How to Make a Pitch Deck

Do you have a great business idea but lack the money to turn it into the success you know it can be?  If so, finding people willing to invest in your dream is the next step you need to take.

But before you can secure these much-needed funds, you first need to reel some investors in and gain their attention and trust. In order to do this, you need to know how to make a pitch deck.

In this blog, we’ll be going through the rudiments of creating a killer pitch deck that excites potential investors about your business. Let’s get started!

Why You Need a Pitch Deck

A pitch deck is a brief presentation that provides your audience with an overview of your business plan. Also called a startup or investor pitch deck, it helps potential investors, partners, co-founders, and even customers to learn more about your company, the solution you offer for a specific customer pain point, and the kind of funding you need to propel your brand forward.

At its core, a pitch deck is a compelling story about your business that helps you make a great first impression towards your audience. It helps you express your ideas concisely using as few slides as possible.

A crucial thing to remember about pitch decks is that while your desired outcome is to secure financing from investors, the goal of your pitch deck isn’t to raise money.

Getting funding is a multi-step process that begins with an informative, well-built, and compelling pitch deck. The real reason you need a pitch deck is to spark interest in your company and to get investors wanting and asking for more. It’s what reels investors in and convinces them to have another meeting with you.

Remember, your pitch deck and pitch presentation are probably some of the first things that an investor will see to learn more about your company. And because investments rarely are made after just one meeting, your goal is to spark interest in your company. You want investors to ask for more after they hear your pitch and not just show you to the door.

What to Include in Your Pitch Deck

One of the most notable characteristics of a pitch deck is its brevity. While it may be tempting to just put everything there is to know about your company, people who truly know how to make a pitch deck understand that it’s best to stick to a few compelling points during your first meeting with potential investors.

Generally, a good pitch deck does not overwhelm the audience with too many slides and bullet points. Neither does it run for so long that it ends up boring the audience and wasting their time. The best pitch deck is concise and easy to follow.

Here are the most important pieces of information you should include in your pitch deck:

Your Business and Your Value Proposition

When you make a pitch deck, the first slide is your best chance of making a great first impression. This is where you can tell people about your brand and what you do through a compelling value proposition.

Introduce your company using a single phrase or sentence that encapsulates who you are and why you’re here. It should be short and simple, yet powerful enough to make your audience want to listen to what you have to say.

Some common formulas you can use in crafting the content of this slide include:

• The [name of industry-leading brand] for [your target customers/new application]
• [Product name], a [product category] to [desired outcome]
• For [your target customers] who [the problem you’re trying to solve], our [product category] provides [your solution]
• We help [your target audience] do [problem you’re trying to solve] by [your solution]
• For [market segment], our brand is the [product category] that [customer benefits] by [points of differentiation]

Your Team

Your team members are just as important as the product you’re selling, especially if you have a group of all-stars in your company. This slide tells your audience why they should be listening to you.

Most investors would want to know who’s steering and calling the shots in a company. So, showcase your team members by highlighting their achievements, expertise, and their impressive backgrounds.

The Problem and Your Unique Solution

An investor-winning pitch deck is not complete without some slides dedicated to the problem your company or product is trying to solve. This is the reason why you exist in the first place—to solve your customers’ pain point through a solution with a unique selling proposition.

Remember that the problem should be a true pain point that people can relate to and that your potential investors can easily understand. Don’t just say it’s a problem. Instead, back up your claims with research.

Make sure to show how your target customers are deeply affected by the problem you intend to solve and to emphasize how they’ve been actively looking for a solution but have not found a suitable one until your product came along.

Follow this up with slides dedicated to how you’re going to solve it. Start by defining the common solutions that exist today and then explain why they are not working out for your customers.

This will allow you to sufficiently differentiate your company from your competition. Furthermore, it will show your investors how you’re positioning yourself in the market while demonstrating your awareness of your station in relation to your competition.

Now that you’ve shown why your competitors’ solutions aren’t working as well as they should, it’s time to introduce your solution and how it solves the customers’ problem. Highlight features that make your solution stand out and show how it is better than the alternative solutions.

To make the solution slide clear and concise, consider using graphics to get your message across more effectively.

The Market

It’s important to talk about the market to let investors know what’s in it for them. This is where you breakdown the opportunity for your product or service. There are three key numbers you need to include in this section:

• TAM or Total Available Market is the total market demand for a product or service.
• SAM or Serviceable Available Market is the segment of the TAM targeted by your products and services which is within your geographical reach.
• SOM or Serviceable Obtainable Market is the portion of SAM that you can capture.

The TAM, SAM, and SOM let investors know whether your company is a good investment opportunity or not. In this section, highlight how profitable your company is by indicating how many paying customers or users you have, how big your revenue is, and how much growth you’re experiencing monthly.

Outline Your Financial Projections

After establishing how relevant the problem is and how your product solves it, your pitch deck should proceed to discuss how your company makes money.

In the part of the financial projections of the deck, you should illustrate a forecast of future revenues and expenses of your company. Typically, investors would want to see a three to five-year projection. This will show where your business is heading as well as the potential outcome should an investor push through.

However, don’t fall into the trap of slapping on a spreadsheet on your pitch deck. Keep this section simple yet visually engaging. Summarize the key numbers in a small table that is easily understandable.

Amount Being Raised

Also called the ‘Ask Slide”, this section helps explain why you’re seeking investment and what that capital will help achieve over a given period. It should contain pieces of information such as:

• • • How much money you’re raising
    • How much equity you’re offering (for an equity investment)
    • What interest rate and the discount percentage you’re offering (for convertible debt)
    • How much of the round has been committed
    • What the money you’re raising will be used to accomplish
    • How long the investment capital will last (your burn rate)
    • How much money you will need overall to get to profitability

This is the main reason why you make a pitch deck in the first place. It helps investors understand how the capital they’ll be providing will create value through product milestones, customer wins, and revenue growth.

A crucial thing to remember about this section is to avoid putting a specific amount you need to raise. Instead, put a range to attract as many targets as possible. So instead of saying you need $6 in investments, say you need $3 to $6 to catch the attention of investors who have investment limitations as well.

Conclusion

Making a great first impression to your potential investors isn’t always easy but knowing how to make a pitch deck goes a long way. With this tool, you’ll be able to tell an engaging story about your brand. When creating a pitch deck, it should be clear and simple, compelling, and easy to act on. If you need some help getting started, here’s a great list of pitch deck templates that you can draw inspiration from.

Hopefully, the tips we’ve shared above will help you build a killer pitch deck that your investors will love.

Do you have tips you’d like to share about pitching to investors? Don’t forget to share them in the comments below!