What Is Pitch Deck ?
In the business world, a pitch deck is a presentation created by an entrepreneur to provide potential investors with an efficient yet informative overview of the company. A pitch deck presentation also known as a startup pitch deck or slide deck is a visual document that provides potential investors with important information.
The information includes business plans, products or services, fundraising needs, metrics, target market, and funding objectives. A good pitch deck is short but informative and features simple and visually appealing slides. Usually created using a software program.
A pitch deck aims to pique potential investors’ interest about the company so that it leads to other meetings and follow-up discussions about investing. A pitch deck can be an important tool in gathering investment for a business, but a pitch deck is only the first step in the process of attracting investors.
What Is Inside The Pitch Deck ?
A good pitch deck tells an interesting story and answers all the questions a potential investor might have. However, not all the information you want to convey has to go into the pitch deck.
According to Guy Kawasaki, who is a renowned marketing expert, investor and author, an ideal pitch deck has a 10/20/30 rule, namely :
- 10 Slides
In a meeting, the human brain has a limit in processing concepts, and 10 concepts is the ideal number. For that, 10 slides in a presentation is the optimal number.
- 20 Slides
In presenting the 10 slides above, 20 minutes is the ideal time, because you never know things that might happen such as technical errors, and so on.
- 30 Slides
Putting all the information on one slide so that the text appears small and hard to read won’t help your pitch deck presentation, in fact it will seem unattractive. Make a minimum of 30 point font for each text and try not to just read the text. Convey the gist of the information and support it with explanations.
Then, what should be included in a pitch deck? Still according to Guy Kawasaki, 10 slides for your pitch deck include:
- Slide 1 : Title
Contains information about your company, and data about yourself.
- Slide 2 : Problem/ Opportunity
Every business must be able to provide more value to its customers through its products. This slide should be able to describe the problems that exist and how your business can be a solution. - Slide 3 : Value Proposition
Use this slide to explain what value your business can provide as a solution and what makes your business different from others.
- Slide 4 : Underlying Magic
Explain about the technology and various product advantages of your business. Display a prototype or demo of your product and present it in an attractive visual form. - Slide 5 : Business Model
Describe your business plan and how you will run the business in various stages.
- Slide 6 : Go-To-Market Plan
Show your audience, especially investors, that you understand how you do business. Tell your strategy for getting customers and how to market and sell your business products.
- Slide 7 : Competitive Analysis
Explain what your competitors are doing and show that you understand the market situation and who your competitors are, then what you can do to set yourself apart from the competition.
- Slide 8 : Management Team
Show who your core team members are. This slide is important to show that you have a choice of human resources who can work with you.
- Slide 9 : Financial Projections dan Key Metrics
Make a projection of your business development, at least for the next three years and also input important metrics that can be a measure of your business development.
- Slide 10 : Current Status, Accomplishments, Timeline dan Use of Funds
Discussing the future is important. However, current conditions are also important. Explain how the current business condition is, what your business achievements are and how your products are, their development plans and what the funds will be for.
Tips for Making Pitch Decks
There are some important tips that you can consider when making a pitch deck to make it more interesting :
- Straightforward
Entrepreneurs may want to quickly provide investors with information on the deck, but the truth is that less information is better. Ideas that are straightforward and explained in detail in bullet points and infographic content are actually more interesting, than a lot of text. That can lead to questions and even subsequent meetings.
- Prioritize Stories Over Statistics
The point of the meeting is to engage potential investors. The list of facts and metrics outlined in the deck will seem boring. It’s best to take a narrative approach. You must be able to tell stories about the company’s vision, such as how consumers use products or services to improve the quality of life.
- Build an Independent Deck
Potential investors may want to refer to the pitch deck after your presentation. Make sure that the deck contains the most important information they need. After the presentation, you can send the link deck to potential investors.
A company usually does a lot of pitching before getting funding officially. Make sure that your pitch deck is up-to-date with the latest information, including the latest metrics and milestones.
A pitch deck provides a detailed yet concise description of the business to attract investors. Understanding the essential elements of a good pitch deck can help you get one step closer to the funding you need from investors.
Also read other articles about Start-ups, business, innovation, and technology on the Ideanation website www.ideanation.id.
