and the one on the right is better.
Within 5 seconds the audience will get the key message (96% lower cost).
#3 Simple fonts
Stylish fonts do not make a presentation beautiful. Stay away from uncommon fonts. Choose simple fonts (Arial, Helvetica) which are very quick to read. There are better things to focus on in life than wasting time over choosing fonts.
#4 One key message
Every slide must have one key message, not two. Everything you put on the slide (charts, text, image) has to support that key message. And where do we put this key message? - right up in the title.
Here is an example from his talk where he showcases how a slide was modified. The slide to the left is the original. The one on the right has just one image (which was there in the original). Plus the title has been modified. 'Glucose Monitors Today' says nothing to the audience. 'No More Finger Sticks' speaks a lot (and that's the key message here).
Here is another superb example. The slide on the left talks about the diabetes problem in the world. What do I as an investor have to do with that? Tell me clearly. The slide on the right talks about the growing problem. It is a big problem and growing fast too. That's what the investor wants to hear; a big and growing market.
#5 Data consistency
The market size on Slide 4 has to be the same as the size on Slide 24. The projected volumes in year 3 have to be the same across. Accept it that all of us make slides in the eleventh hour. Hence we are prone to such mistakes. The slides are made even when the number crunching is still not over. What do you do then? You review your deck and try to find fault with your data. Look for inconsistency. Check every piece of data and remove any inconsistency whatsoever. Else you lose trust.
#6 Avoid superlatives
While making a presentation we use clichés and useless superlatives (read more here) like state-of-the-art product, world class product and best in class team. Which presenter has ever claimed that his/her team is not best in class? Your audience can see through this BS and you need to stop it. Khosla encourages us to show, not tell. Show me how your product is world class and your team best in class.
Want to read more slide design tips, click here. Download my e-book on design tips by clicking here.
#1 Reduce clutter
This is a pretty common tip. We all know this, but still we cannot seem to follow this. After you have designed your slide, go back and cut down lots of words. If you are going to present the deck (slides) in person, then you do not need so much text on the slide. One way you can cut down stuff from your slide is by asking "do I really need this?" to everything (and every word) you have put on the slide.
Here is a before and after slide from his talk. The original slide has way too many images, creating clutter.
#2 Five second rule
Khosla talks about the 'five second rule'. If I put up a slide and then remove it after 5 seconds, what will my audience notice? Given this background, our main message has to be in the title of the slide. Write the crux of the slide in the title itself because every member in the audience will first read the title. Our job is to make the life of our audience easier. They need to get the main message quickly and clearly. Read more about this here.
Here is an example of a slide which follows this rule. The one on the left is the original and the one on the right is better.
Within 5 seconds the audience will get the key message (96% lower cost).
#3 Simple fonts
Stylish fonts do not make a presentation beautiful. Stay away from uncommon fonts. Choose simple fonts (Arial, Helvetica) which are very quick to read. There are better things to focus on in life than wasting time over choosing fonts.
#4 One key message
Every slide must have one key message, not two. Everything you put on the slide (charts, text, image) has to support that key message. And where do we put this key message? - right up in the title.
Here is an example from his talk where he showcases how a slide was modified. The slide to the left is the original. The one on the right has just one image (which was there in the original). Plus the title has been modified. 'Glucose Monitors Today' says nothing to the audience. 'No More Finger Sticks' speaks a lot (and that's the key message here).
Here is another superb example. The slide on the left talks about the diabetes problem in the world. What do I as an investor have to do with that? Tell me clearly. The slide on the right talks about the growing problem. It is a big problem and growing fast too. That's what the investor wants to hear; a big and growing market.
#5 Data consistency
The market size on Slide 4 has to be the same as the size on Slide 24. The projected volumes in year 3 have to be the same across. Accept it that all of us make slides in the eleventh hour. Hence we are prone to such mistakes. The slides are made even when the number crunching is still not over. What do you do then? You review your deck and try to find fault with your data. Look for inconsistency. Check every piece of data and remove any inconsistency whatsoever. Else you lose trust.
#6 Avoid superlatives
While making a presentation we use clichés and useless superlatives (read more here) like state-of-the-art product, world class product and best in class team. Which presenter has ever claimed that his/her team is not best in class? Your audience can see through this BS and you need to stop it. Khosla encourages us to show, not tell. Show me how your product is world class and your team best in class.
Want to read more slide design tips, click here. Download my e-book on design tips by clicking here.
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