What to do after you send a pitch deck.

What can you actually know after sending?

More than you might think, and less than you might hope. For each reader, a tracked link can show you:

• whether they opened it, when, and how many times they came back
• which pages they read, how long they were active on each and how far they scrolled
• where they stopped
• new readers appearing on the same link when it is shared further
• what they asked, if they asked on the page
• the device, the reading language and an approximate location, estimated from the connection

Your own previews and link scanners are left out of these facts, and readers on an open link are counted by device. Readers see a short notice about what is measured. What none of it shows is what they thought.

Keep this in front of youReading time is a fact, not a verdict on interest. Two minutes on your traction page could mean the numbers impressed someone, confused them, or went into an investment memo line by line. The facts tell you where to look. They do not tell you the answer.

Who opened it, and who has not?

Start with the simplest split. Take Aurora Robotics, a seed-stage company building warehouse robots, which sent its round deck on Monday. The link asks readers to verify their email before it opens, so every reader in the report is tied to a verified address instead of being anonymous.

Sarah Chen at Northline Ventures opened it on Monday at 09:12 on a laptop and read to the end. Emma Fischer at Brightwater Capital did not open it until Thursday at 10:05, on her phone. Two other funds on the list have not opened it at all.

The unopened ones need nothing clever. After a few working days, send a short note in the same thread with the link and one new fact, such as a customer you signed this week. Do not attach the deck as a file in case the link did not work. That splits your readers across two copies, and you lose sight of one of them.

How far did they read, and where did they stop?

Total time is the least useful number in the report. Where a reader stopped tells you more.

David Park, also at Northline, stopped at page 4, Product, after 1 minute 40 seconds. That is a fact about where his read ended, and nothing more. He may have been pulled into a meeting. He may have seen enough to know what he wanted to ask. Or the product page may not explain how the robots actually work on a warehouse floor.

One reader stopping on a page is an anecdote. Several readers stopping on the same page is a pattern, and it is a pattern about your deck, not about them. If you see one, fix the page. More on that below.

What does it mean when a new reader appears?

On Monday at 15:26 a reader you had not sent the deck to opened the link: David Park, who also works at Northline Ventures. Decktrace shows you that a new reader appeared on the link, not who shared the link with him, so what happened is a guess. But a new reader from the same fund, a few hours after your contact read the deck, most likely means somebody at Northline wanted a colleague to look at it. That is all the fact says, but it changes who your follow-up is for.

Two things follow. First, keep talking to the person you sent the link to. Sarah is your contact, and writing to David out of the blue because his address appeared in a report will feel strange to both of them. Second, think about what the new reader needs. A partner brought in to look at the product will look for different things from the person who first took your call.

When should you follow up?

Let the facts set the timing, instead of a rule like "wait a week". A few patterns:

• They came back for a second read. Sarah opened the deck again on Thursday at 08:47, this time on a tablet. A return visit is a good moment to be useful. Follow up that day, briefly.
• A new reader appeared. Give the new reader time to read, then give your contact something that helps them make the case inside the fund.
• They stopped early. Emma's visit on Thursday morning ended on page 3 after 58 seconds. Give it a day or two. When you write, send something that answers the page where they stopped, not a reminder that the deck exists.
• They asked a question. Answer it the same day. You get an email for each new question, so you will not miss it, and a question is the clearest invitation you will get.
• They have not opened it. A short note in the same thread after a few working days.

What should the follow-up actually say?

This is the part that trips people up. You know David stopped at page 4. You should not open your email with "I noticed David stopped at page 4". Use the facts to decide what to send, not as the first line.

A good follow-up has three parts: one line of context, one useful thing and one clear ask. To Sarah, it might read:

It never mentions the report. It answers the page where the new reader stopped, it makes room for him in the conversation and it asks for one specific thing.

Next reply cards are coming soon. They will draft this kind of follow-up: what the card saw, why that might be, what you could send, and how far the evidence goes. Until then you write the follow-up yourself, with the facts above to tell you what it should be about. Even then, a card will only be a draft, and you decide whether to send anything at all.

What should you change in the deck?

Follow-ups fix one conversation at a time. The deck should get better with every round. At the end of the week, look across all your readers for:

• pages where more than one reader stopped
• pages that drew questions, and what those questions asked for
• pages that everyone left within a few seconds, which may not need to be there

Make small, specific changes and publish them to the same link. Readers who come back see the new version, and the next investors on your list start with a better deck. Questions are the easiest place to start: when you answer one, Decktrace suggests where that answer belongs in the deck and drafts the addition. You edit it, approve it and publish it as a new version, and nothing goes out until you choose.

Your follow-up checklist

• Check who opened the deck and who has not before you write to anyone.
• Note where each reader stopped, not only how long they spent.
• Treat time on a page as a fact, never as a verdict on interest.
• Follow up through the person you sent the link to, with what a new reader needs.
• Answer questions the same day.
• Send one useful thing and one clear ask, without quoting the report.
• Fix the pages where readers stop, and publish to the same link.