April 1, 2026

Dos and Don’ts for Biotech Investor Presentations

Biotech investor presentations fail far more often on basics than on science. Most problems are self-inflicted, easily avoidable, and entirely predictable.

Below is a simplified set of do’s and don’ts that every public biotech management team should internalize. None of this is theoretical. It’s based on what actually works in front of real investors.

This blog follows on from our previously published article, “What Is a Biotech Investor Presentation? What Is It Not? And Which Presentation Theories Apply?”

Investor Presentation Don’ts:

1. Don’t include photos of your staff (outside of your management slide).

Photos of scientists in lab coats look friendly, but they age badly. Staff attrition is inevitable, and every departure creates a maintenance problem. Avoid the liability entirely.

• Don’t use garish color combinations.

If your slides are visually aggressive, investors will focus on the design rather than the data. Any competent graphics team can select a restrained palette that lets the content do the work.

• Don’t include videos.

They often fail, bloat file sizes, cost real money, and become outdated quickly. If your story only works with a video, your story isn’t ready.

• Don’t use a laser pointer.

You’re not giving a lecture. If you can’t verbally direct an audience to where information sits on a slide, you’re not prepared to present. Laser pointers are a crutch, not a prop.

• Don’t say you’re undervalued.

Relative valuation slides versus peers – or worse, past acquisitions – make management look naïve. If the mispricing were obvious, the market would already have fixed it. Talk instead about how you plan to create value and what catalysts are coming.

• Do not refer to your company’s enterprise value (EV).

EV assumes excess cash can be used in an acquisition of the company. In biotech, cash funds trials and regulatory work. Treating it as surplus is intellectually dishonest, and investors know it.

• Don’t reference covering analysts, price targets, or recommendations.

Repeating an analyst’s call appropriates proprietary investment advice that belongs to the bank and is intended solely for its clients.

• Don’t read the slides.

Investors can read. Your job is to explain, contextualize, and emphasize.

Investor Presentation Dos:

• Do refresh your deck regularly.

Every couple of years is reasonable, and immediately after a material inflection point. Many companies time this around the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in mid-January – which can be sensible if the content has actually changed.

1. Do invest appropriately in design.

Good design costs money. Bad design costs credibility. Treat it as a capital markets investment, not a cosmetic luxury.

1. Do choose colors deliberately.

White or off-white backgrounds remain the default, largely for historical reasons. If you deviate, do so consistently. Watch out for logos with white borders – they constrain everything downstream.

1. Do choose your logo carefully.

It will live in your deck, press releases, conference booths, and filings for years. If you decide to rebrand, do it early in your corporate life. The colors in your logo dictate the color palette for all your future messaging, so stick to the basics (red, white, and blue – there’s a reason flags default to those colors) and don’t paint yourself into a pastel or paisley corner.

1. Do vary your delivery when presenting.

Monotone presentations signal low conviction. Emphasis signals importance. Enthusiasm is contagious, as is yawning at the other end of the spectrum.

1. Do pause for emphasis.

Silence conveys confidence and gives investors time to absorb information. Oral pauses can also function like divider slides or palate cleansers.

1. Do project mastery of your subject.

Know your data, assumptions, and risks cold. Confidence comes from preparation. Research your peers ahead of Q&A (which will undoubtedly touch upon them) and be prepared to talk about and around your company in a calm and collected manner.

1. Do make eye contact.

Especially in smaller meetings. It builds trust and makes a presentation feel more like a conversation.

1. Do use the Q&A session to persuade.

Questions are opportunities to reinforce your thesis. Thank the questioner – but not every time, or it becomes performative. Answer the question if you want to but make sure to always also make the point you want to make. Is there a deeper issue here that the questioner is dancing around? What question should your counterpart have asked?

1. Do update your deck as your investment thesis evolves.

When changes – individually or collectively – contain material information, file the updated presentation as an 8-K. Your deck is a disclosure document, not just a sales tool. Feel free to make non-material changes, however, as necessary until their collective weight necessitates a new filing.