What goes in a pitch deck’s “appendix”?

Every founder is deathly afraid of leaving important information out of their pitch deck. And it’s understandable why.

When you’re selling something, you don’t know which feature is going to excite the customer most. You want to highlight all of the problems your product solves, but you don’t want to overcomplicate it. 

Talking to investors can feel the same - you want to share every little detail about your company that might be exciting to them, but you need to keep it simple. 

That’s where this magical thing called an appendix comes in. 

The appendix is every slide after the last slide of your pitch deck.

For most people, that “last slide” is the ask/raise slide or the “thank you” slide. It’s the slide that clearly shows the story is over - you explained the problem you’re solving, how you’re solving it, who your team is, what you’re raising, etc.

Now, after that slide, you can put a very simple slide that just says “Appendix”.

Then, after that slide, in this “appendix”, you add ANY information you think the investor should have.

Add specific numbers you didn’t get to share, add some backstory, add more detailed GTM plans – add whatever is important to you. 

No need to be short and sweet - this can be as many slides as you want.

The point is that investors know there’s a place where they can do a deeper dive on your company, and access more information that isn’t publicly available.

Some won’t look at it. In fact, most probably won’t. But there will be investors who have specific questions that weren’t answered in the main part of the deck, and who will go looking for those answers in the appendix.

And to be clear, you don’t need to have an appendix. But if you’re someone who has what we call FOLO (Fear Of Leaving Out), this is a great way to make sure all the information that’s important—but not essential—gets into investors’ hands. 

Best,

Nathan