I still meet a lot of founders who don’t know how to use a pitch deck’s appendix. Here’s a quick breakdown of what the appendix is and some ground rules to making yours: The appendix is a big collection of slides after the main body of your pitch deck. These slides cover the more detailed information you couldn’t fit in the deck. That can be stuff like longer founder stories, more in-the-weeds GTM plans, numbers like LTV/CAC, ROAS, unit economics, or really whatever you think investors might value. And it can pretty much be as many slides as you want. Investors will almost never read the whole thing - they’ll look for the one or two slides that have the info they want. The best part about the appendix is that it’s the ultimate cure for FOLO (Fear Of Leaving Out). For info you want to include in your deck that’s too dense, you can just throw it in the appendix. So if you currently don’t have an appendix, open up your pitch deck, go to the last slide, add one slide after it that says “Appendix” (like a title-style slide), then put as much info as you want after that slide. #startups #founders #VC #venture #tech #fundraising #pitchdeck #pitch
Robert, spot on about the appendix being the cure for FOLO. I’d add that how a founder structures the appendix also signals something deeper. Whether they’ve thought rigorously about their unit economics, scalability, and go-to-market. Even if an investor only flips to one slide, the quality of what’s there tells you a lot about the discipline behind the business.
Exactly! Clean deck, smart backup.
Robert Harary Think of the appendix as your investor insurance policy: nobody reads it cover to cover, but everyone’s relieved it’s there when they need it.
Great advice, Robert Harary The appendix is such an underrated yet powerful part of a pitch deck. It not only helps founders showcase depth and preparedness but also gives investors the flexibility to dive deeper where it matters most.
Gotcha Robert Harary is it something that we put on the pitchdeck and don’t present? Or maybe if there’s extra time in the pitch presentation we can start going into the appendix? Would love to connect and hear feedback on my current pitch and pitchdeck.
The FOLO analogy is perfect. Too many pitch decks are flooded with noise, trying to cover everything upfront. Keep the main deck light and focused, then jam-pack the appendix with all the technical details for when investors want to dig deeper. Is there a practical limit on appendix length, or is it really just 'as much as you need?
Okay. Going to update my pitch deck.
Great insight! I can imagine that the first impression of opening a 40 slide pitch deck can be mitigated if the title says something like 10 slides + Appendix or something like that. 😅