As an entrepreneur, you need a lot of things to help you succeed, a killer marketing strategy and a great pitch deck. Your pitch deck is the key to getting the funds that your business needs from investors. Having a perfectly crafted pitch deck with the right content can make the difference between walking out of an investors’ meeting with funds or walking out with a vague promise to get back to you in future.

What is a pitch deck?

A pitch deck is a collection of slides that are used to provide your audience with a quick overview of your business plan. It’s usually the content of your pitch deck that helps investors determine whether or not to continue evaluating your business opportunity.

What should a pitch deck contain?

The slides in your pitch deck should revolve around these essential things:

• Introduction- Who you are and what you want for your business.
• Team- The people behind the idea and their respective roles
• Problem- What problem is your business trying to solve?
• Advantages- What makes the solution that your business tries to provide to the problem special?
• Solution- How does your business plan to solve the problem?
• Product – How exactly does your product/service work to solve the problem?
• Traction – This means having a set of customers that have used your product/service and prove that it has some potential.
• Market – Who is your target market? What’s the size of this target market?
• Competition – What other businesses provide an alternative solution to the problem that you’re trying to solve? What gives your solution an edge?
• Business model – How exactly do you plan to make money? When do you expect that your business will start to generate revenue?
• Investing – How much are you seeking in investment?
• Contact – Your contact details.

Tips for creating an awesome pitch deck

Now that you know what your pitch deck should contain, here are some tips that will help you create an amazing pitch deck.

1. Have a clear message – Your pitch deck boils down to two things: The problems your potential customers are facing and how your company plans to solve it. Your message needs to clearly communicate this. It should have a clear message that investors would remember.
2. Give the right information – Investors usually want to know exactly why they should invest in your business. Some of the key information that you should provide includes your market size, business model, competitive advantage and expertise.
3. Use your numbers to tell a story – Investors are all about the money. They want to see what your numbers and projected numbers are like. However, they don’t want to see you just throw random figures around. You need to let your figures tell a story. Use your numbers to map out sales, revenue, and user growth. Your analysis of figures shows how much you understand your business runs. Proper analysis of figures and data gives investors’ confidence that you’ll handle their money well.

4. Tell a story – Find an emotional angle and leverage on it.  Use storytelling and graphics to create an emotional connection. Help the person viewing the pitch deck to feel your customers pain and feel the relief that your product/service provides. You need to show how passionate and enthusiastic you are about your idea and how much you believe in it. You should show the investor that you’re fully convinced that your idea is golden and will be a huge success.
5. Go straight to the point – Despite the fact that you need to tell a story, you should bear in mind that you need to do this in a concise and straightforward way. Get straight to the point, don’t make the investor go through 8 slides before being able to figure out what it is that you’re talking about.
6. Keep it short – Investors usually have a lot of pitches to review, so it’s best that you keep things short. Make sure your introduction is powerful and attention-grabbing, and the entire pitch isn’t unnecessarily long.
7. Keep things simple – Don’t go over the top with graphics, colors, words, numbers, and data on the slides. This is likely to overwhelm the viewer and the essence of your message is likely to be lost.
8. Be honest – You might be tempted to sugarcoat some facts about your business or embellish the figures to make them look more attractive. Try not to do this because your investor might find out and it’ll end up hurting your pitch. Nobody wants to invest in someone who isn’t completely honest.
9. Make it visually appealing – Design plays a huge role in the success of your pitch. The right design makes your business look great! Make sure your brand colors are consistent. You should also use images that are impactful and relevant to tell your story. Try not to use low-resolution stock images. Paying a designer to craft your pitch desk’s design is a worthy investment. Good design helps you tell your story in the best way possible. Always remember, a picture tells a thousand words.
10. Follow the famous 10/20/30 rule – Marketing expert, Guy Kawasaki created the 10/20/30 rule for pitch decks, The rule states that your deck should be no more than 10 slides long, take no more than 20 minutes to talk through and should be typed in no less than 30-point font. This helps you to bring a laser focus to your ideas and really hone your pitch. In doing so, you will streamline your own knowledge of your business and stay focused on your core competencies.

In conclusion, the purpose of a successful pitch is to have investors willing to invest in your company. Make sure you deliver what the investor wants to see from you, in order to receive what you want from them. If you need help designing your pitch deck, or finalizing your brand image please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are more than pleased to help.