How do you make a lasting impression in a very short amount of time? Simple, you pitch the best thing about your idea. Yet let’s face it, it’s not easy to summarize an extraordinary amount of crucial information in a single presentation. In this entry, we’ll explore the most effective ways to create an investor pitch deck for your startup.

People not only need to see how great your idea is, but they also need to see how far it can go. To convince investors to fund your business, you need to show them the full potential of its growth. This is why you need to optimize your pitch deck to show off your business’ full potential.

An expensive ad that sends out an unclear message is useless despite its wide reach. The same way you try to capture your market’s attention by displaying a catchy and clever ad, you need to extend the same amount of effort and creativity into creating a pitch deck for your investors.

Whether you’re raising $10,000 or $10 million, convincing people to pool their money in your business is still an incredibly daunting task. If you’re a first-time entrepreneur, it is especially intimidating to face these business giants who’ve already seen and heard their fair share of business pitches. Which is why you need to make your pitch deck presentation stand out.

What is a Pitch Deck?

A pitch deck is a tool to help raise venture capital for your business. Through it, investors can review your company’s financial outlook. Think of it as the short slide presentation you used to show in class. But since you’re aiming for money and not just grades, you’re going to have to make it more interesting.

A pitch deck summarizes your business model; showcasing your products, organization structure, monetization strategy, and long-term startup vision. This presentation resembles a storytelling format; talking about the problem you want to solve, the solution your business brings, and how you’re going to execute it.

So, what exactly is an investor pitch deck used for?

It tells your investors how far you’ve currently taken your idea and how much farther you can take it with the right amount of resources. The primary goal of a pitch deck is to pretty much sell your idea to very capable buyers, in a very limited amount of time.

Successful pitches

What are some examples of pitch decks that work?

You may have heard of how the social media giant Facebook started from a college dorm project into a global business phenomenon. It’s all thanks to its investors. The Facebook pitch deck highlighted the impressive numbers of their user engagement, traffic, users, and growth metrics. Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist and entrepreneur, was one of the first investors who gave Mark Zuckerberg $500,000.

Airbnb also hooked their investors by simply describing their business idea. Their pitch deck is notable for its intro, stating in very few words what they’re all about. This proves how incredibly simple yet clever their idea is on booking rooms.

Along with these business giants, there are several other businesses out there that skyrocketed their success through investors. All it took was a short, creative pitch deck presentation that would convince money mongrels to fund their project.

How to create a pitch deck

On average, a pitch deck is composed of 10 or more slides. For your presentation, you can use tools like PowerPoint, Keynote, or Prezi to provide your audience with a quick overview of your business plan.

Depending on who you’re meeting with, you need to arrange your slides based on the priority of your discussion. Pitch decks are often presented face-to-face or online with potential investors, customers, partners, and co-founders.

Points to add to your pitch deck

Although the content of your presentation is up to your creativity, here are some points you may want to highlight in your slides:

1. Problem – Businesses exist to solve an existing problem. In your pitch deck, you need to specify the type of problem you’re solving and the kind of people you’re helping. By presenting that there’s a constant need for your solution, it highlights the sustainability and longevity of your business.
2. Solution – Once the problem has been discussed, it’s time to present how your business brings in the solution. Explain all the steps and detail of how your product or service can solve the problem. This will give your audience an idea of the kind of resource you’re using and how you would likewise benefit financially.
3. Market Size – The market size refers to the real addressable market of your business. This slide should give an estimate of what percentage of the market you are looking to dominate. You can be more specific about your target market.
4. Traction – Business traction refers to the progress of a start-up company and the momentum it gains as the business grows. The bigger and steeper the chart the better, so make sure to pick your most relevant metric and brag about it here.
5. Team – This is where it gets personal. You introduce your staff, highlighting credentials that will boost your brand’s authority. This is a breakdown of your organizational structure.
6. Competition – Name all your top competitors and discuss how you can keep ahead of them.
7. Financials – Your audience will expect to see financial reports such as sales forecasts, income statements, and cash flow forecasts for the upcoming years. You can’t exactly show spreadsheets for your pitch deck so you have to be prepared to discuss your numbers upfront. Use your traction slide to explain and compare the growth of your financials.
8. The amount being raised – Input your current stats and discuss the areas that would need improvement. The more transparent you are with your investors, the more they will understand your needs.

Where to pitch your startup

Now that we’ve learned how to create a pitch deck, the next question is where to present it? How do you connect with local investors?

You can find investors in conferences, meetups, and fundraising events for startups. There’s a long list of startup events happening year-round and you can use those platforms to network and showcase your idea.

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Need more help with your startup?

Matt DeCoursey and Matt Watson are veteran entrepreneurs who’ve helped and mentored aspiring business owners to succeed in their business. They are the brains behind the offshore software development company, Full Scale.

Full Scale helps startups grow by helping them bypass the shortage of skilled developers in the United States. The company caters to all your development needs, from highly-skilled developers of any specialization, graphic designers, content writers, project managers, and successful entrepreneur leaders.

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