updated - Oct 2024In the early days of starting your business, the adrenaline can be real. You’re filled with ideas and visions of what your business can become.
The excitement fuels you, but translating those ideas into a polished, cohesive pitch deck isn’t always easy.
Unlike other marketing materials, the pitch deck needs to be a well-organised, professional resource that communicates the logic and potential of your business. And creating this can be more challenging than it seems, especially when you're keen to get your ideas out there.
Typically, a teaser pitch deck includes 10 to 15 slides, and I would recommend following this format to begin with:
Pitch Deck Magic 12 slides
Slide 1: Intro Slide with Logo and Name of Company
The first slide should introduce your company with its name, logo, and corporate colours to establish your brand identity. Include a concise, one-line value proposition that clearly communicates what your company does. The catchier the better.
This sets the tone for your presentation and gives your audience an immediate understanding of your business's focus.
Slide 2: Personal Context
Use this slide to create a personal connection with your audience by sharing a personal anecdote or reflection that leads into the problem your business is solving.
Give a teaser of your 'why'.
This could be a personal experience or reflection that highlights why the problem is significant to you. The goal of this slide is to build an emotional rapport and create empathy, making the problem feel relevant on a human level.
Slide 3: Global Context
Next, shift to a broader perspective, showing how the problem you hinted at in Slide 2 affects a larger population.
Use data, statistics, or industry reports to underscore its importance on a macro scale.
You might say:
"And the issue I experienced isn't just affecting me - it's affecting X million people worldwide." This reinforces the relevance of the problem and hints at the size of the opportunity.
Slide 4: The Problem
This slide should focus on clearly defining the problem your business is tackling, but on a conceptual level.
What are the main pain points or gaps in the market that you've identified? Be clear here, as your audience needs to fully understand the problem before they can appreciate your solution.
Slide 5: The Solution
Before diving into the specifics of your product or service, introduce the solution conceptually.
Give a high-level overview that explains how you plan to solve the problem without all the details. This should be more of a visionary explanation of what your solution achieves, setting the stage for deeper discussion in the following slides.
Slide 6: Solution 2.0: Product / Service
Now that you’ve framed the problem and solution, dive into the specifics of your product or service offering.
Focus on how your solution addresses the problem and adds value for your customers. Avoid getting too technical, but rather just highlight the most critical features and benefits, particularly those that differentiate your offering from existing solutions.
Slide 7: Market + Size
In this slide, define who your target customers are and provide data on the market size. It's essential to clarify the scale of your opportunity. Key terms to include are:
Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): Who is your target buyer?
TAM, SAM, SOM: How many potential customers exist globally?
CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate): How quickly is the market growing?
This data gives investors a sense of the potential for growth and scalability.
And it helps the audience know that YOU know your numbers.
Slide 8: Revenue / Traction
Showcase the key business metrics you've achieved so far.
If you're already generating revenue, use graphs or tables to present these figures clearly and based on these numbers why you expect to grow at X% based on current traction.
If you’re pre-revenue, focus on other traction indicators such as user growth, partnerships, or product development milestones. Basically, whatever you can show.
But in either case, be sure to include assumptions and projections to provide a glimpse of future potential.
Slide 9: Competition - why we win
List your competitors, but instead of using biased graphs that position your company as the clear leader, focus on what makes you different.
Explain your unique selling propositions, or as some say, 'secret sauce', and why customers will choose your solution over others.
This is your 'why we win' slide, so highlight the competitive advantages that set you apart in the market.
Slide 10: Team
Introduce yourself and your team.
People invest in people, especially in the early stages of a business. Share your professional background, achievements, and relevant expertise.
You can also include personal details that humanise you and build trust with the audience.
This slide helps establish your credibility and reassures potential investors that the business is in capable hands.
Slide 11: The Ask
Clearly articulate what resources or support you need from your audience, whether it’s investment, partnerships, or access to pipeline.
If it's investment, be specific about the amount of funding you’re seeking, how you'll deploy it, and why this support is crucial for the next stage of your business.
Remember if you're going for VC investment, you need to show ambition to grow in alignment with many funds investment thesis. Ie. fast growth and ambition for exit.
Make it easy for people to understand how they can help and what you’ll do with their contribution.
Slide 12: Thank You
End your presentation with a thank you slide.
Include your contact information and any relevant links, such as your website or LinkedIn, to encourage an easy follow-up.
If you've got any media coverage, it doesn't hurt to put the logos and links there also.
This slide is the bridge that allows interested parties to continue the conversation. Make it easy for them to reach you!
In reality, this approach isn’t new or groundbreaking. It’s a proven structure that works.
However, keep in mind that the market will give you the ultimate feedback, so pay close attention to how your audience responds, and be open to refining your pitch deck based on their input.
Many of today’s most successful businesses started with a similar presentation framework.
It has been refined and perfected by those who have navigated the same path you're on, so take advantage of the wisdom embedded in this structure.
Here is a resource kit for access to see some great pitch decks from businesses that have received substantial early funding. (Not all are teaser decks, but still good source of inspiration).
Front (Raised $59M as of 2020)
Catch (Raised $12M as of 2021)
Remi (Raised $1.2M in pre-seed round in 2021)
Passionfroot (Raised $3M in pre-seed round in 2021)
And a list of more established businesses first pitch decks:
Ultimately - how you deliver a presentation - and subsequently how well you can answer peoples' questions will be the ultimate determinant as to whether there is interest or not.
But if you are able to fill in those 12 slides to your initial presentation - and confidently communicate the concepts - that is a good starting point!
As an example what it looks like live in action, link below to my 2022 South Summit pitch.
