When seeking investment for your business, pitch deck slides are among the most essential tools. Whether you're targeting venture capital, angel investment, or strategic partnerships, your pitch deck serves as your first opportunity to make a lasting impression on investors as the audience. How you present your business can be the deciding factor in whether you secure an investor or miss out.
How do you know if you have a well-crafted pitch deck? If it conveys your business idea and tells your story and journey in a way that investors can connect with it. For guidance, you can refer to Guy Kawasaki's 10-slide pitch deck framework, which emphasizes simplicity and clarity. To learn more, visit his 10-slide pitch deck guide here: Guy Kawasaki 10 Slide Pitch Deck.
In this article, we explore the essential slides that should be included in every pitch deck. We walk you through each slide, explaining its purpose and providing tips to ensure its maximum impact. This beginner and veteran-friendly guide will help you impress on your entrepreneurial journey.
1. Cover Slide
Purpose: Making a Strong First Impression
The cover slide or title slide will introduce your pitch, so organize it to flow and be direct. From this point, you can tell whether you have the audience's attention or you've lost it for the rest of your presentation.
Key elements:
- Business name: Ensure the company name is legible and stands out. The audience should easily remember it after one quick look. The company name should be visible and easy to read.
- Tagline: A concise and impactful tagline that summarizes what your business does. It’s only the opening slide so keep it short. It’s the elevator pitch in a sentence.
- Logo: Include a professional logo, as this adds credibility to your brand. A logo should be simple, straightforward, and memorable.
- Your name and role: Personalize the presentation by including the founders' names and responsibilities.Key elements:
Tip: Keep the design minimal and avoid overwhelming this slide with too much information. Investors should immediately understand your company's name and be curious about what follows.
2. Problem Statement
Purpose: Defining the Challenge
Investors need to understand the problem you've identified and to see the value in your solution. The problem slide defines the target market’s pain points and highlights the need to solve them.
Key elements:
- Clear problem definition: Tell your audience about the problem your business aims to address in a relatable language while including why that problem exists and why a solution is necessary.
- Supporting data: Explain the problem's persistence using statistics and real-world instances. Your explanation should get the investors to perceive the urgency of a solution.
- Target audience: What demographic does this problem affect, and why is it essential to find a solution in that market?
Tip: Make sure the problem is easy to grasp. Explain it in simple and broad terms, avoiding too many technical terms. Investors want to feel the weight of the problem you're solving and understand it.
The foundation of your pitch is defining a clear and compelling problem. If the problem resonates, your audience will be more likely to pay attention to your solution.
The success of your pitch partly lies in the foundation you lay when highlighting the problem. Your audience will most likely pay attention to your solution if they can resonate with the problem
3. Solution
Purpose: Presenting Your Unique Approach
Once you've established the problem, it's time to present your solution on the value proposition slide, where you find out how your product or service addresses the pain points you outlined. Here, you get to showcase the heart of your business and your offering and demonstrate how it stands out as the best solution to the problem.
Key elements:
- Product Description: Describe your product or service in straightforward terms. Focus on its function, but keep it simple.
- Key features and benefits: Highlight the main features that set your solution apart and focus on the benefits these features offer. Explain why your product works better than existing alternatives.
- Competitive advantage: Tell your audience what makes your solution unique. Whether it's innovative technology, a disruptive approach, or a strong market fit, highlight what differentiates you.
Tip: Use visuals like product demos, mockups, or screenshots to make your solution more tangible. A good visual helps potential investors connect with your offering immediately.
Your solution is the core of your business, and how you present it matters. A strong solution slide doesn't just explain what your product does, it also convinces investors that your solution is the best one available to solve the problem.
4. Market Opportunity
Purpose: Demonstrating the Potential
Investors need to know that you want to grow your business. The market opportunity slide, also known as the why now slide, allows you to demonstrate the size and potential of the target market. This slide highlights why the market is primed for your solution and why now is the perfect time to invest. Investors are looking for scalable opportunities that can generate significant returns, and this slide is key to showing them that the chance is worth the investment.
Key elements:
- Market size: Show the Total Addressable Market (TAM) and the Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM).
- Growth potential: Provide data on market trends and growth rates.
- Target market: Outline who your customers are (demographics, industries, regions).
Tip: Use reputable sources for your market data. Whether it's industry research, market surveys, or reports from credible organizations, ensure your numbers are backed by solid evidence.
The market opportunity slide proves to investors that you're solving a niche problem and tapping into a significant, growing market that promises substantial returns.
5. Revenue model/ Business model slide
Purpose: How You'll Make Money
A great product is only part of the equation. To convince investors to invest, you need to show how your business will make money. The business model slide explains how your company will generate revenue.
Key elements:
- Revenue streams: Outline the ways you plan to make money. Depending on your business, this could include direct sales, subscriptions, freemium models, or licensing.
- Pricing strategy: Explain how your pricing works and why it appeals to your target market.
- Scalability: Explain how your business can grow over time. What factors allow your business to scale without drastically increasing costs?
Tip: Make the business model easy to understand. Visual aids, such as charts or diagrams, can help simplify complex pricing models and show how your revenue will grow.
The business model is where you demonstrate to investors that your company has a clear path to profitability and that your growth potential is sustainable.
6. Traction
Purpose: Proving Your Business is Gaining Momentum
Investors want to know that your business has gained some level of success and that there is proof of demand for your product. You get to showcase the key milestones and metrics that show your business's movements toward your goals in the traction slide.
Key elements:
- Metrics and KPIs: Use growth metrics, such as users, revenue, or customer retention. These data should demonstrate that your business is already making positive movements.
- Milestones: Highlight essential achievements, like product development or partnerships. These numbers should demonstrate that your business is already gaining traction.
- Customer success stories: If applicable, include testimonials or case studies.
Tip: Even in the early stages, small victories matter. Show how your business is growing and evolving, and provide proof of concept where possible.
7. Go-to-Market Strategy Market Strategy Slide
Purpose: How You'll Acquire Customers
Having a great product is only part of the equation. You also need to show investors how you plan to acquire customers. The go-to-market strategy slide outlines the steps you'll take to your target market to get what you're selling and scale your business.
Key elements:
- Customer acquisition strategy: Explain how you plan to attract customers. Will you use inbound marketing, digital ads, partnerships, or events?
- Sales channels: Define how you'll sell your product. Will it be through an online store, retail, direct sales, or third-party distributors?
- Marketing tactics: Detail how you plan to promote your product. Will you focus on content marketing, influencer partnerships, social media, or other channels?
Tip: Make your strategy as concrete as possible. Investors want to see a clear, actionable plan for getting customers and scaling your business.
Your go-to-market strategy shows investors that you have a clear plan for customer acquisition and are strategically planning to grow your business.
8. Competition slide
Purpose: Analyzing Your Position in the Market
The competition slide provides a clear view of the competitive landscape, helping investors understand who your competitors are and how your business stands out in the market. You get to show that you're conscious of the competitive environment and have a strategy to outperform the competition.
Key elements:
- Competitor landscape: Name your main direct and indirect competitors. Include those offering similar products or services to provide a different solution from yours.
- Competitive advantage: Talk about what makes you stand out against the competition, such as unique product features, pricing models, or customer experience.
- Market positioning: Use a competitive matrix or positioning chart to visually compare your business with competitors on key factors like features, price, or target audience.
- SWOT analysis (optional): Summarize the business's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to contextualize your position in the market.
Tip: Keep the slide clear and direct. Use visuals to make comparisons easy to digest and avoid listing too many competitors and their details, as it could overwhelm the investors.
The competition slide helps investors understand where your business fits within the market and why you're poised for success in a competitive environment.
9. Financial Projections Slide
Purpose: Showing the Path to Profitability
The financial projections slide is one of the most critical parts of your pitch deck. Investors need to understand your business's economic outlook to assess its potential for growth and profitability.
Key elements:
- Revenue projections: Outline your expected revenue for the next 3-5 years, including assumptions about growth rates and market size.
- Cost structure: Highlight significant costs involved in running your business, including operational expenses, marketing, and staffing.
- Profitability timeline: Indicate when you expect your company to become profitable and how you plan to reach that point.
Tip: Be realistic with your projections. Overly optimistic revenue estimates can hurt your credibility. Ensure solid assumptions and data back your financials.
Financial projections are one of the most scrutinized parts of your pitch. Be sure to provide realistic, well-supported numbers that demonstrate your business's economic potential.
10. The Team slide
Purpose: Who's Behind the Business
The team slide highlights the people behind your business. It demonstrates that your team has the necessary expertise and passion to bring your vision to life. This slide often includes a founder slide, where you showcase the founding members and their relevant skills, emphasizing their ability to execute and drive the business plan.
Key elements:
- Founding team: Highlight the key leaders of your business.
- Relevant experience: Showcase the skills and expertise of your team members.
- Advisors: If you have notable advisors, include them to add credibility.
Tip: Focus on why your team is uniquely suited to execute the business plan. Avoid listing too many team members; focus on the leadership and critical expertise.
11. Closing / Ask Slide
Purpose: Wrapping Up with Your Investment Request
The closing slide, also known as the investment slide or funding slide, is where you make your final ask. You've presented your business, and you can finally tell them what you need from them, so it’s also the call to action slide.
Key elements:
- Investment amount: Be direct about how much money you're looking to raise.
- Use of funds: Explain how you'll use the investment to grow the business, whether it's for product development, marketing, hiring, or other key areas.
- Next steps: Explain how the process will proceed. Should the investors schedule a follow-up meeting or request more details?
Tip: Keep the ask simple and specific. Investors want to know what you're asking for and how you plan to use the funds.
The closing slide is your final opportunity to persuade investors to act.
12. Thank You Slide
Purpose: Wrapping Up Your Pitch
The last slide of your pitch deck is the thank-you slide. Now that you've concluded your presentation, you must end it in the same way you started: with a positive, lasting impression on the investors. Appreciate the audience’s attendance and consideration and leave a way for them to contact you afterward.
Key elements:
- Gratitude: A simple "Thank you" message for the opportunity to present your business and for the investors' attention. A show of appreciation to your audience for their attention and time. A simple message should do the trick.
- Contact Information: Add all relevant contact information, such as email, phone number, and website, for investors to use when they need to follow up or discuss other matters.
- Call to Action (Optional): If appropriate, you can use this Slide to reiterate your ask or next steps. For example, "We'd love to schedule a follow-up meeting to discuss further."
Tip: Make the last slide visually clean and professional. Investors have seen many pitch decks, so this Slide should be clear and to the point, with your contact details easily found.
You are preparing for the next section of the pitching process with the thank-you slide.
Common Questions on Pitch Deck Slides
Creating a compelling pitch deck is crucial for attracting potential investors, but many entrepreneurs have questions about the best practices for designing and presenting their pitch decks. Below, we answer some of the most common questions related to pitch deck slides, including slide order, length, and presentation tips.
Is a Pitch Deck a Visual Slide Presentation?
You can call a pitch deck a presentation. It’s a platform for communicating business ideas and highlighting potential to investors. You must use appealing design elements, charts, and other graphics to convey data that will engage the audience. Also, only need to focus on including the most fundamental aspects of your business since a pitch deck is only a visual supplement. You can have the entire script about your business later.
What is the Right Pitch Deck Slide Order?
The order of your pitch deck slides is essential to create a logical, compelling narrative. Here's a recommended structure that works for most pitches:
1. Cover slide: Keep the introduction about your business and what it does short
2. Problem slide: Explain the problem you are solving and why it matters.
3. Solution slide: Describe how your product or service addresses the problem.
4. Market Opportunity: Present the market size and potential growth opportunity.
5. Business Model: Talk about the actions that you aim to apply to make money and your revenue model.
6. Traction/Validation: Share any key metrics, customers, or progress you've made so far.
7. Go to market strategy slide: Outline the strategy you'll apply to reach your target market and scale your business.
8. Competition Slide: Analyse your competition here and state how your business's position is advantageous
9. Financial Projection Slide: Share key financial projections and the business outlook.
10. Team Slide: Highlight your team and their expertise.
11.Closing/Ask Slide: Wrap up with your investment request and how investors can get involved.
12. Thank you slide: Express gratitude to your audience for their time and consideration.
This structure allows you to tell a coherent story, starting from the problem and ending with your funding ask.
Is it Advised to have a pitch deck with 20–100 slides?
No, it's not advisable to have a pitch deck with 20–100 slides. The 12 slides ensure directness and that you stay within the objective. The ideal pitch deck length is between 10 to 15 slides. Investors are busy, and a lengthy presentation may overwhelm them. Aim to convey your key points clearly and efficiently, focusing on the most critical aspects of your business. Keep your pitch deck visually appealing without overloading it with excessive information.
In What Instances Should a Pitch Deck Be 12 Slides or More?
While most pitch decks should stick to the 10-15 slide range, there are instances where a deck might need 12 slides or more. It could happen if your business model or industry is complex and requires additional explanation. For example:
- Complex products or services: If your product is highly technical or innovative, you may need extra slides to explain its functionality and benefits.
- Multiple revenue streams: If your business has several different revenue sources, you may need extra slides to explain each one clearly.
- Large or diverse markets: A broad market opportunity might require more detail to explain segmentation or how you plan to address different customer groups.
That said, even with more slides, be sure each one adds value to the presentation. The goal is to maintain focus and clarity, so avoid adding unnecessary information.
What is the Ideal Amount of Slides and Ideal Amount of Time Spent on Your Live Pitch Deck?
The ideal pitch deck is typically between 10 to 15 slides, which allows you to cover the essentials without overwhelming your audience. Aim to stay within the 15-20 minutes of speaking time, which is enough time to discuss each slide in detail while keeping the presentation engaging. It's important to practice so you stay on track and take as much time as possible on each Slide. Also, plan to leave time for questions from investors in the 20-minute bracket at the end of your pitch so they can revisit any areas of interest.
Final Thoughts
Creating an effective pitch deck is about telling an engaging, relatable story to the investors. It gives you a medium to explain and dress your ideas in statistics and graphics with as much detail as possible. You can achieve this if you focus on optimizing each slide and being as concise as possible.
Remember that clarity, simplicity, and confidence are key. Your pitch deck should communicate your vision and convince investors that you have the right team, product, and plan to turn your idea into a successful business.
What if you get stuck? Use our pitch deck investment slide designer, and you will be well on your way to crafting a pitch deck that stands out and helps you secure the funding you need to bring your business to the next level. Happy pitching!
