Often times, startups put off creating a pitch deck until they need to raise capital from Investors. Even then, they usually see it merely as a necessary evil in the process of fundraising. However, I've found that putting together a pitch deck can be a critical tool in ways that go far beyond fundraising.

How?

Because you (as a founder), your team, customers, partners, and other key stakeholders also need strong, clear and concise narratives that help get everyone excited, aligned and moving in the right direction.

For founders: A pitch deck forces you to turn often vague notions and visions into a structured, reasoned narrative.

For customers and partners: Developing strong, reusable decks allows you to construct a strong, consistent story that unfolds naturally and gets continuously updated to cleanly handle all objections. This process allows you to scale your core message across all salespeople. Ideally, the deck mirrors and fleshes out what's on the website and other self-serve materials.

For the internal team: The right kind of decks/meta-narrative that is updated and presented on a regular cadence empowers everyone to act and make good decisions without "the boss" in the room.