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Before we begin, an intro.
I’m Shaan - I’m a founder/investor who lives in SF. ��Over the past 15 years, I’ve invested in ~105 startups, which means I’ve seen thousands of pitch decks. I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly.
As an investor, I can tell you that a bad pitch deck is like having bad breath. It’s not a total deal breaker, but man does it hurt your chances.
I created this template for myself - and used it to raise $20M+ from VCs. Now that I’m retired, decided to make it public for anyone to copy/use for themselves. ��A great deck doesn’t mean you’ll get funded (still need to have a great company) - but a bad deck is shooting yourself in the foot.
I hope this template makes it easier for founders creating great businesses to go raise money from investors!
***P.S. this deck is NOT designed. I left it black and white because the main purpose is to help you get your story right. I believe that the story is more important than design, but you should totally have a designer style your deck after you nail the story.
PS. if you prefer video, I created a full deck from scratch here
People seemed to like it too:
*CONFIDENTIAL - DO NOT SHARE
Okay, now that we got that out of the way….it’s time for the slide-by-slide deck template!
Company Name / Logo
A small subtitle explaining what you do.
Click File → MAKE A COPY
So you can edit this for your business
First slide = easy peazy, lemon squeezy. Just put your company name and a 1-line subtitle (eg. “Airbnb - we help travelers rent homes instead of hotels”)
shaan’s notes
A bit of credibility.
If you have some accomplishments,
Now is a good time to set the stage.
You can say this is a "quick intro" which sounds polite, but it's really just a place to humblebrag.
If you/your company does not have impressive accomplishments - move this slide to the end.
Investors (especially in early stage startups) are betting on the founder as much as the company. This is your place to brag. (“Ex-Facebook engineer”, “Stanford computer science” or “sold $5m worth of knives door-to-door one summer”)
shaan’s notes
Most [customers] have [this problem]
Data or Personal story to back it up
Start with the problem. Eg. “74% of Americans have trouble falling asleep” or “I ran a $5M ecommerce store, and I spent 14 hours a week just analyzing my marketing data”
shaan’s notes
How they solve it today...
Icky, yucky, current solutions that have poor results
Ideally the way it’s being solved today isn’t great. For example: “The way most people solve their sleep issues is through prescription drugs that have bad side effects or they simply do nothing”
shaan’s notes
What if instead...
Ah.
A simpler solution.
Ah, your solution. You came to the rescue!
I.E. “What if instead, you could eat a sleep gummy and fall asleep within 15 minutes.”
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That’s us.
We do that thing.
Show your product. It should look awesome. Use your hero shots, and maybe call out the 1-2 key benefits / value props.
shaan’s notes
State the dream
Explain your big plan. How will this be a multi-billion dollar company?
For example: "we are building Uber (a big thing) for Freight Trucking (a big industry).
This is a $100B industry, that is totally broken (wow sounds like if you fixed it, you might be worth a lot)
This is where analogies or comparables help. Eg. “We’re like Uber (a bigco) for Freight Trucking (a big industry)” or “X is a $50B company for websites, but nobody has built X for mobile yet. We will do that, and mobile is bigger than desktop”
shaan’s notes
So far, So good...
This is a good place to put in an impressive chart.
Investors dig charts.
Traction is critical. It’s the difference between the “talkers” and “walkers”. Show that the market actually wants this product. Use revenue, user growth, or waitlist growth.
shaan’s notes
Let me tell you how our approach is different, yet sensible.
Others do X, we do Y.
This can be about your product, or your business model, or your growth strategy.
This is the why we’re gonna win slide - explain your “differentiated approach” in simple terms.
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Let's zoom out. Is there a bigger trend here that you're a part of?
Show that you are riding waves. That way the investor isn’t just believing in YOU, they are believing in the WAVE and your ability to surf it.
shaan’s notes
Why NOW? ��Explain why this idea can work now, but not 5 years ago.
Most good ideas come down to timing. Why now? The more specific the better. Did a law change (like how Obamacare enabled Oscar Health), or did a technological breakthrough occur (like chatGPT), or have consumer behaviors shifted (eg. remote work)
shaan’s notes
Why are YOU the one to do it?
Earlier you hit why you’re impressive. Now drive that home. The investor should feel like you were put on earth to do this. Ideally, your skills and life experiences prepared you for this.
shaan’s notes
Where will we be next year if I give you this money?
What milestones will you hit?
Startups often show the “use of funds”. Personally, I think it’s stronger to highlight the next milestone you’re going to hit using this funding instead. This gets people excited.
shaan’s notes
Sweeten the pot.
What good news / positive info did you save for this section? ��It's like good news dessert.
This is a pro-trick. Save a little good news for the end. The reader leaves on a high note.
Maybe you have a cool partnership that’s unannounced. Or a new product coming soon.
If you can’t think of anything, just reiterate the 3-4 strongest reasons someone should invest.
shaan’s notes
Put your contact info here
Ask them to get in touch if they are interested
Don’t forget the call to action. Give them a way to contact you.
shaan’s notes
Hey that’s me, with my arms crossed like the photographer told me to !
If you want me to invest, pitch me!
There’s two ways to reach me:
Submit your startup to raise money from me & my friends from Seed Checks (check it out, it’s dope)
If you liked this deck - feel free to Email me compliments directly. I like compliments.