How to make an Investor Pitch Deck that really works [Slideshare]

In sales, a well established principle is, before one starts pitching to a customer, one should listen to what the customer has to say. That is because if you listen carefully he will lay out his needs in front of you, letting you present your solution in a way that fits into his needs perfectly.

The principle should be equally useful while pitching to an investor while raising funds. I can’t see a reason why it won’t be. But no one seems to be suggesting “you should listen more and talk less during an investor pitch”. Probably it is assumed that we already know what investors look for in a business. Is it a rockstar team; or may be a huge market size or is it traction or a break-through technology? Or may be different investors look for different combination of those things.

Actually all of those are means towards an end. They help investors figure out something more specific and quantitative that all investors look for in a startup before investing. But what is it?

A 10x return on their investment. That is it.

That number may vary from an early stage investor to a growth stage one, but you get the point, right? Not everyone says it out loud, because it makes them look money hungry, but that is what an investor business is all about.

But, now with that knowledge, how do you tweak your pitch and your pitch deck to make an investor feel that you are offering him an investment opportunity that could deliver a 10x return? And more importantly, can your business even deliver 10x return?

The above presentation by Deck Rooster answers those questions and offers a structure (not a template) for an investor pitch deck for startups. Check it out.