Pitch Deck Guide and Key Elements to a Great Pitch Deck

Above are some of the most common questions that entrepreneurs ask themselves. You must also be one of these aspiring entrepreneurs. 

To answer the above questions, you have to get one of the basic steps of entrepreneurship right. Creating a Pitch Deck is the crucial resource which will market the start-up, its products and its benefits to society.

What is a Pitch Deck?

Pitch Deck is a formal presentation of your idea which would lead to a business plan. Usually, a Pitch Deck is a formal brief presentation which is carried out by the promoters before funding rounds. It represents the vision of the founders, their modus operandi, and other factors that are responsible for incorporating the start-up.

Pitch Deck is presented to potential investors for raising funds for their idea. It gives basic information to the investors as to how the idea will be shaping up in the future and helps them decide whether to invest in it or not. Through this Pitch Deck, an investor would know what potential such an idea has. 

So, it’s obvious that Pitch Deck forms one of the most important parts of your entrepreneurial journey, initially. Hence entrepreneurs have to make use of all the resources to make a successful Pitch Deck. So, to help you formulate a perfect Pitch Deck, we have formulated a Pitch Deck Guide.

It will help you prepare a dynamic Pitch Deck that will help you win over your investor, raise the required funds, and reach the goals, as planned. 

Pitch Deck Guide:

So in this guide, you will be able to understand the strategic and dynamic nuances of a perfect Pitch Deck. It will help you learn about the key elements of a Pitch Deck, which is very important to catch your investor’s attention and make him/her believe in you. 

The key elements should revolve around and support the very root cause of your idea.

Let’s get started with these elements: 

• Talk about the Problem: 

Every entrepreneur solves an existing problem or makes lifestyle easier with their unique ideas. Hence it is important to prioritize the problem and bring a solution to the existing problem. Focusing on the solution is the key goal that an investor has to achieve.

Try to explain this proposition in a very descriptive manner and relate your Idea to it with examples and demonstrations. Try to tell a realistic story around this and real-life examples of its success. If your idea is not unique, but better than your competitors, then try to explain the problem which the current users are facing. 

Painting a vivid picture with an attractive story is an important requisite of any Pitch Deck. Also when speaking about the problem be brief yet descriptive. It would catch the eye of a potential investor.

• The vision of your Business: 

Every business would have certain pre-defined goals and a vision/mission statement. Hence it is important to emphasize on these goals and vision while presenting such a Pitch Deck.

Here you have to talk about how your idea can be turned into a potential business. Explain what defines your business and brand value. 

Try to explain your business with a tagline that resonates with the idea and lay down a roadmap as to how it can evolve. 

• Target Market or Industry Vertical:

Every business plan would define a customer. This would also include the geographical segmentation and the targeted customers in such areas. Using such targets for different customers and segments would ensure that you have researched the market thoroughly. When defining your customers, you must differentiate between target customers as well as ideal customers. 

Both these factors are very important for explaining the target market or industry vertical in which you will be operating. Other factors such as market size, strategy to position yourself in the vertical, and relevant data on customers are also very important and should be properly presented in the Pitch Deck. 

Divide your market into segments for better clarity. Make them understand different marketing strategies or different products that can be deployed. 

Make your investor understand the scope and scale of the problem that you are solving with your idea and the number of people directly benefitting from it.  The benefits derived by the consumer are a crucial aspect which is required to secure successive funding.

• Product or Service: 

Presenting the product and the process of your entire entrepreneurial journey should be done dynamically. Your investor should be able to see the vision and potential of the product or service you are creating to support the idea.

Describe every step of the product or service and how it will address the problems of the society. The product or service should serve as the main subject during the presentation. Hence such product or service which is offered in your idea must be emphasized thoroughly.

Try to present it with relatable success stories to make it more appealing to the investors. 

• Revenue Model:

Making money is one of the important requirements for any business model and you would have to explain how your product or service shall generate an inflow of revenue.

You have to explain the pricing of products or services and if it’s your customer who is going to pay or the advertiser, as in the case with content-based startups. Explain under what category your product shall fall- premium or budget. Give them a detailed financial model for the products and services. 

When pricing your product or service, you must take diligence in researching the prices for the products and services offered by your competitors. Your pricing should fit the industry vertical and should be attractive as compared to your competitors.

• Competitors: 

As an entrepreneur, you should have a clear-cut idea of your competitors as every business will be having one. You should be able to describe how you can fit into the competitive scene and perform better than your competitors. 

Laying out a proper map that explains your differentiating factor between you and your competitor is very important. Conduct proper market research and lay down strategic plans for your investors. Using a SWOT analysis would indicate the type of competitors present in the market.

• Team: 

Investors should have confidence in you and your team. They should have this belief that they are investing not only in the right idea but also on the right set of people who shall take it forward. 

Lay down your team’s expertise and experience in a detailed manner. Explain their previous experiences and how they are capable of taking the idea forward. This will create confidence in the investors and will help them believe you and your vision. 

• Strategy to use the funds: 

You have to answer the question- How much funding do you want and what is the plan for using the funds? 

Investors have gone through your entire deck which has given a roadmap of your plans but they need to know how much you need to sustain it. You must prepare a set of possible questions which would help you answer with confidence. There would be different questions thrown at you before the funding.

Most importantly, you should also explain how you are planning to use the funds. They will need to know how the money is going to be utilized to reach the goals. 

The above-mentioned points are the most important pointers that you should always remember while preparing a Pitch Deck. 

Apart from that, here are a few other points that you should keep in mind: 

1. Keep your Pitch Deck compact and simple. 
2. Lay down the story in a simple manner, but it should cover all the required points. 
3. Keep updating your Pitch Deck regularly. 
4. Apart from the presentation, share a PDF file of the deck with the investors. 

Conclusion

Pitch Deck acts as an important stepping stone toward your entrepreneurial journey. Hence, you should make it right with all the required elements. 

Follow the above Pitch Deck guide and win over your investor’s trust and get started with an exciting journey of breaking existing barriers, changing market dynamics, and improving people’s lives.