Overview on Investor Pitch Deck

A pitch deck is generally a 10-20 slide presentation designed to provide a short review of your company, your vision for startup, and also your business plan. If you are trying to raise funds for your business, it is essential to have an impressive pitch deck. An attractive pitch deck can be said to be a fundraising toolkit. It also fulfills many purposes, like trying to get a meeting with a new investor and presenting in front of a stage. Potential investors via a great pitch deck get a brief about your business idea and also will get engaged in conversation related to your business or startup, hopefully bringing investment in your company. Pitch deck is usually used during face to face or in online meetings with customers, partners, potential investors, and co-founders.

What is an Investor Pitch Deck?

An investor pitch deck is usually a presentation of the business model that shows the potential for the growth and viability of the company. It is a brief summary of your business in 15-25 slides containing all the key information regarding your business idea.

Raising capital from the investors is complicated, as well as time-consuming. For startups, the investor pitch deck can work as a booster, if the pitch deck is perfect and produces a compelling, interesting story about your business ideas.

What are the key slides an investor pitch deck?

An investor pitch deck needs to cover the following listed topics:

Company Overview

Presenting the company overview is one of the most important points for any company. It can be summarized in several bullet points.

Mission/Vision of the Company

You need to present a good mission or vision of your company. It is the “why” of any business strategy.

• It explains functions of the company for its customers.
• How the company manages its employees.
• It also explains the company’s work for its owners.

Problem

The slide explaining the problem is the key section of your investor pitch deck. The primary reason is that if you have a business, you will have a problem. This slide provides you the opportunity to present the problem that exists.

Solution

Having stated the problems in the slide, the next sequence to be followed must be of solutions you are offering. The solution to the problem must be kept short and concise. In case your solution has different parts, it is suggested to make use of icons and text boxes to separate your solution points.

Market Validation

The AirBnB’s Investor pitch Deck has a market validation slide. Though this slide is not a must, it will be a good idea to have it in your pitch presentation deck. The market validation slide is the key area where you discuss the market information and also validate your business solution. This can contain all the products you have sold so far, or even mentioning the profitable statistics of the competitors in the market.

Market Size

By stating your market size, you can project your future performance. This will help the venture capitalist or angel investors that are going through your pitch deck presentation. They can see your growth opportunity in the market.

Competition

There are some entrepreneurs who do not admit that they have competitors. Showing that you do not have a competitor is not a good idea.

Sometimes, there are business persons who do not like to admit that they have competitors, which is not a good idea. As a matter of fact, mentioning your competitors in the market shows that your business is profitable, that is why there are competitors in the market.

Competitive Advantages

The next thing on the slide must be the unique advantages over the competition in the market. You should mention the details mentioned below:

• How fast is your delivery time?
• Is your service better at lower rates?
• How advanced is your technology?

Business Model

The key slide where all the investors are interested in is your business model slide. The reason is, it is the slide in the investor pitch deck, where the investors will foresee how you will make money. So, you can use this slide to state your revenue model. Your business model slide must not leave a startup investor or venture capitalist, wondering about how you will make money. It is better not to mix the business model with the business plan.

Customer Acquisition

Having a good product with zero customers or fewer customers will result in decreased sales. In this slide, you will present your views regarding how to attract the customers or clients, what strategies must be implied. You must ensure that the customer acquisition plan is actionable, and it does not state strategies that cannot be executed.

Management Team

You must have a solid team behind your business, as many investors invest in people first before they invest in ideas.

Financial Projection

You must present to the investors about your assumption regarding finance. State your financial projections in a way that it accommodates your business growth. Clearly, this is an art to present your business as the most convincing money spawning creation.

Current Status/Milestones

In case there is already some adopters or have a sale in the product, it must be discussed in the presentation. Investors will get a confirmation that you have proven some aspect of your business model.

Ask

After clearing all the points in your slides and gaining the investor’s attention, this slide gives an opportunity to state what you want. For instance, if you want equity investment in your company, how much do you expect, and what is the percentage equity that you will be offering in return.

Use of Funds

It is possible to merge the use of the fund’s slide of an investor pitch deck with the ‘Ask’ slide. In this slide, you must communicate regarding the investment you are seeking and what your plans are for this investment.

Contact

In the last slide, you must provide your contact information so that the investors can know about the details of your company and can get in touch with you whenever they want.

Additional Slides that can be included in the Pitch Deck

Sometimes you may need to include a few extra slides that will help more in explaining your business. Here are some slides that can be found in an investor pitch deck:

Exit strategy

The investors must be provided clarity on how you will be returning them their money. It is done in the form of an exit strategy slide that outlines who is your potential acquirer, if you manage to grow your company and be successful.

Partnerships

 Some businesses have got key partnerships which can be crucial to their success. In case your company relies on these types of partnerships, it is important to show them.

Demo and screenshots

In case you have a sample of your product, screenshots of your online service, or any other opportunity to show must be included in a place holder slide in the deck. Here you will be actually showing your investors how your product works, and all other related information’s regarding your product.

Other documentation

It is better to keep your pitch deck short and concise. Your main aim is to provide the investors with all the information they need to make an investment decision. Its prime purpose is to tell a story, build excitement, and help in providing all the additional information. Preparation of additional documents will ensure that you fill your presentation with all the relevant information.

What are the Documents Needed After Delivering the Pitch?

Some of the common documents that can be required after delivering of pitch are as follows:
1. Executive Summary
2. Technical Documentation
3. Detailed Financial Models
4. Detailed Market Research

Executive summary

An executive summary, also known as a summary memo, is basically a two to three-page overview of the business. It is a document that will help the investors to share the details of your company with their partners and others in their firm to provide a summary of your business. Your executive summary must cover what is in your pitch deck but in written form.

Technical documentation

In case you are starting a tech company or a medical company or a medical company, the investors can ask you to provide some additional detail on your technology. Investors in these companies will often want to check your technical claims with an expert. So, provide more detailed diagrams, documentation, and workflows accordingly.

Detailed financial model

Any investor who is seriously interested in your business wants to see detailed financial forecasts for at least the next three years. Through this, they can get an understanding of the underlying assumptions that are driving your forecasts.  Investors want to see your plans regarding hiring and employee-related expenses, R&D expenses, manufacturing costs, marketing expenses, and so on. You should provide a detailed sales forecast, profit and loss forecast, and also cash flow forecast. A balance sheet is also required. Wherever, possible, represent your data with graphics.

Detailed market research

You may be asked by investors to provide more details on your target market and also the market research till that date. This data must not be a part of your initial pitch deck, but instead should be ready if it is asked for.

What are the Important Do’s and Don’ts for Investor Pitch Decks?

Many startups and businesses make a number of mistakes when creating their investor pitch deck. Here is a list of primary do’s and don’ts to keep in mind:

Investor Pitch Deck Do’s

• Prepare a catchy introduction to impress the audience in the beginning.
• Since you have all the information in your hands, try to be yourself and enthusiastic.
• Keep it concise and short (15-20 slides) and also set a time limit for your presentation.
• Use the given time and, if possible, use less time than allotted, leaving room for queries and comments.
• Assume the questions before and prepare all the potential answers.
• Must practice on the pitch and wherever needed to improve the content and the presentation style.
• Practice your pitch in front of people, maybe some friends you can trust, and who will criticise you. Keep on practicing till you gain perfection.
• Dress up accordingly if it is a formal presentation.
• Prepare a checklist before to bring all the required documents in the presentation.
• Cross-check everything needed in the presentation in advance.
• Along with all the tips provided above, be relaxed and confident with your enterprise.

Investor Pitch Deck Don’ts

• Mind your body language before the presentation, and don’t be anxious.
• No need to focus more on obvious things.
• Do not prepare wordy slides.
• No need to rush through the slides. Let the investors have a clear view of the slides.
• Speak freely and tell a story. You do not need to read your slides; just explain your viewpoint in detail.
• Providing excessive financial details must be avoided as that can be provided in a follow-up.
• You must not have a poor layout or bad graphics or a low-quality look and feel.
• You do not need to cover every single detail in the pitch deck.