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We have been able to come up with a simple 5 steps template for the invincible pitch deck after having worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and having helped them raise millions of pounds in pre-seed and seed funding.
Putting together and delivering a pitch deck for a business idea can be a very stressful time. Trying to squeeze your dreams and all your hard work into 3 minutes may feel daunting and overwhelming at first.
If such a thing as the blank page fright exists, we know that the ‘blank pitch deck’ fright is even more daunting.
Where should you start? Is there a structure or template that you should use to deliver a powerful and compelling pitch?
Our job is to help hundreds of entrepreneurs raise their pre-seed and seed rounds in the millions, every year. Over time, we have iterated and perfected a template for the invincible early-stage startup pitch deck.
Let’s review this template together step by step.
A pitch is your opportunity to tell a compelling and credible story. As simple as that.
After having failed many times in our careers, we have learnt that there is no better way to convince investors, judges, panelists and corporate executives alike than to tell them just what they are expecting to hear:
In fact, it’s a very simple story, made of just 5 points, but it works because it is able to tell everything your audience needs to know: what you do it matters, it’s special, it works and customers want it, you can do it and you have a clear plan.
Before we expand on each of the five main points of your compelling story, let’s make sure we are aligned on the ground rules.
First of all, there are two types of pitch decks
In this tutorial, we are focusing on the pitch deck to be presented on a screen. There are a few things to be taken into account
Ok, now that we have agreed on the ground rules, let’s review the five steps of your story, one by one, and let’s see which slides you can use to illustrate them.
Your audience is very likely to have seen a stream of pitches before you. Execs in large companies do back-to-back meetings, investors see multiple startups during office hours and judges or panellist have seen many other pitches before you. It’s extremely important that you punch them in the face – not literally – right from the start. Perhaps they are thinking of sneaking out for a drink? Or checking their twitter feed for a second? Or replying to important email or notifications?
Well, here’s your pitch, make sure they understand, they better pay attention from now on.
How do you do this? That’s exactly the job of the first three slides of your pitch.
Key message: what we do in one sentence.
We have seen that the following format is very helpful to create anticipation and provide an understanding of what you do: “we help [your customer segment] achieve [their goal]“.
The most common mistake for founders here is to describe what they do. Try to focus on the benefit you are delivering to your customers, instead of the tools you are using to deliver it, and you’ve got this.
Key Message: we are solving a big problem that matters
This is the moment when you can capture the audience’s attention and keep them glued to your story until the end.
Explain why what you are doing matters, using impactful figures and stories as much as possible.
Make sure everyone understands that there is a big problem at the moment, or a giant opportunity lost.
Key message: this is why that big problem is still happening today
Now that everyone understands the impact of what you are working on, it’s time to explain why that big problem exists, or that giant opportunity is lost.
Why are all these people are dying? Or why is all that money wasted every year?
We find that what you wrote in your lean canvas under “problems” (see here how to compile the lean canvas for your great idea) and then you have validated through customer discovery interviews (see here how to run them and the key questions you should ask).
Our recommendation is to make sure the problems you are reporting are strictly linked to the impact in the previous slide. We are telling a story, and everything should be linked.
At this stage you should have spent at least 30% of your time to make sure everyone is aligned on the problems you are solving and why they matter.
What you don’t want to do is to assume everyone in the audience appreciate the complexities and the details of what you are doing.
Besides, if they don’t understand the context of the problems that you are solving, then how could they appreciate the value of your idea?
Here comes the exciting part: you are unveiling your big idea.
Key message: this is what we do to solve it
We recommend to put in these slides what you wrote in your lean canvas under “solutions” (see here how to compile the lean canvas for your great idea).
Just make sure each part of your solution is strictly linked to the previous slide. There should be a solution for each problem, one by one. Not doing this will deeply confuse your audience.
A super important point: show any data you’ve got that demonstrates the impact of your solution on the big problems you have illustrated in the previous slides. Even if it’s coming from small scale pilots or trials, it will help deliver a compelling story.
Another recommendation is: if you’ve got something, show it! A mock-up, a prototype, pictures of customers using your product, quick videos showing your product in action, show it. It will make everything real, and relatable.
Depending on the length of the pitch, you might want to add a competitive analysis to demonstrate how your idea is delivering in a unique way the benefits that matter the most to customers. You can find here a detailed tutorial on how to compile a customer centric competitive analysis.
Key message: this is how we are planning to make/we are making money
At this point, it should be clear enough how you are creating value. That’s the real job of an entrepreneur: to solve big problems, to have an impact with clever and innovative ideas, to generate value for customers and ultimately for the entire society. It’s just fair to say that, if you are creating value, you should pocket some of that value for yourself. A win-win for everyone.
Why don’t we share with the audience how you are planning to do that?
We recommend to put in this slide what you wrote in your lean canvas under “revenue” (see here how to compile the lean canvas for your great idea).
This is a key part of the entire pitch, this slide is the stare of the entire deck. That’s where you are really playing your cards.
So far you have been making great promises: solving a problem that matters, with a clever and innovative solution, making money in the process.
It might be the best story in the world, but it’s now time to demonstrate that it’s real. It works, and customers want it!
Key message: this is the evidence that customers want our solution
We define traction as the evidence of early positive market response. A business idea with traction is what makes the difference between a vision and a hallucination.
Getting traction is the key job of an entrepreneur, so you might want to be focused on that from day 1.
Have you achieved sales? A high returning rate for customers? Have you got pre-orders? Have you got thousands of orders on your waiting list? Have you got at least a decent conversion rate for your landing page?
There are really no excuses to go to and pitch with showing traction. Especially when you have a long list of initiatives you could put in place to get traction, most of which don’t require any investment at all. Check it out here.
You might have noticed, the more we go ahead with the pitch, the more we are grounding it into reality. You have just shown how you have been able to demonstrate that customers want a solution which is solving it in a clever and innovative way, a big problem that matters, and you can make money out of that. Very good. Now let’s deep dive on how that was possible.
Key message: this is why we will deliver what we promise
Considering what you have achieved so far, your team must be a stellar one. Let’s elaborate a bit more on the team members in this slide.
We recommend on this slide to include any achievement that can reassure execs and investors that you can deliver what you promise.
Our recommendation here is to put everything you got. As usual, figures and logos will help deliver the message more than a thousand words.
This is the closure of the pitch. Since the purpose of a pitch is to ask, make sure you always finish with this slide. What we need to do is to show our audience that we have a clear understanding of what the key milestones ahead are, and what we need to do in order to get there.
Key message: why your money/support will make the difference
This is the final step. We started with big aspirations and promises of impact, and we finish with a plan and asks.
There are two key elements in the final slide:
Now that you’ve got an invincible pitch, it’s time to deliver. Make sure you give yourself enough time for rehearsals and watch your body language, and go rock it!
Good luck!