First things first, there is no right or wrong way to pitch. We’ve seen incredible pitches with impressive presentations, and we’ve also been blown away by a person with a microphone just speaking from the heart. Do it your way – that’s the best way.
But even if you don’t use it in your sales presentation, it’s a good idea to prepare a pitch deck. It means you’ve got something you can give to potential investors after they’ve listened to your verbal pitch, whether you print it out and hand it to them or send it to them in an email.
WHAT’S A PITCH DECK?
A pitch deck is a brief, written presentation that supports your verbal pitch. It aims to clearly and concisely outline your business plan and state the investment opportunity (that’s the fancy business way of saying why someone should invest in your idea).
It’s usually around 10 – 20 slides, and it contains everything a potential investor needs to know. But that doesn’t mean it should be filled with text! Take a look at the following top tips for how to design a show-stopping pitch deck.
KEEP IT SHORT
Guy Kawasaki, Venture Capitalist and Chief Evangelist of design platform Canva, once said:
“I have never seen a presentation that has too few slides, too big a font, and too little graphics.”
When it comes to pitch decks, less is definitely more. You want it to be bright, colourful, eye-catching, with large text in easily digestible chunks.
SPLIT YOUR PROPOSITION INTO CLEAR SLIDES
The clearer you can make your pitch deck, the better – and splitting your proposition into clearly labelled slides is a quick and effective way to guide a potential investor through your idea. Queries about how it fits into the market? There’s a slide for that. Questions about business and revenue? Flip to page 8 and your questions will be answered.
By clearly signposting relevant information for your investors, you make it super easy to understand your idea and why they might be interested in your idea.
Not sure what to include? Here are 10 slides to include in any pitch deck.
- The name of your company
- The problem you’re trying to solve
- Your idea and how it solves that problem
- How your idea slots into the market
- The competition, and how your idea compares
- The value proposition (what value your product can deliver to your customers)
- Your business and revenue model (how your company generates value, and how it generates revenue from that value)
- Your team (don’t worry if it’s just you to start with!)
- The financials (how much money do you need, and how will that money be used?)
- Your business’s current status, and how you’re using any funding already in place
SPEND SOME TIME ON YOUR DESIGN
When you’re pitching, everything you do is a reflection on your brand. So put some thought into how you present your pitch deck.
Do you have a logo? Brand colours? A font you always use? Your pitch deck should look cohesive, sleek and intentional. Any pictures should be high-resolution, and your font should be large and clear – try to avoid handwriting-style fonts that might be difficult to read.
If you’re presenting numbers, consider using a chart to make your calculations easier to understand, and annotate them to show the clear takeaway.
If you’re not sure where to start, the good people at Y Combinator have written this super useful article on the simple steps to designing your pitch deck. There’s a brilliant list of examples here. And if you’re a member of a creative community like Impact Brixton, you’re sure to know a designer who’ll be able to help!
COME TO OUR PANEL TALK AND PITCH SLAM
On Friday 31st March 2023, we’re hosting the brilliant Gerald Vanderpuye (co-founder of Impact Brixton), Shari Leigh (founder of the Black Business Network) and Jay Crawford (educator, trainer and public speaker) for a super pitching event. They’ll discuss how to develop and deliver the perfect pitch. And six entrepreneurs will pitch to our panel for exciting prizes! Book your tickets here.
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