Do yourself a favor, and buy this book: “Get Backed: Craft Your Story, Build the Perfect Pitch Deck, and Launch the Venture of Your Dreams.” (Evan Baehr, Evan Loomis: Books.)
I did, and it was worth it (note – I have zero relationship with the author).
Why do I recommend it? Because it has a multitude of REAL pitch decks in it, some of which have raised in excess of $100m, and it shows how much they raised, from how many different investors, and what part of the country the investors are from. Where else can you find all of that?
For pitch deck efforts, it will probably be the best $20 you’ve spent. And if you don’t believe me, look at the 99 reviews, 95 percentof which are 5-star (as of today, June 7, 2017).
Not an angel investor, but NextBigSound’s deck was the model from which my company’s initial deck was conceived, as well as many other companies in our cohort.
LinkedIn’s Series B Pitch to Greylock: Pitch Advice for Entrepreneurs
Here’s a cool collection of Startup Pitch Decks that raised over $400M that I found a while ago. There are great examples of successful presentations, including notable ones such as the AirBnb and Buffer decks.
Are you looking for a good template or format to follow? I wrote this recently, which includes some:
First off, do you need investment to grow? It’s time-consuming and there’s no guarantee you’ll succeed. You or a co-founder will probably need to dedicate several days per week; can you accord the time?
Try and speak to others in your field who have been successful in gaining investment. Hear it from the horse’s mouth. They can also be a good source of prospective investor contacts.
Start building relationships with investors ASAP, not when you need the money. It typically takes a long time to gain investment (3-6 months+). You can also gain valuable insights into what investors want to see in an investment deck. This is especially valuable if you have an idea about the investor you want to work with already.
Join a business accelerator like The Accelerator Academy who will teach you the process, or speak to an advisor who can help reduce the amount of time needed to get to an investable state.
As a startup, your investment proposition is going to be as important, if not more important as your website, so consider the resources you are going to need to produce a really solid visual story. Do you have access to a designer to create your brand assets and deck template? There are plenty of freelance specialists available who can help you, once you have the detail.
Deck components
You may have two versions of a deck:
- Your pitch deck. A highly visual presentation. The amount of content will depend on the time you have to pitch, but typically this is 10-12 slides that you will present to investors.
- General investment deck. This will be more lengthy and used to leave with investors or that you will send to people to attract them to meet you. It will include additional information such as appendices and comments on the slides so investors will be able to understand without you being present. It may contain 10-30 slides, depending on what you’re communicating
Generally speaking, a deck should include the following sections:
- Cover page – include your company name and Unique Value Proposition
- Team – what is your USP as a team
- Problem – what is the issue to be fixed
- Market – what is the opportunity for your business
- Solution – how you will solve the problem
- Business model – how will you make money
- Competitors – who are they and what impact will / could they have on you
- Financials – look 2-3 years out of seed investment
- Achievements – what have you built, sold, accolades gained thus far
- Investment opportunity – what are you offering? What is the runway?
I’d also recommend searching for examples of pitch decks that have been previously successful (as opposed to a template). You’ll see the variations which will help you create your own unique story. Polinzer created a great template, which is a good place to start.
This question, “What’s the best pitch deck you have ever seen? And why?” originally appeared on Quora, the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.
