How to Make an Investor Pitch Deck That Will Get Noticed
Written by Princess Wilson
If you’re securing funding for your startup, a pitch deck that shows investors all they need to know about your company is the right way to go. The right pitch can help you raise capital and grow your company.
At the same time, building a pitch deck can be difficult, especially if it’s your first time. You must be able to describe your business, and at the same time, your pitch must be short enough, so they don’t lose interest.
So, how can you create a fantastic deck that convinces investors to take a chance at your business? Dive in to find out:
What is a Pitch Deck?
Before getting into how to build a strategic pitch deck, what exactly is it? Also known as a start-up deck or slide deck, think of a pitch deck as a selling card. It is a persuasive presentation that provides an informative but brief overview of your business. Ideally, it must cover the major points of your business plan, the problem you’re solving, your solution (products & services), financial projects, and funding needs.
It is important to note that while the right pitch can land you an investment, it’s not the core purpose. This is because investments are rarely made after one meeting. The purpose of a pitch deck is to spark interest in your company and get them to want to learn more. This interest can then lead to conversations about an investment.
However, it must be compelling, engaging, well-crafted, and tailored to the investor. That is, pitching to an angel investor and venture capitalist firm would require different approaches.
Tips to Help you Craft an Investment-Winning Pitch Deck
1. Consider your Audience
Before creating your pitch, you must know who you’d be pitching to. As mentioned earlier, your deck should be tailored to the kind of investors you’re pitching to. Additionally, you need to look at their investment history and access the value propositions of companies they have invested in. This will help you draft your pitch more accurately.
Lastly, if you’re yet to secure a meeting with these investors, you’d need to target your reach based on the kind of business you run. Some angel investors or VCs tend to invest in specific niches and industries; to increase your chances of landing a deal, you’d need to target investors that are interested in your industry.
2. Have a Compelling Hook
In drafting a pitch, your hook is pretty much a few lines that can get your business idea to the investors in about 30 seconds. The advantage of having a hook is that we do not live in an ideal world, so the best preparations are made in scenarios where your presentation time is slashed or cancelled.
With a great hook, you’d still be able to get your business idea across in a compelling way that keeps them engaged and wanting to know more. Also, even when you’re given sufficient time to present, starting your pitch with your hook is an excellent attention grabber!
3. Keep it Simple and Short
For an investor pitch, the shorter, the better. Keep your slides concise and free from cramped bullets. Do not use too many colours, words, graphics, or data in the slides, as these will only overwhelm your investors, and you’d lose their attention. Your pitch should consist of short, high-level ideas that lead to questions that allow you to go into better detail. Use the hook mentioned above to grab their attention at the start, and remember to be as honest as possible.
While it should be short, try not to rush. This can be difficult to do, so I recommend slashing the time you’re given. E.g., if you’re given X minutes, target 5 minutes less. Do not get stuck in a particular slide for over 3 minutes. This will leave time for questions and help you move at a good pace with less pressure.
4. Ensure your Story is Engaging
One thing to remember when creating your pitch is that the average human’s attention span is short. Arguably, the attention of an investor who sits through hundreds of decks each year might be shorter. So how do you get them to listen to the entirety of your pitch? Approach it as a story, not another business presentation. Storytelling makes your pitch stands out and has been proven to capture and retain attention; it’s a win-win.
As a founder, this might be easy to do as you may be emotionally connected to your business. Still, if you’re unsure how to begin, remember why you started your business. Recall the problems you saw and why you decided to create a solution. Then you can input customers’ success story that shows how helpful your product or services has been to them. This way, you can build your story that garners interest.
However, note that while storytelling has immense benefits, the level of storytelling on your deck depends on the kind of investor. E.g., while angel investors would love a great story, venture capitalists appreciate numbers, valuations, and analysis.
5. Describe your Product/Service & What Makes It Unique
As you can imagine, this is one of the most critical parts of your deck. In a concise manner, you’d need to explain what you’re offering and how it’s unique from what is in the market. However, it can be dicey as you can get tempted into going on and on about your offerings.
But as mentioned severally, it needs to be as brief as possible. In one or two lines, tell the investors what your product/service is and why it is the best. In this case, you need to show, don’t tell. You can show a picture or provide a demo. This is more engaging than just describing with words.
6. Describe Who your Target Audience is & How you will Acquire Them
Your pitch isn’t complete without explaining who your customers are and how you intend to get them to buy what you’re selling. Use data points in your slides to describe your chosen demographic and how you’d market your product/services to them. This also presents an opportunity to show what marketing techniques you and your team have got up your sleeves.
7. Describe the Revenue Model
While some investors invest to make an impact, the general reason is to make money. Investment is a way for these investors to make money from the one they already have. In other words, your pitch should be able to tell the investors how you can make them rich — that’s what your revenue model is.
In your pitch, you’d need to specify the revenue model you’re using and describe how you can apply it. Talk about how the product or service will generate income.
8. The Exit Strategy
The exit strategy is highly critical but sometimes ignored by new startups fascinated with their offerings and believing they wouldn’t exit. However, it is the clincher on the pitch that tells the investors how exactly they will get their money back. As nobody wants to work forever, these investors are looking for companies that can make them a lot of money in a short time. If you plan to sell to a larger company or even go public, tell the investors how you intend to do it and how long it would take.
Remember, these investors want big payoffs so they can retire comfortably. Hence presenting revenue, valuation, or sales as your exit strategy may significantly deter your chances of landing an investment.
9. Practice
Practice as much as you can. Practice in front of an audience, if possible. When doing this, get them to ask you some anticipated questions and try to answer as you would right in front of the investors. Remember, if an investor takes an interest in your company as you’d like them to, they will ask questions, and you must be armed with skilfully, persuasive answers.
10. Ensure Your Deck is Current
Unfortunately, fundraising generally doesn’t happen immediately. You’ll most likely find yourself pitching numerously before landing an investment. So if you’re building your company while you pitch to raise money, you’d want to keep it updated as your business grows. Include any changes in your product/service offerings, key team members, partnerships., etc. So when presenting to an investor, your deck has all the necessary information as they currently are.
Conclusion
Delivering an excellent pitch is key to landing investments. However, this can be difficult, and many founders struggle with creating and presenting these decks. At our startup school, Accelerate at The Bulb Africa, African tech founders learn the intricacies of setting up and delivering a winning pitch from top founders and entrepreneurs in the ecosystem.
The accelerator program also features a demo day — which we’ll prepare you for — where you can pitch to investors. Applications are open for a limited time. Visit the Accelerate website to learn more and apply today.