The Official Blurb
A podcast where Entrepreneurs, Angel Investors, and VC’s share their funding stories, give their best advice, and inspire us to go for it! Host: Mr. Gavin McCulley
Our Take
Think of Pitch Deck like the Home Depot of fundraising for your startup; it feels like the “You Can Do It, We Can Help” tagline applies here too. The Pitch Deck is kind of like that friend who made it big, and is more than willing to sit down and talk to you over a drink ,and tell you all of their secrets of success … If you actually had that friend (which let’s face it, not a lot of us do). The Pitch Deck is also focused on, well … pitching and fundraising as the name indicates. It appears that the main focus of it is the series of podcasts that are mini-interviews with different experts; a talk show for startups in a way. Some of their experts are people like Jeffrey Finkle, Angel Investor and Coach (which happens to be the one I listened to since it was the first one on the list); Jose Cayasso, CEO/Co-Founder of SlideBean; Drew Taylor, CEO/Co-Founder of AstroPrint; and Mark Peter Davis, Venture Capitalist, just to name a few. They have a presence on all of the mainstream social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, the iTunes store – and seem to be doing a pretty good job keeping up with it all.
Side Note: I could also write an entire review on the actual podcast that I listened to with Jeffrey Finkle, but I won’t. Just trust me that it’s worth listening to. You can find it here.
What We Love
We all want that one friend that knows everything about something; that one expert that we can talk to when we need to have a question answered that’s not really Googleable (yeah, just made that word up.) The Pitch Deck is where it’s at. They’re providing that friend to you, in a controlled-environment sort of way, and we think that’s awesome. They even have a button on their website that gives you a chance to ask a question (since we didn’t submit a question, not sure how the response rate is, but maybe they can fill us in on that part).
I also really liked the podcast, and frankly, I’m not a podcast kind of person. One of the reasons I liked it so much was because Gavin (I’m assuming that’s who the interviewer was) has the kind of voice that’s made for podcasts, radio, and anywhere else that other people are going to be listening to him talk. He doesn’t stumble, his voice is strong and confident, and it’s not painful to listen to like some other people I’ve heard speak before. There’s a lot to be said about having a great stage presence, even if that stage is virtual.
The same goes for his tone. He was conversational, and I actually felt like I was having coffee with these guys rather than listening to an official podcast. In fact, Gavin made a comment during the podcast that he was “scribbling down notes … that’s a good one, that’s a good one”, and it reminded me less of a formal interview and more of a casual conversation. He also ended the interview with a comment for his listeners. He said “I’m here if you need me, now go out and crush it”. Awesome. I think I found my new best friend.
What We Don’t Love
Honestly, there’s a not a lot to talk about here (See the expanded “What We Love” notes above; I’m kind of gushing like a teenager up there).
But, true to Startup Review form, there are a couple of things that I want to include.
The first one would be the lack of a Press page or an About Us page that includes a downloadable logo (or any page really, that would contain a downloadable logo meant for public consumption). Hence, the gray box on our feature page. We need a logo, guys! On that same note, the one-liner that’s included in the Official Blurb section was kind of hard to find (in Internet speak, that means it took a few clicks). I couldn’t find it anywhere on the actual Pitch Deck website, and had to click through to their Facebook page instead; although their website does have a great bio for Gavin. Also not a huge fan of the popup that appears when you first open the page; I see the reason behind it, but it feels a little gimmicky.
The second small point is that, while the tone of the interview was relaxed, well-thought out, and prepared, the inflection was a little over-zealous at some points, as if we had just created world peace. That comes with a caveat though. In the world of interviews, communications, and tone, I am always, always (always!) going to vote for over-excited versus underwhelmed. Every. Single. Time. So, it’s a valid point, but nothing to be overly concerned about.
Links-A-Lot
Want more Pitch Deck? Find them here:
The official Pitch Deck website
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