PITCH DECK DESIGNING A SUCCESSFUL

featuring Chable

Not all startup founders are born good communicators. But it’s a skill you can learn to master, just like any other technical skill. And you’re going to need it if you’re going to create a successful pitch deck that will help secure funding for your startup.

The problem with creating a pitch deck in the first place is not knowing what to put in and what to leave out. What do investors and VC want to hear or see?

Khosla Ventures, one of the top investors in early stage startups are open to help founders answer that question. They provide potential applicants with a detailed explanation of what the VC thought process is while making an investment, including basic tips and tricks, dos and don’ts.

Sequoia also created a playbook to help founders get started with mapping out their business plan and creating a compelling pitch deck.

Regardless of the amount of money that you are seeking for your business or idea, there are X things that you should address in your pitch deck.

Let’s take a look at the things you should be focusing on as you prepare to approach investors.

1 How to present your idea

A common trap that founders fall into is being too secretive or protective about their idea. Yes, it is the pillar of your whole future business but it’s not just the idea that will ensure your success or your failure.

It’s impossible to build a business in a vacuum. In order to validate your idea as a viable business startup, you need to iterate and get feedback from the market.

Once you’re over this fear, you need to tell your story. What made you start this in the first place and why are you obsessed with it? Authenticity will help investors connect with your business.

They may not be experts in your field or share the same passion for your idea but you have to convince them to take a leap of faith and be open to hearing your pitch. That can only happen if you establish an emotional connection.

Tinder made sure to connect with everyone who’s ever tried dating. And it worked.

Intercom started their pitch with their team presentation. This provided emotional connection and set the start of a great pitch.

Our ission

2 Focus on WHAT you want to build and HOW you’re going to achieve that

M

1. Vision Lay out what your vision for the product is. Start with answering the key question “What problem does your product/service solve and for whom?” The pain point that you’re trying to solve needs to be clear and simple to understand, meaning it has to be a real problem.

2. Problem What is your solution to this problem? Talk about your product or service and the value that it will bring to your customers.

4. Market Which brings us to the next essential factor - your market. Show that you know you target market by using accurate, real data. Demonstrate how your product/service will fit into this market space.

This also means talking about your competitors and what will differentiate your business. Another key point to address here is market timing, believed to be one of the biggest reasons why startups succeed. Why is now the right time to launch your business?

3. Product/ Service Google made search better. Amazon simplified online buying and selling. Netflix solved on-demand streaming media. Uber is trying to make on-demand car service better. What can you make smarter or better?

Is your solution unique or does it offer a new way of looking at an already existing solution? Here, you have a chance to demonstrate that you've done your due diligence and found real solutions that have a practical applicability.

6. Traction Probably one of the biggest challenges of any startup - traction. Describe what stage your company is at, what you've achieved so far, how many clients you already have and where you want to be in the nearest future.

Validate your startup by showing it solves a genuine problem that your market has. Back it up with numbers.

5. Business model How do you intend to generate revenue from your business? Are you building a marketplace or a software-as-a-service? Or are you opting for a subscription model or a freemium with premium features.

Talk about the average account size and lifetime value of your customers. Having a sales and distribution model can also be helpful, as is a customer pipeline list.

8. Financials Address key indicators such as:

• Cash and Burn • Cap-Table Breakdown • Current Use of Funds • CAC Breakdown • Realistic projection for the

next 6–12 months

Include what you intend to do with the proceeds and how you plan to maximize this investment. A risk analysis and a mitigation strategy can also come in handy at this point.

7. Marketing Talk about the marketing strategy and growth plan that's going to bring you (more) clients. Your product/service has to have distribution baked into it from the beginning.

Although spending on marketing might not seem like a priority, your idea needs momentum. And that’s brought on by a holistic approach to marketing and distribution.

9. Team Who are you and what makes you and your team the right people to bring this idea to life?

Talk about your story and your experience. If you're on your own, it’s important that you at least have a team of advisors to guide you.

10. Call to action How much money do you want them to give you? Ask for it. The key to effective communication is communicating.

You can reiterate the use of funds here as well if you feel like the conversation requires it.

Brief overview What does your company solve for,

and for whom?

How do you solve problem/ create value

for your customer?

How big a business can this be?

How does your firm monetize the business?

What is your validation roadmap? Any anchor clients?

How do you get the clients?

Historical and Forecast

Includes BOD, advisors, key management

Amount of the raise

10. Recap

Call to action Team Financials Marketing

Strategy Traction

Business Model

Marketing Opportunity

Product/ Service

The problem /Pain Vision

11. Get inspired by some of the most famous pitch decks of all time.

3 Budget the length of your presentation

You’ll be easily tempted to include everything in your pitch deck. It’s one of the problems we’ve talked about earlier - what to include and what not to include.

If you’re confident in your abilities to organize ideas and communicate clearly, you can allocate between 10-20 slides and simply put in the information. If you’re most people, you’ll end up with 50 slides and no clue as to how to reduce them to 10.

“Less is more” – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Try to think like an investor. They’ve heard and seen so many pitches that their brains have become very hard to impress. Be authentic and translate your ideas in the simplest manner possible.

‘Your primary goal is to get their attention. A normal human being cannot comprehend more than ten concepts in a meeting — and venture capitalists are very normal’

Says famous investor, advisor and author Guy Kawasaki. That’s why he came up with the 10/20/30 rule, which says a pitch should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes and contain no font smaller than thirty points.

The rule here is: SIMPLIFY AND CONDENSE.

Take a look at how these (now famous) companies chose to budget their decks.

Download the full guide here: http://bit.ly/2pVAMUO

REQUEST FREE QUOTE Professional visual design for presentations, infographics, business documents, pitch decks, sales reports and eBooks. visualhackers.com