Your Pitch Deck is Important: Here’s What You Must Include In It
Your pitch deck is your route to generating the capital from investors that will allow your business to scale up, or turn a great idea into a fully functioning new product or service.
You should not underestimate the importance of your pitch deck as your potential investors will be having dozens of these pushed at them every day.
If you have already caught an investor’s attention enough for them to want to see your deck, you’ve got to ensure that yours is a good as it possibly can be.
How many sections should you include in your pitch deck?
There is no magic number but you need to be conscious of the fact that most investors will only spend between 2.5 and 3 minutes looking at your pitch deck.
In some sense, choosing what to leave out is almost as important as what you put in. Investors do not want to be bombarded with an overload of information.
In this article, we want to focus on the most important slides.
Let’s Break Down the Slides You Should Be Including.
This is not a definitive list as people can always come up with new and novel ways of reinventing the pitch, but if you tick these bases with your pitch deck, you’ll definitely be heading in the right direction.
The Cover
It may seem obvious but you need an excellent cover. This will be the first thing an investor sees and a bad impression could switch them off from the get-go.
Any images or designs need to be powerful and impactful. Even if you don’t get the funding you want in this round, a strong cover will still see you leave a good impression.
You could also look to convey your company’s mission here in as few words as possible. Again, as with the image, make an impression. Try to summarise your whole pitch and company ethos in one statement.
Problem/Solution
In some instances, this could be one or two slides. If one works, use one. Remember that time is of the essence and less is always more.
If this is a key facet of your overall pitch, two slides are fine. But make sure you get full value out of them both. This is the part where you get to show how your product is going to make a difference.
You are the solution and people need it.
Market
Figures and attractive charts are what will allow you to make a mark here. Show your potential investors how big your market is and what percentage of that you believe that you will be able to obtain.
Investors are looking for returns. Wow them here with the potential profit that they could be making by agreeing to help fund your vision.
Competition
Unless you are producing a completely unique new service or product, there will most certainly be a number of people already operating in your field.
This is not something that you should shy away from. Show your investors how you will be able to differentiate your product from those that are already on the market. How and why are you going to be better?
Financials
This is almost certainly the slide that investors are going to dedicate the lion’s share of their attention to.
What is your revenue model? What is your projected growth for the next 3 to 5 years?
As a startup, this information is often speculative as nobody can truly know how things will work out in the future.
If can you present this section clearly and confidently, investors will take greater notice and be more willing to play a part in your journey.
Team
Show them the faces of the people who matter the most. Why those people are important. What do they provide that is more than just their job title?
It could be possible that investors like your idea but then feel unimpressed by the way you present the people who will actually be delivering it.
Make sure this slide counts.
Roadmap
Here you can outline the steps that have been taken so far as well as those that you will be looking to achieve in the short-term based on the funding you are looking for.
It is also useful to include a reference to any other investors who have already played a part here. If these new investors see that other people are already on board, they may be more likely to take a risk on you too.
The Future/Vision
Beyond the financials, what is the wider vision of this venture?
Investors want to be inspired by people who exhibit hunger and vision for the future. The product now may be one thing, but where would you like to go next?
Be brave and ambitious, but ground this in confidence and surety rather than coming off as a bit of dreamer.
This should be the last page of your pitch deck and it should leave the people in the room impressed and not wanting you to walk out of the door without their support.
The bottom line
Your pitch deck is a unique opportunity to get your message across to potential investors. An important thing to remember about this is that you are only getting your foot in the door.
Make an impression and get people engaged, but do not over complicate things and switch people off by adding in too much information. If you don’t want to waive information you can put them in appendix.
Hone each slide a thousand times before you deliver it to anyone. And don’t be afraid to mix it up a little depending on who it is that you are delivering the pitch to.
A crisp, clear, well-presented pitch deck from a team that knows how to show off its personality is what you are looking for. And while a sound product, bright ideas, and enthusiasm will go a long way, you must also ensure that your pitch deck is visually appealing too. If you need any help you can visit our website.
