Pitch Materials, Ads and Focus: A Capital Raising Workshop
Social Media, Advertising, $1M mistakes | Top Insights & Strategies | Capital Raising Workshop
Founders, fund managers and deal sponsors who want sharper pitch materials and a more focused way to approach investors.
The 5 big lessons
- The message makes the value. The $1 bill and $100 bill share the same paper and ink. Only the message differs. A one pager with a better message and focus could be worth far more than it is now.
- Show your process in pictures. Richard C. Richard says every raiser should have a timeline, a key process image and a one-liner. A reader should get most of what you do from a quick glance. Cover images should match the actual business.
- Keep the pitch deck short. Most decks run 40 to 70 pages, but he says 10 to 19 is better. Busy investors may use AI to summarize the deck or skim it. Shorter materials are more likely to be read in full.
- Test ads before spending more. He suggests starting with a $500 or $1,000 a month ad on something that already seems to work. He also suggests starting locally, since local investors are easier to reach and meet.
- Protect focus and ask for agendas. He uses focus blocks of 90 minutes to two and a half hours and asks for an agenda before agreeing to meetings. His most valuable calls last 8 to 12 minutes. He also prefers short audio messages to long calls.
Summary
Richard C. Wilson compares a $1 bill and a $100 bill to make one point. The paper is the same and only the message differs. He applies that to one pagers and pitch decks. He wants more images, less text, a headshot and one-liner in the email signature, and a business timeline. He says most decks run 40 to 70 pages, while most should be 10 to 19.
The second half covers ads, focus and time. He suggests testing ads at $500 or $1,000 a month and starting locally. He sets a timer for 90 minutes to two and a half hours of focused work, asks for an agenda before meetings, and uses short audio messages. He also explains why he avoids NDAs early in investor talks.
Key facts
- The pitch deck scoring tool reviews a deck against 25 criteria.
- Richard's one-minute founder video was cut from 1 minute 12 seconds to 59 seconds.
- The investor pipeline builder sorts through 22,000 investors to find the 1% closest to your deal.
Sources
From Richard C. Wilson's Centimillionaire Strategies YouTube channel: Social Media, Advertising, $1M mistakes | Top Insights & Strategies | Capital Raising Workshop. Quotes come from the video captions, lightly edited for readability. Figures are the speakers' own estimates and experience.
General education only. Not legal, tax or investment advice.
Talk to a securities attorney to explore options around confidentiality agreements, protecting proprietary information and investor advertising rules. Do not use AI to write your own legal agreements.
Said on the call
"The best way to pitch is to give education, to write and position yourself, and then that is the best pitch."
"Most decks are 40 to 70 pages long. Most should be just 10 to 19 pages long."
"My most valuable phone calls last 8 to 12 minutes."
Related questions
- What financial slides should a fund manager's deck include?A fund manager's deck should show the numbers an investor tests first.
- What is an investor teaser and what goes in it?An investor teaser is a one-page, one-sided PDF that tells an investor what your deal is and why it is compelling in two or three ways.
- How long should an investor pitch deck be?Keep your investor pitch deck to about 10 to 19 pages.
Questions about this video
How long should a pitch deck be?
Richard C. Richard says most decks are 40 to 70 pages, but most should be 10 to 19 pages. Shorter decks are more likely to be read in full by busy investors.
How much should you spend when starting ads?
He suggests light ads of $500 or $1,000 a month on something that already seems to work. He advises starting with local ads and watching the reaction before spending more.
Should you ask investors to sign an NDA early?
He prefers to avoid NDAs, or ask for them as late as possible. He notes some niches, such as biotech formulas, may approach this differently. In those cases he suggests not revealing the one critical piece early.
Put this into practice with the pitch deck grader. See all pitch decks resources.
