Your Pitch Deck. Are You Doing It Right?
By: Atim Kabra
Tags: Entrepreneur, Pitch Presentation, Entrepreneurship, Startup, Pitch Deck

Your Pitch Deck. Are You Doing It Right?

You have the startup idea to potentially disrupt business and technology landscape. You have bootstrapped the venture and now financing is required for achieving scalability. Investors aligned to your business vision may help you achieve the desired milestones and success. And that’s why outreach efforts are the prioritized objective of startups looking for funding. An important step towards a successful investor-startup relationship is to demonstrate how your startup will achieve growth with a focus on frugal innovation and customer satisfaction.

Your presentation deck can get your audience excited about your idea, get them engaged, wanting more. It could convince the investors to focus on your work over other startups who are looking to expand their business. The pitch deck that you create to wrap all your work in one document may give them enough information which is not overwhelming. There are probably many reasons why your company may have attained capabilities to raise funds, but people can only really remember a few of them after a presentation or pitch. So, here are some pointers that can help you make your pitch deck legible, simple and obvious.

1. Simplicity is the key

Investors have a defined attention span and will give you the most attention at the start of your pitch. Provide a declarative definition of your company which may provide better communication of your mission instead of listing features. Describe the pain of your customer with a clear depiction of the problem you are solving. You can convince that there’s something deeply broke for an interest in what your solution is to the problem. You might have a solution looking for a problem in which case you may further work on product-market fit.

The vacuum is not natural — so you can provide details of why hasn’t your solution been built before now or how your solution is differentiated.

2. Let’s tell a story

It easy to present people with an idea. But you know what’s interesting? A story. A story that is waiting to be heard. What inspired you, how did you manage to start it? What happened in the industry that it is a perfect time for you to act on it? What are market potential and its competitiveness? Talk about your team, your journey, your failures and how you’ve reworked on the models to deliver the current product. Your story is what makes you and separates you from the crowd.

It helps the investors remember you, engage with your audiences. Facts and figures are good to be presented but narrating a story while maintaining a professional level will help you to create a bond.

3. Have your number game strong

Your metrics depending on the business model will outline how do you actually make money. In numbers, you may talk on key figures that the investors are interested in — how much funds you’re planning to raise, a timeline of how you would spend the money to achieve specific milestones, your defined runway, at what point your startup will be profitable, revenue and cash flow projections.

Don’t hesitate to include research data, it helps you present with a valid case. The survey, focus group discussion, pilot project details or any other relevant research that you feel can help you prove your point.

4. Be prepared

The assertations that you’re making in your presentation may be backed by rational for business viability, financial projections, strategy- online and offline or anything else that you should highlight.

A business plan structure may include Elevator Pitch -> Vision & Mission Statement -> Market Size such as TAM, SAM, SOM -> Key Products and Services -> Competition -> Revenue Model -> Sales & Marketing Strategy -> Team Details -> Financials -> Exit viability -> Capital required -> Risk Environment

5. Talk

Talk about your team. The team that works their heart and soul behind your business. It’s worth providing details on the founders’ backgrounds, the talents or experiences they have to build the business. The team is critical. Business ideas may be pointless without the team to execute on it. The experience that your team carries is what helps you separate from the crowd. Your team brings the energy that your business beholds.

There we go. What do you think if the pitch deck template will ease the process of pitching for you?