Making a successful pitch deck is an essential skill for any entrepreneur. A well-crafted deck can help you secure funding from investors, land new customers, and convince partners to work with you. Creating a great pitch deck can be tricky – it needs to be engaging enough to hold your audience’s attention, but concise enough that you can get your points across in a short amount of time. But what's the best way to create a pitch deck? And what should you include? In this blog post, we'll provide tips for creating a pitch deck that will wow potential investors and help you secure the funding you need to take your business to the next level. So read on to learn more!
1. Cover
The name of your company and a brief tagline. Try to compare yourself to something existing that’s already great. Your tagline should include everything a person needs to understand your company.
For example, if your company deals with the lending out of camera equipment gear, you should include the tagline that you’re the Airbnb of camera gear.
Comparing your business to an existing model establishes your business model from the get-go, making it easier for your investors to understand your value proposition when you get to the product slide.
2. Problem
**What are your customers struggling with and don’t already have an excellent solution for?**Keep it simple. At the core, there are only three ways to make money.
- Help people save money
- Help people save time
- Help people make money
3. Solution
What is the solution you’ve created to solve your customers’ problems? Include a picture or screenshot, or mockup of your MVP.
- Ask yourself: What is the benefit of your solution?
4. Your “Secret Sauce”
What makes you stand out and will guarantee your success? The main point of this slide is to communicate your value proposition. Find what makes you unique and sets you apart from the competition.
5. Target Customer
Identify your target customer. Who are you building this product for? On this slide, you can include a customer persona. Ask yourself:
- Where are my customers?
- What are my customers’ demographics?
- Why will they be buying this?
6. Competition
Who is your direct competition? It’s the fact of the matter that you do have competition. Show how you stand out by creating a matrix that shows a variety of competitors and your brand (and make yours stand out in a dramatic way).
7. Go-to-market strategy
Determine where and how your product will be sold. Think of your distribution and advertising plan for your company. Show an example of a brand that succeeded with a model like the one you’re proposing.
The distribution has to be related to your target market. For example, a high-cost subscription model for a target customer of college students doesn’t make sense. Spend some serious time and consideration mapping out this slide as it’s one of the most important.
8. Show your business model
Example, it costs X, customers pay Y, we will sell Z per month, and make X-Y profit. Now that you have a go-to-market strategy, this slide shows how you’ll execute on it and make your business profitable.
9. Traction
Show how your idea has been validated in the real world. This is your proof of concept slide. Go out and interview target customers, conduct research, gain followers on social media, get pre-orders.
Traction is your most important slide. It’s what makes you stand out, and the best form of traction is real revenue. Real money shows that your product has actual value in the markets.
10. Your Team
Why is your team best suited to take this company to the next level? Skip the BS titles, and dive into the hard skills each team member brings. Include a professional photo of everyone and a 5-word max title or bio about each member. The point of this slide is to answer the question, why us?
11. Your Ask
What do you want your audience to do? The point of a pitch is not just for the sake of pitching; it’s to achieve a call-to-action, whether it be on-boarding a new customer or pitching to investors.
If you’re pitching for investors, you can use: “I am seeking X dollars investment from you in exchange for X percent of my company.”
If you’re pitching in a competition, you can use: “I am seeking your vote in this competition because a first-place win will provide me with seed capital and priceless assistance and expertise to bring my company to life.”
12. Summary
Summarize the top three points of your company. Keep it simple:
- What problem are you solving?
- What’s your solution?
- How will you execute/gain revenue?
13. Contact Info
Include a link to your company’s website and who they can contact for further questions. Leave this slide up while you answer questions and include a secondary mockup of your product.
General Tips
- Focus on one maximum idea per slide
- Use short and broken sentences with as few words as possible to convey your message
