A common mistake that I notice entrepreneurs make when pitching potential investors, is the confusion between a slide deck and a leave-behind document.

Another common mistake that I notice entrepreneurs make when pitching to me or other potential investors, is the confusion between a slide deck and a leave-behind document. They fail to harness the power of these two separate things.

A presentation that you use during your pitches should be a light, easy-to-digest, and simple visual aid. And that is exactly what it should do; Help you convey your message more clearly and in a more compelling manner. A presentation file is not a document that should contain loads of information. In fact, ideally, your pitch deck should be plain and simple enough not to make much sense without you in the room presenting it.

At this point you might ask; “But what if the potential investors ask for a document to inspect further?” Yes! And that is exactly what it should be; a leave-behind ‘document’.

In this separate document, you can include further information to back your ideas up, provide in-depth charts, graphics, data sets, and other relevant information. And this would be a document that potential investors could read, print, or even distribute among their business partners, all at their own pace. And since they would do it on their own time, they would not be split between trying to read the information and listen to you simultaneously.

A good leave-behind document is usually a PDF or PPSX file that takes the reader on a deeper journey about your business or the opportunity that you just shared with them in person. It should be relatively easy to grasp, yet comprehensive enough for the reader to get a good understanding of your message, especially without you being there.

An amazing, free resource to learn everything about such visual documents that are intended to be read and referenced instead of being projected, is Duarte’s SlideDocs. You can download a free, comprehensive copy of their publication on their website.