I received a lot of positive feedback from my recent post, What should go in your sponsorship deck….

One follow up that came over more than once was a request to cover not only sponsorship decks, but brand overview and investor decks, too. Good idea!

I build decks for clients, but I don’t consider it a core competency. So I called the doctor. That is, the Deck Doctor, Jake Ratner. 

Jake is going to introduce himself here in a second, but if you need help building a deck, Jake is your guy. He is also a great friend. I’ve known him for close to a decade.

Please enjoy the very first guest post for the New Edition Newsletter.

Your investor deck (probably) sucks.

I know, it's a bit harsh. A subjective statement that might hurt some feelings.

Especially since I don’t know you or your company. 

So why start off with that title on a blog post? 

Because, most likely, your audience doesn’t know you or your company, either.

And statistically, you’ve got about four minutes to convince someone that they should not only care about you and what you’re building, but pay attention long enough to want to get involved.

No matter how many hours you spend pinpointing the perfect phrase, photos, or quotes, that’s it. 3 minutes and 44 seconds (at least according to a study from Docsend and a Harvard Business School Professor).

But why listen to me?

I’m Jake Ratner, and I specialize in building Investment Decks that make an impact.

• I’ve helped build decks that raised over $150M for startups, some of which I can virtually guarantee you’ve seen (however, I don’t exactly sign my work).

• I’ve invested in 7+ startups, so I have a bit of a unique lens in front of the perspective as both the design strategist and the investor across the table. 

• I’ve worked on collateral for nearly every purpose and sector you can imagine, professional athletes, health and wellness, financial services, tech, wine and spirits, real estate, restaurants, and more.

• I am the recommended go-to deck doctor in Swish Goswami’s book, The Young Entrepreneur (thanks for the shout out, Swish!)

So let’s get really honest.

I’m going to break down a few of the things I’ve seen in the last ten years of start-up, deck, investor-world that might be helpful to whatever it is you're working on.

BUT FIRST, HERE ARE SOME UPCOMING NEW EDITION EVENTS TO CHECK OUT…

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Objective Beats Subjective

A lot of people use the Magic Quadrant to illustrate how well-positioned they are against their competition.

However, there is no world I have ever existed in where your startup, who is asking for a million dollars, is better than Amazon. At anything.

I’ve seen a too many companies with zero revenue put themselves ahead of trillion dollar powerhouses. The only thing you’re doing when you do this is showing investors that you are, in fact, delusional.

Instead, use a Power Grid.

It’s objective, accurate, and indisputable. Not only can the Power Grid be a powerful slide on its own, it will fuel how you think about your actual differentiating features.

You Don’t Need a Deck

At the end of the day, you can raise money on the back of a napkin and a handshake. 

But ask yourself this: How is my company viewed when I’m not in the room to explain it?

By not having a deck, you’re leaving your pitch in the hands of someone else. Having a deck allows you to control the narrative. 

By having a pitch deck, you’re forcing yourself to - at the very least - refine your pitch on “paper”, and take a hard look at the business.

I’ve had countless founders tell me how much better their in-person pitches got, at least from a confidence level, simply from refining the narrative in their deck.

Defend Your Traction

In an episode of The Office, there is an opening for the managerial position.

Darryl, formerly the warehouse manager, wants the job.

He starts concocting the best resumé he can possibly come up with, pulling big stats to impress, including his success in coordinating 2.5 billion units of inventory. 

Sounds impressive, right?

It is, until the CEO asks a follow up question:

• CEO (reading his resumé): Coordinated and implemented receipt storage and delivery of over 2.5 billion units of inventory. 2.5 billion, Darryl? 2.5 billion units of what?

• Darryl: Paper material, ma'am.

• CEO: Paper material?

• Darryl: Pieces of paper.

In an attempt to impress, he ended up looking…silly. 

Don’t be Darryl. Use actual traction instead of fluffy stats. Fluffy stats will lead to questions from potential investors that can only be met with weak answers.

Be Realistic, Not Romantic

A while ago I ran into a smart, successful team that was having an issue raising funding. After seeing their deck, I knew why. It was a 50+ page homage to all their hard work up until that point. It was too romantic.

Eventually, I found the only slide that actually mattered, on page 43: Their IP. They owned all kinds of trademarks. True differentiators. The kind of thing that makes an investor's mouth water, and made them an incredible acquisition target in the sector. They could fail into the ground, and they’d still be valuable.  

When I redid their deck, I put their IP on Page 2. They were not happy with my change in narrative, but they were happy after they walked into their next meeting, and got offered a check…before getting to Page 3. 

That one slide adjustment made an 8-figure difference.

NDA’S CREATE FRICTION AND STAND FOR “NOT DEFENSIBLE ANYWAY”.

I was about to build out a deck for a pre-revenue, single employee company with a grandiose vision.

They requested I sign an NDA, and I spent an hour reading through the whole thing, then refused.

Language was present that meant legally, had I signed it, I wouldn’t have been “allowed” to compete in any of the industries they were planning on operating, from apparel, to technology, to startups and business.

I wouldn’t be able to legally write this article. I wouldn’t be able to advise the companies I advise. Technically, it would’ve ended my business. And that company today? You couldn’t find them if you tried (but I’d still be under that NDA).

When there is legitimate confidentiality in play, then by all means, protect yourself, but make damn sure you need it because: 

Creating a legal defense shows that your company is vulnerable, you are not confident in your moat, and someone simply knowing information is enough to sink you. That is now your first impression, true or not.

You are creating work and friction for the people you seek investment or partnership with. They’ve got to read through this document to make sure they aren’t creating a liability (and remember, you’re on that 4 minute attention clock).

TIMELINES, HOCKEY STICKS & SHAI GILGEOUS ALEXANDER

When an investor is considering your company, they not only care about whether it’s going to be ROI positive, but positive enough that it will cover all of the other investments they make.

So how do we show them that?

Hockey Stick - In a perfect world, your sales look like a hockey stick. Scalable, exponential growth over time. That’s what everyone wants to see. If you have these numbers, use them. If you don’t, well, don’t. Don’t claim you are going to go from $0 to $10B sales in 12 months unless you have some kind of proprietary sorcery (and if you do, go pitch that instead).

Timeline - If you don’t have the traction for a Hockey Stick, fear not. You’ve got psychology. Ever seen this 1959 ad campaign from Volkswagen (if not, see below)? It’s famous for a lot of reasons, one of which has stuck with me since I studied it for a Graphic Design degree: It’s placed “wrong”. Why would they put their car, the centerpiece of the campaign, tiny, all the way in the top left hand corner? 

Psychologically, your eyes imagine it driving left to right, to the center of the page.

It creates thought, a path, “motion” through print. It’s a strategy I use quite a bit, especially when it comes to young athletes.

How is a rookie or draftee in any league supposed to showcase their potential when they’ve barely played?

In the same manner someone “drives” that Volkswagen across the page, your timeline can take the viewer to the next possible point on the line.

For example, check out the last slide on this post from Complex. Pretend it’s 2023 and you’re trying to sell NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous Alexander.

The timeline would read like this: 

• Selected in 2018

• NBA All-Rookie

• Traded to Thunder

• 2023 FIBA Bronze

• 2023 Canadian Athlete of the Year

• _______________

The viewer’s next thought after reading that list is filling in the blank on their own. As of June 2025, we know that timeline ends in a Championship.

In 2023, SGA’s hockey stick wasn't available, but there’s something better: Potential.

Wrapping Up

Every company is different. 

There is no one size fits all solution, and the only guarantee is that someone, somewhere, is going to disagree with you (and they may be right).

Give yourself some credit. You are already doing something that most people will never have the audacity to do.

Be objective. Be adaptable. Be resilient. Be (a little) delusional. 

And just stay at the plate, choke up, and keep swinging. 

Jake