Pitching is the single most important skill a founder needs to hone in order to be successful in building a startup. You can’t win a co-founder, teammate, customer, or investor without a well-crafted pitch on your product and vision. Therefore, learning how to pitch and communicate successfully is usually the first gateway to early business success.
While books and lectures on pitching have been published in abundance, the art of pitch decking is in reality an ever-changing fashion. Last year’s pandemic turned the idea of designing a deck on its head as founders had to pitch virtually on split screens. As always, that aesthetic continues to change: VCs are busier than ever, seeing more companies than ever, and having to wade through more and more decks in search of the next startups.
As we move into a hybrid investment world with a mix of online and personal pitching, the right pitch deck has changed again – and remains as important as ever.
With this in mind, we’re excited to welcome Mar Hershenson, founding executive partner of Pear VC, to one of our annual most popular panels – How to Craft Your Pitch Deck, which will take place on the Extra Crunch stage at the all-virtual TechCrunch Disrupt 2021 is coming from September 21-23.
Hershenson is a longstanding venture capitalist and has consistently invested in the start-up phase of startups. She has supported IPOs for companies like Guardant Health and DoorDash, as well as startups like Aurora Solar, BioAge and Branch. Perhaps most importantly, in our founder survey last year, Hershenson was among the top VCs in the world for founder referrals.
Her background is as a technical builder and entrepreneur. In addition to a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford, Hershenson co-founded three companies before venturing out: Barcelona Design, Sabio Labs, and Revel Touch.
In this panel, Hershenson will discuss what has changed in pitch decks in 2021, how she evaluates pitch decks in her daily investment work, and whether and how pitch decks develop and expand from the first connection to the last pitch meeting. We’ll also answer questions from the audience to make sure we cover any strategies and tactics you have questions about this important skill.
So join Hershenson (and all of our other fantastic speakers) at Disrupt 2021 online September 21-23.
The post Mar Hershenson joins us at TechCrunch Disrupt on how to craft your pitch deck – TechCrunch first appeared on DECKS AND FENCES DAILY.