Why do we need a pitch deck?
The first step towards your goal of getting an investment
Usually, it is not enough for a startup to find a promising idea and assemble a quality product. The critical factor is presenting the project to investors, known as a pitch session. Most modern pitches are full-fledged speeches with a presentation in PowerPoint or another convenient program called Pitch Deck. Getting to know each person who is interested in your startup will definitely end up with a request to send the Pitch Deck. This is the first step of starting a business relationship, and it should be perfect.
How to make pitch deck as attractive as possible?
Before we move on to the structure and analysis of certain details of a Pitch Deck, let’s talk about the design and skills of creating a presentation in general. Naturally, the presence of slides made by designers does not guarantee that you will receive investments, but an unprofessional presentation will definitely NOT help you achieve your own goals. If you are not sure about your skills in PowerPoint or other presentation software, it is better to delegate this task to more competent employees or partners.
Which goals the pitch deck of your project should fulfill
First of all, the presentation is needed to show your startup and convey the main idea and the idea that you are worth believing in. Secondly, the presentation should be aimed at a specific audience. Is it an investor? Show them why they are important to you and where you plan to spend your money? Is this a competition? Answer why you are taking part in it and what this winning will give you. Is it an accelerator? Explain the expediency of your participation in their program.
Turning to the details of creating a presentation, you should start with the size of the presentation. Usually, a high-quality Pitch Deck is limited to 15 slides, where all the information attractive to investors should be placed. It is worth noting that if you send a presentation online without an initial pitch, then its size should never be increased. On the contrary, it makes sense to reduce the presentation to 10-12 slides.
Remember, viewing the Pitch Deck is only the first introduction, where you only need to interest, and you will still have time to tell an investor personally more detailed information. If you are speaking, then the main thing is to meet the time limit. If the pitch time is quite long, it makes sense to supplement the presentation with interesting materials so as not to stop too long on each of the slides. Most often, use-cases are suitable for this, which will show your project in action and at the best angle. The audience must be able to see what is written on your slide, and you should not read the text from there.
Why do we need a pitch deck?
Investment Summary
This slide contains a brief summary of the project and an investment proposal for a potential investor.
Market
What market you are operating in, its total volume and the volume you are targeting (TAM, SAM, SOM).
Problem
Everys pitch starts with a description of the problem you are solving. No problem, no startup. Remember this.
Solution
The solution is your startup. Explain briefly why it is here and right now, describe your product.
Company Description
Do not duplicate the information from the investment summary, but speak about what is worth knowing about your startup.
Business model
How do you plan to earn money or are you already earning money?
Your traction and metrics
There may be indicators of the users number, the cost of attracting one user, your income, any indicators of the unit economy (figures per 1 user). How much does it cost to attract a client (CAC), how much money they bring in, how much time they use your product, and so on. Show what is beneficial to you, for example, successful pilots, sales to large companies.
Competitors
Who are your competitors and why are you better than them? What do you do and they don’t.
Scaling strategy
Talk about your future goals and the strategy that will bring your company to the top of the “food chain”.
Your milestones
Where did you start, where are you now, what are your plans for the future. Highlight exactly those stages of your startup’s development that are significant and that can be shown to the intended people.
Team
The main participants of your startup, their experience and key competencies.
Contacts
Links to your social media and startup website.
These are the main milestones that are important to show in your Pitch Deck. You still have at least three slides left in stock, they can be used depending on the specifics of the company. For example, to describe the functioning of artificial intelligence on your platform or to attract the attention of an investor by showing your most eminent clients.
This template, although relatively strict, is still not the only true one, because certain aspects have different meanings for each sector. Don’t be afraid to edit your Pitch Deck depending on the pitch goals and keep progressing in this direction with each pitch session.
