Raising capital is time-consuming, difficult, and challenging. A great pitch deck is compelling and tells your story in an interesting way to capture and appeal to investors.
What is a Pitch Deck?
A Pitch Deck is a marketing presentation that is used to pitch your business idea. It is a brief presentation with 15-19 slides often created in PowerPoint. The purpose of a pitch deck is to provide an overview of your business idea and what your startup has to offer. Pitch Decks are typically geared to investors and are used by startups seeking funding.
Essentials for Your Pitch Deck
Every pitch deck is customized to the business idea; however, there is specific information that investors expect to see in your pitch deck.
These 16 essentials may or may not be their own slide. Depending on your startup, you may consolidate a few essentials into one slide (i.e., share your purpose during the introduction or detail customers when talking about the market). Either way, you want the information to be incorporated into your pitch deck.
#1 Introduction
Make a great first impression and keep it short and sweet. The goal is to introduce why you are here, share your value proposition, and capture your audience’s attention.
#2 Purpose
Share your why and/or detail the mission/vision. Give your audience a reason to believe.
#3 Team
Highlight key team members as well as their title and relevant experience. You may also consider including any coaches, consultants, advisors, etc. to enhance credibility. This may be the most important slide of your pitch deck. Some investors are more concerned about how the team is than the actual business idea itself.
#4 Problem
Define the problem your startup solves by detailing what the problem is, why it matters, who are customers, and the size of the opportunity.
#5 Solution
Highlight how your product, service and/technology is the solution. Also, explain how your solutions solves the problem differently than existing options and why it is better.
#6 Product/Service
Your solution slide should lead you nicely into your product or service slide. The Product/Service slide needs to explain what your company offers, the key features, why your audience cares, why it is unique, and any relevant milestones and future plans.
#7 Market Opportunity
Detail what market you are in, the size of the market, the dollar value of the market, and your projected market share. Ultimately, you want to show the market opportunity and estimate your target market size.
#8 Customers
Showcase your current customers by including logos. This is a great way to show that your solution appeals to the market and builds your credibility. If you do not have actual customers, get a focus group together for input or share feedback you have received on the proof of concept, pilot, and/or beta.
#9 Competition
Highlight who your competition is, what makes you different than the competition, and your competitive advantage. Do not say “I have no competition” that only makes you seem naïve, unrealistic, and out of touch with the competitive environment. Even if you cannot find a direct competitor with similar products/services, then identify an indirect competitor who has products/services that can be used as substitutes.
#10 Advantage
Explain what gives your startup your competitive advantage whether it is a patent, particular technology, etc. Illustrate how you are different and what positions your startup for success.
#11 Traction
Showcase the early traction your company has gotten – website traffic, online following, leads, sales, etc. Think of how you can demonstrate that third parties are supportive of the idea from customer feedback and/or testimonials to strategic partnerships. Show early successes and focus on the potential growth.
#12 Business Model
Detail how you are going to make money. You may consider detailing pricing, projected profit margins, customer acquisition costs, and the long-term value of a customer. Even better, show your projected revenue and when you expect to turn a profit.
#13 Marketing
Detail your marketing plan in terms of marketing channels, PR opportunities, any successful campaigns and/or promotions, and current levels of engagement.
#14 Financials
Provide an overview of the startup’s current financials and 3 to 5 year financial projections. You may also consider including your burn rate, which is the monthly/yearly loss when the product/service is in development and getting into the market.
#15 Investment
Close with the ask where you detail how much funding you are seeking, how long it will support your operations, how you will use the money, and which milestones it will help you achieve. Also, make sure to include if you already have existing investors.
#16 Contact
Make it easy to quickly get in contact. Do not limit your communication channels. Include your email, phone, and website so that there are various ways to get in touch.
Tips for Success
The following are a few tips for success when crafting your pitch deck:
Include a confidentiality statement along the bottom of every pitch slide. It can be small and simply say “Copyright by [Name of Company]. All Rights Reserved.”
Do your homework, research pitch deck templates, and find a few promising examples to learn from and use as inspiration.
Include visuals that are interesting, relevant, and on-brand.
Avoid text-heavy slides. Use visuals and bullet points.
Tell an interesting, compelling, and engaging story.
Show that you have more than an idea with traction and early success stories.
Keep the presentation consistent and on-brand from slide to slide with a consistent use of fonts, colors, and styles throughout.
Keep your pitch deck to 10-20 slides, not longer.
Use language that people outside of your business and industry understand. Minimize the use of jargon and acronyms.
Stick to the standard slides, don’t get too creative. Investor’s are used to a certain format and expect specific information to be included.
Practice in front of friends or family or better yet record yourself presenting so that you can see how your presentation flows and make improvements accordingly.
If you need assistance developing your pitch deck and/or practicing your pitch, our iMentors are available to help! They have years of experience listening, judging, and refining pitches to improve your chances of getting that next meeting & eventually funding.