How to Write a Pitch Deck?
What is the goal of the pitch deck? You can say that it’s quite obvious – to raise money. However, investor pitch deck is just one of the steps in attracting cash to implement your idea.
Imagine you are going to your first date with a charming lady or a man. No matter how much you fall for this person, there’s a slight possibility that you get married on the same night. Unless you are in Vegas.
What I am leading to is that the goal is to spark an interest of the potential investor to learn everything in detail and arrange another meeting.
So, play by the rule of the first impression – make it an intriguing and a lasting one.
Key components a pitch deck must include
Once you are ready to hit your “first date”, it’s time to structure the information to make it clear and attractive to a potential investor. Pitch decks commonly consist of 10-15 slides, each describing a single point.
Let’s take a closer look at the key components every pitch deck must include.
Cover
A book is often judged by its cover. The first slide must include your logo, company name, and motto, and motivate an investor to turn the page.
Value proposition and vision
Describe the value you are bringing to your customers. Be brief and explicit. Don’t neglect to compare your business with other successful enterprises to describe your idea. Airbnb for pets or Uber for nail services sounds pretty self-explanatory. But don’t mix your value proposition with your organization’s slogan.
Problem
Define the problem your target audience face. Try to magnify their pain and divide their problems if there are several types of them.
Target Market and Opportunity
Time to tell about your ideal customer and total market size. Define both as specific and detailed as possible. Explain the way they can be reached and attracted. If you have active users already, demonstrate the metrics.
Solution
Describe how your product addresses the problem and solves it, easing the pain and simplifying your customers’ lives. Focus on the advantages it brings to people, not the product features.
Revenue model and business model
Show how your product monetizes. Do you charge your customers or maybe you earn money from ads? Define the business segment you are in – premium, midmarket, budget, and don’t forget about the pros you have over your competitors.
Roadmap
Put your company implementation plan here. What you have already achieved, where you are now and where you intend to be in the nearest future. If you have proven aspects of your business model, depict them on this slide as well.
Traction
The page they have been looking forward to. Time to verify your words with numbers. Use graphs with percentages to demonstrate the growing revenue curve and other vital metrics which confirm that your startup is developing: expanding team, new features, more users etc.
Marketing and sales strategy
Present your business development strategy here. What channels you are planning to use to attract new customers, what your tactics are and how both differ from your competitors approach.
Team
Time to introduce the people standing behind your project. Present each team member with their photos and share their unique expertise and skills. Prove that your team is really good. If you don’t have a team yet and need to hire it, identify the key positions you will need to accomplish your plan.
Financials
Show your sales expectations in a chart for at least 3 years including such metrics as total customers growth, total expenses, revenue, and EBITDA.
Competition
Talk about your uniqueness and advantages over competitors and alternative solutions on the market. Highlight why people will choose you among others.
Investment and use of funds
Include the graph with numbers which shows the total investment required and what expenses it covers. If you have investors already, mention them on this slide as well, and tell why they decided to fund your project.
Contact
Leave your contact info and the office address if you have one. Add links to your social media profiles, company’s website and the best way to contact you.
Additional slides
There are still some extra pages you may want to include in your pitch deck. They can be the demo screenshots or links to an MVP, partnership opportunities, press mentions and exit strategy. Choose those slides which will help you demonstrate your idea in the best light and persuade investors to fund your business.
Extra tips on how to create a pitch deck
- Time is money. Keep it short and involving. Use the simple storytelling method to tell about your project;
- Post only true data which doesn’t have any second meaning;
- Your pitch deck must be independent and self-explanatory as if you couldn’t make any comments and present it yourself;
- Limit each slide to express just one idea;
- Replace texts with pictures and graphs if it’s possible;
- Be solid and consistent in your presentation look. Stick to one font type and size on all the pages, choose a pleasant color scheme and illustrations;
- Keep it updated – if it includes some general information from the media, about other venture companies etc., always make sure you double check and update it before sending to investors;
- Share your presentation in a PDF format, thus, its look remains the same to all the people who open it;
- Listen to people’s opinion and comments once they review it. Adopt it to various situations.
Good luck with raising money for building your business. And you know where to go when you need software development, right?
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