At Keiretsu Forum, we host multiple events every month to spotlight innovative early-stage companies ready to raise and scale up. Before they take the stage, the companies go through our Deal Screening process, where they receive valuable insights from our investor members who ask tough questions, challenge assumptions, and help the entrepreneurs sharpen their narrative.
After seeing hundreds of decks pass through this process, we have seen certain patterns emerge. Some mistakes show up again and again, regardless of industry or business stage, and cost the company's credibility and momentum.
Here are three of the most common ones, and exactly how to fix them.
1. Leading With the Product Instead of the Problem
We get it, you've built something you're proud of, and you want to show it off. But jumping straight into features and functionality before the investor understands why the problem matters is one of the fastest ways to lose the room.
When you lead with the product, you're asking investors to care about a solution before they've felt the pain. Flip the order. Open with the problem in a way that's relatable and specific. Put a number on it. Show us who's suffering and what it's costing them. By the time you reveal your solution, investors should already be leaning in, quietly hoping someone has figured this out.
The fix is simple: spend more time on fixing the problem slide. If investors leave your pitch remembering the problem, your solution will stick with them too.
2. Financials That Raise More Questions Than They Answer
Nothing signals inexperience faster than a financial slide that looks like it was reverse-engineered from a "we want to be a $1B company" ambition. We've seen five-year projections that go from $200K in revenue to $47M with very little explanation of how that bridge gets built.
Our investor members aren't looking for perfection; they're looking for logic. They want to see that you understand your unit economics, that your assumptions are grounded in something real, and that you've thought through what it actually takes to grow.
The fix: walk us through your assumptions out loud. Show the inputs: customer acquisition cost, average contract value, churn, and sales cycle length. The model doesn't need to be flawless, but it does need to be defensible. Investors support entrepreneurs who understand their numbers, not those who present them with little idea of what's good and what's bad.
3. A Team Slide That Lists Titles Instead of Telling a Story
Your team slide is not a LinkedIn summary. Listing "10 years in finance" or "formerly at Google" without connecting that experience to why this team wins in this market is a missed opportunity.
What investors want to know is: why are you the right people to solve this specific problem? What have you done that makes this less of a bet?
The fix: reframe your team slide around relevant proof points. Did you live the problem firsthand? Have you built and sold a company before? Do you have relationships that give you an unfair distribution advantage? Make the dots easy to connect.
Final Thoughts
At Keiretsu Forum, our Deal Screening process exists precisely to help entrepreneurs catch these things before they're in front of a room full of investors. The companies that take that feedback seriously and come back sharper always make the strongest impressions at our Chapter Meetings.
If your deck can clearly articulate the problem, present a credible market opportunity, and demonstrate meaningful traction, you're already ahead of the curve.