Most conversations around pitch decks circle around scarcity.
If you can’t fit it in 10 slides, you won’t get the chance.
If you can’t capture attention in the first three minutes, you’ve lost the plot.
If your numbers don’t convince, nothing else will.
We’ve heard this enough.
But there is another side. The founder’s side.
Not every founder is building for the next unicorn valuation or chasing a billion-dollar cheque. Dreams differ. What is common is the need for an authentic story. The deck may be one of the outcomes, but it always begins with the story. And while slides can take many shapes, the story must hold.
The first spark of an idea:
Imagine a college student with an innovation pitch. The spark is intoxicating. You believe in it passionately and want the world to believe too. But before jumping into becoming a founder, this is a story of reflection.
What matters in the pitch at this point:
A clear problem statement: why has the idea not been solved so far?
A sense of the market: who needs this, and why now?
Personal conviction: are you ready to pursue this problem no matter how hard it gets?
The deck at this stage is not about precision forecasts. It is about clarity of intent and resilience.
The pitch that turns passion into a business:
Some journeys begin with passion. A side project, a craft, a cause. The leap is when passion seeks to stand on its own as a business.
What matters in the pitch here:
Why this passion matters beyond you: the value proposition.
How it can sustain itself: the beginnings of a business model.
Early proof that others care: first customers, pilots, signals of demand.
Here, the deck is a bridge. It connects the founder’s “why” with the world’s “need.”
The pitch for impact:
Sometimes the audience is not a VC. It’s a government program, a grant committee, or an institutional body. They might be looking, not just for scale, but for deep impact.
What matters in the pitch in such a case:
Your true vision that fits into a larger mission or policy priority
Evidence of impact, not just intent.
Credibility that shows you can deliver at scale.
And the list goes on. For each such critical founder moment, the story has to emerge first. Authentic, real, moving.
Only then will be the pitch deck be really inclusive. The story is the lifeblood. Investors, policymakers, customers – they invest in conviction. And conviction always begins with the real story.
The pitch deck is dead. Long live the STORY.
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stotio is for anyone who needs to build their story - founders, thought leaders, sales people, brand builders, investors and more. And we are starting with the toughest problem - the investment pitches.
Craft your winning pitch with stotio.