What Is A Pitch Deck?

Do You Have A Successful Pitch Deck Template To Present Your Business Ideas?

Whether you’re a startup company or an established business, presentations are key in engaging and establishing a connection with investors. For any investor pitch, you need to be able to clearly and accurately represent your company, team, and idea. After all, an investor is directly linked to the success of your business – especially at the early stage.

Having pitch deck templates that can make it simpler for you to present your business model to other stakeholders and also helps with fundraising initiatives for startups. The visual component of a successful pitch deck presentation will impress your audience and allow your team to achieve their professional goals.
So what is a pitch deck? Every business should know how to create these types of presentations in order to ensure continued growth. Here is everything you need to know about the pitch deck template and how you can create a visual presentation that will wow your audience and accurately demonstrates your idea to investors.

What Is A Pitch Deck Presentation?

Essentially, a pitch deck is designed to give a concise overview of a business. For example, this includes, but is not limited to, the company’s value proposition, the business’s central idea, the business model, the product or service offered, the target market of customers, the marketing initiatives, the financial plan, the team of staff as well as what goals the company is looking to achieve.

When seeking a round of financing from investors, your business should consider a pitch deck. A pitch deck is a presentation template that usually consists of several slides that help a company to tell a story about their business. Startups and businesses in the early stage of formation find pitch decks to be beneficial because it helps them present their problem, solution, and idea to investors who can potentially contribute to the growth of companies.

While one of the main reasons for a slide deck is to raise funds from investors or inform stakeholders of company growth, a pitch deck template can be used for much more. Many companies will also consider this slide outline for any recruitment initiatives, stage presentations, or meetings with partners. Depending on the purpose of the pitch deck, it will follow a customized and tailored structure in order to best convey the company message.

What Are The Benefits Of A Pitch Deck?

So now that we’ve covered what is a pitch deck, it would also be beneficial to understand how this presentation format can benefit your company and its fundraising initiatives. Keenan Beavis, the founder of Langley marketing agency, Longhouse Media says “having a well-branded, engaging presentation is one of the best ways to command attention and have confidence that you’ll leave potential customers with a strong impression. He goes on to say that “impressive presentations will result in a higher conversion rate and secure a higher average revenue per project.”

Some of the main benefits and advantages of pitch decks include:

Pitch decks are purposeful

This slide show presentation is one of the best sidekicks in order for a startup to raise funds from investors. There is a lot at stake during a funding pitch – your company is essentially asking others to invest in your idea. A pitch deck can create a big impact during these meetings because it allows you to market your idea in a thoughtful and purposeful manner.

Pitch decks also come with hundreds of carefully chosen templates to help you tell every aspect of your company’s story. The visual component really helps investors understand what your startup really intends to do with the funds.

Pitch decks can be customized

With every slide on a pitch presentation, you have the ability to choose a template that best suits the aesthetic of the company. The deck allows you to truly represent the personality of your startup, as well as include all relevant information you choose to share. Whether you decide to go with a pre-built template or create one yourself, both options are customizable and can be tailored to the type of presentation you are giving.

For example, depending on the type, stage, and background of your startup, a pitch deck will provide you the opportunity to design and tell your story in the best way possible. By customizing your pitch deck slide show, investors can more easily understand your strengths and why they should invest in your solution.

Pitch Decks are memorable

As discussed above, one of the main reasons a company should have a pitch deck is that it helps them best demonstrate the problem they are trying to provide a solution to. By providing a thorough background of the startup, as well as its team, market size, customers, traction, key metrics, and any other important points, investors are more likely to remember the information if it is presented in a visual way.

A pitch deck can be a very easy solution to “wow” your audience, especially with the ability to include animations and graphics on every slide. Again, there are both pre-built templates or customizable versions, allowing everyone to benefit from the platform.

What Are The Different Types of Pitch Decks?

Pitch decks can focus on different areas of business. It is important to remember your audience and who you are presenting to when tailoring your template. For example, if those who are potentially investing in your establishment are really interested in the progress you have made so far, you’ll want a pitch that focuses more on traction. There are five main types of pitch decks, each serving a specific purpose. Although you should include all relevant information in every deck, certain information should be empathized based on the format you choose. The different types of pitch decks include:

Startup Pitch

With a startup pitch, you need to ensure your presentation is simple yet compelling. You are competing against many other hopefuls for an investment, so highlight what sets you apart from the competition. You need to convincingly demonstrate what you can offer your target market.

Team Pitch

In a team pitch, you’ll focus more on your professionals and their skills. An investor wants to know who they will potentially be collaborating with, so it is absolutely to showcase the team you have employed and why they are good at what they do.

Vision-Opportunity Pitch

For this type of pitch, you will want to demonstrate how your vision fits into current opportunities. To present this pitch effectively and professionally, it requires a lot of research about the market, as well as an explanation of how this will help you achieve your company’s goals.

Problem-Solution Pitch

This pitch isn’t just about explaining your business’s ability to solve a problem. You need to outline how you are able to do so in a way that others cannot. Highlight why your solutions are unique and how you plan to overcome any challenges.

Traction Pitch

A traction pitch is important as it provides the people potentially investing in your idea with any progress you have made thus far. An investor will want to see proof of growth, reinforcing why they should make an investment.

What Is Included In A Pitch Deck?

While 12 slides are the standard amount in a pitch deck template, your company can also have any little as 10 slides or as many as 19 slides. Truly try to gauge your audience and the types of investors you are presenting to in order to determine the best number of slides for your pitch deck.

Introduction - This should clearly provide an overview of your business and the purpose of the presentation. It is important to keep this short and sweet so that your audience remains engaged and interested.
Team - This is an opportunity to show the audience the group of people behind the idea. You should also use these slides to briefly describe their role and how they contributed to the business plan.
Problem - The problem slide is where you will raise the issue that you want investors to pay attention to. What is the problem that your business is providing a solution for? And is it really a problem?
Advantages - Here is where you inform your investors why your solution is special. They want to see how your business idea differs from the competition and what makes your concept unique. Bullet points are a good format for this slide.

Solution - These slides tell your investor how you plan to solve the issue you raised in the previous slides. This should be more in-depth and provide a thorough description of your successful solution.
Product - This is where your company has the opportunity to present the products and services you offer, as well as how they work. Remember, investors want to take a look at examples so be sure to include those on the slides.
Traction - When presenting to potential investors, you want to provide them with key metrics. This includes the measurable set of customers that serves to prove the potential of your product or service.
Market - You should provide your audience with an approximate size of your target market. When investors are looking to make an investment, they want to know more about who the business plan is catering to.
Competition - The competition slide requires research on the other product or service solutions in the market. Tell a story about the alternative solutions and why your business exceeds other companies in this regard.
Business Model - These slides should essentially explain how your business plans to make money. Anyone making an investment wants to ensure that the company has a solid business model, which is what this slide should try to represent.
Investing - Especially if you are targeting your pitch deck presentation towards an investor audience, you'll want to explain your planned budget. What kind of money are you seeking? Including this information in your slide will help potential investors in their decision-making.
Contact - Finally, your slide deck should include contact information. This lets investors know how to reach you quickly - your team will likely appreciate the ease of access if the audience is interested in making an investment in your company.

The Dos & Don'ts Of Pitch Decks

Now that it has been established what a pitch deck is, how to create one, and what is included on every slide, here are some further tips on how to make your pitch deck presentation as powerful as possible. These common “dos and don’ts” will help you when you’re designing and present.

The Design Process

DO - Use Bullet Points

Your pitch deck presentation should be short and sweet. Try not to overwhelm your audience with too much text on each slide. Instead, expand on certain points during the presentation.

DON'T - Stuff Your Slide With Text

For the pitch deck, avoid paragraphs of any kind on the slides. Instead, focus more on using large fonts, visuals, and a readable color scheme. This will help with engagement and information retention.

DO - Include Contact Details

It is considered a problem if your potential investors don’t know how to contact you, so be sure to include your contact information on your last slide to make the process as simple as possible.

DON'T - Include Too Many Team Members

While every member of the startup has undoubtedly contributed to its success, it’s best to just add core members to the presentation. Too many executives can overwhelm your investors.

The Presentation

DO - Tell A Story

One of the key components of a pitch deck is a compelling story. Make sure you present with an engaging narrative of how you plan to tackle the problem, and how investors will be affected.

DON'T - Focus Too Much On Stats

Stats are important, but too many can bore your audience. Be sure to include metrics that are key, but focus more on the bigger picture and create a strong narrative of the issue at hand.

DO - Elaborate On Key Points And Minimize On Others

It’s important to tailor your presentation to the audience’s needs. For example, while market size, traction, and marketing initiatives are key, your audience may be more interested in the problem at hand. Adjust accordingly.

DON'T - Read Directly From Slides

The problem with reading directly off your deck is that it gives audiences the impression you’re not fully knowledgeable or well-versed in your business’s idea and solution. To be more engaging and convincing, present as if you’re having a conversation.

DO - Use A Professional To Create A Pitch Deck Template For You

The value a professionally crafted pitch deck can bring is immeasurable. The return will far exceed the investment as pitch decks may not cost as much as you’d think.

Need More Information? Contact Presentation Geeks!

Wondering how to create a pitch deck? Do you want to see pitch deck examples or learn how to elevate your presentation skills to the next level? Presentation Geeks can help! We have proudly worked with businesses all across North America to create inspiring presentations.

When people are presenting, it is important to tell compelling stories about their companies and to share a unique narrative. This is where we truly excel – our team of dedicated professionals takes the time to understand the nature of your business in order to help you present your ideas. We have years of knowledge and experience in the field and can surely work to make a pitch deck presentation that fits your needs.

Whether you’re interested in a pitch deck or another type of format, contact us today for more information on how we can help you.

What Is A Pitch Deck?

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Do You Have A Successful Pitch Deck Template To Present Your Business Ideas?

What Is A Pitch Deck Presentation?