How to Create a Million-Dollar Pitch Deck

A pitch deck is created by entrepreneurs to provide an overview of their business. Usually made with Microsoft Powerpoint or any other presentation software, this presentation is used to pitch their business to potential investors, customers, partners, and co-founders.

According to a study done by DocSend, companies needed an average of 40 investor meetings and a little over 12 weeks to close an investment round. Investors don’t spend much time looking at pitch decks, just an average of 3 minutes and 44 seconds with an average deck length being 19 slides. In that short amount of time, you need them to buy what you are selling. In today's post, I will be sharing some of the most important slides, but not limited, to include in your pitch deck according to my experiences with startups and targeted research of what investors look at when it comes to investing in startups (this is created with my personal opinion and experiences and is not promised to work for everyone).

Introduction

Write an enticing introduction to your company and exactly what you do in a captivating way. Some opt to have a title slide just featuring the company's logo which gives them an opportunity to recite their elevator pitch to introduce the company.

Problem

The problem slide is going to be your first slide to showcase to the audience exactly what issue you are solving. Explain in a precise and easy way the gap you are filling.

Solution

This is your moment to shine, this is when you intro the solution, your solution. Do this in a clear and concise way, you want it to be as simple as possible for the investor to understand. You're not reinventing the wheel, you're just making it run smoother with your company.

The Market ($$$$)

Here is where you identify your customer(s) and the size of the market. This slide is a very important one because it shows how small or large the market that you are targeting. This is where a lot of investors may take leave if you are operating in a small market. Citing the source you gathered the market numbers from is ideal.

The Product

This is the slide where you present your product. Use pictures of your product or a model if you don't have a physical product, to show your solution in action. If you already have traction, this would be a good time to share positive customer feedback.

The Team

This will most likely be the longest viewed slide on your pitch deck according to DocSend. The team slide gives the investor insight into who is leading the venture and what makes them equipped to execute the vision.

Business Model

The business model slide shows exactly how your company makes money, whether that, be a tiered or subscription model, etc. You can show your potential profit margins for your product or service here.

Financials

This slide should be a detailed 3-5 year projection of the company's finances. Being a startup, these numbers will essentially be a shot in the dark but this will give the investors a good idea to the trajectory of the company. You should be ready to explain and back up your thought process on how you came up with said trajectory.

The Ask

This is where you ask the investors for what you need, often a range of numbers (ex: $3M-$5M). Showing what you are going to be putting the given amount of money raised towards is important as it shows that you have thought it through and it isn't just a random number.

Contact Us

Make sure you DON'T forget your contact information where investors can get ahold of you.

Resources:

Examples of Successful Startup Pitch Decks:

https://slidebean.com/blog/startups-pitch-deck-examples

DocSend Pitch Deck Study:

https://docsend.com/view/p8jxsqr

sincerely, gagan

#startups #marketing #digitalmarketing #cleantech #startup #pitchdeck #Presenations #Pitch #elevatorpitch #market #businessmodel #tipsandtricks #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #branding #start #thehub #bran #milliondollar #millionare #milliondollarpitchdeck #howtocreateapitchdeck #design #graphic #docsend #uber #slidebean #invest #investment #linkedin #venturecapital #VC #timing #googleslides #Microsoft #powerpoint