Pitch decks are fundamental to your fundraising effort. If an investor is willing to give you their valuable time and attention, you should take full advantage of this chance to tell your story quickly, concisely, and persuasively.  Most experienced investors have reviewed hundreds or thousands of pitch decks and expect a certain format – and, based on certain studies, they will spend an average of five minutes or less reviewing a deck.

While your underlying business plan and team are, ultimately, the most important part of any pitch deck, you don’t want the format or length to get in the way of the substance. Here are a few guidelines by which to organize and create a powerful pitch deck:

  • Less is often more - you can probably accomplish your goal with no more than 20 slides
  • Explain what you are doing in the first one or two slides
  • Try to build your deck so that it stands on its own without the need for you to explain every slide in detail
  • With that said, here is a basic outline to help in creating a compelling deck:
    • Slide 1: What problem you are solving?
    • Slide 2: What is your solution?
    • Slide 3: What is the underlying technology and can you include a demo?
    • Slide 4: What is the market size and business model?  How do you make money?
    • Slide 5: Explain your go-to-market plan.
    • Slide 6: What is your competition?
    • Slide 7: Team
    • Slide 8: Financial projections and key metrics
    • Slide 9: Explain current status and what, specifically, you are asking for