This is a diverse collection of slides, but the theme holding them together is that they can help an investor understand how your solution works.
One pitfall entrepreneurs sometimes fall into is waiting too long at the beginning of a pitch to tell an investor what they’re actually doing. If after 5 minutes of talking they still don’t know, then you’ve lost them.
(This is one section of a large bank of slide formats to use in your pitch. To follow along, subscribe to the Pitch Patterns publication on Medium. For a free .key version of these slides, email pitchpatterns@gmail.com.)
Here are some templates to consider:
Demo
Do it live. But in preparing your demo, think through how to concisely show the most notable parts of the product. Do not waste time navigating to the product, signing in, and so on. Just show the good bits. And practice transitioning from the deck to the demo and back.
Product Shot
Showing a view of the most salient parts of the product can have some of the effect above, in much less time.
Product Shot in Screen Frame
Product Shots in Mobile Frames
A clean way to show a small selection of views of your product.
Product Shot with Notes
Sometimes the combination of a visual and a few notes extending that can work well.
How It Works
A more traditional way to show a breadth of product views.
How It Works — Model
If your business model or technology isn’t common, you can represent it as components, and how they fit together.
Be aware that these formats can be tough for the audience to quickly grasp though, so keep them as simple as possible, and make sure to explain through them.
How It Works — Model and Product
A combination of conceptual model and real product shot can tie some of this together.
Model Simple Text
Sometimes it makes sense to keep it basic. Just try bullet points.
Unit Economics
The financial ‘How It Works’ slides could be a post in themselves, and there are many ways to start to represent financials and unit economics stories.
