What Your Pitch Deck Is For…
The purpose of your Investor Deck is not to answer all possible questions or to close an immediate investment.
The purpose is to open investors minds to your vision and get them excited to know more. The story you craft gets them engaged to start filling in the blanks for themselves.
You want to give enough information to grab their interest, but not too much as to overwhelm them or have your story lose clarity and focus.
Give them enough to get excited but leave them wanting more.
Your Deck should be able to stand on its own, without your presentation.
Compelling Decks are concise, visual, and tell a story in 10-13 slides.
Common Mistakes
Too many slides, too much information
“Wordy slides” [like these]
Too many product details, or too many financial details
Belittling competitors
Assumptions you can’t back up or don’t have data on1
Confidence is essential, arrogance is deadly
1Footnote your data sources
Investor Pitch Deck Outline
1. Logo with one liner�2. The Problem�3. The Solution�4. Business Model�5. Marketing / Sales Plan�6. Market Size�
7. Differentiation�8. The Team�9. Timeline / Milestones / Traction�10. Financials�11. The Ask / Close�12. Contact Info
Vision / One Liner
A quick summary that combines your vision/product and the mission of your company
Keep it short and memorable
Try: making it relatable… as in “We are X for Y”
(“We are AirBNB for Event Spaces”)
(“We are the Starbucks of Frozen Yogurt”)
The Problem
Define the real problem you’re solving, or the need you are addressing, and for who.
Who else is already doing this, how are they going about it, and what are they not getting right or doing wrong?
Your Solution
Tell the story of your customer and how customers use/value your product or service
Images and visuals are better than lots of text: show don’t tell
Business Model
Who is your primary customer and How do you make money
What is the pricing / model
Revenue and number of customers to date
Show basic math on revenues and conversion rates
Life-time value of an average Customer (How many months, how many dollars?)
Marketing & Sales Plan
Where are your customers looking today and finding help?
Where will you get in front of them?
How will you achieve your target growth rates?
What are the most important and unique channels and methods you will use to find and win customers?
How are you doing it differently than others in the space?
Market : Size & Competition
Where do you exist in the larger overall market space?
What are your advantages?
How is your place in the market unique to you, and the right one for your company growth and customers?
Who are the competitors, why have they succeeded, and how do you truly differentiate from them?
Differentiation
What makes your solution different?
Is this difference sustainable?
Is your solution cheaper or more expensive than other options for solving the problem?
Team
Highlight key team members and their prior positions, successes, domain expertise
Demonstrate relevant experience
Which roles are the keys to success in your company/space?
Timeline, Milestones, Traction
Spell out what you need to do to accomplish the goals for this financing round (MVP, initial revenue, etc.)
Discuss how this will provide traction for either revenues, additional financing rounds or both.
Upcoming Milestones & Funding Needs - EXAMPLE
2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|
| |
|
Series B
TBD
Series A*
$xM
Pre-Seed/Seed
$xM
| ||
Design Opt. | FIH | US IDE |
| ||
Design Opt. | FIH | US IDE |
MULTIPLE POTENTIAL EXIT POINTS
*Actively raising
1
2
3
Milestones | Design Opt. & FIH | US PMA Approval (1st IDE) | US 2nd Indication (2nd IDE) |
Cost | $xM to $xM | $xM to $xM | $xM to $xM |
Est. Time | Q2’23 to Q3’23 | Q4’24 to Q2’25 | Q1’25 to Q3’25 |
Financials
Include 3 years of financial projections
Mention key & critical assumptions in your model of expenses, customer conversion, market penetration percentage
Highlight each of these Yearly for at least 3 years:
Financial Projections - EXAMPLE
The Ask
State how much Capital you are raising, and with what general Terms: Equity, Debt, Convertible Note
What is the timing of your Capital raise?
Who are your existing & notable investors, if any?
What are your key Uses of Proceeds
(as % of total raise)