Great - well done! You have found your new business idea - and now you need to translate those concepts into a unified resource that communicates the business logics. And creating this unified resource is not always a simple endeavour.
Regardless of whether the initial audience happens to be family members, friends, conference, or even that first pool of investors that you are looking to attract - your first pitch deck should typically more or less follow the same structure.
A teaser pitch deck traditionally has around 9-13 slides - and I would recommend following this format as a guideline:
Pitch Deck Magic 11 slides
Slide 1: Personal Context Foreshadow the problem you will talk about later on through a personal anecdote or a personal reflection. Connect emotionally with your audience early. | Slide 2: Global Context How does this problem you've given a hint to in Slide 1 apply on a macro scale? Use data if needed to reinforce it. You could use a line like "And that story I told you is not just impacting me, but this problem is impacting X million people around the world". | Slide 3: The Problem Now that you have educated the audience on the wider context, this slide should be specific on what problem you are trying to solve. Be precise on the problem that you have observed. |
Slide 4: Solution Without diving deep into your product, first give an overview on the solution. This should be done more so on a conceptual level. | Slide 5: Product / Service Now dive into detail on what your product / service offering is to address the problem. Focus more on the value add for your customers rather than too much detail on individual features. | Slide 6: Market + Size Define clearly who you sell to and recommended to provide data on how big your potential market is. Key terms to include:
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Slide 7: Revenue/Traction Key business performance to date. Present in graphs or tables. If you are a pre-revenue business, then show other traction metrics and include your assumptions. | Slide 8: Competition Do not show biased graphs to be the best business, but rather focus on what makes you different from your competitors, and why customers would prefer your solution. Ie. the 'Why We Win' slide | Slide 9: You / Team Introduce yourself. Create a sense of familiarity and trust with your audience members. This can include things like professional milestones, and also feel free to share more on the personal side of you! In early stage businesses, people are interested in who is behind the business! |
Slide 10: Your ask What resources / support does the business need right now? And why do you need it? Be clear about what type of support you need from people. Make it easy for people to help! | Slide 11: Thank you Leave your contact details and relevant links for the audience to be able to follow up! | |
This presentation structure was pioneered by some of the most well-known businesses today.
Here is a resource kit for access to see some great pitch decks from businesses that have received substantial early funding.
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.
However if you are able to fill in those 11 slides to your initial presentation - and confidently communicate the concepts - that is a good starting point!
This is a structure I have used in my presentations.
And at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain 2022
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