What are the best practices and tools for creating and delivering your pitch deck?

The pitch deck should represent the same vision as the company’s fundamentals. In my experience working with clients to prepare their pitch decks for investors, I always found a winning edge in simplifying the information and showing more insights and graphs. I personally believe data speaks for itself. I myself have pitched to investors, big corporations for sponsorships, and talents for hire. One thing that I kept constant in all my pitches is the scalability and how it can be implemented in any business model of the company, depending on the product type.

Wear the hat of an investor who would love to support you on your journey, would talk about you and your startup in their circle, and can feel that you and your idea have a potential to 100X their investment. You are equals in this game, build your pitch deck as an investment opportunity they cannot and should not miss. Build your and your startup brand to a level that they feel the confidence in talking about you. Focus on traction / validation / team in your deck that helps them feel that 100X is possible.

Let's simplify the goal to "create enough interest & curiosity to learn more". To do that, you need to know what would be interesting to your audience, and all audiences are not the same. So your pitch will vary based on the audience.???? To create interest, some questions you might ask yourself are??: ? What do they need to know that they don't already know that will increase their interest? ? What context do they need to have to understand why this matters? ? What would make them feel confident that my team and I can pull this off? Your pitch will be different if you are pitching to industry experts vs. not. It will be different if they are in your target market vs. not. Even your language and choice of words may vary!??

Before creating your pitch deck, it’s crucial to understand the purpose of the deck and who will be viewing it. Whether your goal is to secure funding, form a partnership, or onboard a new client, your deck should be tailored to meet these specific objectives and speak directly to the interests and concerns of your audience. Research your potential investors or stakeholders to align your presentation with their interests and investment philosophies.

A pitch deck should be no more than 10 slides; of course, you can add appendix slides for references at the end. I always recommend starting with the problem statement. Then connect it with the next slide with available solutions in the market and how there is a gap in the market. The next slide should be your product/company with simple reasons why it fits in this gap, as mentioned above. After, you can add other slides, including product fit, financials, go-to-market, etc. But don’t forget to add the plan of your scalability if your product/service is already live.

A pitch deck should include: Introduction: Briefly present your business and mission. Problem: Define the problem your product solves. Solution: Explain how your solution addresses the problem. Market Size: Detail the addressable market and target audience. Business Model: Outline how you generate revenue. Traction: Highlight progress and milestones. Competition: Describe the competitive landscape and your advantages. Team: Introduce key members and qualifications. Financials: Show past and projected revenues, expenses, and key metrics. Ask: State your funding needs and usage plans.

I think it was my classmate, Seth Godin, who said: "Your deck is not a teleprompter!" That is hugely important! People can only do one thing at a time well. So your audience can either pay attention to you and what you are saying, or they can use their energy trying to read and interpret your slides. The slides are there to emphasize the point you want to make, not to make the point for you. Don't crowd the slides with a lot of dense text. Don't use confusing graphics that need to be deciphered. Be simple and straightforward on the slide, and explain vocally why it matters... If it takes more than 5 seconds to read or understand what you have on a slide, it's time to simplify the slide!

A pitch deck should be simple, but you don't want it to be boring. I prefer showing graphs and including insights wherever possible. Some of my favorite tools that I use for pitch designs are Canva and Beautiful.ai. Choosing a color theme is also an important aspect, and font type and size definitely are very important. I personally like a white background with some shapes. You can highlight some of the key numbers and remove the non-essential data from the slide. I personally avoid animations, as it distracts the viewer from your slide.

Your pitch deck should be visually appealing but not overly complicated. Use high-quality images, consistent font styles, and color schemes that reflect your brand. Keep text minimal—use bullet points and short, impactful statements. Leverage graphs, charts, and infographics to represent data visually, making it easier for your audience to digest and remember important information.

Here's a fresh take on creating an effective pitch deck: Think of your pitch deck as a visual conversation starter, not a comprehensive document. Instead of cramming information onto slides, consider a minimalist approach that sparks curiosity and invites questions. Begin with a single, powerful image or statement that encapsulates your core idea. This sets the tone and creates an immediate emotional connection. Rather than relying on bullet points and charts, experiment with unconventional visual elements. Use analogies from nature, art, or pop culture to illustrate complex concepts.

There is no magic. It's all about practicing. At Techstars, founders start practicing pitching 4-8 weeks before Demo Day. Total, the pitch 100+ times so that when the day comes and you have an audience of 600 investors in front of you, everything is automatic! Delivery is obviously key. Look people in the eye, smile etc. It's all about body language and sending a message.

For investors, I would suggest starting the pitch presentation from the problem statement and then moving on to the currently available solutions and how they don’t fit the current situation. Talk about your product and bring up key factors why it fits more than the current solution. For sponsors and hires, I pitch through my first slide, which is my company's data and how much we scaled in the last 1.5 years. Then I present the audience type and how we retain them. I do explain what this audience type is looking for; this not only makes us a good fit for a sponsor but also explains to our new hires understand the type of content we are working with.

The 4Ps of pitching are practice, practice, practice and practice. Whether you record yourself and listen carefully to what you said to detect any verbal tick or you pitch in front of fellow entrepreneurs, practicing multiple time before any pitching session is important. While some might argue that scripting your pitch word by word is a double edge sword, I believe that we should a technique that we're comfortable with. I personally opt for bullet points.

A well-prepared delivery can make a significant difference. Practice your pitch multiple times to ensure you can deliver it smoothly and confidently. Be prepared to answer potential questions from your audience. If possible, rehearse in front of peers or mentors who can provide constructive feedback.

Since I work in the AI media industry, I try many different tools before writing on them. Personally like Canva for investor pitch templates. You can also try beautiful.ai or Prezi, but you have to use their platform while giving a presentation to show the animations they offer. While writing, my favorite tool is Grammarly. Although we people are very excited to use ChatGPT for writing, I would recommend only using it if you have an outline/key points of your pitch deck ready. ChatGPT can help you look more professional in writing once you enter your outline and key points in it.

No sleepy Google Slides, corporate PowerPoints, or pretentious Keynotes here. Call me crazy, but I build all my pitch decks in Figma. I know, I know - Figma is a UIUX tool! But hear me out. The creative control Figma provides is just unmatched. The graphics, icons, and charts I can whip up directly in Figma would make Photoshop, Illustrator, and Excel weep. Figma just makes it stupid-easy to create sleek, professional decks at lightning speed. Between the gorgeous templates and layout options, intuitive design features, and next-level visual capabilities - my intricate, beautiful decks practically build themselves. Give this unorthodox pitch deck tool a spin. Those VC jaws will be on the floor.

Don't overcomplicate this part. Use the simplest tool for the job. Google Slides is free and works perfectly. The content is much more important than the look and feel. Avoid typos and careless mistakes, but don't get hung up on having the fanciest tools before you start pitching and telling your story.

Selecting the right tools to create your pitch deck can enhance its professionalism. Popular tools include: PowerPoint: A widely used tool with robust features suitable for both beginners and professionals. Keynote: Preferred by Mac users, known for its smooth animations and clean design. Canva: Offers a user-friendly interface with a variety of templates, ideal for those without extensive design experience. Prezi: Known for its dynamic presentation style that makes use of spatial relationships to keep the audience engaged.

Although I have mentioned many factors and winning lines above, it totally depends on your product stage and how you are going to pitch it. Me being in the AI Media sector, I am more focused on the scaling part, and it wins the game for me. When I present my data and how I scaled, it already answers most of the questions of my sponsors/investors. So, you should ask yourself what slide you want to present as a winning factor for your pitch. This could be your problem statement explaining that there is no current solution to the problem that you are addressing, or it could be financials and how less $ it took for your to build your product and run it.

Keep in mind that investors listen to many pitches every week or every day. A key goal every founder has to achieve is being remembered. Ideally, the investor remembers your company name, brand, and a key tagline that conveys what you are all about. You can achieve this by practicing a 1-minute pitch which will force you to deliver the key vision and value proposition of your startup in a very short amount of time, and then add more details to your pitch without losing the narrative. There is a lot you have to articulate to impress, but more important is to be remembered.

Tailor Your Pitch: Customize your pitch deck for each presentation to address the specific interests of the audience. Feedback Loop: Seek feedback on your deck from trusted advisors and refine it based on their insights. Stay Updated: Keep your data and figures up-to-date to reflect the most current and relevant information. Storytelling: Weave a compelling narrative throughout your deck to engage your audience emotionally and intellectually.