Tips for creating a compelling pitch deck that gets investors' attention.

Quote: “Whatever you're thinking, think bigger” - Tony Hsieh

Welcome back to my newsletter.

As usual, it’s Matt.

Today, we'll cover things that'll help you make a compelling pitch deck...

?as well as increase your chances of actually getting an investment.

And, before you ask, it's much more than just a simple presentation about your business.

Much, much more.

Let’s get to it.

But first, a little refresher on what pitch decks are (and why they’re important).

A pitch deck is a powerful tool that enables you to showcase your company and provide a quick overview of what you're all about.

It helps potential investors learn more about your business while also helping you make your case on why they should invest in it by presenting things like the problem you're solving, your unique solution, your target market, etc.

“So? What’s so special about that?”

Well, you want money. You go and give a presentation in front of investors that have that money.

To make your case and prove you’re worth investing in, you need to put things together in a compelling way.

From your financials and your journey to your future projections, marketing strategy, and more, all of these things are important when it comes to convincing investors that you’re?

The real deal.

The business that’ll disrupt the market

The company that’s got the potential to do what it takes.

The company that will give them the return they’re looking for.

Or whatever else you're trying to convince them on.

That’s what a pitch deck is.

Showing that you’ve done the research beforehand, and answered questions during your presentation while keeping things short and simple will help you make your case.

However, it’s not as simple as taking all the data and putting it into slides.

Considering that the investors you’re going to be pitching to probably go through a lot of pitches and pitch decks...

Your best chance would be to keep things concise and simple while still including what’s important.

“How do I do that?”

That is exactly what we're going to discuss now.

Before you even start putting things together, you should think about your audience.

Will they help you achieve your goal?

Do they have previous experience in your industry?

Who are the people that you’re going to be pitching to?

Are they going to be the right people to go to, for money and expertise?

What you talk about, and how you do it all depends on who your audience will be and what they know.

Should you just go into detail when it comes to finances?

Should you be discussing the technical aspects in great detail?

Should you elaborate on how your marketing strategy will cover multiple channels?

For your pitch deck to even be remotely relevant...

you should know your investors.

Will you have a lot of time?

Would they rather you present and do the talking or do they prefer to ask questions?

That way, you can discuss things in a way that they’ll understand, and prepare your deck accordingly.

Then, start putting things together.

After doing your investor research, start building out your deck.

There are three things that you should consider ahead of time:

1. The slides you include.
2. The way the content is presented and laid out. (AKA the format.)
3. The overall design.

So, there are a variety of slides that you can consider including in your pitch deck.

You’ve got the problem slide, which discusses the problem that you’re going to help solve.

There’s the solution slide, where you discuss your solution to the problem.

It would also be a good idea to show your research on the total potential market, to give an idea of the potential to which you can grow and expand.

However, these are just a few out of many things that you could cover in your pitch deck, like your financials, your go-to-market strategy, your marketing plan, and so on.

The point here is to figure out what data and content you have and out of that, what would be relevant.

If you’ve got a SaaS for marketing companies in the B2B sales space that you want investment for, and you’re pitching to investors familiar with that space…

Then it would be a better idea to focus on explaining your solution and marketing strategies, rather than discussing the size and potential of the market.

However, if you’re pitching to first-time investors with access to a lot of capital and a large network…

You’d be doing the right thing by covering everything from your problem solution slides to your go-to-market strategy, your marketing plan, your future projections, and your current financials, among other things.

The thing is, it all depends on what’s relevant.

Content that one group of investors might be interested in might not be as relevant to another group of investors.

And, having done your investor research beforehand, you’ll know what to include and what not to include.

A good idea would be to have a master pitch deck.

That is, a pitch deck with all the slides you could potentially have. Financials, about your company, problem solution, everything.

Then, when preparing a pitch deck for one investor (or multiple investors), you can simply pick and choose which slides you need, and adjust their arrangement.

That way, you have everything important in one place.

However, you’re not done yet. You’ve still got the content.

When putting your content together, consider how many pitches your potential investors go through.

Think about the amount of content they have to study and read before being able to make a decision.

Then, when you make your deck, make it as easy as possible for them to understand.

Where possible, divide your slides up into sections and use icons, symbols, and images to get the point across.

Talking about problems? Use a large red exclamation mark to get their attention.

Covering financials? Use dollar signs or a similar icon.

And, when it comes to the text, try to keep it short and simple.

Whether it's your headline or the text below it, keep it clear and understandable at one glance.

There’s no point in having complicated terms and long paragraphs if your audience won’t be able to understand them.

You’re probably going to have multiple slides covering many things.

Keeping things simple and to the point will help them remember the important things, while also keeping them engaged and interested.

Finally, you’ve got the overall design.

Representing your finances? Use charts and graphs, and use colors to draw attention to the relevant things.

Got multiple sections? Use images to indicate transitions from one section to another.

Presenting your future projections in the form of milestones? Use a timeline. It’ll help them make sense of things in a format that they’ll easily understand.

Make the overall design appealing. Use color, images, icons, and large font to help make it easy on the eyes.

You want to make it as easy as possible for them to understand your message, while also trying to help them enjoy it.

Making it visually appealing is one of the best things you can do to help them do exactly that.

And then a few things you should keep in mind.

So, we’ve covered the slides, the format, and the design. They’re enough, for the most part.

However, there are a few things I’d like to leave you with, so that you’re able to go just that extra distance and show that you know how to put things together and get the message across.

Firstly, make sure you don’t belittle your competition.

Sure, everyone’s in it for one reason or another. However, it won’t exactly make a good impression if you try to underestimate who you’re up against.

If someone’s looking for a team to work with, doing something like this can make it seem like you’re unprofessional and more focused on beating your competitors, rather than getting your offer out there.

Next, try to answer questions before they’ve even been asked.

You’re going to do the investor research before putting your deck together, right?

Based on that, include information or slides which indirectly answer the questions you’re likely to be asked.

You don’t just come across as more knowledgeable but also show you’ve done your homework before giving your sales pitch.

Another one is to make sure your deck is up to date.

Are your finances updated? Or are they the ones you put in two months ago?

Have market stats changed? If so, have you updated them in your slides?

Make sure things are up to date so that if you’re sharing other technical documents as well, things line up. You don’t want to say one thing in your deck, while your documents tell a different story.

And finally, focus on the consumer, not yourself.

Present yourself as trying to help your audience. As someone focused on the consumer journey. As someone trying to help people solve a pressing problem.

There are probably other companies trying to solve the same problem you’re trying to tackle.

What’s so different about what you’re trying to do?

At the very least, you can try to differentiate your company when it comes to customer-brand interaction.

And, that’s it.

Sure, this might be a bit to take in.

The slides. The design. The research. The financials.?

There are a lot of things to consider here. However, don’t be put off by that.

Instead, focus on getting started, and then review things. Once you get started, it’s easier to add, remove or re-organize things than it is to think about what to do with a blank page.

And, if you’ve got any questions or if there’s any way I can help you, you’re more than welcome to reach out and let me know, and we can figure something out.

Hope this helps you when you get around to working on your deck.

Till next time, keep building,