Don’t Bury The Lead
I was reviewing a startup’s pitch deck the other day and was pretty underwhelmed until I got to the second to last slide. The last slide was their contact info. So the last meaningful slide was their lead and sizzle. They have over 100 paying customers using their product. Some recognizable ones too. The deck is 18 slides in total and they waited until slide 17 to point out they have over 100 paying customers. I was pleasantly surprised, but also disappointed.
Pleasantly surprised because for their stage and having been operating for about 9 months, to have 100 paying customers is pretty good. I was also pleasantly surprised because there wasn’t anything in the deck that lead me to suspect they that many customers at this point.
Disappointed because they buried they lead and if I hadn’t taken the time to get to the second to last slide I would not have known they have that much early customer engagement and acceptance. The over 100 paying customer part was also not in the email the deck was attached to or any previous messages. Many people won’t make it to slide 17 rendering the pitch deck ineffective. No wonder they have struggled to raise more investment. They are burying the lead.
When I asked the Founder why the paying customer part was buried at the end he said he didn’t think it was that important because he had read and had been told to emphasize how big the opportunity and company could be, so he started with what many Founders do, focusing on TAM (total addressable market) and scale. He became convinced how big the company could become was the lead and that the current paying customers made them look small. In fairness to the Founder, he is acting on what he believes to be sound advice on how to pitch and what a good pitch deck is, but he is burying the lead. Yes, he needs to address the enormity of the problem, but after he establishes he understands the problem deeply and he is solving it in a way that customers value and will pay for. There is no greater proof you are on to something that could become much bigger than customers who are willing to pay you for solving the problem in a manner in which they value.
Burying the lead isn’t just a challenge for Founders and startups in pitches. Most presentations and speeches are snoozers because many don’t have a lead or it gets buried behind a lot of other noise and fluff. Many people think building to the lead is the best approach. Spend the first 45 minutes of a 60 minute presentation building to a crescendo. Wrong. Start with the lead and then substantiate it. Make your point and case out of the box to engage and grab people’s attention. Then you have a chance to have the impact you intended with the talk. Building to and burying the lead risks losing too many people along the journey so they are tuned out by the time you get to the lead.
Whatever your lead is, start with it. After all that’s why it’s called a lead.
