What is a pitch deck? How can it help my business?
In essence, a pitch deck is a brief presentation, typically created in a slide format using software such as PowerPoint that is used to convey to your audience an easy-to-understand overview of your business plan. Your pitch deck will be used several times during your business start-up phase, to present your vision online or in person to potential investors, business partners, customers, and anyone else to whom you need to clearly roadmap your business plan.
An effective pitch deck will contain certain slides. They include:
- Introduction: This slide will introduce you, your company and your vision in just a few sentences. Be concise! You can explain yourself more in depth later.
- Introduce your team: On this slide, introduce your audience to the people who are going to help execute your plan and briefly describe your role.
- Problem: Describe the problem/issue/void you are trying to meet or fill in the marketplace.
- Solution: How do you plan to address and solve the problem?
- What makes you different? What sets your business apart? Describe the advantages of your company.
- Describe your product: What will your product actually do? How does it work?
- Traction: Outline how you plan to gain traction. Have you done market research to research the need for your product? Have you done product feedback surveys? Investors want to know that there is a place in the market for your product and that you have a plan for getting it off the ground. They want their investment to go somewhere!
- Market description: Who are your potential customers? What is your target market? Describe who you envision purchase your product
- Budget: What is your proposed budget? How much money are you looking for from an investor, and what are you offering in exchange?
- Business model/projections: How do you plan to start making money? When do you project your business will start turning a profit?
- Contact information: Let them know how to contact you!
Do's and don’ts of creating a great pitch deck:
DO tell your story
DO limit each slide to one idea – don’t ramble!
DO bring your A game – make a great impression
DO keep your presentation consistent – use the same font, colour, etc. throughout each slide
DON’T overuse bullet points
DON’T bore your audience – be brief!
DON’T read to your audience. You don’t need to read your slides to your audience. They can read; don’t insult them.
DO make eye contact
DO use lots of graphics in your pitch deck. Allow your audience to look at the graphics on the screen while paying attention to what you are saying.
DO come ready to answer questions. Investors are going to want to know more information before they hand over the cash. Think about the kinds of questions you might be asked and come equipped with the answers. Hesitation and tripping over your words will come across as a lack of confidence in your business plan, and no one will want to invest in that.
If you are planning to launch a new business, a pitch deck can be a great tool to have in your arsenal. It is an easy-to-understand, informative way to convey a lot of information about your business to outsiders. It can be used to gain the support of investors, to get potential partners on board, to pitch your business to potential advertising outlets, and more. Done well, a pitch deck can go a long way toward getting your business off on the right foot.
