Writing For Tech Startups

After creating hundreds of thousands of presentations, Nancy Duarte discovered a framework in 2010 that changed her life. She mapped it over Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech and Steve Jobs introducing the iPhone. Both aligned perfectly. She cried in her office - the pattern she'd been desperate to find was real. See, most founder pitches fail the same way. You stack all the customer pain points at the start, then demo your product at the end. By the time you reach your solution, people have already decided if they're interested. They tuned out at slide 8. Duarte's Sparkline does the opposite. You alternate between “what is” and “what could be” throughout the entire pitch. Pain, solution. Pain, solution. The pattern works because contrast commands attention and open loops create psychological discomfort. The brain needs recurring tension to stay engaged: - MLK toggled between injustice now and "I have a dream" repeatedly. - Jobs contrasted clunky smartphone limitations with iPhone capabilities throughout the 80-minute presentation. - JFK alternated between the US’s space limitations and “we choose to go to the Moon in this decade.” Each toggle made staying in the current state unbearable. The execution: 1. Make your customer the hero by using their exact words Interview five target customers or investors before you build slides. When they describe frustrations, use their language verbatim. This proves you understand their reality before pitching your solution. 2. Paint “what could be” with sensory detail Not better accommodations. Instead: a family arrives in Paris, their Airbnb host left fresh croissants and a handwritten neighborhood guide on the kitchen table. They feel like locals, not tourists. Concrete outcomes stick. Abstract benefits are forgotten. 3. Alternative problem/solution throughout - never batch Pain 1, solution 1, pain 2, solution 2, pain 3, solution 3. Never group all problems then all features. Batching lets investors and customers mentally check out before you finish. 4. End with an immediate next step (24-48 hours) For investors: “By Friday, confirm the partner meeting date and three references you want to call.” For customers: “By tomorrow, send three use cases and I'll record a custom demo by Wednesday.” Make the decision immediate and concrete. Watch for these signals mid-pitch: You're losing them when investors lean back, check phones, or pivot to questions about your burn rate and competition. You're winning when customers interrupt to describe their specific use case, ask about implementation timeline, or want to loop in their team immediately. When every startup in your category has similar features, the pitch that creates unbearable tension wins the round, the sale, and the talent.

How to build premium pitch decks in Lovable 🔥 I've seen a lot of founders and agency owners recently build their slide decks with Lovable, so I created a guide for you to do the same. Here's how it works: 1/ Start by giving Lovable the full picture Before you touch a single slide, tell Lovable who you are, who you're pitching, and what you want them to feel by the end. → Prompt: "I'm building a pitch deck for an early-stage startup pitching seed investors. The tone should feel confident and credible, and the design clean and modern. Let's build it slide by slide." 2/ Set your design system before anything else This is the mistake most people make. They jump straight into content and end up with a deck that looks different on every slide. Spend two minutes on this first. → Prompt: "Define a design system for this deck. Dark background, white text, single accent color. One display font for headlines, one clean font for body copy. Generous spacing throughout." 3/ Build one slide at a time Prompting your entire deck in one go will get you something generic. Build one slide, get it right, then move to the next. You stay in control of the narrative that way. → Prompt: "Now add the next slide. The goal is to clearly explain what we do and why it matters. Should feel simple and compelling." 4/ Use feeling words to shape the vibe Instead of describing layout, describe how the slide should make someone feel. Try words like "cinematic," "editorial," "tactile," "confident," or "bold and ambitious." Add "calm and trustworthy" for investor slides, or "energetic and forward-looking" for a product reveal. 5/ Visualize data instead of listing it Whenever you have numbers, timelines, or comparisons, ask Lovable to make them visual. A wall of bullet points kills momentum in any pitch. → Prompt: "Turn this data into a clean visual. No tables, no bullet points. Easy to scan and hard to ignore." 6/ Make your most important slide impossible to miss: Every deck has one slide that carries the most weight. Don't let it get lost in a busy layout. Give it space to breathe. → Prompt: "This is the most important slide in the deck. Make it feel that way. Bold, spacious, and visually distinct from the rest." 7/ Close with a clear direction Most decks fade out at the end. Give your audience one clear next step instead whatever moves things forward. → Prompt: "Create a closing slide with one clear call to action and our contact details. Confident and direct." 8/ Do a consistency pass before you share Ask Lovable to review the full deck before you send it. It will catch things you've stopped noticing. → Prompt: "Review the full deck for visual consistency and mobile responsiveness. Check spacing, font sizes, and alignment across every slide. Fix anything that feels off." Pro tip: Write prompts like you're briefing your best designer. Give them the intent and the feeling you're after, and leave room for them to surprise you.

7 Science-Backed Principles for Powerful Presentations Most presenters focus on their slides. Top communicators focus on their audience’s brain. 🧠 The psychology of presentations is no longer a mystery. I cover it in the opening chapter in my book Message Machine — “Revealing the hidden psychology of communications.” Here are 7 psychology-based principles that will transform how you present: 1) 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐂𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐞 ↳ Start and end with impact. ↳ People remember the beginning and the end — make those moments count. 2) 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐭-𝐀𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 ↳ Don’t narrate your slides. ↳ Reading text aloud while it’s on-screen splits focus and reduces retention. Use simple visuals to reinforce, not repeat. 3) 𝐃𝐮𝐚𝐥-𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 ↳ Pair your message with meaningful visuals. ↳ The brain processes visuals and audio separately. Used wisely, this boosts clarity — but irrelevant images just distract. 4) 𝐂𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐚𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐲 ↳ Clarity is king. ↳ Every extra word or graphic adds cognitive strain. Trim slides to essentials that your audience can absorb instantly. 5) 𝐆𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 ↳ Design with the brain in mind. ↳ Group elements logically. Consistency, proximity, and alignment help the brain form patterns — and improve recall. 6) 𝐀𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝 “𝐒𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬” ↳ If it doesn’t support your point, cut it. ↳ Fun facts or flashy visuals that don’t serve your message? They dilute impact. 7) 𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐁𝐢𝐚𝐬 ↳ Use conversational language. ↳ Audiences absorb more when your delivery sounds natural. Skip jargon. Speak like a trusted guide. 💬 Which principle do you use most — or want to try next? ♻️ Share this to help your network and follow Oliver Aust to become an elite communicator.

We love technical founders. But their pitch decks read like product roadmaps. If you're moving to the "fundraising" phase, you have to avoid feature-selling. Here are three examples of how investors actually want to see them framed. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢 𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 ❌ What founders say: “Teams rely on manual, ad-hoc, or inefficient legacy processes, creating a massive pipeline bottleneck.” ✅ What founders should say: “AI can create 10,000x more data/code in seconds, but legacy validation suites still scale linearly and shatter constantly under the volume.” 💡 The Lesson: Elevate the stakes. Frame the problem around a macro technological shift or systemic pipeline breakage, not just bad human habits or suboptimal workflows. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙑𝙖𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 ❌ What founders say: “Generic AI wrappers lack real context. Our tool unlocks end-to-end automation. Mixes abstract promises with internal, non-validated operational metrics. ✅ What founders should say: “We compress execution cycles from 48 hours to 4 minutes while maintaining enterprise-grade behaviour tracing.” 💡 The Lesson: Translate software capabilities into undeniable, quantifiable enterprise value: Time, Cost, and Defensibility. 𝙀𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙮 𝙏𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 & 𝙄𝘾𝙋 ❌ What founders say: “We have 5 active pilots ranging from startups to mid-market enterprise teams and agency partners.” Signals an unrefined Ideal Customer Profile and opportunistic feature-selling to anyone with a budget. ✅ What founders should say: “We serve fast-growing e-commerce brands doing $1M–$10M in revenue. Our first 5 customers fit this exact profile, and they are already using our tool to automate 30+ marketing campaigns every week.” 💡 The Lesson: Group early traction by highly strategic customer archetypes rather than a flat, disconnected list. Prove systematic market pull, not lucky, one-off sales. What is the hardest part of translating your pitch into a fundable story?

Being a founder is hard. But you know what’s harder? Asking someone to fund your idea. Pitching for investment isn’t just about numbers or a polished deck It’s about making someone believe in your vision and your ability to deliver. And in today’s funding landscape, getting your pitch right is more important than ever. Here’s why: → UK start-ups raised $2.9 billion in Q3 2024, but most of it went to Series B and C rounds, leaving limited opportunities for early-stage start-ups. → The UK remains Europe’s top VC destination, raising $12.4 billion in 2024 (double the amount secured by Germany or France.) → In Q2 2024, 75% of VC funding went to London-based businesses, highlighting fierce competition for start-ups outside the capital. So how do you stand out? Here’s a quick guide to nailing your pitch: 1. Tell your story Why are you doing this? What problem are you solving? Share it with passion, people fund people, not just ideas. 2. Know your numbers Be ready to explain your market size, business model, CAC, and LTV. Investors trust data-backed pitches. 3. Simplify the problem & solution Make the problem relatable and the solution clear. A demo or real-world example helps investors connect with your idea. 4. Be clear about your ask State how much you’re raising, what it’s for, and what the investor gets in return. Be specific and confident. 5. Tailor your pitch Do your research. Show how your start-up aligns with the investor’s goals. 6. Handle feedback gracefully Rejections are part of the process. Learn from them, adapt, and improve. 7. Practice, but stay authentic Rehearse until it feels natural. Be conversational, it’s about building trust, not just delivering a pitch. In a market where competition is tougher than ever, every detail matters. Your pitch isn’t just a presentation, it’s your shot at making your vision a reality. What’s your top tip for nailing a pitch?

📝 Act 3 Problems: The Surprising Most Common Issue With Startup Pitches There’s an old storytelling saying that goes something like this: > If you have Act 3 problems, you actually have Act 1 problems. If the end of your story is flat, it’s probably because the beginning didn’t do enough to set up the conflict that’s resolved at the end. Take The Lord of the Rings as an example. It ends with Frodo casting the One Ring into Mt. Doom, leading to the defeat of Sauron. Why is this a satisfying ending? Because the entire first movie set it up. It gave you the backstory on the Ring, Sauron, and what will happen if they don’t succeed. The same principle applies to startup pitches. After all, they are stories too, but instead of being about hobbits and magical objects, they’re about the future. Setting the stakes for a startup pitch means effectively communicating what the problem is and why it’s important. If you can’t explain the problem and its significance, no one will care about your solution. Imagine watching The Lord of the Rings but only the final movie. Sure, the big battle would be exciting, but you’d have no idea who this diminutive person is, where they’re going, why they’re carrying a ring that gives them strange visions, or why they’re so desperately trying to throw it into a mountain. 🥰 Things to Do 1. User Perspective – Start from the perspective of your user. Talk about how their current experience is bad or horribly inefficient. Be specific. Explain what’s wrong with the experience, why it matters, and why things are this way. 2. Absurdity – Highlight how crazy it is that we still tolerate doing something a certain way. For example, it’s insane to me that traffic is something we just accept. Millions of people, sitting in mostly empty steel boxes, wasting hours of their lives. Think of the lost human potential! 3. Righting a Wrong – The best startup pitches often feel like crusades. There’s something wrong in the world that shouldn’t be tolerated, and it must be made right. 🙅 Things to Avoid 1. Not Talking About the Problem – Surprisingly, many startups don’t talk about the problem they’re solving at all. This is a missed opportunity to define it for investors, forcing them to guess. 2. Market Size as the Problem – How big the market is doesn’t define the problem. Your market size is dictated by your problem statement, not the other way around. 3. Goal as the Problem – Don’t confuse what you want to achieve with the problem. I often hear startups say something like, “We want to make SMEs more successful.” That’s great, but it’s not a problem statement. Instead, focus on what’s preventing SMEs from being more successful. That’s it. If your startup pitch isn’t resonating with investors, it’s more likely due to how you’re communicating the problem than the solution.

I’ve been coaching a climate tech founder this quarter who reminded me why storytelling matters more than ever in this space. When he first came to me, he had a solid product, sharp science, and a deck full of charts… but absolutely no story about what his company was actually doing for people. So we started with the human side. We talked about the plant managers he’s hired across the country — people who’d spent years in unstable jobs, now earning salaries that allow them to buy homes, support families, and build roots in their communities. We talked about the farmers who rely on his team’s soil technology to grow crops that can survive the heat waves, drought patterns, and unpredictable seasons that have become the new normal. Farmers who used to lose half their yield every summer… now reporting the healthiest, most resilient harvests they’ve ever seen. We talked about the small towns getting cleaner, safer water because his company implemented better treatment protocols, upgraded their filtration systems, or partnered with local agencies to mitigate contamination that had gone ignored for decades. None of this was in his pitch. Not one slide. Not one sentence. But this is the impact. This is the story. This is what climate tech is actually about. When we rebuilt his narrative from the ground up, centering the people who now have better jobs, better soil, better water, and a better future...everything shifted: — His investor conversations opened up — His partnerships expanded — His confidence multiplied — His mission finally felt like the purpose he knew it was Climate tech isn’t just carbon and kilowatt-hours. It’s parents working stable jobs. It’s farmers feeding their communities. It’s families drinking water that won’t make them sick. The data matters, but the people make the story unforgettable. If you’re a founder building toward a big 2026 and you want your narrative to reflect the actual impact you’re making, this is your moment. I’m opening a few more storytelling strategy sessions for climate and impact founders who want: — fundraising storytelling that resonates — investor-ready narratives — human-centered case studies — mission clarity — messaging that moves people to act Your technology is powerful. Your story should be too. 📩 DM me or book directly through my link (in comments) if you’re ready to elevate your narrative before the new year.

It's not fun to have someone pitch you on how they will make your team completely obsolete. A pitch about enhancing human potential is exciting and inspiring. A pitch about workforce replacement? It’s efficient but can feel cold and uninspiring. Framing your product as a tool to supercharge top performers resonates far more with customers than positioning it as a way to reduce headcount. Here’s why this approach works: 🎭 The Emotional Disconnect: While the cost-saving value of reducing headcount is clear, it comes with risks and hesitations for your customers. Managers value their teams and their contributions, and language that focuses on “cutting people out” doesn’t always resonate. 🚀 The Empowering Pitch: Startups that frame their solution as a way to amplify human potential resonate more. Explain how your product supercharges people and teams, showing where humans excel and how your solution can enhance that. 📊 Make It Measurable: This pitch only works if you can clearly articulate how your product achieves these results. Show where team performance stands today, then highlight the tangible impact your product has on productivity, accuracy, or outcomes. 🤝 Augment, Don’t Replace: The most compelling pitches focus on collaboration between people and technology. Position your product as an enabler, not a replacer, creating a narrative that balances human expertise with the power of your solution. When startups can deliver a clear, data-backed vision of how they empower teams to perform at their best, they don’t just resonate - they inspire.

One great presentation can do what multiple applications can't. Over the years, my presentations have earned awards, speaking invitations, and opportunities I never applied for. Most recently, at MAA MathFest 2024, someone from the audience approached me and said: "Your talk was so engaging. You made such a complex topic accessible." On the spot, he invited me to speak to high school students in Chicago. Full expenses paid + speaker fee. Here is the framework I use every single time... (You might want to save this.) 1. Know your audience before you make a single slide → Kids? Public? Policy makers? Academics? → Your job is to design your talk to suit them. → Picture one person in the audience, let's call them "Bola." 2. Map out the entire talk first → Write the takeaway from each slide in one sentence. → Connect each slide logically to the next. → Ask yourself: Will Bola digest this information? 3. Ditch the jargon → Would Bola understand this? → If not, go back to the drawing board. → Use simple, plain English. 4. Make it visual → One message per slide. Big font. Bullet points. → Use visuals or illustrations instead of text (if possible.)  → The moment your audience starts reading your slides, you've lost them. 5. Practice as you build each slide → After creating each slide, ask: What will I say here? → This reveals what to add, remove, or fix as you go. → Once done, practice the full presentation again. 6. Never read off your slides during delivery → Deliver like you're telling a story. → Everything on screen is just supporting visuals. → Know your slides inside out. Keep eye contact. 7. Use your body language intentionally → Don't stare at the ceiling, ground, or stand frozen. → Your movement and energy speak louder than words. → This automatically communicates confidence and authority. Great presentations aren’t about showing how smart you are. They’re about making your audience feel something... curiosity, clarity, and inspiration. That’s what makes you memorable. And that’s what opens doors. --- PS: What's ONE thing that's helped you improve your presentations? PPS: Want to see this framework in action? Link to the Chicago talk is in the comments. ♻️ REPOST if this was useful. Thanks!

The worst pitch decks don’t fail because of bad ideas. They fail because of poor storytelling. Healthtech founders often think investors will “get it” if they just see their tech. Spoiler - they won’t. If your STORY isn’t clear, your pitch won’t land. Here’s how you can simplify it: 1. Start with the why, not the what Don’t lead with product features. Start with a real pain point investors can feel, not just understand. 2. Ditch the jargon If they can’t repeat what you do in one line, you’ve lost them. Say: “We help doctors detect cancer 3x faster” Not: “AI-powered clinical decision support system.” 3. Let numbers do the talking Don't claim your product is impactful - prove it. Instead of saying "We're improving patient outcomes," say "Reduced patient readmissions by 25% in 3 months." 4. Make your business model obvious Investors want returns. Who pays? How do you scale? Show the path to profit early - don’t hide it in slide 15. 5. Close with a vision, not just an ask Skip the boring close. Say: “We’re building a future where every patient gets the right treatment - starting with 500 hospitals in 2 years.” The best pitch decks aren’t just data dumps. They’re stories. And the founders who master storytelling don’t just raise money. They build category-defining companies. If an investor only remembers one thing from your pitch, what would it be? #startups #funding #founders #healthtech