Success Story: From Dressed Up to Credible

When I first met the founder, he was just launching his AI pathology startup.


In our meeting, his main concern was how to compete with startups that already had hype among investors. He believed that what was missing is visual polish.
He wanted a slick, premium-looking deck.


Eventually, he hired a graphic designer who did exactly what he asked.
The result looked impressive.
But when he started meeting investors, it didn’t work.

Dressed Up vs. Credible

I understood how his belief formed.
With a focus on technology and science, he saw design as neutral - detached from the underlying information.
It was just “dressing.”

While it’s true that visuals are the entry point to investors’ judgment, it doesn’t end there.
When visuals and content don’t share the same narrative, tone, and rhythm, the result feels not credible.
Investors feel the mismatch even if they can’t explain it.

A few weeks later, he reached out to me again - and we’ve been working together ever since.

Narrative Before Visual, Always

A better way to think about visuals is tailoring.


You want the one suit that fits you best - your physique, your character, your values.
In a pitch, the visual layer should be a seamless extension of the narrative underneath.
Otherwise, you end up with a “salesman’s suit” - where overdressing hurts credibility.

The process always starts the same way: I don’t dress slides; I dig underneath them to find the narrative the founder actually lives in.
The goal is to uncover what’s truly unique - and only then think about how to express it.

Here’s an example.
Instead of going along with his initial stats-and-numbers game, I asked, “What makes you think you can actually win against other competitors?”
He said the problem of deciphering pathology with AI resembled what he’d been doing for 20 years in an army intelligence unit — using tech to analyze vast amounts of visual data to detect patterns.

That was it.
He wasn’t a newcomer competing with established players - he was an expert bringing a proven set of skills from one high-stakes domain into another.
It was credible, memorable, and impossible for anyone else to claim.

Once the narrative was clear, it became easy to visualize in a compelling way — satellite images collaged with biopsy slides, instantly memorable.
The whole pitch followed that same process.


It still met his original ask - stylish and elegant - but this time it made an impact, because it was credible.

Results

1. Tangible success
 The company’s first seed round raised $5 million.
Since then, it has completed several rounds - totaling over $60 million and counting.


   
   

2. Time and energy saved
 In the early days, the founder would arrive with a fully built deck - dozens of slides already structured in his head.
For the last funding round, he showed up with a single page of notes - just the core narrative he wanted to convey.
 We built the structure around that story and only then filled in the supporting details.
That shift in thinking now saves him enormous time and mental load.
He passed this approach on to his team as well, who worked with me to create client pitches for complex product ideas - even before the products existed - to test the waters without expending unnecessary effort.


   
   

3. Personal impact
 Over time, the founder became more flexible in how he communicates - reconnecting with the creativity that was always there.
He became skilled at adjusting his presentations to fit different audiences and circumstances.
Instead of treating the pitch as something fixed, he now sees it as a living thing - updating the vision as facts and priorities shift, and staying agile amid technological disruption.

Reflection

Most founders think they need a better deck.
What they really need is a way to show what they believe — clearly and credibly.