Your pitch-deck is the document which investors are going to go through to assess your startup. Hence it becomes very important to spend time on this and create a presentation which tells your story in a very honest, clear and step by step manner.
Out of a lot of the how to make a pitch deck articles, I felt this one by Nishchal Kesarwani to be one which explains the process with wit and reasoning.
He describes slide by slide of what should be included and when.
'Slide 1 — Cover
The cover slide should offer complete contact info, your
logo and a tagline if you've got it right. This should be the shortest way of
projecting your business.
(You want your contact information well established right on the cover so that
you can be reached well enough and very simply too)On the other hand you want something from us, so don’t hesitate to point that out. We know why you are here. Just tell us, how much money you need, how much you have raised so far and what you will use the cash for. A rough milestone planning for the next 6–12 months with concrete use for the funds you are about to raise is the non-plus-ultra here.'
Imagine this was the only thing that the investor was going
to look at from your deck for he suffers from lack of time. So, try to capture
your business in most intriguing ways through just an image and no more than 2
lines.
Slide 2 — Mission
Find one interesting picture that summarizes your mission
statement and write your mission statement on it.
Bad mission statements:
“To create the world’s largest software company.” [too broad
and unrealistic to practically guide decision-making]
“To develop the world’s best technology for defending DNS
servers from worm attacks.” [er, you said you’ve already done that, right?
Mission accomplished!]
It helps when you just sit around the table and work on
defining what you do to see where you agree and disagree about what the company
is all about. It helps new hires understand what the company is about. It helps
when you try and pivot to decide which direction to go or more importantly
which direction not to go. It helps you decide when you you’re successful and
see new opportunities which ones to consider and which ones to ignore.
Above all, it would tell the investor where are you aspiring
to take your company. What should your company be known to have done. This
slide will capture your big vision. Do you plan only tackling this one
market your start operating in or are your plans to operate internationally or
maybe even expanding your portfolio. All of these questions should be answered
here. It’s important for us to see where you want to go with your product in
the long run even if you have to focus on more urgent and pressing topics in
everyday work.
Slide 3 — Summary/Elevator
Pitch
Summarize the key, compelling facts of the company. This
slide is to make up for the delay in introducing the product and your startup’s
achievements in this slide deck methodology. It gives enough reason to your
investor on why they should listen to you (or not) further.
Earlier this was called the management/executive summary.
Today it’s the elevator pitch — and it’s literally a pitch! Tell us in 30
seconds who you are, what you do, what problem you solve and how you do it.
Nothing more, nothing less! Short, precise and to the point. Thanks.
Slide 4 — Team
The team slide features right up here as your team is going
to be the single biggest factor for an investor taking a keen interest in your
proposition beyond your idea (your idea has briefly been spoken about in the
summary slide already).
This slide should introduce upto 5 key members of your team.
The next 3 slides 5, 6,7 are the slides you should work on first
Slide 5 — Problem
If you had the idea to come up with your solution, there
must be a problem you want to solve. Sounds simple? Well it is. Describe why
there is a concrete need in society, tech or elsewhere that calls for exactly
your solution — something that has never been there. And although we know, you
are super eager to show us what you got — follow the rule: First the problem,
then the solution!
A good moment to tell the investor of what is the problem
this incredible team is looking to solve. The problem should be presented in a
way that the investors sees it as his own. There is no better valdation for the
problem you are looking to solve than the investor himself feeling that pain.
If this is established you can be sure that you are connecting well with the
investor at this point. Describe the inability of others for having solved this
problem.
Your problem also indicates the size of your market and the
potential usefulness of your following solution.
Slide 6 — Solution
And now the solution to remedy the above mentioned problem.
Include a demo such as a screencast, a link to working
software, or pictures. This slide should clearly indicate how your solution is
solving the above mentioned problem.
Walking the investor through a video of your working product
would be a good thing to do.
Yes, please demo your product. A prototype would be nice,
but it’s also ok, if you don’t have one yet, to give us a visual presentation
of how your solution works. Thanks.
Slide 7 — Competition
There must be competition. Please, don’t take the liberty of
saying there is no competition, for the chances of that are second to none.
Also, it would reflect very bad on you if your investors find out that there
are similar operators like you in your market and you have been either lying to
them or have been clueless about your own market. The result of this would be
that they are going to start discounting most of your words so far and there
after for your perceived lack of knowledge of your own domain.
On this slide it would be very important for you to compare
with your competition to clearly suggest why you have the advantage of doing it
better than your competition.
It will do good for you to make a comparison in a 2 by 2
matrix diagram comparing the two most important factors of you business.
You should definitely convey clearly that you are open to
anticipating your remote competitor trying to do what you are doing for they
have the capability and the muscle to do the same, and in all likeliness,
better.
Slide 8 — USP
Listing your USP will be a part of this slide based on the
conclusions of your Slide 7 where you are drawing comparison between your
product and your competitors products.
What’s your biggest advantage in comparison to the others
out there? Are it hard facts like patents, kick-ass experience, a core feature,
a super strong brand or are you already the market leader? Is your technology
one-of-a-kind or are you simply working twice as hard as the others? What
distincts you from the rest, is what makes you special to us and attractive to
us!
Slide 9 — Technology
/ methodology
The exact unique advantage you have over others for doing
what you are doing to continue to do it better than others who may be doing
this or may be looking to do this.
Basically you need to delve deeper into your unique
technology or other back end elements that give you a unique advantage over
anyone in the future who may be looking to do exactly this.
Slide 10— Market
opportunity and Marketing Strategy
Show off early customer or distribution progress: numbers,
logos, testimonials. Discuss your plan to acquire users or customers.
Getting customers to buy your solution? Sounds crazy,
but…yeah, you have to do that too! You need to show us how you approach the
market you’re tackling and how you position your product in it. And have you
considered that this burns quite some cash? Are you aware which channels make
sense for you to activate? What are your conversion rates? Covering all Social
Media Channels or doing only Tele-Sales will most likely not get you to close
the deal. Be clear about which efforts you have to pursue and what they will
cost. Yes…we are clearly looking for your Cost of Acquisition for customers.
Of course bigger is better and more volume is even better.
But focus on a relevant market for your product and stay realistic. We want to
see nice numbers, but always be sure, skyrocketing market shares and volumes
happen only once in a million (hello @instagram) What part of the cake is for
you and when will you get there? What does that mean translated into €’s. It
might make sense to follow the top-down / bottom-up approach to validate your
assumptions immediately.
Rather than speaking volumes about the size of the market,
sum that up in one line, to put more focus on real user/customer case. Take one
real customer and tell the investor how is he benefiting from you.
Why is now the time for you and your solution?
Slide 11 — Sales
Show your business model here. The per customer acquisition
cost and what does it translate into — revenue, usage or whatever else.
Let’s not kid ourselves — in the end it’s all about how you
make money and generate revenues. Do you make money through retail stores, by
charging fees for ads or by taking commissions? There are so many models,
that’s why we want you to be as precise about your revenue-model as possible.
Of course we know, pivots are always possible. So having 1 or 2 different
revenue plans as a backup never hurts.
Slide 12 — Milestone
Include your current status and milestones for the next
1-3 quarters for product, team, marketing, sales, and quarterly and cumulative
burn. Don’t build a detailed financial model if you don’t have past earnings, a
significant financial history, or insight into the issue.
Slide 13 — Conclusion
This slide should be inspirational like how you can conclude
the spirit of your business. Conclusion as a business opportunity in valuation
terms.
Slide 14 — Financing
Dates, amounts, and sources of money raised. How much money
are you raising in this round?
Yes, a complex topic to talk about, but isn’t that why you
are here? Let’s talk business. Show us what you have achieved till date. We’re
happy to see first customers that act as a proof of concept or even first profits.
This adds quite some credibility to you as a company and your product.'
Nice Article.Thank You For Sharing this.if you need more info about the Pitch Deck and how to create Pitch Deck Read my Best Startup Pitch Decks
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