Pitch deck is a powerful element every startup or business should know about and use at least once in their practice. Yet, any founder who’ve ever created a pitch deck for a project using ppt templates will tell you that it is quite challenging to establish short, precise, creative and effective presentation to get an outside funding from the investors. Today, we are going to cover all the details starting from the definition of a pitch deck and ending with the tips that work.
What Is A Pitch Deck?
If you are a newbie in business and it is your first startup, you may wonder what pitch deck means hearing about it from all sides. Well, the deck is the same as a set of slides. It is also called a slide or presentation deck. Startups usually need a pitch deck to impactfully present their business to investors.
This efficient set of slides can help you support your company reputation and get an outside funding convincing the investors that your business is reliable and they will not lose their money investing into it. Without saying, the pitch deck is a powerful weapon to get the startup projects to a new financial level.
Step-By-Step Guide To Creating A Winning Pitch Deck
Now, when you get a basic understanding of the presentation deck, you may want to know how to make it effective and impress the investors while present the information in a concise and clear way.
Fortunately for you, we’ve prepared some useful recommendations and tips that will help you raise money with potential investors. Let’s start with ‘10/20/30 rule of PowerPoint’ covered in The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki which suggests to use 10 slides, present your pitch deck for 20 minutes, and utilize 30+ typeface, not smaller.
The first slide should definitely include your startup name, your name and the title along with contact details. Start with ‘this is my project and here what we do’ so that the investors think about the potential for your business and the size of the market.
The next slide should describe a problem you are solving. Try to tell an engaging story when you specify the problem and about the solutions existing on the market. Do not spend too much time telling about the solutions. You will have the next slide for this purpose.
Well, this third slide tends to describe your service or product to the fullest. Here, you can explain how your product can resolve the issue when the customers use it. Make sure to stay focused on your clients in your storytelling, people whom you’ve developed the product for. Showing pictures or stories is always a good idea in a pitch deck presentation.
The fourth slide may include your business model explaining how you make money. Provide the information about your channels of distribution, gross profit, reveal what you charge and who pays you etc. If your business model is quite groundbreaking, describe it with regard to a well-known one.
Here, you can explain the technology you’ve used to create your product or service. Avoid too much text on this slide. Better use more diagrams, schemes, and flowcharts. This fifth slide is perfect for transitioning your prototype or demo to it if you have them. Recall what Glen Shires of Google has said: ‘If a picture is worth 1000 words, a prototype is worth 10,000 slides’. Thus, if you do not have the one, think about applying it to your slide.
It is a high time to prove that you have an effective go-to-market strategy that will help you reach the customer without hitting the jackpot. Make use of this sixth slide to highlight your marketing and sales plan. It is crucial to show that you have key tactics to reach the target market and sales channels you will use.
When providing a complete view of a competitive environment and how you fit into it, make sure to offer proofs why you are good, not why the competitors are bad. Avoid unseemly comparing when it comes to key advantages you have over the competition.
Emphasize the main team members, directors, advisors, and major investors. Highlight their successes at other startups and the expertise they’ve brought to your project. Because startups usually have holes in their teams, you’d better display less than a perfect team. It is quite essential to explain what positions you still need to fill and why.
Investors usually expect to see your financial projections including sales forecast, profit, and loss along with cash forecast for 3-5 years. When it comes to financials, it is better to apply charts displaying sales, total customers, conversions, total cost, and profits rather than thorough spreadsheets. Be ready to discuss basic assumptions you’ve made to reach your sales goals. Besides, the investors will surely want to know what the driving factors of your expense are. You’d better be able to explain your growth compared to a similar project in allied industries.
This tenth slide is the last yet the most important one. Here, you are going to explain how you will use the amount of money you try to get. The investors want to understand how this amount will help you reach the goal you’ve set out for your startup. This slide is also perfect for telling about the other investors you already have and the reason they’ve decided to invest in your project.
Other Info You May Want To Include Into Your PowerPoint Startup Presentation
Sometimes ten slides are not enough and you may need or want to add a few more slides to your PowerPoint pitch deck. Among them are the following:
Exit strategy showing how you are going to return money to investors.
Partnerships are important to be mentioned if your success depends upon specific types of partnerships.
Demo and any kind of screenshots can be displayed on placeholder slide included in your deck.
Except for the pitch deck, you may be also asked to provide additional documents like an executive summary (2-3 page overview of your startup), technical documentation (if you are launching a tech or medical company), detailed financial models and a balance sheet, detailed market research etc.
Optional Tips To Make Your Startup Pitch Win
There are many other tips and tricks to make your PowerPoint startup presentation winning. Curious to learn more about them? Then, check out the bullet list below:
Keep your presentation simple. For an investor pitch, the less is better.
Avoid overusing of the bullet points. They will make the audience ignore you and read the bullets by themselves. Yet, the investors should primarily pay attention to you as a speaker.
Avoid using slide after slide about your technology. This may make the audience get bored.
Tell a story. Make your audience engaged from the very beginning of your presentation telling real stories about how your customers use your product, what issues they currency experience, and how your company is going to make the lives of your target group better with your service or product.
Make use of clear and straightforward language in your slides so that the investors effortlessly understand what you try to communicate to them.
Don’t be afraid of using animations in your slides if they make sense and can help. There can be diagrams, charts, graphs, high-quality images, and clear videos embedded in your PowerPoint presentation.
Keep your deck up-to-date. You may pitch your startup many times prior to getting an investment. That is why it is crucial to constantly upgrade your presentation with the latest progress, work plan etc.
Hold your pitch deck as a PDF file as well. In most cases, investors ask to sent the presentation to them. Do not send the deck in PowerPoint. It does not seem professional.
Make sure your pitch deck is independent. This means that it ideally tells the story if you are absent and cannot comment on it.
And the last thing for today. Make sure you’ve inserted your contact information into your pitch deck.
Conclusion
A startup PowerPoint pitch deck for investors can make you or break you. Following the above-mentioned recommendations and tips, you have a chance to win the fight and attract the investors to your project. If you’ve already pitched your business and succeeded, feel free to share the secrets or tricks we’ve missed in the post by any chance.