Step 1: Start with the Outline

Outlines are great because they are your road map and will keep you on track towards pitch deck perfection. Plus, almost every pitch deck will have a similar structure so we’re going to do the hard work for you and give you your outline right here.

First, some ground rules.

• Keep your deck SHORT, like 10 slides or less short.
• Keep each slide as simple as possible – one point per slide.
• Use our outline below as a starting point, rearrange the slides if necessary but think twice before deleting or adding any new slides.

Okay, now the outline.

Martech entrepreneur, Braden Ericson, and founder of Sparrow Marketing has experience with successfully pitching investors. He says, “I think the core of any pitch deck needs to be 1) Problem 2) Solution 3) Traction. Anything less and you risk someone not understanding what you’re doing.”

Title Slide

Includes your business name, logo, and your compelling mission statement.

Challenge Slide

Here’s where you mention your customer pain points, how you discovered this pain, and the impact it has on your customer (time, money, emotions, etc.). Whenever possible, link it back to a dollar amount. Make the challenge undeniable and urgent.

Solution Slide

Show them how you’ll solve the challenge with your offering.

Potential Slide

Tell them about the benefits of you solving the problem. Bonus points if you can tie in dollars and emotions.

Product Slide

Show them what your offering looks like and reiterate it will solve the problem.

Business Model Slide

Here’s where a simplified version of your business model goes, along with how you’re going to be making money.

Go-to-Market Slide

How are you going to attract customers? An easy way to do this is to follow this go-to-market “recipe:”

• Our Total Market Size = $$$$
• We’re going to claim X% of that $$$ in 3 years by doing Action A, Action B, and Action C.
• Your investment of $$$ will help us achieve that because we’ll be able to DO THESE THINGS, which will allow us to reach ### of people, or %%% of the total INDUSTRY market.”

Demand Slide

Show them your current traction and why you know there’s market demand for your solution. Think about what you want to display as proof points such as your current sales numbers, testimonials, and pre-sales orders, number of beta testers, how many customer interviews you’ve done, and more. The whole purpose of this slide is to prove that you can execute and that there is provable market demand for your offering.

Competition Slide

Show them why your solution stands apart from your competition and that you’ve thoroughly researched who you’re going up against.

Flex Slide

Here’s a free slide for you to swap in your most important slide from the appendix or simply leave it as a contact us/questions page.

The Appendix

The appendix is where you can cheat a little. If you want to include something but don’t have room in the main part of your pitch deck, add it to your appendix.

This is great for slides like:

• • Your financial statements
  • Who’s on your team
  • Additional analyses (PESTEL, SWOT, more in-depth competitive, etc.)

Step 2: Plotting your Pitch’s Story

Benny Pekala, co-founder of Birdwell Solutions says that “the most important thing to include in a pitch deck is a compelling story. When making a presentation, utilize stories and a narrative to best connect with your audience.”

A simple way to do this is to tell the story of how your offering could impact one person’s life.

Example: Non-Story vs Story Pitch

For example, let’s pretend we’re a medtech company that just invented a new device that could save children’s lives. That’s a powerful premise already but let’s build on it.

We could say “our device has a market potential of $5 billion dollars, we’re in stage 2 of clinical trials, and we believe we can capture 20% of the market in three years by approaching insurance companies and showing them how much money they’ll save by helping their patients use our device instead of what’s currently on the market, which is outdated, ineffective, and inexpensive.”

I mean… it’s not bad. There are some nice numbers in there and it shows we’ve thought things out. But it doesn’t tell the story.

Instead, we could say…

“Meet Daisy, a normal five-year old except that she has a medical problem that limits her mobility. Because of this, instead of running around with her friends and going to school, she’s subjected to painful, invasive procedures every month. Her parents are trying to keep up with Daisy’s care and medical bills but one unexpected expense could throw them deeper into debt. Worst of all, they feel like they’re missing out on her childhood. Daisy’s disease is cruel enough. Her treatment shouldn’t add emotional, physical, and financial pain. There are thousands of families like Daisy’s and we’re going to help them.”

It’s more interesting, right? You’re rooting for Daisy and her family. You want them to succeed and you might even relate to them from personal experience.

But what about the numbers from before? Don’t worry. There’s always a place for good numbers. Remember, right now we’re plotting out your story. The numbers are details that can be added in later.

Craft a story by remembering these three points:

1. Make it personal (Daisy and her family)
2. Relate it back to your customers’ pain points (Daisy’s physical pain and her family’s stress)
3. Layer in emotions for lasting impact (who doesn’t want Daisy to have a better life?)

Simply by thinking through your story before you begin, you’ll find it easier to create a pitch deck that resonates with investors. Your slides will be more cohesive and you’ll be well on your way to having your speech down too.

Step 3: Write the Garbage Draft

Now that you have an outline and you have your story, it’s time to write!

Remember this is a presentation. Keep the copy to a minimum. But since this is the first draft don’t worry about choosing the right words. I like to call this first pass my garbage draft. It helps me not focus on what’s on the page and just get it done. It’s always easier to go back and edit than it is to stare at the blank page.

Start by creating blank slides and use our outline as placeholder titles.

Then, go in and add some directions for yourself like “insert great graph here” or “show a picture of Daisy here.”

A good rule of thumb is to keep one point per slide. During the design phase, you’ll go in and create visuals or amp up your copy but while you’re writing, think about what the main point of the story is for each slide.

For example…

Here’s what our fictitious medtech company’s outline/main points might look like.

Title Slide

Business name & mission statement

Challenge Slide

People like Daisy are hurting and their families are struggling + add in number relating to the scope of the problem

Solution Slide

Our device will help Daisy and her family by simplifying treatment, drastically reducing the cost (add in $ or %), and giving them back (tens) of hours every month.

Potential Slide

There are (###) of families in the U.S. just like Daisy’s. (Add in market potential – $$$)

Product Slide

Insert photo of prototype device.

Business Slide

Insert diagram of business model

Go-to-Market Slide

Show 3 main marketing tactics: approach (X) insurance partners, raise awareness through social media & online events, and taking pre-orders

Demand Slide

Insert pre-orders + quote from current customer

Competition Slide

Insert 2 axis diagram positioning us against top 5-7 competitors

Conclusion Slide

Insert powerful call to action statement like “We’re making sure that Daisy and her family continue looking forward to the future.

Notice how rough this is. I use “X” and “$” to mark spots where I need to go in and add real data points. But I’ve identified one main point to make on each slide and I relate it back to Daisy whenever possible to help make it stick in the investors’ minds.

I also recommend writing your script at this point. You do not need to memorize it but actually writing out the words you anticipate saying with each slide can help you spot gaps and get a feel for if your presentation’s flow will work.

Tip! I use the speaker notes section to track what I want to say for each slide, while I’m creating that slide. It helps me keep the slide neat and clean without forgetting where I’m at in my story.

Step 4: Write Like a Writer

At this stage, I add in details, research, and descriptions. To be honest? Sometimes I get a little too flowery. Now’s the time to pick the BEST word and to get a little geeky about how the words fit together. If you’re worried that now you have too many words on your slide at this point, it’s okay. You’ll delete most of them in the editing stage.

Add in your stats and other numbers at this stage too.

Step 5: Time to Design!

Now that your slides are chock-full of words, it’s time to start putting in images, visuals, and charts. Frankly, I’m not much of a designer but I can still make great presentations because I keep as much white space as possible.

Design Tip: Visuals? Yes. Lists? No thanks.

Embrace easy-to-understand charts and icons to illustrate your points. Ask yourself if it even needs to be on the slide or if you can speak to it instead. When it does need to be on a slide, think about if it’s visually interesting and easy-to-grasp in a glance. Even bulleted lists are overwhelming to audiences because they’re too busy reading the text to listen to you.

If you want a great, tactical guide to designing top-notch slide decks, here’s a TedTalk blog by Aaron Weyenberg: “10 Tips for Better Slide Decks.”

Now, your pitch deck is created. It looks great and you’re feeling good, which means it’s time to edit.

Step 6: Edit – Brutally

I love editing. Nothing gives me more pleasure than tearing into a piece of content with a red pen. Am I sadist? Maybe. Most editors are, at least a little bit. But even if editing doesn’t get your blood pumping, you need to be able to be brutally honest with yourself if your pitch is going to stick the landing.

Editing Tip 1: Strip away the unnecessary.

Time for the red pen. Be your own worst critic and delete anything that is redundant, out of place, sounds wrong, or is incorrect. Rewrite when necessary. You’ll know it when you see it.

Editing Tip 2: Read it out loud.

You shouldn’t have that much copy on your slides anyway so this shouldn’t take too long. Make sure it sounds like something you’d actually say. If you’re writing like an academic, you’re doing it wrong (unless you’re an actual academic, then kudos but still make sure your audience is also an academic one).

Editing Tip 3: K-I-S-S

Keep it simple, stupid! I don’t love the “stupid” at the end of the cliché but the advice is sound. Unless absolutely necessary, try to make it easy enough for a third-grader to understand. It’s not a sign of disrespect to your audience. By simplifying your message down to its bare bones, you’re respecting their brain space and time. You’re eliminating the details they can learn later and getting to the point now so they can answer the all-important question: “should I invest?”

Step 7: Proof and Proof Again

Please. Please, please, please, please. Do not have any typos in your pitch deck. Someone will see it. Maybe it will be a possible investor who’s now wondering if you pay attention to details. Maybe you’re the one who sees it, in the middle of your presentation and now you’re thrown by the mistake and have now lost your train of thought.

One typo may not cost you an investor. But multiple typos will almost definitely make a few think twice about writing you a check.

Step 8: Practice DOES Make Perfect

An investment is on the line. The future of your business is on the line. Now is not the time to “wing it.”

Practice your script until it feels natural. You should be able to give your presentation without cue cards or speaker’s notes.

Ask friends and family to be your test audience. Give them specific things you want feedback on to get helpful advice. Simple questions like “would you invest?” and “what questions do you have that we aren’t answering” will give your practice audience concrete ways to help you.

Slow and Steady Wins the Investment – with Good Transitions

Jake Smith, Director of gBETA St. Thomas works with startups seeking investment every day. He stresses the importance of practicing, “Remember that nobody can read a screen AND listen to you talk. Less is more when it comes to words on your slides and make sure to practice how to talk through each slide. Each slide has 2-3 seconds to capture our visual attention, then we want to look back at you. Remember to make an effective point and move on. Lingering on slides will put us to sleep!”

Jake goes on to highlight two, easy-to-forget practice areas: silence and transitions. “When speaking, silence is not as bad as you think. Coach yourself to talk slow and smoothly and your pitch will feel concise and efficient to your audience. But the MOST important thing to practice is your transitions. Great stories transition well. It’s easy to be reminded of what to say when looking at your slides but transitioning to the next is tricky. Practice it.”

Also be sure to practice answering questions that potential investors will throw at you.

Possible Investor Questions

(These questions are compiled from real-life pitches made by the contributors of this article, Blue Spec Marketing’s experience, and of course, Shark Tank.)

• What’s your profit margin?
• What’s your COGS?
• When will you break even?
• Have you performed a stress test?
• What does the competitive landscape look like?
• How do you stack up against your competitors?
• What is the next stage?
• If this is so valuable, why haven’t the competitors built it?
• Why are you the most qualified person to build this?
• You haven’t made any money – yet, why should we invest in you?
• How do you plan to market your product?
• Can you go into more detail on your business model?
• How do you know your pricing is right?
• What are you looking for in an investor?
• Can you tell me more about your fundraising round?
• Do you have debt – and how much?
• How much inventory do you have?
• How much money are you asking for?
• Why such a big valuation?
• What is your minimum investment?
• How much are you raising in total?
• Will my investment convert to common stock or preferred stock?
• What kind of business entity are you?
• Can I see a detailed business plan?
• What kind of push back have you gotten from customers during your interviews?
• What kind of customers have been most excited about your product?
• If your product did not exist, what product currently in market would you recommend to your target customers?
• Which of your competitors scares you the most?

If you can’t answer these questions, you’re not ready to seek financing. That doesn’t mean you’ll never be ready; it just means you have some more work to do.

Step 9: Be Yourself.

Amidst all of that practicing, editing, and drafting, don’t forget to be yourself. People can tell when you’re faking it. Be prepared, be honest, and be passionate. Inspire them to join you in the future you’re seeing. Show them what it will be like working with you.

When it comes to pitching investors, you have to be yourself. They’re investing in YOU and YOUR ABILITY TO EXECUTE.

Your pitch deck is the movie trailer of your business. It should be enticing enough to get your audience interested, clear enough so they know what you’re all about, but not give everything away. The key is storytelling. If you don’t have all the answers but have a compelling story, you’re more likely to get investing than the other way around. Take your time, tell your story, and know your numbers. If you’re passionate about your idea and invested in your business, that will shine through. As long as you can prove that your idea is solid, people are willing to buy it, and that you’ve thought it through, you’re already leaps and bounds ahead.

Now, all you have to do is start making your deck!