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What is pitch deck and why do I need it?
The pitch deck is a presentation of a business project with slides that helps investors learn more about your business. Building a great pitch deck that can persuade investors to invest money in your startup is one the most challenging parts of being a founder. It may sound counterintuitive, but the main goal of a pitch deck is not to raise money, but to get to the next meeting with investors.
Normally, your deck should have 10 major elements in it:
01
Introduction. A quick overview of your project and the value it provides to your customers.02
The problem. An explanation of a problem that your target market faces.03
The solution. Showing a necessity of your product or service in the marketplace to solve this problem for your customers.04
Product features. Present the main features of your product that shows a clear solution for the problem.05
Marketing. Share your strategies on how you are going to attract customers and grow your business.06
Traction. Showcase your company's traction if you have any. It can be your company's monthly recurring revenue (MRR), number of people who signed up on your waiting list, forming partnerships or getting online traffic and engagement.07
Competition. Include all the players in the market and explain what differentiates your company from them.08
Team. Introduce all your co-founders and team members and show each member's capabilities, work experience, domain knowledge and expertise they bring to the table to solve this problem.09
Financials. Provide your company's cash flow forecast, sales forecast, runway, income statement and other financials.10
Investment and use of funds. Talk about how much money you are raising, why you need that amount of money and how you'll use this funds to grow your business.Note: pitch deck is not only used for fundraising, but also it's often used to tell a story of your company to whoever is interested in learning about it.
What makes a great pitch deck and how to get funded by investors?
If you want to increase your chances of raising your seed round, you need to build a pitch deck that is:
Understandable and unambiguous:Your pitch deck needs to be well-designed and structured so that a potential investor can easily understand what your project is about by looking at it. If your deck creates confusion for the investor, you will lose the opportunity of getting funded.
Coherent and logical: Investors receive hundreds of pitch decks every day. Grabbing their attention is hard, and that's why you need to make sure that the content of your deck is clearly written, logical and to the point. Investors should have no issues understanding the information on it.
Transparent.Being transparent with your investors will earn you credibility and trust. Investors invest in people they trust, but not ideas or products. Information and data on your deck should give a sense of transparency to investors.
Beneficial for investors.Angel investors and venture capitalists know that they do a risky business. They invest their money in startups to target better returns than those typically available from traditional mainstream investments. Your pitch deck should provide information on how your company is planning on giving them a good return.
Learn more about what investors want to see in a pitch deck with examples on our blog post.
Now you've learned the crucial components of building a winning pitch deck to raise funding, and the next step is getting connected with the right investors for your business.
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