Crafting a pitch deck investors expect

–      Keep your deck confidential;

–      Keep it to fewer than 15 slides, lest you risk losing everyone’s attention;

–      Make your deck visually appealing with sexy branding, consistent font types and sizes, etc.;

–      Don’t include too much text.

–      Clearly state the market problem and include a key statistic that captures that problem;

–      Define how you solve the problem;

–      Understand the level of detail you will need to achieve to educate the people in the room. A firm that specializes in your market won’t require as much education as one that focuses on more generalized investments;

–      Send the deck beforehand or have printouts available. The last thing you want is people trying to squint to read your slides;

–      Use the slides as cues for a narrative about your idea, company and market opportunity. Don’t read from them directly;

–      Accurately explain your path to profitability and growth strategy, what gap in the market you fill and estimated go-to-market timelines;

–      Use financial tables as a leave-behind, not as a core talking point for your presentation;

–      Leave time for questions!

–      Include a slide on competitive analysis and highlight what your differentiators are;

–      Show the faces of your core leadership team;

–      Include slides on:

–      Market landscape and opportunity

–      Your business model and positioning

–      Your competitors

–      Your go-to-market/customer acquisition strategy and related traction

–      Your core team

–      Timelines

–      Customer testimonials, partner feedback, etc.