Pitch Deck Tips: You need a shutter slide

Your first slide It is important for the pitch surface; First impressions count, and having a strong introduction goes a long way. Often founders seem to forget that the last slide is just as important.

There’s a simple reason for that: Investors easily look at hundreds of slides a month, and it’s hard to remember them all. Sure, startup names are often catchy and cute (Lyft, DoorDash), but it’s hard to remember that the orange represents a car-filling company, not the fruit. Companies often provide a brief summary of the businesses they work with. In Orange’s case, it might be “you know, the company that puts chargers in apartment buildings.” Everyone around the table goes “Aaaah, yes”, and the conversation continues.

As a founder, you have the opportunity to influence how someone perceives your company. The way to do this is by reinforcing your message on the first and last slides. What is a good shorthand for your company? Are you a club for underwear dollar shaving? Are you a tour for caravans? Have a Freshbook for Aircraft Ownership? Well, these are all useful shorthand – but you can get even more creative!

You need a closing slide

When planting, start with your best stuff first and go from there. The last slides are generally where you show weaknesses. If you don’t have a closing slide, your biggest weaknesses may be left on the screen when you’re talking to investors and answering questions. As you can see, that’s not a good way to end the pump, and you’ll be fried financially, your team, go shopping, or whatever else you added at the end of the round. Instead, set yourself up for success with a good closing slide. Remind your audience of who you are and what your company does.

In this story, we’re going through the 45+ pitch deck tears ever made, and we’ve selected some closing slides from our library of pitch deck examples. Top Tip: It’s 100% worth it to sign up for TC+ to get these tears and amazing pitch advice. But then again, I wrote most of it, and I’m hella biased. Still. Subscribe. go on. It will be the best dollars you spend this year, I promise.

Some examples of closing slides that work

Alto closing slide. Image credits: Alto Pharmacy

Alto Raises $200 Million to Build Better Pharmacy It’s one thing to choose to end with a motivational slide rather than shadowing any speech. But choosing the short “Better Pharmacy” makes the slider an A+. View the full pitch deck.