Your pitch deck contains everything. Financial projections. Go-to-market strategy. Proprietary technology details.
One forward to a competitor and your advantage disappears.
Yet most founders still send unprotected PDFs. No passwords. No tracking. No control.
Here's how to share your deck without losing control of your intellectual property.
Protect your pitch deck in 2 minutes
Stop sending PDFs that live forever in someone's inbox.
Ellty gives you complete control:
- Password protection
- Download blocking
- Watermarking
- Instant access revocation
- See who forwards your deck
Free tier protects 50 documents. No credit card needed.
How Ellty protects your deck
Step 1: Upload Your Deck
Drag and drop your PDF. Stays on secure servers. Encrypted at rest and in transit.
Step 2: Set Protection Settings
- Require email: Viewers must enter email to access
- Add password: Extra layer of security
- Block downloads: View only, no local copies
- Add watermark: Their email on every page
- Set expiration: Auto-revoke after funding round
Step 3: Create Secure Link
Get a unique link. Looks professional: your-company.ellty.com/pitch-deck
Step 4: Share with Confidence
Send via email or messaging. You control who sees what.
Step 5: Monitor and Control
- See real-time views
- Track forwarding attempts
- Revoke access instantly if needed
- Update deck without changing link
Why pitch deck protection matters
The Competition Risk
Competitor gets your deck. Copies your positioning. Implements your roadmap faster.
Real story: Startup's deck leaked to competitor. Six months later, identical product launched. First-mover advantage gone.
The Insider Trading Risk
Public company executives see your deck. Your financials hint at partnership. They trade on that information. SEC investigation follows.
Protect yourself. Track who sees what and when.
The Negotiation Leverage
Investors share your valuation expectations. Other founders see your burn rate. Future negotiations compromised.
Control information flow. Know who has access.
Mistakes
PDF passwords aren't enough. Anyone can remove PDF passwords with free tools. Takes 30 seconds.
NDAs don't prevent sharing. Legal protection helps, but damage is done once information spreads.
Email attachments live forever. You can't delete an email from someone's inbox. You've lost control.
Screenshots happen. But watermarks make leakers identifiable. Accountability matters.
Advanced protection strategies
Tiered Information Sharing
First meeting: High-level deck. No sensitive financials.
Second meeting: Detailed metrics. Password protected.
Due diligence: Full access. Time-limited. Watermarked.
Investor-Specific Versions
Create slightly different versions. Track which version leaks. Identify the source.
Change one number slightly. Reorder minor slides. Your "fingerprint" for tracking.
Geographic Restrictions
Raising in Silicon Valley? Block access from competing tech hubs initially.
Ellty lets you restrict by location. Useful for competitive markets.
Time-Based Access
Fundraising for 3 months? Set 3-month expiration.
Round closed? Revoke all access immediately.
Deal fell through? Cut access. No lingering documents.
What investors actually expect
Professional investors understand security. They respect protection measures.
What they accept:
- Email verification
- Password protection
- View-only restrictions
- Watermarking
What annoys them:
- Overly complex processes
- Requiring calls to view
- Page-by-page screenshots
- Printed-only policies
Balance security with user experience. Ellty handles this automatically.
Alternative methods
Virtual Data Rooms: Overkill for initial pitches. Save for due diligence. Expensive and complex.
Encrypted email: Requires recipient setup. Often ends up in spam. Poor user experience.
Screen sharing only: Doesn't scale. Investors want to review on their time.
Physical meetings only: Limits your reach. Geographical constraints.
DocSend and similar: Good tracking. Limited protection features. More expensive.
Ellty combines the best approaches. Simple like email. Secure like data rooms. Trackable like DocSend.
Legal considerations
Protection tools support legal remedies. They don't replace them.
Still use NDAs for serious discussions. But know they're hard to enforce.
Document your security measures. Shows reasonable protection efforts if issues arise.
Track access logs. Evidence if you need to prove who leaked information.
Start protecting your pitch deck
You've spent months perfecting your pitch. Don't lose control of it.
Ellty makes protection simple:
- Upload your deck
- Set security preferences
- Share trackable link
- Monitor and control access
Free tier includes all protection features. No payment info required.
Your ideas deserve protection. Your investors expect professionalism. Ellty delivers both.
