A Pitch Deck is a series of words and images that illustrate a venture’s story and business model. It does three things that get people to understand, care, and take action.
Entrepreneurs have used them in different ways like in raising money, recruiting employees, close customers, partners, supplies, etc. They are the most powerful tools which early-stage entrepreneurs have at their disposal.
They represent everything valuable about the start-up that is the vision, the core elements of its business model, the insights into the customer that the venture plans to take advantage of, the industry that the venture hopes to disrupt, etc. There are 2 kinds of pitch decks-
Presentation Deck
A visual to assist your oral presentation in an investor meeting or on stage at a demo day is called a presentation deck.
Reading Deck
A more thorough and detailed deck that can be read and understood without you being there is called a reading deck.
Building of a Pitch Deck
The building blocks of a pitch deck are the slides. Each slide highlights a different aspect of the venture and furthers the plot of the pitch. The essentials are-
1. Overview
The company overview is your elevator’s pitch. It describes the problem you see in the world and how you are going to solve it. Give your audience a small taste of what your company does but leave them hungry for more. Do answer some of the questions like what exactly does your company do or what industry are you in?
2. Opportunity
The opportunity slide is your chance to describe your industry and how your business will work within it. You will describe trends within the environment, the size of your market, the growth potential of your venture, etc. You can answer some of the questions like what trends is your company, how big is the market, and how big your company can be?
3. Problem
Entrepreneurship is about solving problems. In this slide, you have to describe the problem you are solving and how. Describe the problem at a high level first and then quickly transition it to a specific story of a customer to make it personal. Answer these questions like how big is the problem and why it exists.
4. Solution
By this time you and your audience agree on what is happening in the industry and that you have introduced a huge problem. Show them that you have the best realistic solution for this problem. Rather than just telling the solution use different alternatives like showing videos, pictures samples, etc to make it more presentable. Answer some of the questions like does it solve customer problems, do customers want this product?
5. Traction
The goal of this slide is to tell whether you are making actual progress. You can show your traction through growing sales or users with an actual graph. You can do this by answering questions like is there massive growth or how can I reach more and more customers?
6. Customer or Market
In this slide, you will describe how well you know your customers. You can do this by answering questions like who is your potential customer, how can you reach them, or is your customer willing to pay for the product or service that you are providing to them.
7. Competition
Every venture has competition. Your customers must be buying from your competitors right now to solve their problems. You have to show them what differentiates you from the customer and what advantage you have over them. You can also answer some questions like who are your main competitors and are you better or cheaper than your competitors?
8. Business Model
In this slide, you have to demonstrate how will your business make money by answering questions like how much you will make from a customer or how your costs break down per unit or on monthly basis.
9. Team
In this slide, you have to give the introduction of each team member about their current role in the company, experience, and education. Demonstrate to them why they are the right kind of people for this job or is this team sufficient to accomplish this goal?
10. Use of Funds
A good pitch tells what the investor has to do and what he will get in return for the money we used. Demonstrate to them what type of investment you are looking for and how will you spend it.
