A Conversation with Jaimie Collins
This month, we delved into the essentials of crafting an impactful investor presentation with Jaime Collins, CEO of Witz End Designs. She shared invaluable insights into creating a coherent, concise presentation that captivates while informing potential investors.
How important is a coherent, well-crafted investor presentation? In one word - critical. You are given very limited time with a distracted audience who are interested in your business, but perhaps know nothing about it. Always assume they do not know about, or even care about, what you do beyond the future ROI. Ask yourself:
What is the least amount of information I can give that accurately but positively positions my business? The denser the subject matter the less you should go into it. Always mention happy to have a more in-depth discussion about XYZ or refer them to the appendix, that way you can cover additional details once they know more.
What aspect of my business will be most alluring to an investor? Is it growth potential? Is it a low expense to profit ratio? Whatever it is, say it loud and say it often.
Every single slide should be written with this in mind. If you have 10 slides of what we do and 2 slides of why to invest, you accidentally wrote a sales deck. Save a copy for the sales team and do a re-write.
What are some consistent flaws you see in presentations that are easy fixes? Presentations that have too much information while also not having enough information. Focus on the investment potential of your business. Investors don’t care how many colors your widget comes in, they care about profitability and what market share you will have in a year and in 5 years. This isn’t an easy fix, but here is an easy one. Structure. Your presentation does not need every graphic device available, a rainbow of colors, and a new font for each slide. Keep it simple, keep it clean. The most important thing to keep in mind is that branding must remain consistent with your website or product packaging. Last, but not least, white space is your friend. If you think a slide might too busy, it is.
What sets apart a compelling investor presentation from an average one? I think every company should have two investor decks: a spoken bare-bones deck used as an on-screen backdrop to your verbal presentation and a more in-depth version for reading. This second longer deck is what most people consider as their investor presentation but in reality, the opposite is true. If you skip slides in your verbal presentation, they should not be there. If you can cover a slide in 15 seconds, it should be merged with another slide. Send the longer deck as a follow up, which gives you another point of contact with an investor. The longer presentation leads with what your audience is there for: making money. Tell them how they will make money and why. These slides should be graphically different than content slides. It can just be a different color border, something to say: “Stop here and read me now!”
What emerging trends are underway in investor presentations? There has been a trend towards “keep it simple, keep it clean” as I mentioned above, but to me, its trends surrounding the content. We're seeing more about how AI will impact or be integrated into the business. AI is seen as a unicorn that will cut costs and raise profits regardless of the industry. Only time will tell on this one.
What's on your bedside table? Honestly? Any fiction novel grabbed at the airport before or after a flight. In my line of work, I go from one deck filled with unfamiliar information to another everyday just like investors. They can be hard to absorb and even harder to pare back.
