Jumping into the world of startup means to learn many things, including what a pitch deck is. It is one of many crucial components of building your business. If we take it from the dictionary, a pitch is talk or arguments used by a person trying to sell something or persuade people to do something, while a deck is a set of slides that are used to accompany a person’s presentation. Put the two together and you simply get a presentation to sell something. However, a pitch deck is not as simple as that. That’s why we’re going to dive into that topic and understand it thoroughly through this article.
Understanding a Pitch Deck
Building and growing a business requires a lot of collaboration. It’s not a one-man job. You might start alone by yourself, but many people will eventually take part in it, including the finances of your startup business. That’s where a pitch deck comes in. To put it simply, a pitch deck is a presentation to draw in investment by convincing potential investors of your company’s prospects for expansion.
However, it’s not just a dull presentation full of text. You need narrative and visuals to help you communicate your idea and goal in a clear manner. Provide your vision by covering key aspects of your company such as financials, team, landscape of competition, product or service, market potential, and business model. The goal of it is to convince investors and have a conversation regarding your business. In the end, it can lead to a deal of securing funding for your business.
The Purpose of a Pitch Deck
As mentioned earlier, a pitch deck has the purpose of intriguing potential investors for a partnership, especially to gain investment and secure funding. However, funding is an end goal that bypasses several processes. To fulfill its purpose, the pitch deck has to reach milestones. For a starter, it has to serve as the cornerstone of communication between entrepreneurs and potential investors.
Doing that means you have to convey the essence of your business idea in a clear and persuasive manner. For example, address key questions such as: What issue does your business attempt to solve? What differentiates your solution? To what extent does the market opportunity exist? Above all, why should they put money into you?
Still, you don’t want to bombard them with hefty pieces of information. You want it to be brief and concise. Time is an essence that needs to be taken into account. While it is important to be informative, visually appealing design and engaging storytelling have to be considered too. Make a crafty impactful pitch deck and you are closer to reaching its purpose of gaining funding.
Pitch Deck Structure: Let’s Break it Down!
Okay, we understand that a pitch deck needs to be clear and understandable. It has to include key points of your business. But, how do we break it down? Well, you want you would want your slides to include these list:
- Introduction: Start with your company’s name, what you do, and a clear, engaging statement that sums up your value proposition. This sets the tone for the rest of the presentation.
- Problem: Describe the problem your target customers are facing, why it’s significant, and how it impacts them. Make it relatable and compelling.
- Solution: Show how your product or service solves the problem effectively and why it’s better or different from existing solutions.
- Market Size and Opportunity: Highlight the size of your target market and its growth potential. Explain why now is the right time to seize this opportunity.
- Product: Give a brief overview of your product or service, focusing on its main features, benefits, and how it works. Use visuals if possible.
- Traction: Provide evidence that your company is growing to increase trust and confidence such as partnerships, users, or sales.
- Team: Introduce your core team members, their roles, and their expertise. Emphasize how their skills are key to the success of your business.
- Competition: Discuss your competitors and explain what makes your business unique or gives you a competitive edge. Be honest but strategic.
- Financials: Provide an overview of your financial performance and projections, focusing on revenue, expenses, and future growth. Keep it straightforward but persuasive.
- Investment and Use of Funds: Clearly state how much funding you need and detail how you’ll use it to grow your business and achieve specific milestones.
Image source: slidebean.com
What a Good Pitch Deck Should Be?
To say a pitch deck is good or not depends on many things. As we see before in the content breakdown, it has to include key points of your business. Other than the content itself, it also has to do with how you present it. A good pitch deck is asking for good storytelling, just like how movies or novels are made. It has a setup, confrontation, and resolution. Craft the key elements of a pitch deck into those three structures and you’re ready to go for a good pitch deck.
Another thing to take notes is to avoid common mistakes. To make it easy, here’s a list of them:
- Claiming there’s no competition, which comes off as unrealistic.
- Insisting on an unnecessary NDA, which can discourage investors.
- Cramming too much text into slides, making them difficult to read.
- Including an excessive number of slides, overwhelming your audience.
- Overlooking the importance of analyzing competitors and their potential impact.
- Combining multiple business models, which can confuse investors.
- Providing overly optimistic financial projections that seem unrealistic.
- Using too much jargon or buzzwords, making your message unclear.
- Not clearly explaining how the requested funds will be used.
- Presenting a poorly designed deck, which can hurt your credibility.
Remember to make your presentation easily understandable and relatable. Tell the story clearly, compellingly, and concisely while conveying a clear problem/solution fit. Make it relatable by quantifying the issue, illustrating the user’s pain areas, and mentioning how your solution makes their lives better.
Examples of a Pitch Deck
Here are some examples of pitch decks you can take a look at and might inspire you:
1. LunchBox ($72.1M)
A restaurant technology platform that offers loyalty plans, online ordering, and other digital solutions to improve customer satisfaction and expedite operations.
2. Party Round ($7M)
With a recent $7 million investment, Party Round is committed to making fundraising easier for founders.
3. Plum ($82.4M)
Plum’s presentation deck clearly outlines the company’s goal of automating wealth management with its simple, minimalistic design (only nine slides).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
It is a presentation to draw in investment.
It is to intrigue potential investors for a partnership, especially to gain investment and secure funding.
It needs to include key points such as introduction, problem, solution, market size and opportunity, product, traction, team, competition, financials, investment, and use of funds.
Looking to elevate your pitch deck design? We’re ready to do so. Check out our works to know us more!
