These are Vinod Kosla’s recommendations for startup pitches, but they apply to a number of regular presentations as well
Vinod-Khosla-2014.5.20_Pitch-the-Way-VCs-think_KVSummit_alt- State the problem; Emotion over details
- Title should be a message (e.g. “massive market”) not a topic (e.g. “Market”)
- 5 seconds rule: A slide idea should be understandable in 5 seconds.
- When slide is flashed up there should be one place to focus the users eyes… or slide is too complex
- 4 or 5 lines per page and no more than one picture/graphic per page (two very rarely)
- 5-6 words per line generally and 25 words per slide; try & fit all messages /sub- heads/headings in one line
- Minimum font size 22 or 24 pt for big headings & 18 or 20 pt font for sub-headings; 12 pt for “picture” view
- Have a lot of white space in each slide & light fonts to reduce complexity.
- Visceral story more important than complete story
- Make sure you cover all risks & contingency against each risk; if you don’t know say so
- Make sure you state what you are asking for and what will be deliverable for the “ask”
- Engineer the takeaways
Below is his presentation on the same topic, but with a little more detail
Source:
- www.khoslaventures.com/wp-content/uploads/Vinod-Khosla-2014.5.20_Pitch-the-Way-VCs-think_KVSummit_alt.pdf
- Photo from www.khoslaventures.com/team/vinod-khosla/