Appendices
The armor you carry just in case
The appendix is your stalwart sidekick to your main pitch deck. Not the bright luminary that steals the limelight, but the diligent librarian who pulls out the perfect tome at just the right moment.
The appendix is there to expand on points you make in the main deck, if your audience wants to know more. It’s your indispensable contingency plan.
What are appendices for?
Imagine this. Your main pitch deck is a streamlined spaceship, designed to get you from Earth to Alpha Centauri (that is, from ‘Hi’ to ‘Investment’) in under 30 minutes. Now, the appendix is like the ship’s cargo hold, packed with extra fuel, space food, photon torpedoes, and a karaoke machine-just in case.
In layman’s terms, it’s where you store the dense information that you don’t want clogging up the sleek design of your main presentation. If a curious investor asks for more details on your quasar manipulation technology or your two-year marketing strategy, specific details about what type of AI is buzzing under your startup’s hood, or a hiring plan for your next 18–24 months, you’re prepared to delve deeper without a hitch.
What content should be included?
The appendix is a magical bag of holding that can accommodate a variety of additional material:
- Complex graphics: For those investors who like to see your entire business model represented as a sprawling subway map.
- Text-heavy slides: The bibliophiles, the scholars, the would-be lawyers-they’ll want the fine print, and here is where you keep it.
- In-depth product roadmaps: Because some folks like to know every pit stop from Earth to the edge of the Milky Way.
- Technical slides: The microscopic details of your product that would appeal to a mad scientist or an engineer but would send a humanities major into hibernation.
- Intellectual property strategies: How you plan to legally defend your invention of the ‘Sonic Unflappable Space Whisk.’
- Detailed marketing strategies: All the strategic nuances of capturing hearts, minds, and disposable income, broken down by channel.
- Business model strategy: This is like your ship’s manual, explaining how you intend to make money during your interstellar journey without resorting to space piracy.
- Go-to-market plans by vertical or region: Precisely where and when you’ll be launching your space whisk in the Andromeda galaxy and beyond.
- Investment criteria charts: A sort of matchmaking profile for investors, detailing the qualities you’re looking for and the sort of commitment you’re ready for.
- Risk management strategies: This is your protocol for asteroid fields, black holes, and rogue AI systems on board.
- Competitor SWOT analysis: A guide to the Galactic Empire of Competitors, and how you are training your Jedi skills to take them on.
Do I need an appendix?
Do you need a spare tire when you embark on a cross-country road trip? Well, technically no, but you’d be a sitting duck without it when faced with a puncture in the middle of nowhere. The appendix is your safeguard, your contingency plan. If an investor wants to understand the economic viability of asteroid mining in your five-year plan, you can pull out the corresponding slide faster than you can say “Warp Speed!”
Not only does the appendix show you’re prepared, it also subtly implies you’re efficient. Your main deck remains a paragon of brevity, while the appendix says, “Hey, there’s more to see, but only if you’re really interested.” It’s like having a secret compartment in your spaceship for special guests, replete with vintage space wine and other cosmic delicacies.
In conclusion
Look, this is space travel-and by space travel, I mean securing VC investment. Things get unpredictable. Sometimes you encounter nebulas of complexity, asteroid fields of tricky questions, or black holes of doubt that weren’t on your star map. That’s when the appendix becomes your ace up the sleeve, your towel on an intergalactic hitchhike, your friendly neighborhood wizard when you’re up against a fire-breathing dragon.
So why on Earth-or any other planet-would you ever consider leaving home without it?
Like a seasoned explorer with a utility belt or an adventurer with a well-packed bag, your appendix prepares you for the questions you didn’t even know were coming. It’s not just extra slides; it’s extra armor. In the world of startups, like in most good space operas, you never really know what’s coming next. But with a well-prepared appendix, you can at least be sure you’ll handle it with aplomb.
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This story is part of a series of fundraising advice I put together for Pitch Guide, an online community I ran for many years.
If you are trying to build a great pitch deck, start by using Haje’s AI pitch deck review service. It’s spookily good at giving in-depth feedback.
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Here is the full set of articles, available for free:
- Why storytelling is important when pitching to VCs
- Understanding your audience
- How venture capital works
- Who should–and who should not–be raising from VCs
- Why you need a pitch deck
- What is the right order of slides for your pitch deck?
- How do you decide how much money you should raise?
- How important is design for your pitch deck?
- The cover slide
- The summary slide
- The problem slide
- The solution slide
- The product slide
- The team slide
- Market size slide
- Competition slide
- The traction slide
- The pricing & business model slide
- The ask and use of funds slide
- The operating plan slide
- The Moat slide
- The Go-to-market slide
- Closing slide
- Optional slides and optional information
- Value Propositions
- The Why Now slide
- How to think about unit economics
- Who is your target customer?
- Exit strategy slide
- Appendices
- You have to choose one: B2B or B2C
- How do I know when I’m ready to pitch to investors?
- Who should be pitching to the VCs?
- How to find the right investors
- How to get in front of the right investors
- Traction — what if I don’t have revenue yet?
- Wait, was that a ‘no’?
Try out Haje’s AI pitch deck review tool!
