Investors love seeing numbers, but here’s a secret: don’t include any financial forecasts in the pitch deck. The reason? Investors will pick holes in this part of the deck, often using these numbers to colour their view of your business.

🗿 What are the potential pitfalls:

• Low growth: Investors might think you're not ambitious enough.

• High growth: They could label you as over-optimistic.

• Profitability timing: Whether too early or too late, it may not align with their expectations.

Consider your pitch deck like a first date. You wouldn’t discuss your finances on the first meeting. So keep those financial projections till later. If an investor asks, have a slide in the appendix; you can likely go deeper in a follow-up.

🏹 If you must include forecasts:

• Show venture-scale growth: Demonstrate a way to reach $100-200 million in revenue in five years.

• Add benchmarking: Align your projections with industry benchmarks.

• Keep it high level: don’t include detailed tables; show gross figures, revenue projections, key metrics, expected profit.

• Expansion levers: Highlight your growth strategies and key drivers.