There’s obviously an important sales aspect to growing a business. I’ve already mentioned how top executives, those tasked with leading the business to grow, become more efficient, expand into new markets, etc., are top salespeople. They may not directly be selling the actual product in their day to day, but they are selling that their organization is the one to resolve a problem, that is a capable partner for others. As such, politics is very much a sales process both in terms of election (where applicable) and as a job having to negotiate, compromise, broker deals, rally support… As a founder, your presentation ability is a crucial skill that begets customers, potential customers, peers, partners, colleagues, and investors. The good news is that this is very much a skill that can be improved with practice and preparation.

The first thing I’ll say, be confident. Especially when pitching to investors, you are the expert on your product, you are passionate and proud about your work. Let that show. DO NOT BE ARROGANT, rather, you’re going for “isn’t this such a cool and promising product/venture/idea?!” albeit with a flair of “you’re not going to believe what this next item is.”

Less is more

You’re almost selling the dream of what the project could be. In engineering, I pitched how things would be, how easy to operate, how seamlessly systems integrated with each other, what kind of returns a client could expect. This is generally the most common idea for all kinds of sales processes. A difficult thing has been picking which technical details to discuss (and how), especially for something I had designed where I was enthralled by the R&D process and wanted to justify the decision at every turn. There may be a place in product documentation that has many details, but that’s not the pitch itself.

The thing is, in early pitches, details give something to compare against, but often not with the total context or justification. There’s a kind of person purely comparing options for a feature at a certain price, too many details lose the account of the “why” behind a certain design decision and can make for false comparisons. Keep your pitch light and sweet on the details, but grounded. You won’t get far pitching “vapourware,” not as a startup at least (Look into Tesla promises over the last decade). At our early-company stage, investors need to be able to check the numbers “back-of-the-envelope” style and feel it adds up.

Visual Supports

Some of the best “pitches,” if not directly for people, for ideas represented by people, ideological rallying points, are speeches. Keep this in mind when designing your visual supports, if any. A good PowerPoint can help in structured storytelling, but you want people to listen to you, not read while you talk, and especially not read what you’re saying. Apply the “less is more” to your visuals and remember that a “picture is worth a thousand words”. It’s okay to have a neat slide deck filled with data that’s cleanly organised as a standalone document, but that should not be your visual support when actively presenting. You are pitching, but you’re really bringing the crowd along for a ride in your thoughts. You are telling a story and there’s a degree of performance to that to be passionate, to be inspiring, to write history.

Power of Three

Not a hard rule, but a common element to start with is to build packets of information in thirds. 3 word slogans (Yes we can; I’m lovin’ it; Just do it; Veni, vidi, vici; life, liberty, happiness), 3 reasons why, etc. There’s a completeness to 3 that’s a bit difficult to explain. I like to think in terms of building: 3 pieces can make a basic pyramid where a solid base supports building upwards. One is singular, two is a comparison, three is the sweet spot where structure emerges meaningfully, 4+ can start to tax the mind. Jokes often have this 3 beat sequence of setup, reinforcement, and twist (or punch).

It’s literally a thousand-plus years old rhetorical device. It’s a form that’s balanced, poetic, rhythmic, and easy to recall. Marketing, political speechwriting, and storytelling all use the triadic structure because it consistently improves impact and retention. There’s a cognitive explanation, but also a self-fulfilling cultural comfort that reinforces this power of 3. Three Musketeers. Three Little Pigs. The Holy Trinity. Three wishes. Past, present, future. Birth, life, death.

Keep this in mind in building visuals: balance foreground, background, and subject as appropriate.

Don’t be boring

Presentation is theater, a pitch is a performance, but it’s not a matter of intensity, rather, it’s a balance act that works best when you’re having fun up there. It’s incredibly difficult to fake the energy that comes from a passion. Believe in your vision, and you’ll be on track for others to believe it with you. Along with this, knowing your talking points, refining your text until you speak from the heart, you’re not reading the scripts, goes a long way in improving delivery. You may have heard of Martin Luther King (I hope you have) and of his “I Have a Dream” speech. There’s a great NYT Op-Ed by Drew Hansen, “Mahalia Jackson, and King’s Improvisation” that details the story behind one of the most important speeches.

” When King arrived at the Willard Hotel in Washington the night before the march, he still didn’t have a complete draft. King called his aides together in the lobby, and they started arguing about what should go in the speech. One wanted King to talk about jobs, another wanted him to talk about housing discrimination. Finally King said: “My brothers, I understand. I appreciate all the suggestions. Now let me go and counsel with the Lord.”

King went up to his room and spent the night writing the speech in longhand. Andrew Young stopped by and saw that King had crossed out words three and four times, trying to find the right rhythm, as if he were writing poetry. King finished at about 4 in the morning and handed the manuscript to his aides so it could be typed up and distributed to the press. The speech did not include the words “I have a dream.” ”

I’d encourage you to go read the article, it’s a good story. The short version for our purposes is that the most memorable, moving, and impactful portion of that speech was unscripted. MLK spoke from the heart.

Obviously, this is difficult to do for a regular sales role. The reliability is that a job is a job, and it can contribute to important things, but there’s only so much you can do to sell a manure spreader, and that’s okay. As an entrepreneur, you have a good vision for a product you want to offer, but you’re also selling working with you, your realiability, and your integrity. You don’t have to act like you’re trying to move the world, but engagement and passion is contagious.

I remember visiting a museum when I was but a wee thing. There was a section of the exhibition presenting old pottery and as interesting as a 13th century BC pot was, it was just a pot and I wanted to rush through to get to the dinosaurs. That is, until one of the associated researchers started explaining the stories of the pots, what they meant, how they contained medicine, or what kinds of foods were stored and what all that said about the people she was studying. In the thralls of that presentation, I was seriously considering a career studying pots. Her enthusiasm and marvel at the discovery process was contagious, despite this being about old pots. (I did not pursue a career studying pots, I love to learn and encounter a more diverse palette of contexts which is why I like writing here or working on projects in different sectors.)

Tell a Cohesive Story

You want to create a feeling of wanting to join the good side, the innovators. Formulate a problem as an “enemy” then present your champion. Set up your premise, present your solution, make your audience dream of joining the “fight”. Metaphors and similes are powerful tools to explain complex details too. “The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell,” is quite a simplification, but it gets the point accross. The framing of an enemy to be vanquished doesn’t have to be literal, but it sets a clear understandable context for what your business does, the value that it brings.

If I wanted to push this dicussion further, I’d introduce the philosophical concept of a phantasm. These are fairly common in politics, the world of Think Tanks/policy advisory and relate to this topic because sometimes you can adapt facts to manufacture a more convenient antagonist or issue (e.g., Looking for WMD that aren’t there). It’s a sales process, not a quest for truth, or the “best” answer. I mention it because framing and marketing are incredibly powerful tools of influence.

Humour and Timing

As with everything else: a light touch is best here. Humour is particularly powerful to break the ice, get into the flow of things. A wonderful excuse to build “rapport,” specifically in the sense of relatability. Get people to want a good story, to want you to succeed, to like you early, and the rest of the presentation will be incredibly smooth. Self-deprecation works quite well for this. Now don’t awkwardly set up a joke either, make it a smile within an introduction, not a forced break.

On breaks, do keep in mind that continuous focus and attention is usually limited to 10–15 minutes on a given detail. Ted Talks are not so different from the kind of presentations you’ll be having with your early-stage company, and that’s the kind of short, but precise delivery of an idea that you’re looking for. A good way to introduce a break or partially reset that timer is by switching medium. Have a short 1-3 minute video demonstration within your presentation to do that. Don’t overly try for a “fancy vocabulary” even if you may have developed a habit for it (e.g., you just enjoy languages or read a lot). There’s a common person who gets annoyed if they encounter a new word or feel it’s a forced attempt at being “fancy”. Simplicity works.

The Way You Move

Use your hands to punctuate your speech. It conveys your engagement and passion. Make eye contact. Briefly, you don’t want your audience to feel singled out, but scan through and meet their eyes. People will pay better attention as you’re communicating directly to them. Leverage silence. A good pause after a big statement lets it swell and grow in importance. Count 1 mississipi, 2 mississipi (in your head though). It’s an easy trick for “gravitas”. Walk around if you can. Don’t pace on stage, but you own that presentation space so travel to the left and look at the people there. Take a few steps to the right and engage with that portion of the audience. Walk back to your visual to point out an amazing feature. Your comfort on stage translates to comfort in your ideas/products. It speaks to your readiness to present.

To Summarise

• Present with Passion, be entertaining, deliver an experience, but remember that less is more.
• Use your arms, your eyes, travel the space and engage your audience.
• Keep any slides clean, sparse of details, use groups of 3

In the end, presenting well isn’t about theatrics or memorizing the perfect sequence of slides. It’s about clarity, confidence, and connection. As a founder, you’re not just selling a product; you’re inviting people into a vision, a story, a future they can help shape. Whether you’re speaking to investors, customers, or your own team, your job is to make them feel the spark that moves you to build in the first place. Strip away the unnecessary, lean on structure, use your visuals as guides rather than crutches, and speak like a human being who believes in what they’re building. Early-stage companies live and die by their ability to communicate with conviction, but the good news is that communication, like any craft, improves with practice, curiosity, and a willingness to revise. Do that, and every presentation becomes more than a pitch: it becomes an opportunity to pull others into the momentum of your journey.

Now that we reviewed major details to prepare effective presentations, and protected some of our initial IP, we’re ready to be more public as a company and start doing presentations to get some more funding. It will be a lot of pitches, lunches, meetings, coffees, and emails. How fun!

Some example slides

I’ve enjoyed making presentation materials in a variety of contexts. In the last decade it’s mostly been technical presentations for scientific audiences, science communication presentations aimed at the public, and more recently a mix of materials for prospective clients, financiers, C-suite. I’ll write out an example template for 10 clear, simple slide visuals you can create in your pitch deck.

Slide 1 — Title / Opening

Visual:

• Large centered logo
• Big, bold product/company name
• One short tagline under it
• Clean background

Your Company Name

Tagline Goes Here

[ Logo ]

Slide 2 — The Problem

Visual:

• One big bold sentence
• 1–3 icons underneath representing key pain points

The Problem

• Manual processes waste time and money
• Teams struggle with fragmented tools
• Customers expect more, faster

Slide 3 — Why It Matters (Impact/Urgency of the Problem)

Visual:

• A simple infographic or 3 stats in a row
• Large numbers, tiny labels

42% of work hours lost to inefficiency
$18B annual cost in avoidable errors
27% turnover linked to repetitive tasks

Slide 4 — Your Solution

Visual:

• Product screenshot or icon
• 3 benefit pillars underneath

Our Solution

Your Product Name

• Automates repetitive tasks
• Integrates with existing workflows
• Delivers immediate measurable value

Slide 5 — How It Works

Visual:

• A simple left-to-right flow, 3 steps
• Icons for each step

How It Works

1. Detect
2. Decide
3. Act

(Simple 3-step flow diagram concept)

Slide 6 — Product Demo / Proof

Visual:

• One full-bleed screenshot or a still frame from a demo video
• Tiny caption

Product Demo

[ Screenshot or GIF Placeholder ]

“A 2-minute demo showing the product in action.”

Slide 7 — Traction

Visual:

• Timeline with 3–5 milestones
• Or three bold metrics (Power of Three)

Traction

• 4 paying pilot customers
• 96% accuracy in real deployments
• $320k ARR in signed pipeline

Slide 8 — Business Model

Visual:

• One simple diagram showing how money flows
• Subscription, per-unit, etc.

Business Model

Hardware + SaaS

• One-time hardware fee
• Monthly software subscription
• Optional enterprise support tier

Slide 9 — Market & Opportunity (why now)

Visual:

• TAM/SAM/SOM circles or ladder
• One big number

Market Opportunity

$48B+ Global Market

TAM → SAM → SOM
(Concentric circle visualization concept)

Slide 10 — Team & Ask

Visual:

• Photos of founders (optional)
• 1-line bios each
• Final “ask” box on the right (funding, partnerships, trials)

The Team

• Scotty — Engineering
• Cher — Product
• Donald Duck — Business Ops

Our Ask

Raising $1.2M to scale pilots and build V2.