Yes, it is fine -- and we encourage -- not showing a pitch deck.
Why? Because our whole approach to fundraising is to cater the pitch to the investor. To have a thin pitch and a thick appendix so you can jump to things an investor is interested in, and avoid those things that might be red flags for the investor.
The downside of sharing a pitch deck is that they may cancel the meeting after reviewing the pitch deck -- and you won't understand why. Or they may share with a competitor.
The only need for a pitch deck -- in our opinion -- is to have the investor make a decision if they want to take a meeting or to give context to another partner about the opportunity and have them come into the meeting.
You can fulfill these needs by providing 3 paragraphs in email -- or a quick one page summary -- of the opportunity. Highlight any compelling points about the business in these paragraphs to compel them to meet -- including the team, market, product, and traction.
If asked, here are some ways to respond as to why you can't share a pitch deck:
* As a rule, we don't share pitch decks via email as we've found that it's important for us to explain the context in person, and much of the material is confidential. We understand the need for context on the opportunity and are providing some background info at the end of this email you can use/forward to your team.
* Kris Duggan was the master at this. He would simply say, "We don't have a pitch deck. We have a customer deck as we are just focused right now on customers. I can send that to you -- and see it below." (And he would attach a simple deck just going over the Pain & Vision & Team slides).
A minority of VC's will hold a religious line and require one. Know that these VC's often are the same ones that will be forwarding your pitch decks to others to review, including their portfolio companies sometimes.
If you must send a thin deck, then we suggest you DocSend enable it to see who’s reading through it.