🚀 Breaking the myth 14 🚫 – Let’s break it once and for all.
By Jack-Hermann NTOKO FintechTech Afro Entrepreneur | +18 Years in Financial Services | Stanford University Entrepreneurship & Innovation (2019) | Passionate about Africa’s transformation through business, financial ecosystems, people, and technology.
✅ 🧠 The truth? Execution, Traction, and Team speak louder than slides.
🧭 From decks to deals: A wake-up call
As an Afro-tech entrepreneur based in Europe, with 18 years of experience in financial services and startup board advisor/mentor, I’ve seen this myth 14 play out countless times.
Young founders, especially from emerging markets, pour endless hours even weeks into crafting “investor-ready” decks with sleek designs, animations, and buzzwords. They hit “send” to a VC inbox, expecting money to follow. But often, the response is silence. Or worse rejection.
Let me be blunt: a pitch deck does not raise money. It opens the door. But what convinces an investor to walk through and write a check is your traction, execution capability, and the team behind it.
🚪The pitch deck: door opener, not the whole house
Let’s not completely dismiss pitch decks. They are important. They help investors get a first impression. But that’s just what it is a first impression.
A deck is your trailer. The movie better be worth watching.
Great design can help communicate your idea clearly, especially in a noisy funding landscape. But design without substance is like a house with golden paint and no foundation.
Too many entrepreneurs mistake form for function. They believe:
- “If I use Silicon Valley templates, I’ll look serious.”
- “If my graphics are premium, I’ll attract investors.”
- “If I polish my vision slide, my lack of traction won’t matter.”
The truth? Investors see through this. They’ve reviewed thousands of decks. They can spot fluff in seconds.
💡 What really gets funded: The core ingredients
After reviewing and advising dozens of startups and working on both sides of the funding table; I’ve learned what truly gets attention and capital.
🔧 1. Execution capability
Your ability to make things happen not just talk about them is what sets you apart.
- What have you done with little or no funding?
- Have you launched an MVP?
- Do you have paying customers or user growth?
- Have you recruited a solid team?
🚨 If all you have is an idea and a gorgeous slide deck, you’re asking investors to bet on thin air.
📈 2. Traction
Investors want to see signs of market validation:
- Revenue, even small
- User adoption
- Partnerships
- Press coverage
- Client testimonials
Even if you’re pre-revenue, traction can take many forms. Show what you’ve done with limited resources.
🚨« Traction is the loudest voice in the pitch room louder than your slides. »
👥 3. The Team
Ideas are cheap. Execution is everything. And execution depends on people.
VCs are often backing the founders more than the idea. Ask yourself:
- Have I built a team that complements my skill set?
- Are we passionate but also competent?
- Can we adapt and survive pivots?
🚨A “dream team” with an okay deck will beat a lone founder with a beautiful one.
📉 The slide illusion: When design overshadows substance
Let’s take a real example.
I once mentored a founder from West Africa who built a deck that looked like it came from a top-tier Silicon Valley startup. It was beautiful. Everything animated. It had vision. Big numbers. Clean UI mockups.
But when we dug in:
- No MVP
- No team yet
- Market sizing pulled from thin air
- No user interviews
They were “raising $300K pre-seed.”
The truth is, form doesn’t substitute for function.
It reminded me of what I call the “Silicon Mirage” making something look global before it’s truly been tested locally.
🚨You cannot outsource the hard work of validating your business model to Canva.
🚀 What actually impresses Investors: Even with an average deck
Let’s flip the story.
Another founder I worked with had a very modest deck. It was clear, clean, but nothing flashy.
But their execution was incredible:
- Bootstrapped their way to several thousands of users
- Built 2 pilot partnerships with local cooperatives
- Recruited a co-founder with deep sector expertise
- Revenue was small but growing every month
Guess what? They closed a $500K seed round in 8 weeks.
🚨Because when investors asked, “What have you done so far?” they didn’t point to a pitch deck. They pointed to real-world traction and they had ME « lol »
« Investors don’t fund your slides. They fund your capacity to deliver. »
🗺️ African founders & the pitch deck trap
This myth 14 is especially dangerous in the African startup context.
Because funding is harder to access, many founders think they need to over-polish the presentation to compensate. They add Silicon Valley lingo, hype up the addressable market, or inflate valuation expectations trying to impress.
But global investors are not blind. They want substance over sparkle.
🙅🏾♂️ The risk:
- Overpromising leads to mismatched expectations
- Misaligned pitch signals lack of market understanding
- Local impact gets drowned in international buzzwords
What African founders need to realize is: You don’t need to look like a Bay area startup. You need to prove you can win in your own backyard.
✍🏾 My personal reflection: What I’ve learned doing it my business partner and I
In my journey through financial services, entrepreneurship, and innovation, I’ve seen companies that raised millions collapse, and bootstrapped founders build empires.
I’ve mentored African startups who landed investor meetings, nailed the story, but were rejected for lack of execution. And I’ve seen humble founders raise rounds because their traction did the talking.
My advice to founders:
- Your deck is not your startup.
- Use design to communicate, not to cover up.
- Focus on making real progress every week, every month, every year.
- Build relationships long before you need capital.
🚨If investors believe in you, they’ll forgive an average deck. But even the best-designed slides won’t save a weak business.
🧭 What to do instead: A founder’s checklist
Here’s how to move beyond the pitch deck obsession:
✅ 1. Start with users, not Investors
- Test your product with real people
- Gather feedback before seeking money
✅ 2. Document execution milestones
- Monthly growth
- Learning loops
- Product iteration
✅ 3. Build an investable team
- Co-founders with skin in the game
- Complementary skills
- Shared long-term vision
✅ 4. Use the deck to Translate, Not Sell
- Let your deck explain your business
- Your business should be convincing on its own
✅ 5. Stay humble, Stay consistent
- Fundraising is a process, not an event
- Investors track consistency over time
🧨 Build, don’t bluff.
A great pitch deck can get you a meeting. But a great company gets funded whether the slides are pretty or not.
The investor community, especially in Africa, is maturing fast. They want founders who show grit, learn fast, and ship often.
So, build your traction before your transitions. Hire your team before you highlight your vision. Execute. Learn. Repeat.
The funding will follow.
