It recently came to my attention that a team was presenting me along with my photo in their fundraising deck, unbeknownst to me.

This wasn’t the first time something like this has happened, and it probably will not be the last.  Since this is clearly not a one-off event, it struck me as relevant to dedicate a blog post on this behavior as a word of caution to others.

Two significant problems can arise from such practice.

The first has not really ever been a problem for me, but I can understand how it could annoy other victims of this practice who are in a different situation. By citing an individual in your pitch deck, you are trading on their reputation. If the individual in question has wholeheartedly agreed to this, that’s one thing. But when you do this in full transparency without prior approval, you are borrowing the goodwill of their reputation without their blessing. Best case, the victim may perceive this as mildly annoying. Worst case, it puts them in a difficult situation with direct consequences on their professional standing. Take, for instance, an individual who works in a tightly regulated sector, such as a bank, where potential conflicts of interest are sensitively controlled. By citing such an individual in your pitch deck, whether you’re a startup or even an aspiring fund, you may inadvertently compromise the individual in a way which results in them being sanctioned or fired.

“In such an extreme event we could simply clarify the situation and apologize,“ you might be thinking. The trouble with this logic is that the opportunity for clarification and apologies does not always present itself. I’ve witnessed situations where firms operating in jurisdictions with strict labor laws that are in need of downsizing are receptive to any elements which might help build a case for a layoff.

So you’ve probably alienated a potential ally, and possibly much worse.

Another problem with this practice is that it usually backfires. You include a person in your deck in order to boost your bona fides. But what happens if a reader of your deck happens to contact the individual in question ?

This has happened to me on three occasions I can think of. In each case, the perpetrators (two were startups; one was an aspiring first-time fund), had included my name and photo in their pitch deck with the best of intentions. Yet rather than requesting my permission to do this or even warning me in advance, I found out about it from third parties who had reached out to me. I did my best to play along, but it was impossible to fully disguise my surprise. Moreover, I was not going to mislead people into investing under the false impression that I was deeply involved with the given projects. The various teams’ fundraising objectives were undermined as a result.

In startup culture, where agility and unbridled ambition are core values, asking for forgiveness instead of asking for permission often represents a badge of honor. However, like all axioms, there are no extremes. Context matters. Sometimes failing to ask for permission can have dire consequences.