Aidi — How to build a good pitch deck

A pitch deck is a brief presentation that gives potential investors or clients an overview of your business plan, products, services, and growth traction. Founders use it to convey their ideas to investors to attract financing for their businesses. Having a good pitch deck is the first step to getting investors interested in your ideas enough to want to listen to you or even finance your business.

A pitch deck is like a ticket for founders into the venture capital world. Every business needs funding at some point to stay relevant, and this funding often depends on how well you can convince investors through various slides of compelling stories- your pitch deck.

Creating a pitch deck can be difficult. In an attempt to impress investors, you might end up boring them with bulky and irrelevant information, which can turn them off from funding your business. A good pitch deck should have 15-20 slides at most but should never exceed 20. Investors barely have time to go through lengthy pitch decks and they can lose interest easily if yours is too lengthy. So, if your deck is currently over 20 pages, you have some work to do.

Now that we know what a pitch deck is and why it is important, let’s walk you through building the perfect one for your business, slide by slide:

Slide 1 (Introduction)- The first slide of your pitch deck is usually considered the most important one, as it is an opportunity to make a great first impression. Your introduction should be short and straight to the point, stating the name of your business, your logo included, and a 6-8 word sentence explaining what your business is about (your unique value proposition). 

Slide 2 (The Problem You’re Solving)- Instead of taking your reader through a boring story of how you came about the business or the business model, etc, go straight to the point, stating the problem(s) your product is trying to solve. This is the fastest way to convince the investor that you are solving a real problem. You should be able to make your investor empathize with your customers at this point.

Slide 3 (The Solution You’re Providing)- Now that the investor knows what problem you are trying to solve, they need to see how you are trying to solve the problems, what unique solutions you are bringing to the table, how you are thinking about the solution, and what makes your product valuable to customers.

Slide 4 (Market Size)- Investors want to know why you think your target market is worth going after. As a result, it is important to highlight the market size of your target audience and an estimated percentage of the market you’re hoping to capture with your product offerings. Sometimes, if your market size is too small, investors may conclude that your ROI will be too small or risky for you and, hence, may not proceed to fund your business. So, be sure to do good research and be convinced that you have a target market large enough to accept your product offerings.

Slide 5 (The Product/Service)- Now that you’ve stated the problems and convinced the investor of how you are trying to solve them, and that you have the right market for the product, introduce the product itself. Mention the key benefits of the product/service with a well-written description, pictures, videos, or demos you can show your audience.

Slide 6 (Traction)- Nothing interests investors more than numbers. There’s no better way to prove that your business has the potential for growth if you don’t have the numbers to prove it. In this slide, you should focus on showing your current sales figures or the major goals you’ve achieved since the business’ conception. The information on this slide does not primarily have to be about numbers. It’s just a way to showcase your company’s growth in whatever way, to convince the investors that your business is profitable.

Slide 7 (Business Model)- Any potential investor will be very eager to know how you intend to get revenue through your business idea.So, in this slide, state clearly how you intend to generate revenue through your business, what your pricing strategy will be, and your sales and distribution channels.

Slide 8 (Go-to-Market Strategy)- In this slide, you need to state your marketing and sales strategy. Let your investors know how to intend to reach your customers and acquire them with your product offerings. The plan should be realistic and not over-ambitious. You should also state the various marketing channels you want to go through.

Slide 9 (Competition)- You should be able to identify your competitors, both direct and indirect. You need to do a lot of research to understand your competition’s status and also highlight your competitive advantage in the market. You should be able to state your market positioning and what makes your business unique.

Slide 10 (Financial Projections)- This is one slide of your pitch deck that investors spend a lot of time on. They want to see your revenue projections for the next 3-5 years. Here, you should state your EBITDA and net income as well, your funding requirements and how you intend to use the funds. Investors expect to see you outline your financial plans and show that you have the financial knowledge to achieve them. 

Slide 11 (Team)- Your pitch deck should highlight your team members and their roles, to show investors that you have a great team they can trust with their money. In this slide, you can highlight the strength of your team, each team member’s skill sets, relevant experiences and expertise, and also your advisory and board members.

Slide 12 (Fundraising/ Funding Ask)- This is the part where you clearly state how much funding you are seeking for your business and what you plan to do with it. Ensure to state the specific amount of capital you will be needing, how the funds will be allocated, the expected milestones, and the impact the funding will have on your business.

Slide 13 (Conclusion)- This is the final part of your pitch deck where you summarise your business value proposition, re-state the need for the investment opportunity, and provide active contact details for follow-up.

Although the maximum number of slides a pitch deck should have is 20, you can aim for 15 to keep it straight to the point and engaging. Use compelling storytelling to connect emotionally with whoever is reading your pitch deck. Also ensure your slides are visually appealing by using images, graphs, charts, etc, to make the content easily digestible. Make sure you know your pitch deck by heart and be prepared to answer any questions from investors.

By following these steps, you can create the perfect pitch deck that interests investors and effectively communicates the potential of your startup.