Pitch Deck Specs
Build a pitch deck with Next.js and Shadcn
Context
Best Practices
Pitch deck best practices.
Investors
What investors are really looking for
- A good story
- Integrity
- Committment
- Trust
- Humility
- Vision
- Hunger
- RoI
Structure
The right Pitch Deck structure is critically Important and the first thing investors will evaluate. If you don't invest the time to order your slides, investors won't invest their time considering if they will invest their capital.
Information must have the right flow in order to bring your prospective investors to the point where they are compelled to invest in you, and take action quickly.
Slide Count
The number of slides may vary based on a startup's stage and complexity.
As a brand new venture seeking your initial funding, aim for 10 slides and never more than 16 slides.
For a late-stage startup, with a very complex business structure, and plenty of financials never exceed 20 slides.
Slides
Iterate content until it is as succinct as possible.
Slide | Early/Simple | Full/Complex |
---|---|---|
Opening | 1 | 1 |
The Problem | 2 | 2 |
The Solution | 3 | 3 |
The Market | 4 | 4 |
Competition | - | 5 |
Competitive Advantage | - | 6 |
Product | - | 7 |
Traction | 5 | 8 |
Customers | - | 9 |
Business Model | 6 | 10 |
Financials | - | 11 |
Business Model | 7 | 12 |
Funding | - | 13 |
Team | 8 | 14 |
Closing Request | 9 | 15 |
Opening
Typically stays on screen the longest. The design must be clean and simple.
Colors should match your brand identity and carry through the entire pitch deck.
Information to include:
- company name
- logo
- presenter names
- contact information
Provide a strong introduction and enable interested investors to open your pitch deck and easily find your contact details
Simple but must have a strong tagline.
The Problem
Sell the importance of the problem and you don't have to sell the solution.
Smart investors know that understanding the problem is the foundation of the entire company and opportunity.
Many are funded mostly on the strength of the problem they are taking on.
You can change just about everything else on the journey. However, if you abandon solving this problem, you've been going in the wrong direction the entire time.
Don't make it complicated but demonstrate clarity of domain knowledge.
Be sure you are ready to prove how you've validated your problem statement.
The Solution
Explain how you will solve this big and urgent problem.
Aim to incorporate your elevator pitch.
Do not get too deep or technical here. Especially as an early-stage startup. Chances are that your solution will evolve a lot over time.
Do convey your main mission and vision. Include a couple of bullet points on how you will change things.
The Market
Define CAGR.
Investors are looking for supersized returns. For that to be possible, you must be in a space with a huge market.
How big it needs to be will evolve over time. Getting to a billion dollars used to be a big thing, now, companies are raising billions.
Expand your thinking to businesses that can be worth $50B, $100B, or even more than $1T. Startups won’t have a monopoly on their market, so the market size needs to be much bigger than this.
Typically, best communicated with a chart.
Approach
- Find content from competitors