As a VC, I am frustrated that Powerpoint has become the standard format for presenting a business plan. If there is ever a time not to be "hypnotizing chickens

As a VC, I am frustrated that Powerpoint has become the standard format for presenting a business plan. If there is ever a time not to be "hypnotizing chickens," it's when you're presenting your company for funding. Here's an anecdote to illustrate how ingrained it as become. The other day, a CEO came in to meet with me. He dutifully plugged his laptop into the projector and opened up Powerpoint to page 1 with the company name and date. Then we started talking. Half an hour later, the presentation was still open to the title page. I asked him if he was going to go through the slides. He answered, "Only if you want to, I hate powerpoint." With that, we turned off the projector and had a lively conversation. I mention that story, because it was enlightening (and disappointing) to me that someone who was a great presenter without powerpoint felt compelled to bring a PPT presentation and put it on the projector. PPT is doubly insidious because it makes for poor presentations first, and then second, the content-poor PPT becomes a leave-behind document that tries to stand on its own without the accompanying narration. It's bad enough when it is being spoken to, it's much much worse as a format for a standalone document to be read in isolation. Let me make this suggestion to startups looking for funding and meeting with VCs. The best deliverable is a 4-5 page PDF text document (with accompanying or embedded charts or diagrams where they are critical to illustrating a point). Text forces you to complete your thoughts in way that powerpoint does not. And a text document stands alone much better than a powerpoint and conveys a lot more content in the same volume of print. When you do present, use charts or diagrams to illustrate key points, not as the substance of the presentation. I don't mean to say never use PPT, that's as absurd as saying always use PPT. I recognize that for some people, powerpoint serves as an important guide as they present (a publicly visible form of notes). If you present better with PPT, by all means use it, but don't feel compelled to if you don't want to. And for those that like PPT, I would encourage you to go through the exercise of thinking through how you would present _without_ powerpoint. I think you will find that your presentation improves. You start thinking in whole concepts instead of trying to convey your ideas in bullet points.