Do you have any top tips for when it comes to building a pitch deck

Aaron O'Leary
51 replies
Pitch decks are hard, they can make or break your attempt to get funding. I've seen a ton of advice go around on how to optimize a pitch deck, do you have any tips?

Replies

Brandon Michelhusto
I find this to be the best framework and was back by Docsend data on 20k pitchdecks. Investors tend to focus most on ‘Why Now?’ ‘Market Size’ ‘Business Model’ and ‘Team’. You don’t want to put a ton of text on any slide, have as much data to back up your claims as possible and keep things simple since your audience is probably getting lots of pitch decks daily (if you’re pitching for investment that is). Cover Slide Company Purpose Problem Solution Why Now? Market Size Product Competition Business Model Traction Team Forecast Investment Ask
Kayode Odeleye
@brando_claymail I'll add more from docsend. on average investors spend 1 min 20 seconds per pitch deck or 10 seconds per slide so each slide has to be just one message and total slides of 10 to 15
Brandon Michelhusto
@kayovin1 definitely familiar with that statistic from Docsend's report and I think the learning was about how if it's taking someone viewing the page longer than that amount of time, then the information on that page is probably too confusing.
Kayode Odeleye
@brando_claymail 100% It’s just really hard for founders to understand that. We think of investors as these knowledgeable ppl that need to be bombarded with info. I do this, if the deck cannot be understood by a 5 year old, it’s too complex
muritala Tunde (Olobaweslfargo)
@brando_claymail. how much do you want to sell everything sir I'm here with you waiting for you back?
Chris Surowiec
Know who you're presenting it to and tune it accordingly.
Ken Lian
Launching soon!
keep it simple and sweet, Kiss💋
Mukhil Maran
As you asked for tips, investors mostly (maybe, only) focus on the 'Why Now' and 'the problem' part. As they fund, they'll look for the problem that is essential to be solved (urgency in customer market), wide and big enough to be solved (wider the TAM, bigger the revenue) So, you may focus on these two and tell a beautiful, impactful story as to why your product has to be there NOW and SOLVE THOSE PROBLEMS. It should be like great movies where they show powerful antagonist/s and slowly elevate the hero's part to finally thrash them all. Hope it helps in some way..
Antony
I would say it completely depends on the audience; there is no one-size-fits-all approach. When I was working on my startup, I used to have four different pitch decks: - For Investor, Focus more on Execution Plan, Team Strength & Advisory board, Sales & Product Economics, Financial projections, and IRR. - For Government Grant, Accelerator Program, or any Start-up pitch competition You slides should talk more about your USP, Competitive advantage, Impact metrics, Marketing opportunity (TAM), Team.
Sorry, this is going to be a long one: There is a lot of information available on how to structure your deck, what information you need and how many slides you should have. This also always depends on the audience. But what I think is equally important or even more important is design. Yes, a lot of people will say that nobody cares about your beautifully designed slides and fancy animations. But hear me out: The cases where you can actually pitch in-person are actually rare. And when you do, it's a lot more important how you present yourself and your story than what information you have on your deck. In most other cases your are going to send your pitch deck as a file, before you even get the chance to pitch it. Investors are going to skim through hundreds of pitch decks. Like your product, design your pitch deck in a way that makes it really easy for them to go through and pick up the most important information, as quickly as possible. So what makes it easy for them? Slides have a certain design hierarchy to it: The first thing you see are visuals, then headlines, then text. Use visuals to catch attention. Followed by the headline that sums up the most important information of that slide. Text should be optional. Don't assume anyone is reading your text. If they want more detailed information, they can read it. Otherwisey, make sure that everything can be understood within a single glance. The first slide is the first thing they see. So make sure that anyone can understand what you are doing, right on the first slide. Use few words. Again, don't make them read. Don't think about slowly building momentum only to reveal the good parts at the end. You'll never know if they read your whole pitch deck: Instead, use the strongest arguments first. These are just my opinions. It's not statistically proven or anything, but it's how I approach it personally.
muhammad haseeb
Based on the analysis of 20,000 pitch decks by Docsend, it has been determined that the following framework is highly effective. Investors tend to prioritize key aspects such as 'Why Now?', 'Market Size', 'Business Model', and 'Team'. It is advisable to avoid overcrowding slides with excessive text, provide supporting data for claims, and maintain simplicity, considering that investors likely review numerous pitch decks regularly. Cover Slide Company Purpose Problem heure de priere chelles 77500
1) Clear 2) Concise 3) Catchy These should do the job.
Mei
Define your problem and solution clearly. Less is more. Use fewer words on each slide. A clear demo, walkthrough or feature-wise explanation of your product is a must-have. Include details on tailwinds - why now? why this opportunity? why you? No more than 12 slides, no matter what stage you are raising for. Include tangible and quantitative achievements of your team in the team slide.
Whatever you do, don’t make it longer than 12 pages, there is no excuse😅
Jovana Madjovska
Keep it concise! Stick to crucial information and around 10-15 slides. Begin your pitch deck with a strong opening slide that communicates your value proposition. Tailor your pitch deck to your audience. Research and understand their interests, and needs, and customize it to address their pain points. And use visually appealing graphics - charts, and images - to convey complex information and make it more engaging!
Rainbow Scientist
Hold 🆙 wait a minute who’s is presenting? I thought this was graded live? Ummm can I opt out?phone a friend ? Use a lifeline by then? Or not pass go with then200$
Rainbow Scientist
Well I actually find it easier to plug everything’s I find on JPEGS or add it to my Notions and have Stella break it down in pretty terms (Stella is my Ai).
Having a teaser deck, 5-6 slides, helps for sparking interest without giving up everything in one go and potentially becoming overwhelming.
I agree with you, this is one of the hardest things that I also went through when trying to find investors. So I’ll just share a few things we did while creating our ones: 1. Do some research on pitch decks done by other companies similar to yours. Lookout for the pattern in their slides, and figure out how you can relate. 2. Just start! Open whatever design tool you’re going to use ( we used Canva) and put down the main headings on each slide and whatever that comes to your mind under each. 3. Forget about design at the start, only focus on the content, how do you want to tell the story of what you’re building. 4. Now once you have an idea about the storyline and some content to start with, go ahead and polish it. 5. Don’t be afraid to present your pitch deck to people and get feedback. See if they can understand the product without you having to explain it again. 6. Next you’ll have to repeat the steps again and go over everything. Just keep polishing every time you pitch to someone with their feedback. Also keep in mind you’ll have to have different versions of decks for different kinds of investors. Hope this will help! And good luck with it. 🙌🏼
Kaneshiro Takeshi
keep it simple and sweet, Kiss💋
Janine N
Create a teaser pitch deck with a maximum of 10 slides. It will really force you to nail your story and focus on the most important elements. The long version is then „only“ an extension of this. Also what we found is iterations.. we tried it one way.. didn’t like it, changed it and tried again.
Naveed Rehman
there is a search feature at product hunt. just write "pitch deck" n it ll give you list of apps. thank me later 🐱
Justin Bassett-Green
Having been on every side of pitch and funding decks, my genuine advice is to materialize the message you want to communicate and then find somebody super-skilled to work with on the deck itself. It'll depend on a lot of factors, but even at the $100-250 price point, there are a lot of talented folks who can help you build a deck that ends up saving you a ton of stress during funding.