A pitch deck is a presentation used by entrepreneurs and startup owners to promote their businesses, entice investors, and perhaps seek funding to help build their companies.
You can’t deny the importance of a good pitch deck in impressing investors since it helps you convey powerful visual storytelling. But how can you construct a pitch deck that genuinely attracts investors?
Let’s get started.
If you’re ready to start building your pitch deck, use ready-to-use, and free PowerPoint templates to produce a strong investor deck in minutes inspired by real-life examples, you can customize them with your content.
What is a Pitch Deck?
A pitch deck (also known as an investor or startup pitch deck) is a presentation you prepare to provide investors with a rapid summary of your company and its potential for development.
Consider it the vehicle that conveys the value proposition and possibilities of your company concept from your head to the minds of your audience.
What is the goal? To make it to the next meeting, get funding, recruit someone to your team, or do anything else, depending on who you’re presenting to.
However, if you want your pitch deck to stand out, you must ensure that it does not resemble any other infographic templates.
When Do You Need a Pitch Deck?
When you need to pitch your company to anybody, you need a pitch deck. This might be anybody from a venture investor to a co-founder you believe would be a good fit. It may also be a sharp-eyed panel of judges in a company pitching contest.
Yes, you can also describe your concept vocally. However, this is an unproductive method of presenting your company proposal since you might either underdeliver or overdeliver the necessary information.
A pitch deck allows you to employ visuals such as photographs, graphics, samples, and videos to help express your message and create a lasting impression on your audience. You can either present it online via zoom or physically in your office or coworking space where you work.
For example, a pitch deck presentation allows you to convey your financial estimates and exhibit your proposal more effectively than orally or without visual assistance.
Best Practices To Create An Interesting Startup Pitch Presentation
There are several best practices and design suggestions to keep in mind if you want to take your pitch deck presentation to the next level. Let’s dig into the nitty-gritty of creating a pitch deck so that you have a winner on your hands:
1. Showcase Your Storytelling Skills
Good tales stay with you. They’re convincing. And they appeal to your audience’s emotions to persuade them to vote in your favor – yep, we make judgments mostly based on emotions, with some reasoning thrown in for good measure.
For your presentation, use any of the following narrative formulas:
- Before-after-bridge formula: Begin by describing a world that has a particular issue (before). Continue to share a world without the issue (after). Now, present your business concept (the bridge).
- PAS formula: This abbreviation stands for Problem, Agitate, and Solution. And the procedure is as follows: define an issue (read: your target buyer’s problem), develop the problem, and propose a solution to it (your product or service).
It entails shifting between what is (the status quo) and what might be (the future that could be). Then, provide your business concept as the climax (the bliss).
Whatever narrative framework you choose, make sure your presentation is well-structured for a seamless flow.
2. Talk About The Benefits Instead of Features
The more you highlight the advantages of your company concept, the more successful your pitch will be. Dropbox successfully raised $1.7 billion in investment in 2007. It also received financing from investors such as JP Morgan.
And how did they manage it?
By emphasizing the advantages of their concept. To that aim, they discussed transforming the way individuals save and distribute data.
So you know what to do, don’t you?
Investigate the advantages; how your product will improve the lives of its consumers easier.
3. Design Professional-looking Startup Pitch Presentations
You may save time by using presentation templates. Because, in reality, all you need to do is tailor the template to your requirements. Even if you utilize a fantastic Template to make your presentation, remember the following presentation design tips:
Use Good Color Contrast
It’s ideal to start working on your company’s brand identification as soon as possible. What’s the reason? It enables you to create a lasting impact on your audience.
However, if you are in the early phases of proposing your concept, you may not be focused on it until you get money. We suggest that you take your time while selecting colors for your presentation in such a situation.
Colors, in essence, have a psychological influence on your viewers. Red, for example, conveys passion. Blue evokes trust. Yellow is associated with optimism, among other things. This implies you can’t use any color for your presentation slides at random.
Avoid Cluttering Your Slides
We’ve said it before: use as few slides as possible. But, while you’re doing it, make each slide as simple as possible to create a lasting impression.
Because here’s the thing: clutter is ineffective at capturing your audience’s attention. And the last thing you want is an investor scratching their brain, trying to make sense of your jumbled slides.
Use just the images you need — no superfluous symbols or graphics — to produce breathing, clutter-free presentations. Make certain that each design element earns its keep by fulfilling a function.
Choose Your Fonts Mindfully
Avoid using a typeface that requires your audience to squint to read your content. Instead, choose readily readable display typefaces such as Verdana, Georgia, Montserrat, etc.
Try to maintain the minimum font size of 24 points. Finally, limit yourself to no more than 2-3 typefaces. More typefaces will merely generate distractions and damage the purity of your design.
Wrapping It Up
That’s all there is to it. We hope you now have a good understanding of how to make a pitch deck. Remember that it’s all about your target consumers and how your company can assist them.
So, concentrate on the advantages of your product and the issue it will address. Make a relatable tale out of it. Finally, convey it with assurance.
