Preparing For A Pitch Deck :

A Pitch deck is one of the most significant steps in floating a startup. Now, you all must be wondering what a pitch deck is?. So basically a pitch deck is a pitch presentation for entrepreneurs and businesses to provide a piece of brief information and overview about their company or startup to potential investors such as venture capitalists or angel investors.

A pitch deck presentation is also known as a startup pitch deck or slide deck. It is a visual document that provides investors with essential information about our business plan, products or services, fundraising needs, and key metrics like valuation, target market, and financial goals. The best pitch decks which are generally used are quite informative and also feature simple eye-appealing slides, typically created using the new generation software program.

A pitch deck is a brief presentation, often created using PowerPoint, Keynote, or Prezi, used to provide your audience with a quick overview of your business plan. You will usually use your pitch deck during face-to-face or online meetings with potential investors, customers, partners, and co-founders.

There are 12 slides in a pitch deck:

· Introduction

· Team

· Problem

· Advantages

· Solution

· Product

· Traction

· Market

· Competition

· Business Model

· Investing

· Contact

Aim of a Pitch Deck :

The basic aim of a Pitch Deck is to generate interest and even excitement with investors about a company that can lead to another meeting and potential for investment discussion. A pitch deck can be a critical tool in raising money for a business.

Tips for making Pitch Deck :

1. Entrepreneurs may want to provide investors with maximum information on their first pitch deck.

2. The point of the pitch meeting is to engage potential investors. A list of facts and metrics will have less impact than a narrative approach. Entrepreneurs should provide stories about companies that all the investors will find very relatable and plan various strategies.

3. A potential investor may want to refer to the pitch deck after the presentation. Ensure that the deck contains the most critical information they need in print or PDF format.

4. Businesses typically pitch many potential investors before they secure funding. Ensure that pitch decks are up-to-date with the latest information, including critical metrics and recent milestones, before every pitch to maintain professionalism and avoid presenting out-of-date information.

Elements to include in a pitch deck:

1) Introduction:

The first slide should introduce the pitch deck and explain the business in simple and clearly understood terms. Businesses typically include a unique value proposition as part of their first slide, which compares their products and services to another established company.

2) Team:

Show the people behind the idea and briefly describe their roles.

3) Problem:

The pitch deck needs to explain a problem the business’s target market faces. This information will demonstrate the necessity of your product or service in the marketplace.

4) Target:

Every service or product is aimed at a specific group, and yours should be featured in your pitch deck. Include information on the competitive landscape in which your business exists and the market opportunity to succeed in that landscape. What is the market size for products or services like those offered by the business? And also what makes your solution special? How your business is different from others.

5) Solution:

The solution slide should state the way(s) in which the business solves the problems that your target market is facing. The best way to relay this information is through a narrative approach — provide relatable stories of customers using these products to improve their lives. Support those statements with descriptions and visuals of the products or services themselves, including photographs, screenshots, or even a video of a physical demo.

6) Traction:

This slide validates the company’s business model by showing any month-over-month growth through early sales and support. The goal is to reduce any fear of risk in potential investors. This slide can include a simple bullet point list of milestones such as the number of users, annual revenue return rate, and profit margins.

7) Marketing and sales strategy :

It’s important to detail how the product will be advertised and sold to its market. Investors will use this information to leverage a company’s understanding of the market size, and how its marketing approach differs from its competition.

8) Competition:

Include information on the qualities that set your product or service apart from other entities or alternatives in its market — you can pull this information from your competitive analysis.

Examples of some good Pitch Deck startups :

1). Sequoia capital pitch deck:

Famous VC firm Sequoia Capital has its own 10-slide pitch deck format to rival Guy Kawasaki’s. It’s a highly curated format that shines a spotlight on innovative ideas and forces clarity of thinking.

2). Airbnb Pitch Deck:

A large marketplace, an impressive rate of traction, and being market-ready for any new competition is what made Airbnb stand out early on, as a fast company, and its slide deck clearly demonstrates these points.

Your pitch deck should explain the core information in your business plan simply and straightforwardly. Only a few startups have been able to do it.

3). Uber Pitch Deck:

Highlights the key point (the inefficiency of cabs) and the tantalizing solution.

Uber co-founder Garrett Camp shared the company’s very first pitch deck from 2008 via a post.

There’s actually a surprising amount of text. Still, it manages to hit every single major part of its business plan succinctly–including key differentiators, use cases, and the best and worst-case scenarios.

We’ve updated the classic Uber pitch deck template with sharp visuals and layouts.

So this is some information that can be very useful to a new floating startup about how to set a pitch deck.

Dos of a pitch deck:

· Tell a story & engage the people emotionally and interact with them.

· Limit each slide to express one idea so we can keep everyone on the same page.

· Prepare to make a great first impression.

· Show the people/team behind your idea.

· Keep a consistent look in the presentation.

· Know your metrics better than anyone.

Don’ts of a pitch deck :

· Don’t use too many bullet points.

· Don’t make it too long.

· Don’t read word by word from the script.

· Don’t create a text-rich,picture-poor presentation.

· Don’t come unprepared.

· Don’t use small fonts.