This week, a founder wanted feedback on her sales pitch deck, so I sat in on her pitch. The company has hundreds of thousands in revenue from enterprise clients and product–market fit. The pitch deck was visually impressive, and the value proposition made sense. But I noticed a glaring problem with her pitch: her messaging wasn’t clear. Specifically, when I asked questions, it became apparent that the problem she’s solving is slightly different than what’s in her sales pitch. So the pitch isn’t as effective as it could be.

You might be thinking that your messaging and your sales pitch are the same, but they’re not. Your messaging is a clear articulation of what problem you solve, how you solve it, and why your audience should care. It quickly explains why your company exists and how it adds value. Having a clear message is important because it becomes the basis of lots of critical fundamentals of the company: the recruiting pitch, the investor pitch, the sales pitch, etc. Without clarity, everything built on top of the messaging is less effective, which is what this founder is experiencing.

I think there’s something to be said for founders working on their messaging independently, before beginning to use it in other collateral. Many founders start working on their messaging when they begin building a pitch for investors or customers. But I think messaging is so critical that founders should get clarity on it far in advance of building a pitch. They should clarify their messaging to gain clarity in their minds. If a founder has clarity on the messaging, they’re more confident, which permeates everything else they do. It makes many other facets of company building easier (not easy). For example, it’s easier to close deals with customers, recruit the right talent, and raise growth capital from investors.