The human side of storytelling ...

Most decks never get the benefit of a voice.

They’re read alone - by an investor on a plane, a lender from their desk, or someone half-distracted by everything else they have to do that day. You don’t get to explain, charm, or clarify. All you have is what’s on the page.

That’s why connection matters.

The best decks read like they were built by someone who understands what it’s like to be on the other side - someone who knows that people skim, pause, and decide in seconds whether to keep reading. You can feel when a deck respects your attention. It flows. It connects.

After building hundreds upon hundreds of decks that raise funds, I’ve found the ones that get read all the way are the ones where everything makes sense.

What people actually respond to.

A good deck earns attention in a few ways. It feels easy to read, it holds interest, it builds trust, it stays relevant, and it leaves a quiet sense of confidence at the end. Clarity brings comfort, rhythm keeps attention, balance builds trust, relevance makes it matter, and confidence follows when everything feels right.

That chemistry doesn’t come from one element. It’s the sum of them. When those parts move in sync, the deck reads effortlessly.

How trust reads on a page.

Trust is texture, in a way. You can sense it in the way a deck looks, sounds, and carries itself.

It’s the power of a beautiful design, the confidence of language that doesn’t try too hard, and the steadiness of financials that hold up under a glance. Together they send one signal: this makes sense.

You don’t earn trust through flash or flourish. You earn it through proportion, when each part of the proposition does its part well.

Storytelling isn’t theater.

When I talk about storytelling, I don’t mean drama or exaggeration. I mean giving a financial proposition a path to travel - a sequence that makes the reader feel guided, not sold to.

Every deck has an emotional arc, even if it’s subtle. Get that rhythm right, and people follow every time.

The human filter.

Investors and lenders make decisions with financial logic (for the most part), but they interpret logic through instinct. They’ll say they’re data-driven, but they read energy first. The propositions that feel grounded and believable are the ones that let logic and emotion meet.

That’s the sweet spot - when your story looks sharp on screen, and feels steady in tone. You don’t need to overstate anything. You just need to make sure nothing wobbles.

Closing thought.

Behind every chart, paragraph, and design choice is a single question: Do I trust what I’m seeing?

That’s what the best propositions answer quietly, through their balance, their care, their coherence.

Because in the end, connection is about how every part of it works together to make belief feel easy.

We don’t write to go viral. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already heard of Decksadu. These essays are simply a place to think out loud - about the art of turning ideas into funds that help extraordinary people build exceptional businesses.