I have been speaking with several entrepreneurs recently going through their pitch decks, and a common topic is are you showing what is real or what is theoretical.

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Theoretical

I read some pitch decks that talk about massive market sizes, problems, and business models. They say things like if we just take X% of the market this is worth $1B. If we get 1,000 customers paying $1,000 per year we will make $1M in revenue. Our customers will save 25% of their time due to efficiency. While all of those may be true, they are just math exercises that while helpful do not prove anything about what actual customers have done.

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Real

Some pitch decks talk about actual customers: how you sold them, how much they pay, what value they get, testimonials, customer feedback, etc. This helps you move from the theoretical of what you think a customer would do, to what they are actually doing and saying. You can share specific anecdotes to help better tell your story.

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What to show

Obviously the further along you are with the business, the more you can talk about real customers. But early on, there are still plenty of ways to show traction pre-revenue. If it is unclear what is real in your pitch deck, odds are the reader will assume it is not real. Don’t be afraid to talk about as much of the real customer learnings you have, no matter what the stage. I have learned that what you think customers will do and what they actually do are often two different things. 

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The more you can show what customers actually do instead of what you think they think, the better. Be careful having too many theoretical slides in a pitch deck. Don’t underestimate the value of sharing your real customer learnings that start validating your direction, even if you are an early stage company.