3 Things I Hate Seeing in a PItch

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Here are 3 things I hate seeing in a pitch…

Letters of Intent (LOI’s). Also known as Letters of Nothing. Prospective customers sign these letters, saying they “intend” to buy your product. But will they really? Who knows.

These letters may sound good, but they mean absolutely nothing.

Some founders spend months chasing an LOI. This is wasted time.
“Line of sight.” As in “We have a line of sight to $10 million ARR.” I see this phrase all the time in pitch decks.

What on earth does it mean?

You think that maybe someday you’ll have $10 million ARR? Fine, but that is meaningless today.

Talk about where you actually are now.
“Pipeline.” As in “We have over $100 million ARR in our pipeline.”

If you send a cold e-mail to someone that is never returned, they could be counted as part of your “pipeline.” This is another meaningless metric.

What matters is the customers you have today, not who’s in your CRM.

What to Focus On Instead

Instead of LOI’s, “lines of sight,” and pipeline, talk about where your business is today.

“We have 3 customers paying $100 a month.” That’s not a lot of money. But it’s concrete and it’s a start!

Maybe you don’t have any customers yet. In that case, focus on your product and team. You could say something like this:

“We are a team of 3 engineers shipping new product daily.”

Now that’s exciting!

You just gave me useful info on your skills and what you’re building. That would impress me more than an LOI for $100 million.

Wrap-Up

There’s nothing wrong with being an early stage company!

But focus on the things that matter. Sell your team’s skills, your product, and your first customers.

That beats LOI’s and “lines of sight” any day.

Tremendous