PITCH THINKING #6: The ‘flick test’

Tl;dr: Learn the flick test. Something investors do without being aware of doing when reviewing your pitch deck.

Pitch deck thinking course outline

You are now on part six of the pitch deck thinking course. Keep it up buddy!

If you can’t face them all at once, you can join the course and get these sent straight to your mailbox here:

The ‘flick test’

In the last session, we went into detail about how to approach writing your deck. We know the importance of the narrative, but there is a test for it.

The test is the ‘flick test.’

There may be another term for it, but this is what I have termed it.

This blog is a short version. If you want to read about this in more detail, click here: Pitch deck flick test.

What is the flick test

Open up your deck and every 5 seconds press down. You have 5 seconds to read each slide of the deck. If at the end of the deck you can explain what the company does and why it is interesting you pass.

A VC spends on average 2 minutes reviewing a pitch deck. That’s it! Seriously. They aren’t spending the 2 hours your think they are. 2 fricking minutes.

If you want feedback from a friend or contact, make them take the flick test. Give them 2 minutes to review the deck, no more. Then get them to explain what you do and why it is interesting.

Why the flick test matters

You wrote a deck for a reason, right? You have a goal in mind and that goal is cash in the bank from someone awesome.

We played a game about what it is like to be an investor, so put that hat back on again.

Go through your deck and apply the flick test.

Is your awesomeness shining through?
Could someone truly understand what it is you do!
Would they understand the magnitude of the opportunity, why now is the right time, why you are the team to do it?

Do you want to get your own wallet out? Would you allow your parents to mortgage their house on this?

Do you pass the flick test?

The key thing to pass the flick test

What’s the first thing you read on a slide?

The title, right? So ensure you are telling the story through the title!

This is a template title from the pitch deck template, but it’s easy to read and gets the point across right? You can pass through the light bulb moments really quickly. Make sure you do this on each slide.