your first slide it’s obviously important for a pitch deck; first impressions count, and having a solid introduction helps a lot. It seems that founders often forget that the last slide is just as important.
There’s a simple reason for that: Investors easily look at hundreds of slideshows per month, and it’s hard to remember them all. Sure, startup names are often catchy and self-explanatory (Lyft, DoorDash), but it’s hard to remember. Orange refers to a car charging company, not the fruit. Companies often give abbreviated summaries of the companies they are working with. In the case of Orange, it could be: “You know, the company that puts chargers in apartment buildings.” Everyone around the table says, “Aaaah, yeah,” and the conversation continues.
As a founder, you have the opportunity to influence how someone sums up your company. The way to do this is by reinforcing your message on the first and last slides. What is a good abbreviation for your company? Are Dollar Shave Club for underwear? Are Turo for caravans? Are Aircraft Ownership Freshbooks? Well, those are all useful abbreviations, but you can also get more creative!
You need a closing slide
When pitching, you start with your best stuff first and go from there. The last few slides are usually where you show weaknesses. If you don’t have a closing slide, your biggest weaknesses may be left on the screen as you talk to investors and answer questions. As you can see, that’s not a good way to set up the bomb, and you’ll end up being questioned about your finances, team, marketing, or whatever you added to the end of the deck as an afterthought. Instead, set yourself up for success with a good closing slide. Remind your audience who you are and what your company will do.
In this story, we dive into the 45+ pitch deck teardowns done so farand select some of the closing slides from our library of presentation deck examples. Tip: TC+ is 100% worth subscribing to just to get these teardowns and our amazing library of pitch tips. But then again, I wrote most of it, and I’m very biased. Still. Subscribe. Continue. It will be the best fistful of dollars you spend this year, I promise.
Some examples of closing slides that work
Alto closing slide. image credits: High Pharmacy
Alto raised $200 million to make a better pharmacy. Choosing to end with a slide that inspires rather than overshadows any conversation is one thing. But choosing the succinct “better pharmacy” completes the slide to make it an A+. See the complete teardown of the launch pad.
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