I continue to be amazed that perfectly smart entrepreneurs can get 15, 20, 30 minutes into a pitch without introducing themselves or their team. Earlier this week we had yet another couple of experienced entrepreneurs run through their latest, greatest idea and not introduce themselves until their very last slide. Jeez. Even my waiter at Denny's starts off with "Hi. I'm Dawn and I'll be your server." It's not a bad model. "Hi. I'm Dawn and I'm a serial entrepreneur."
It just seems like common sense to me that you'd start off with your backgrounds and move on from there. Entrepreneurs are the context around which great companies are built. Its important to know that you've built a great company before, or have been part of a dramatic failure in the space and learned from it, or are the leading expert in some fundamental technology, or have massive domain expertise in the area you're seeking to reengineer, or are a good friend of a good friend of mine, or . . . . All of that stuff matters. And it will inform the rest of your presentation.
So next time you're creating that PowerPoint, start with who the hell are you. It will save me interrupting and saying "so can you give me your background?"