Investor Deck Checklist #1: Purpose and Proposition

Welcome to the first of what will be 12 blogs on the content you need for a great investor deck. The summary blog is here, if you haven't read it yet.

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This is the attention-grabber.

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In the first slide or two, can the investor understand what you do?

More importantly, do they understand why you exist and why they should care?

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Never assume that investors only use pure logic in their evaluations.

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You don’t need a compelling origin story. But if you have one, lean into it hard. People can’t help but be driven by emotion. Intangible pull matters.

If you haven’t seen Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why” TED talk, stop reading and watch it now. That’s the heart of getting to purpose.

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Purpose drives strategy, proposition, culture, brand and more.

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When I work with clients, it takes a lot of time and effort to write the 6-10 word purpose statement that explains what they do. I could write 100x more body copy in the same time. But none matters more.

The elevator pitch proposition is just as important. This is 10 seconds or less. It’s the 30 word punchy paragraph under purpose. What would you say on the home page of your website to describe what you do?

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Analogies, comparisons and examples are helpful too, for instant investor comprehension.

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Raising money and growing a business means that you’re in the story-telling business. You might not think you are, but you are. A compelling narrative for investors and customers is profoundly important.

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Purpose and proposition are the pillars of your plot.

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Your audience will breathe an immediate sigh of relief when you’ve conveyed why you exist, what you do and who you do it for in a clear and succinct way. They will read on happily.

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The reader knows they are in safe hands.

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Catapult has a well-defined methodology for helping to define purpose and proposition. Whether we are raising money on fuelling growth, it’s our default starting point.

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Have you ever felt that people just don’t “get” what your business does?

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Has feedback from investors and prospects been vague? Are they dismissive for no clear reason?

If the answer to these is YES, you have a purpose and proposition problem. Humans don’t like being confused or feeling stupid. If somebody says “there’s no market for your product” when they don’t seem to understand what your business does, that’s because you’re failing in the story-telling.

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Don’t fall at the first hurdle. Let Catapult fire your forward.

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If you can commit to one day with me, plus another day of my time, we can transform your business. Two workshops and two days.

Two days that will put you on the right path to success and grease the wheels of money raising.

Our process touches on brand archetypes and buyer personas too. We build out the story and abstract it back up a few layers to get to the opening of your story in pitch decks and your website.

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