December 8, 2022   / Uncategorized

Everything You Need to Know While Getting Your Pitch Deck Ready!

4 minutes Read

An effective pitch deck is a crucial part of your fundraising toolset if you’re trying to raise money for your company. A strong pitch deck enthuses potential investors about your concept and starts a discussion about your company that, ideally, results in an investment.

So, what is a pitch deck?

A presentation that gives a succinct but thorough summary of your company is referred to as a pitch deck, also known as a slide deck or start-up deck. The main ideas of your company plan, the goods and services you offer, high-level financial estimates, and capital requirements should all be covered. 

Your pitch deck will largely be utilized as a tool to communicate the story of your company, but it should also function well on its own as a visual document.

The real goal of a pitch deck isn’t to get you money. That’s right. The purpose is to get the next meeting. 

Most likely, an investor will look at your pitch presentation and pitch deck to learn more about your business. Your objective is to generate interest in your business because investments are rarely made after only one encounter. After hearing your pitch, you want investors to ask for more, not just send you on your way.

Therefore, while a strong pitch deck is essential for raising money, the main objective of the deck is to move the conversation forward to another meeting and request more details.

What to add to a pitch deck? 

Even though businesses are different from one another, however, the building blocks remain similar. Now, let’s look at some of the most crucial slides. 

Value proposition

This is a succinct one-sentence summary of your company and the benefit you offer to your clients. Short and uncomplicated is best. Consider this slide a brief tweet; in 140 characters or fewer, define your company in clear, uncomplicated terms.

The problem and solution

Use this slide to discuss the issue you are trying to solve and the person(s) involved. You can discuss the available options on the market, but save a lot of time discussing the market’s competitive environment for another slide.

The solution slide may be enticed to be placed nearer the top of your pitch deck, but try to resist the urge. This type of storytelling involves developing the issue and illustrating how detrimental it is for many people. Now that problem is being addressed with the aid of your good or service.

Revenue model

After describing your product or service, you must discuss how it generates revenue. Who pays the bills, and how much do you charge?

Here, you can also address how your pricing fits into the bigger market by bringing up the competitive landscape. Are you a high-end, expensive option or a low-cost one that undercuts other products on the market?

Traction roadmap

Talk about your product’s sales or early adopters here if you have any. Any evidence you have that your solution actually does work to solve the problem you have identified is highly powerful. Investors want to see that you have proven some component of your company model since that lowers risk.

Marketing strategy

It might be difficult for startups to attract clients, so it’s critical to demonstrate that you understand your target market and the many sales channels you intend to employ.

It’s crucial to emphasize here any differences between your marketing and sales procedure and those of your competitors.

The team behind the curtain

Why are you and your team the best candidates to create and expand this business? What knowledge do you possess that others lack? Highlight the important team members, their achievements at previous employers, and the important knowledge they bring to the table.

Even if your team isn’t fully assembled yet, list the important positions you still need to fill and explain why they are essential to the expansion of your business.

Finance

You shouldn’t use complicated spreadsheets for your pitch deck because they will be challenging to read and understand in a presentation style. Just use graphs that display sales, overall customer numbers, overall costs, and overall profits.

You should be prepared to talk about the underlying assumptions you used to determine your sales targets and what the main factors influencing your expenses are.

Do your best to maintain reality. Investors frequently encounter “hockey stick” estimates, so they will mentally halve your projections. It is helpful if you can justify your growth in terms of the traction you already have or in comparison to a business in a comparable sector.

Competition strategy

Describe your place in the market’s competitive landscape and how you vary from the alternatives and rivals that are currently available. What distinct advantages do you possess over your rivals? Do you have a “secret sauce” that they don’t?

In this situation, it’s important to emphasize how you vary from the other market participants and why clients should pick you.

Fund utilization

Finally, let’s talk money. It is true that the real purpose of a pitch deck isn’t getting money. However, that being said, the potential investors need to know what sum you’re looking for. 

More significantly, you must be able to justify why you require the sum of money you are requesting and how you intend to use it. Investors will be curious about how their money is being used and how it will help you accomplish the objectives you have set for your company.

Tips for a successful pitch

  • Keep it simple. Less is better than adding way too many details to the deck. You need to be aware of every tiny detail, but no need to add everything to the deck. 
  • Slides with bullet points are boring and cliched. Try using limited words and large fonts. 
  • A pitch isn’t only about repeating facts in front of investors. Focus on grabbing interest and getting the audience hooked to the pitch. 
  • Don’t oversell it. Focus on bottom-up forecasts where you mention expectations in detail about how you’re going to acquire your customers. 
  • Keep the pitch current. The process is long, and you’ll most probably pitch to many investors over a huge period of time. Therefore, ensure that the pitch deck contains all the recent details as well. 

So, this is all for now. Everyone has different experiences while pitching to investors. However, the more you prepare, the more confident you’ll be and the better the pitch will go. 

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