How to Sell Your Vision Before You Ever Send a Pitch Deck

Today on the podcast, we're going to continue looking at reasons why your pitch deck gets rejected. For those of you who are in the tech space now, the reason why I am revisiting this topic again is because even though I made a podcast recording of this much earlier in the year, I got some comments on the podcast episode when I put it up on LinkedIn. And the fellow who made some comments or some contributions to the post, I thought he said he said some things are really insightful.

And so that's the reason why I'm back here today just to talk about some of the things that the guy shared. Well, by the way, if you're interested in these sorts of things, you know, raising capital for your business, trying to close deals, trying to find the perfect customer, trying to build relationships, trying to network, these sorts of things, then subscribe to the podcast on spotifying iTunes, Apple or any player of your choice.

My name is Davi Shima Ayede, I'm the host of the podcast. I'm a former lawyer turned business consultant, and I'm now I say consultant consultant. And I'm now currently the host of what is known as Africa's most prolific business podcast. So thank you very much for listening so far. Oh, by the way, if you'd like to get in touch then reach out to me, you can call, send me a text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.

And then again, apologies for the noise in the background 'cause I'm still home for the family holidays in the villa. And yeah, even though everybody's asleep, you know, I have the fan blowing at high speed because my Cody is hot, very, very hot. So that buzz again here in the background, that's just the fan trying to keep me cool as I'm trying to get some work done into the night. OK, so back to the question, or rather the issue at hand, why your pitch decks are getting rejected.

So First off, some definitions just to make sure that we're all on the same page. Now, what is a pitch deck? The pitch deck is simply that document, simply that tool that you use when you're trying to raise a finance from an investor. So a pitch deck is that PowerPoint, it's that JPG, it's that PDF document, it's that whatever it is that you prepare to show your investor. This is who I am, this is the business idea, this is how much money we need.

This is the addressable market. This is the size of the investment opportunity. This is how much money you hope to make in return. This is what we're offering in in return for your investments. This is how long we expect for the investment opportunity to mature. You know, all those sorts of, you know, big, big questions that investors would like to have answered before they start throwing millions and millions and millions of naira at you.

Now, the reason why I made the original podcast episode about why your pitch decks are getting rejected is because currently now in the Niger startup space and by the way, I'm making this podcast recording in the year 2025 S in 2025 and just beyond just, you know, earlier there has been a lot of focus on pitch deck, pitch deck, pitch deck as a means of raising finance. So lots of people have been creating material, lots of people have been creating tutorials.

Lots of people have been creating courses about how to make the perfect pitch deck. And in my own opinion, they have been placing a lot of undue hope on the fact that you can put together a perfect document. And then that perfect document is going to be able to get you all the finance that you need to raise to to run your startup. Now, I'm one of those people who say, look, it's not just about the perfect document because for the document to be convincing,

certain kinds of information have to go into the document. And So what is important is not creating the perfect document per SE, but to make sure that you do all the work beforehand so that you acquire the right information. And also you try and validate your business idea so that with those two together, you're going to be able to make a compelling proposal, a compelling pitch. But summary, what I'm trying to say is it's not necessarily the pitch deck that is going to get you the money per SE.

Now the reason why I'm coming at it from this angle is because there are lots of people, sales people in Nigeria who assume that your presentation, that your proposal, that your offer document, that your whatever is what is going to close the deal. So people put lots of effort into creating those documents, hours and hours and hours in the hope that the document is going to be able to sell for you. A part of the reason why I make this podcast is I'm trying to dispel such ideas that you can create a perfect document to sell for you.

You are the one who has to take responsibility for selling this idea, selling the startup idea, selling this investment opportunity, selling this product, selling this service. So stop relying on a document to sell. Now, the person who commented on that earlier podcast episode, his name is Samuel. I'm not going to use his full name, so let's just say Samuel M and Samuel is involved in strategic finance execution. Let's see what else?

OK, And he's vice president, head of strategic finance at XYZ Company. Let's see what else, OK? Then he's also a member of a board and also and investor partner. And it looks like he does a bunch of stuff with fintechs. Of course, he's based in the United States and from his LinkedIn following, he has about 2086 followers. So this was the comment that he made on the post. So he said that the podcast recording that I made hits on a pattern that he has seen,

especially when especially from people on the capital side. Now let me define what that means. When we say on the capital side, OK, how will I put it? OK, let's just say that there are two sides of the equation. There's a capital side and then there's people who are seeking capital. Now the person who is seeking capital will be Someone Like You or me who is trying to get investment for his business idea for his startup.

Then people on the capital side are people who have access to the money that we need. So remember when we talk about capital, especially in SME space, you know, small and medium scale enterprises, we usually mean money, Cudi over cash, liquid gold, or we mean infrastructure, you know, machines, equipment, you know, stuff like that. So that's the sum total of what we mean when we say capital. But in this case, when we say capital side, we mean people who have money.

And this guy, Mr. Samwell has been seeing a pattern when dealing with people on the capital side. And remember, he is someone on the capital side as well because he's involved in sorry, let me look at his bio again. He is involved in OK, yes, he's an investor partner. And by the way, I'm not going to call his organization because of course I didn't get permission from him before making this post. So Mr. Samuel continues, he says that most decks fail because, so he says most ideas don't fail because the business idea is bad.

OK, That's one of the things I was saying, that there are lots of that sometimes you are not successful because you're not able to validate your business idea. Not to validate your business idea is to be able to show to your potential investors that your idea has market demand, that there are enough people who are interested in this product or service and enough of them are willing to pay for your product or service in such an amount of that you can plow money back, money back into the business.

And then there's excess leftover for you to, you know, do other stuff whether you want to flex or whether you want to do whatever. So when we say market validation over here on the podcast, that is what we mean. Now Mr. Samuel is saying that businesses, when you're trying to raise capital, when you're trying to raise finance using your pitch deck, that you don't always fail because the idea is bad. But Mr. Samuel says that you fail to raise money using your pitch deck because you, the founder, are skipping what he likes to call the decision context.

And this is what he means by the decision context. Investors are not just looking at the level of talent you bring to the table or the level of effort that you bring to the table, but what they're trying to do is they're trying to underwrite risk. Now, underwriting is, how do I explain underwriting now? OK, Underwriting is like a practice in insurance. What it means is you're putting money behind risk. Let me put it this way.

So if something is a risky venture, but at the end of the day, you think that there's good money to be made, you can put money behind it. If it works good, then you get a good return. But if it doesn't work, well, it's just one of those things. So he says that investors are in the business of underwriting risk. So your pitch deck should be answering those questions. How risky is this enterprise? Now, even though you can see that Mister Samuel doesn't quite agree with me 100%, you can see share that we are both saying that it is not the document.

It's not just having the perfect document itself that is going to help you raise finance, but you need to be answering some key questions, some important questions, some pivotal questions that the investors have at the back of their mind. Well, by the way, risk mitigation is a good business strategy and is a good sales strategy. Risk mitigation, I mean, not related anyway, it's just that, you know, since there's this word risk there.

So let me just talk about risk mitigation now. Risk mitigation is the idea when you're talking to a potential investor or you're talking to someone who wants to buy your product or service. This is where you tell the person that look, in using this product, in using this service, in this opportunity, ABC are the risks that are involved because these are the potential things that might happen. However, if these things occur,

this is how me and my business partners intend to deal with it. We intend to deal with it by doing this, by doing this, by doing that. Now when people see that you have already thought about potential risks and you have already thought about things that you can do to reduce those risks, it makes people calm so that they can buy your product, they can buy your service, they can get into business with you. So that is risk mitigation.

And if you are going to remain a loyal listener of the podcast, you're going to hear me talk about these sorts of things from time and time again. So Mr. Samwell says that when you send a pitch deck, but when you send the pitch deck too early, you are forcing the investor to start doing work. The investor has to now start trying to figure out, is this a risky proposition to put my money in or not? You're giving the investor work.

And this is something that I've said on the podcast time and time again, that when it comes to sales, when it comes to selling, when it comes to convincing people, trying to get people on on board with your agenda, we are trying to reduce the amount of mental work that they have to do. If you're giving somebody homework, you are stressing them. And money does not move when people are stressed. Generally speaking, of course,

we're talking about sales here. So Mr. Salwa says that the strongest pitch shouldn't begin with the document. It should. The strongest pitch should start as a conversation. And this is something that I agree. And this is part of the reason why I'm making today's podcast episode just to tell you guys that, look, I'm talking about things from a sales and business development perspective. When I'm talking about how you come up with the perfect,

perfect pitch pitch deck so that I can raise finance. But some of you might say, well, this guy's in sales, what does he know? If you're one of those people in the startup community saying this guy's in sales, what does he know? I hope you can see that some of you are more, some of your senior brothers in the business agree with me, even though they're coming at you from a different perspective. Now, Mr. Samwell, who is also an investor, he's saying that your pitch process should start as a conversation.

And I've been saying it since from the beginning that all selling is conversational. I repeat again for those of you who are listening to this for the first time, all selling is conversational. In other words, if you have not had a conversation with someone, you have not started selling. What you're doing is guess work. If I sell washing machines, excuse me. If I sell washing machines and you come into my store and I say, how can I help you today?

And then you respond or I want to buy a washing machine and then I start telling you, buy this one. This one is red. It has 120 hours per minute. It has microbial healing properties. It cleans well. It is A7 KG loader. This one is a 15 KG loader. If I continue to vomit and vomit and vomit all these things on you, if I continue to unload the perfect sales pitch on you, I have not started selling. I have not. What I am doing is guesswork.

I am guessing that the person is interested in all these things that I am vomiting. It's the same thing for those of you who are trying to raise finance and using a pitch deck. People are just showing up and guessing you are vomiting. The time is this this, is this investment opportunity, is this blah, blah, blah. You are assuming that this person indeed is interested in investing. You're assuming that even that this person is interested in investing and the person is interested in the particular sector that you're interested in.

You're assuming that the person has a risk tolerance or a risk profile that matches the level of risk that is involved in this endeavour that you're starting up, that you're starting up. You're assuming that this person is interested. You are assuming a whole bunch of stuff. You just show up and you begin to vomit because somebody told you on social media that these are the 2345 steps that are required for you to come up with the perfect pitch document.

And if you come up with the perfect pitch document, then you're going to be able to raise finance. If you don't believe me, because I'm talking at this from a sales perspective and you know, sales people are daft, what do they know? Listen to your senior brother. Now the senior brother is telling you live and direct from America that when you send the pitch document too early, you are giving them unnecessary homework.

And this guy is saying that the strong sales pitch starts as a conversation. The guy said it. I've also said it before, even before the guy commented on, excuse me, commented on the post that I put up on LinkedIn. So Mr. Samwell says that the strongest pitch is going to start as a conversation and is not going to start as a document. I repeat, your strongest pitch will start as a conversation, it will not start as a document.

So I am not saying that your pitch document is not important. It is. Just make sure that you are having substantial and relevant conversations first before you reduce anything down to writing. So have conversations, according to Mr. Samwell, that will clarify why this opportunity belongs in the investor's portfolio. Have the conversation with him first. Good morning, Sir. Good morning, boss. This is what I'm doing, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah. Is this the sort of thing you'd be interested in or? Good morning, Sir. Good morning, boss. I've noticed from your LinkedIn profile or I've noticed from the people that I've been speaking to so far that you have been invested, you've invested in XYZ kind of opportunities and you're a forward thinking investor when it comes to this and this and this and that. Are these the kind of problems that you are interested in investing, investing in or are you interested in beefing your investment portfolio in this sector and this sector and this sector?

Have the conversation first before you now put up the pitch deck. In sales, this is what we call qualification. This is where you ask questions about the person because you want to make sure that the person is indeed interested and the person is suitably matched to whatever it is that you're talking about. This is what we call qualification in sales. Mr. Salmon also says that you should be having conversations with the potential investors so you can discuss what Samuel calls the asymmetric upside.

Now, what that means is this asymmetry. All I put it now, OK, asymmetry just means things, no balance. Asymmetry just means that there's no balance. And that is what the investor is looking for. They're looking for a certain level of risk, but they're looking for high reward. They want asymmetry, they want the risk to be there, but the risk should not to, should not be too big, but then the returns, the party, the money,

the hammer that they'll make at the end of the day should be big. So they're actually looking for asymmetry. So we should be having the conversation with the potential investors to show that this asymmetric upside exists. This is what we call discovery in sales is where you're asking questions about the problem, asking questions about the vision, asking questions about the investment opportunities of the person that you are talking to.

Seek qualification and discovery. Ask questions around the person. We want to be sure we're talking to the right person. Then questions around the opportunity. We want to be sure that you know there's a match in the in the opportunity that people are interested. Have these conversations ahead of time. It is only when you have these conversations ahead of time that you're talking to the right person and you're providing the right mix of risk versus reward that they're interested in that you can start putting things down to paper now, Mr. Sambo says.

It is only when you have had these conversations with people that you'll be able to get specific evidence that you can use to argue with them in your pitch deck. And convince them if you don't do that, you are just guessing. If you sit inside your house, you sit inside your office, you sit inside your Co working space, you sit inside your wherever it is, your car, wherever it is that you do work. And you come up with the perfect document, the perfect pitch deck in your mind.

And then you go and start looking for investment opportunities. You are just doing guesswork. You are guessing, and I can tell you that confidently for free because there are lots of sales people that do the same thing too. You sit down in the office, you sit down in your bedroom, you sit down in your wherever and you come up with the perfect proposal and then you send it in. But the perfect proposal is just perfect in your own mind.

You didn't talk to the prospect. You didn't figure out who the prospect is. You didn't figure out if he's interested. You didn't figure out whether your product or service can solve these problems in some unique ways. You are just guessing. You create the perfect document, you send it in. And then you wonder why people are saying, let me think about it. I'll call you when I'm interested. Let me talk to my partner. You're too expensive.

All the excuses will start coming up and you wonder why. It's because you're doing guesswork. You are not having conversations. So those of you who are in the tech space, if you don't listen to me because I'm a sales guy and sales guys, you know, we're knucklehead. We know sharp. Listen to your brother. Your senior brother is telling you here, Mr. Sam is telling you. Then Samuel proceeds to say that targeting and specific, sorry,

forgive me a tongue twister. Targeting and specificity are in sales tactics because I talk about those a lot when it comes to sales targeting. Targeting just means, are we talking to the right people? Are we chasing the right people? Then specificity just means the idea, the problem, the thing that we're talking about, the thing that we're producing. Does it meet a very direct and exact need that this person has? Because if I'm running around talking to the wrong people, how do I expect to close deals?

And if I'm running around talking to the right people, but then the solution, the problem, the object, the service, the thing that I'm selling is not meeting a specific need, how do I expect to close the deal? Now how? If I'm going around selling the perfect brand of IBO, but I'm selling it at SUSU conference, how will I, how will I close deals? My targeting is wrong. I'm selling Igbo, I'm selling Mary Jane, I'm selling marijuana.

I'm smelling loud. I'm I'm selling good stuff, but I'm selling it at Scripture Union conference. People in Scripture Union do not smoke ganja. They don't. So I have good product. My targeting is off. Now let's say my targeting is right. I'm looking at people who use recreational, how do I put it? Recreational substances, you know, things that make themselves feel good, feel high, feel all right, but then I'm smelling.

But when I'm now selling IBO to people who typically do, you know, all these synthetic stuff like cocaine and whatnot, how will I make sale? Targeting specificity. I talk about them a lot because they're important in sales. It's also the same thing for those of you who are trying to raise finance. Targeting. Are you talking to the right person? Specificity, Is there a match, an exact match when it comes to need or problem or vision here?

So Mr. Salmon says that targeting and specificity are not just sales tactics. He calls them signals of strategic majority. And I like the way he put it, strategic majority, when you can target well and when you're trying to focus to see whether for your customers or your investors there's a match, it shows that you're a mature somebody. And that's why I've been telling all of you who listen to this podcast that sales and business development skills are important.

Because when you have these skills and you step into the room, people see that there's a big boy in the room or there's a big girl in the room. You see that the person already is mature. You stand apart from the pack already, You open your mouth. People hear wisdom because of what? Targeting specificity, having a conversation ahead of time because you're just trying to make sure that there's alignment around the person and alignment around the opportunity.

Already you come across as a mature somebody. So these are the reasons why I say sales training is the most important business education that you can get. Knowledges, I say knowledges, forgive me, you know, it's late at night. I'm really tired, you know, spending the whole day running around running after kids and then also making sales calls because this is a working holiday for me. So the knowledge that you get from sales training, the principles that you get from sales training, the practices that you carry out in sales training don't just apply to sales, They apply to every other business function.

And that is what gives me the right and that is what gives me the, the knowledge. That is what gives me the, the, the certainty. That is what gives me the the gumption for me to talk with my full chest to be lecturing those of you who are in the startup space, even though I'm in sales, because the knowledge, the principles, the practices that we talk about here, they apply to every other place. So please trust me. Trust me when I say now those people who are telling you he had the five steps to the perfect pitch deck, they are wasting your time.

They are really, really wasting your time. There's some work that you need to do before you come up with a pitch deck. And Mr. Samuel says you need to start this with a conversation. Now, if you listen to podcast episodes where I talk about these sorts of things, raising finance, blah, blah, blah, you say, and there's some differences between you and Mr. Sam. I understand there are differences, yes. But I just want you guys to see that I'm not just making stuff up because one of your brothers again, Sam or MI just shortened the guy's name because I didn't take permission.

He's into strategic finance. He's AVP that's vice president of strategic finance. What else? OK, He's a member of a board. He's an investor partner, OK. He also does some stuff with fintech and then SAS, that's software as a service. He's also involved in AI, of course, based in America because you know, you people in you people in the, in the tech space in Niger, you know, you know rates, you don't rate those of us who are Nigerians.

Even Nigerians says something must be stupid. If an American says it, anything makes sense. So it's not me that is talking again, it's an American who is not talking to you. OK, You want social clouds. The guy has over 2000 followers on LinkedIn and he's telling you, if you won't listen to me, listen to him. He's telling you that raising finance does not start with the perfect pitch deck. It starts with the conversation,

and he has told you the kind of things that you should be having conversations about. Now, this podcast episode. Yeah, there was a lot to take in. So Noah Hala, this is your first time listening to the podcast, and it seems overwhelming. No problem. Rewind, start again. Don't listen to it at 1.5 or 2 speed, You know, slow things down. You get some good ideas about how you can improve your pitch process if you're trying to raise finance.

And please subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, on iTunes, YouTube, or any player of your choice because these are the kinds of things that we talk about here every other day on the podcast. If you'd love to connect, you can call, send me a text message or WhatsApp message on 08064662140. And for those of you who've been listening for a while, remember that my partners and I have a training covered up on the 12th of January through to the 23rd of January 2026.

We're going to be talking to people about how to sell effectively over the phone. So if you're trying to raise finance and you think that using the phone is going to be an important part of your business journey, connecting with potential investors, setting up meetings with potential investors, building relationships with the potential investors, trying to secure appointments, trying to secure meetings. Who knows, maybe trying to even make a proposal or a presentation over the phone because it's not always that you're going to be able to secure a meeting with your favorite would be investor.

If any of these things are important to you, reach out to me. Let's have a chat. Let's see if this program can help. It's a paid training. And because I don't want to be a fraud, I would like to know you before I collect your money. Ought to know who you are, ought to know what business it is that you're involved in. I want to know your plans for 2026, the problems that you're facing, the goals and the targets that you're trying to hit.

Because I want to make sure that when we step into the classroom, well, the virtual classroom, when we step into the virtual classroom, I want to be sure that the curriculum is going to be able to deliver answers that you need to take you to the promised land in 2026. So thank you very much for listening to the podcast. I'll catch you all some other time.