Failing when others succeed is tough and demands respect. Easier to fail when everyone around you is doing the same thing ... you don't stand out as much!
Nic, couple of years ago I was pitching to VCs and yes I did wonder how many presentations they'd seen that were 90% the same. Someone pointed me to Guy Kawasaki's downloads here http://www.guykawasaki.com/downloads/index.shtml recently and the advice seemes pretty logical - he has seen a lot of pitches and it must in one sense be easier to review them all in the same format. But once in a while it must be refreshing to see a solid venture presented in a completely new way. There's no right or wrong on that one - the individual creativity that emerges at the time will also be quite instructive as to how flexible the founders are in their approach.