Hey guys,

Question for fellow founders who have, or are currently, pitching companies. Is anyone still using regular old PowerPoint for their pitch decks, or are you using more advanced tools like one of the many pitch deck services/tools out there like slidecast, visme, etc.?

I had a pitch last week and while they liked the pitch, I heard someone’s side comment about my PowerPoint skills and now I’m self-conscious LOL.

  • SuccotashComplete@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I don’t have a personal Microsoft subscription so I use google slides haha.

    If you need a fancy setup to get a complex idea across then use what you need. Otherwise why not use the industry standard?

  • rman666@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Tip: Make sure you know the order of what you want to say, in general, in order; the write what you want to say (almost a memorized script); then create your slides based on a template. This approach has worked for me. I hope it works for you.

  • mikejackowski@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    It’s really about The Pitch, not about The Deck. It’s about your traction, and an investable story. Not about a choice between Powerpoint or Google Presentations.

  • atcg0101@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Doesn’t matter the software as long as the pitch is strong and coherent and that you have the option to export as a PDF.

    That being said I still use PowerPoint and think it’s the dominant software in this space. As ChatGPT/Copilot gets further integrated into the core product it’s going to be light speed ahead of everything else.

  • researchmindopc@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Powerpoint is fine - as a market researcher and startup/pitch consultant 99% of decks I’ve made were on PPT. My guess is that the comment you got was because the person was expecting a few animations in the slides.

  • iamcoffeefueled@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    If you’re sending it to people I like docsend so I can track analytics, get notified when it was opened, and control share access.

    I made mine well designed in photoshop, but if it’s pretty without substance it won’t matter, you need both.

  • philatmeed@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I have decks across Google Slides, Canva, powerpoint, all over the place. As other commenters have said, it’s the destination that matters, not the path you took to get there. Whatever you find easiest to tell your story,

  • g_h_t@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Google Slides. Easily linkable, easy to keep updated, basic acl and easy enough to invalidate and replace if you want. Also free, assuming you’re running gsuite, which you should be.

    But yes, as others have said: a crappy deck with great numbers - story > a great deck with nothing underneath.

  • reward72@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I’d say the only thing that matter tech-wise is that you want your potential investors to be able to look at your deck without going through hoops like creating an account, instalingl some viewer or some shit. PowerPoint might be old, but everybody can open one easily. Personally I share PDFs made in something else.