A startup is a fast-growing business, and to develop a business; you need funding. An exciting pitch deck is a crucial component in your fundraising toolkit: your pitch deck is a persuasive tool for securing the funding you need to give life to your business. There is no doubt that pitch deck presentations hold a central role in the success of any startup. Let’s dive deeper into it.
Investment Pitch 101 — What is a pitch deck?
A pitch deck is a brief presentation intended to provide a quick but detailed overview of company details, services, business plan, startup mission and vision, and growth traction for any audience. They can be angel investors, venture capitalists, customers, or even business partners.
Pitch deck usually serve as the first communication tool entrepreneurs use to reach out to potential investors via emails or in-person meetings. Serving a wide variety of purposes across the lifecycle of a startup, a pitch deck lets you present your company with confidence to investors and VC firms. Many of today’s tech giants, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Airbnb, Uber, Mint, YouTube, etc. started their tech journey with a pitch deck (see 390+ examples of winning decks here).
Key slides of any pitch deck
The objective of a pitch deck is to convince the investor that the company is viable, paving the way to more subsequent meetings to finalize the deal. There are usually ten to fifteen slides in each pitch. However, studies indicate that investors spend only four minutes going through each pitch deck. Hence, each of the following slides should serve a vital role in your pitch:
1. Cover
Keep it short and direct. Introduce the company with its logo and tagline.
2. Problem
Describe the problem your product or service solves and how it is distinct from the rest of the market.
3. Market
Identify the current state of the market as well as the target audience of your product.
4. Solution
Explain how you are planning to solve the problem and what makes your solution special.
5. Advantage
What is your secret sauce? Outline what makes your solution different & superior from the alternatives available in the market today.
6. Experience
Present the achievements and plans of your company using metrics, growth charts, and logos.
7. Team
Include the names, titles, bios, strengths, and achievements of your team members.
8. Revenue
How will your business make money? Visualize your business plan and model for investors so they understand how your company will earn money.
9. Financials
Talk about your budget and how you plan to make money by showing how you foresee revenues growing in the near-term & future.
10. Call-to-Action or Contact
Explain the terms and conditions of your deal and next steps, or simply share the contact details of your organization so that people can reach you quickly.
Five tips for creating a winning pitch deck
What makes a great pitch deck? The famous marketing expert Guy Kawasaki invented the 10/20/30 rule for startup pitch decks. The rule says…
Your deck should not be more than ten slides long, take no more than 20 minutes to talk through, and should be typed in no less than 30-point font.
Here are five golden tips you need to keep in mind to create a winning pitch deck to attract your investors.
- Tell a Story: Everyone enjoys hearing stories. Make your investors feel why and how your business will solve a problem by telling them an exciting story.
- Limit each slide to a single idea: You have to keep your entire audience on the same page. Further, the problem or solution must be summed up in one sentence that investors should remember when you have finished your pitch deck.
- The first impression is the best: The first 2-3 minutes are crucial, and it is the point that keeps investors engaging, deciding whether to proceed or not. Make sure to give the right and clear information to your investors.
- Visual aesthetics to consider: Your investment pitch deck should have the same font, size, style, and color format on all slides. The details have to be legible as possible and have to align with your brand personality.
- Consider graphical elements: Instead of purely textual slides, graphs, numbers, charts, and logos will catch your attention and provide an easy-to-read format. The visual elements are a great way to break up the text while still conveying your main ideas.
Six fatal mistakes when creating pitch decks
We all make mistakes in our lives, but certain mistakes can be avoided. Especially when creating pitch decks, you don’t want to squander your precious chances for raising investment:
- Too many Bullet Points: Do not use too many bullet points in all the slides: it kills the beauty of the pitch deck.
- Too many Slides: Limit the number of slides of a pitch deck to 10-15 and make sure to give the necessary information.
- Don’t read word by word: Do not sound like a robot, as you will lose the emotional connection with your audience & pitch.
- Fewer texts, more pictures: Use fewer text boxes and more visuals to engage people and capture their attention.
- Don’t use small fonts: Use 32 to 44-point for titles and no smaller than 28-point for the text and bullet points.
- Don’t come unprepared: Come prepared with next steps & additional information so you are ready to answers for any questions investors may have.
Creating a deck? Check out our pitch deck templates.
Every pitch requires a unique approach tailored to its audience. Our team of experts have created pitch decks for different sectors, as well as funding stages:
Accelerator Pitch Deck Template — The Accelerator Pitch Deck template was crafted for early-stage founders seeking to win funding &/or investment from pitch contests, accelerators, incubators, and angels or VC firms. Winning a pitch contest or being accepted to a prominent accelerator program requires a unique strategic approach to an investor pitch presentation.
Series A Pitch Deck Template — A pitch deck template for startups and founders raising funding: Smart, actionable slides that work. This is a pitch deck template built specifically for startups, entrepreneurs and founders raising their first seed or Series A round of institutional capital.
Mergers & Acquisitions Pitch Deck Template — Perfect Pitch Deck™ is a template crafted for later-stage businesses entering more sophisticated discussions such as mergers & acquisitions (M&A), late-stage investment (Series C+), or other partnerships & financing opportunities. Our team of experts created this presentation to empower founders to present with confidence to investment banks, private equity (PE) groups, and/or hedge funds (and vice versa).
Alternatively, feel free to browse our growing selection of pitch decks tailored for specific industries and businesses.