Getting investors to start the business is the most challenging part for a startup. It can be incredibly intimidating to make a financial pitch to investors. The most important fundraising tool by far is a pitch deck, and a strong pitch deck will help to secure funds for product development.
What is a Pitch Deck?
A pitch deck is presentation business owners use to persuade potential investors to fund their venture. The presentation contains slides with details about the business, its strategies, models, and its financials.
Creating a good pitch is challenging and needs good planning and execution. There are a few things that one should consider when preparing the startup pitch deck, like well-organized business information, highlighting the strength of the business, and being well-prepared to answer any business-related questions. A pitch deck is sometimes known as an investor pitch deck and is the best tool to attract investors for funding.
This article shares a few secrets to help you create a clear and brief pitch deck ready to present.
1. Start Strong
As we all know, the first impression should be good and strong to grab the investor’s interest immediately. Hence, start always with strong points, like statistics or any background story that will grab the attention of investors from the beginning.
2. Use Visuals
Always remember, investors, listen to hundreds of pitches daily, and keeping up with all is difficult. Hence, make the pitch deck slides decluttered using high-quality images and other visuals. Use bullet points, infographics, and visuals wisely to break the text and make the presentation simple and easy to follow.
3. Sell the investment
Everybody needs growth and something in return when they invest. When listening to the pitch, investors also want to hear about their risks and rewards. Indirectly, they want to hear the answer, “what does this investment mean to me?” A good startup pitch deck should be made and presented with an investor-context-like.
When sharing the goals and plans of the business, explain how these plans will help the investor’s return. You can attract and hold their attention by discussing investments and concentrating on the issues that matter most to potential investors.
4. Appeal to Head and Heart
“People will forget what you said and what you did, but never forget how you made them feel.”
This quote says it all. Of course, anyone can state the facts; however, a good background story is a trigger point that stirs the investor’s emotions and makes them invest in your startup pitch deck.
A good story about the product is best to enter an investor’s head and heart. So, when presenting the business plan, discuss the problems that lead to the solution you are developing. After that, list the benefits and how your solution benefits the user. This will make the pitch deck memorable to investors.
5. Be honest
Don’t try to show that everything is perfect—the teams who don’t pretend to be perfect present the finest investor pitch decks. Acknowledging the errors, the lessons learned from them, and changes in strategy make them self-aware, honest, and confident. And investors view them as credible, trustworthy, and people of integrity and invest in themselves by listening to their business pitch.
The process of developing the ideal pitch deck is challenging and time-consuming. Sometimes you just have one chance to make a good impression on investors. The best strategy to improve your ability to sell your business to important potential investors is to prepare a sound pitch. It can be intimidating to pitch to an investor, but the investor will sense your passion if you have it. Be imaginative, passionate, and personable.
