Reaching success with your startup depends on several factors, and a pitch deck is one of them. This is a key to purposeful fundraising as it attracts potential investors, promotes your ideas, and creates space for open discussion about the project.
A good pitch deck isn’t created overnight. There is a range of requirements for elements of a pitch deck that should be included in it. In this article, we will give an overview of what to include in a pitch deck. You’ll be able to pick a formula that works well and see what to avoid.
So, let’s start by defining a pitch deck. A pitch deck, start-up deck, or slide deck is a presentation genre for businesses that offers a concise and informative overview of the company. It needs to cover the main points of the startup, your products, and services, and be clear about financial forecasts for investment.
While many claims that pitch decks are meant to raise funds, this is not the first and foremost goal. The key aim is to get noticed and make it to the next meeting, where you can get other people excited about this project. The more people hear about it – the better for you and the higher chances to interest potential investors.
As a rule, after presenting your startup, people are going to ask additional questions. So, plan your business for the future and give clear answers about your vision for every side.
Compiling a pitch deck can sound like a high-responsibility task, but don’t worry. You can cope with it by yourself, using templates from open sources.
Components to Include Into a Pitch Deck for Every Sphere: Creating Universal Pitch Deck
While start-up decks can differ based on the business type, target customer audience, and other factors such as location and size of the team, it’s quite useful to know a universal formula. So, here is a pitch deck structure that will most certainly work.
Value proposition & vision
Keep it short and clear. In fact, it should be just 1 sentence describing what value you’re going to provide to customers. This phrase goes into the 1st slide and reflects the key idea of the trade.
Make it easy to comprehend for an average consumer: use similes, comparisons to world-famous services, bright metaphors, and descriptions consisting of 2-6 words.
Use your creativity to make a value proposition but don’t use famous companies’ names until there are many similarities in your startups.
The problem & solution
Any service and goods type is meant to solve a specific goal. What is the area you are going to help, and who needs it? Make sure to speak about down-to-earth issues and define them clearly so investors can see them on the surface.
Place these points in 1-2 slides and pick the most inspiring pitch deck design for your pitch deck presentation.
Target market
This part is about a typical ( ideal) customer and the size of your audience. Potential contributors will need to know how many people are involved. This will also determine your company’s position in the market and with competitors. At this stage, your responsibility is to research how much businesses spend and work to reach the desired size and cover their audiences.
Don’t aim for the biggest market size possible: first, go for a specific market within easy reach.
Advantages and features of the product.
Show your service or product’s unique sides and what sets it apart. Make forecasts about what can be improved over time. Products themselves need to be described in detail. Demonstrate them in action and show real user experience.
Business model & financial forecast
Include a strategy to acquire clients and first revenues. Don’t stick to one strategy and single out those you are eager to try. Implementing them can be different in various circumstances, and having several business models will show that you’ve been thinking it through.
Every pitch deck should outline a sales forecast, profit, and loss statement, and cash flow forecast for 3 years. Present only simple analysis elements – charts, diagrams, and other graphics. Explain how exactly you will spend the invested money.
Validation & traction
Next, demonstrate what testing and study you have done by this moment. It is valued if startupers present actual feedback, measurement of user engagement, and expected pace and growth directions.
Creating a roadmap with a pitch deck outline for the current stage is useful. How will it influence the contributors’ minds? First, they will see the reduction of risks and feel more secure investing in them. Besides, they will get proofs that your product works with fresh statistics and comments.
Marketing and sales development
That’s all about how you are going to catch the clients’ eye and turn your online platform visitors into buyers. Outline details of the marketing tactic and outreach, including methods and channels.
Team
Human resources are still the most significant factor of success. So, it makes sense to present your co-workers and explain their unique skills and experiences that made you rely on them.
The good idea is to boast your colleagues’ success stories at other companies and their areas of expertise and mention if there are any vacant positions (and why you’re searching for professionals for these places). On the other hand, explain why it’s a solo startup.
Other investors and funding
What is a pitch deck for investors? A great chance to find the most promising startups!
To support the project’s relevance, it’s wise to show that someone else believes in the business and pools their money in it. Mention both current and previous investors. Being transparent and sincere about your story is what matters here.
For instance, don’t be shy to tell about your family’s or friend’s financial initiative or other ‘angel investments.’ That sounds very encouraging and motivates bigger actors to put their funds on the line. In addition, famous VCs can do you a favor and win you much better terms or quicker funding.
Conclusion
That’s how to make a pitch deck and generate excitement around your new startup. Feel free to complete it with the documentation needed, showing demo videos and screenshots, revealing your partnerships and collaborations with other brands, and highlighting an exit strategy in case your business sees immense growth.
As you see, simplicity and clarity in presenting your startup play a great role. However, being accurate and thoughtful about how you are testing your products, giving results of these tests, and viewing the future is very important to investors.
