business plan for vc pitch

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Writing a Business Plan

Team sequoia.

When Brian, Joe and Nate founded Airbnb, they had an air mattress, entrepreneurial passion, and a vision for reinventing travel and hospitality, but no clear idea how to approach VCs or how to craft a pitch deck.

They came across Sequoia’s guide for how to write a business plan and the rest is history . They made a great deck.

But it wasn’t really the slides we liked—it was their ideas, the clarity of their thinking, and the scope of their ambition. We love partnering with founders hell-bent on bringing an idea to life that conventional wisdom deems impossible. And we love to partner early— when an idea is newly formed and has the maximal room to grow.

You can find our guide to pitching below (with a few refinements from years of use).

Company purpose Start here: define your company in a single declarative sentence. This is harder than it looks. It’s easy to get caught up listing features instead of communicating your mission.

Problem Describe the pain of your customer. How is this addressed today and what are the shortcomings to current solutions.

Solution Explain your eureka moment. Why is your value prop unique and compelling? Why will it endure? And where does it go from here?

Why now? The best companies almost always have a clear why now? Nature hates a vacuum—so why hasn’t your solution been built before now?

Market potential Identify your customer and your market. Some of the best companies invent their own markets.

Competition / alternatives Who are your direct and indirect competitors. Show that you have a plan to win.

Business model How do you intend to thrive?

Team Tell the story of your founders and key team members.

Financials If you have any, please include.

Vision If all goes well, what will you have built in five years?

Fundable VC Pitch Deck Examples (+How-to Tips & Templates)

Discover top VC pitch deck examples, learn the ideal VC pitch deck structure, and access customizable templates to craft your winning presentation.

9 minute read

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Short answer

What is a VC pitch deck?

A venture capital (VC) pitch deck is a presentation that startups use to explain their business to potential investors and venture capitalists (VCs).

It highlights the company's vision, team, market opportunity, and financials, aiming to secure investment by showcasing potential for growth and success.

You only have 15 seconds to convince VCs to look at your deck

So, you think you’ve got a vision that could make a real difference. But here's the thing - so does everyone else.

Your company is just one of thousands fighting for the attention of potential VCs, and having an innovative idea isn’t enough to succeed.

Your pitch deck is your voice before you even speak. It's what sets the stage for your story, and in a world where you’ve only got 15 seconds to make an impression, it needs to stand out. But how do you ensure your deck cuts through the noise?

I’m here to guide you through the art of crafting a VC pitch deck that makes VCs sit up and take notice.

From showcasing proven VC pitch deck examples to breaking down the ideal structure and providing you with customizable templates, I've got you covered.

Let's dive in and transform your pitch deck into your most powerful asset.

How do you structure a VC pitch deck?

A successful venture capital pitch deck should be structured as a narrative presentation .

Start by grabbing your investors' attention with what makes your solution special. Then, guide them through the journey of the problem you're tackling, how you're addressing it, and the brighter future your solution promises.

Wrap up by showing how their investment will play a crucial role in making this vision a reality. This narrative approach engages and connects with your audience on a deeper level.

Recommended VC pitch deck storyline format:

1) Unique Value Proposition

What problem are you solving?
Who are you solving it for?
How does your solution stand out?

2) Big idea (elevator pitch)

How does the world look before your solution?
How does it change with your solution?
Why is your team the one to make this happen?
What struggles do potential customers face?
What are the financial and emotional costs?
Where do current solutions fall short?

4) Solution

What is your approach to solving the problem?
How does your solution ease the pain?
What makes your solution uniquely valuable?

5) Market & Vision

What does the competitive landscape look like?
How do you plan to change the game?
What are the numbers that back up your vision?

6) Business plan (hard numbers)

How will you make money?
What's your strategy for scaling?
How will more funding improve your business?

7) Traction

Do you already have customers?
What revenue have you generated?
How fast are you growing?
How do you retain customers?
What are your future projections based on data?
What makes your team capable of succeeding?
How well do you work together?
Why is your team the best fit?
How much funding do you need?
Why is now the right time to invest?
What will you do with the funding?

10) Next step

What small commitment are you asking for?
How can investors get involved?
What are the consequences of not acting now?

What slides should be in a VC pitch deck?

When creating a venture capital pitch deck, you need to blend storytelling with strategic information to captivate potential investors.

The right slides can turn a good presentation into an unforgettable one, laying out your business case in a clear, compelling sequence.

11 essential slides of a VC deck:

Introduction: Set the stage with a compelling introduction that encapsulates who you are and what your company stands for.

The problem: Clearly define the problem you're solving, highlighting the need for a solution.

Your solution: Introduce your solution, focusing on how it addresses the problem uniquely and effectively.

Market size and opportunity: Demonstrate the potential market size and the opportunity it presents, underscoring the demand for your solution.

Business and revenue model: Explain how your business operates and how it makes money, detailing your revenue streams.

Traction and validation: Showcase any traction you've gained, such as customer feedback, sales figures, or growth metrics, to validate your business model.

Marketing strategy: Outline your strategy for attracting and retaining customers, including channels and tactics you use or plan to use.

Team: Highlight the strengths of your team, emphasizing the experience and skills that make you well-equipped to succeed.

Financials: Provide a snapshot of your current financial status and projections, giving investors a clear picture of your business's health and potential.

Investment and use of funds: Specify the amount of funding you're seeking and how you plan to use it to grow your business.

Next steps slide: Conclude with a clear call to action, outlining what you hope to achieve next and how investors can be part of your journey.

VC pitch deck examples that captivate potential investors

The most successful venture capital pitch decks share a common trait: they captivate potential investors from the first slide to the last.

It's not just about sharing facts and figures; it's about telling a story that makes people believe in your vision and want to be a part of it.

The VC pitch deck examples we're about to explore do exactly that. They mix the right ingredients—clear messaging, compelling visuals, and a strong narrative—to show just how powerful a great pitch can be.

Whether you're just starting out or gearing up to secure more funding, these examples are packed with lessons on how to make your fundable VC deck.

AI invest pitch deck

This VC pitch deck is a prime example of how to effectively communicate your startup's value proposition to potential investors. It skillfully combines narrative with interactive elements to create a dynamic and engaging presentation.

What makes this VC pitch deck great:

Average reading time on the cover: It immediately sets expectations for engagement, showing respect for the investor's time.

Easily customizable logo placeholders: The editor allows for quick customization to showcase competitive advantages in a visually appealing manner.

Interactive data visualization components: The deck engages viewers with interactive elements, making complex data easy to understand and memorable.

Professional startup deck

This deck exemplifies how to seamlessly blend interactive elements with a clear narrative to captivate venture capitalists.

By integrating multimedia right from the start and maintaining a focus on strategic storytelling throughout, it sets a new standard for pitch presentations.

What makes this VC deck great:

A video on the cover slide: It immediately captures the viewer's interest with a dynamic introduction, offering a memorable first impression that sets the stage for the story to unfold.

Clear go-to-market strategy: By providing a concise and coherent strategy, it allows investors to quickly grasp the startup's approach to market entry and expansion.

A narrator slide for the roadmap: This innovative feature personalizes the journey ahead, transforming the roadmap from a simple timeline into a compelling narrative that investors can envision themselves being a part of.

Vibrant VC deck

This venture capital deck stands out with a visually striking and interactive design that immediately draws in the viewer.

By cleverly integrating real-time data and a streamlined narrative structure, it not only presents the startup's story but also immerses the audience in a dynamic journey through its potential.

Running numbers for key metrics: It showcases the startup's achievements and potential with dynamically updating figures, making the data more engaging and easier to grasp.

Clear problem-solution framework: The deck clearly outlines the challenges faced by the target market and how the startup's solution addresses these issues, making the value proposition instantly clear.

Content segmented in tabs: This organization allows for a cleaner presentation and easier navigation through the deck, enabling investors to quickly find the information most relevant to them.

Tech industry VC deck

This VC deck effectively leverages digital tools to present a compelling case to potential investors. With a focus on clarity and engagement, it utilizes modern presentation elements to highlight the startup's strengths and future plans.

What makes this venture capital deck great:

Clear financial projections: It provides a transparent and detailed view of the startup's financial future, offering investors a clear understanding of growth potential.

Multiple image and video placeholders: These elements enrich the narrative with visual storytelling, making the presentation more engaging and informative.

An embedded calendar: This innovative feature facilitates immediate action by allowing potential investors to schedule meetings directly from the deck, enhancing interaction and follow-up.

Modern startup VC deck

This modern startup VC deck is a standout example of how to effectively use digital enhancements to personalize and elevate a pitch presentation. This deck is tailored to impress with its innovative features and clear, engaging layout.

Dynamic variables for personalization at scale: It allows for customization of the presentation to address each viewer directly, creating a more personal and impactful experience.

The use of highlight and grayed-out content to direct attention: This technique ensures that viewers' focus is drawn to key areas, enhancing the clarity and effectiveness of the message.

Data visualization components: Complex data is made accessible and engaging through well-designed visual elements, helping to convey the startup's achievements and projections clearly.

Creative VC pitch deck

By incorporating interactive elements, this VC deck delivers its message effectively and demonstrates the startup's innovative approach and attention to detail, making it a powerful tool in the fundraising process.

What makes this venture capital pitch deck great:

Clear unique value proposition: It articulates the startup's unique position in the market and its innovative solution to existing problems, making the investment opportunity clear and compelling.

Smart control measures: You can lock your deck with a password, ensuring that sensitive information remains secure and giving the presenter control over who can view the deck.

The option to extract branding from any website: This allows for a highly customized and relevant presentation, demonstrating the startup's ability to tailor its approach to different audiences and scenarios.

Crypto VC pitch deck

This VC pitch deck shines thanks to its sharp focus on innovation, a clear layout of problems and solutions, and an easy-to-navigate design, making a strong case for why it's a smart investment choice.

Ability to update after sending: This handy feature lets you make changes on the fly, keeping the deck fresh and accurate, which really helps in keeping trust and relevance high.

Easy branding integration: Pulling branding directly from any website makes customizing this presentation a breeze, ensuring your branding is on point from start to finish.

Built-in calendar: This makes it super easy for viewers to book meetings or follow-ups right from the pitch deck, making the step from interest to action quicker and smoother.

AI company VC pitch deck

This VC pitch deck masterfully introduces an AI startup, weaving a compelling story about tackling major industry issues with interactive and personalized touches.

Dynamic variables feature: This deck introduces dynamic variables, offering a tailored presentation journey for every viewer, which boosts both engagement and the feeling of relevance.

Solid problem-solution structure: It neatly lays out the big challenges facing the AI world and how the startup plans to solve them, showing a clear grasp of market needs and a practical approach to meet them.

Scroll-based layout: With its scroll-based design, the presentation allows for an easy, story-like walkthrough of AI concepts, making the advanced topic of AI interesting and accessible to everyone.

Consumer product VC pitch deck

This VC pitch deck captures attention with its sharp focus on consumer trends, innovative offerings, and deep market insights, crafting a persuasive argument for investment from.

What makes this VC pitch deck stand out:

Compelling value proposition: The presentation clearly outlines its strong value proposition, spotlighting the startup's dedication to sustainability, seamless technology integration, and affordability.

In-depth market research: It showcases extensive market research, pinpointing significant industry trends. This forms the backbone of the startup's strategic direction and highlights its potential for expansion.

Adaptive layout design: The pitch deck's design automatically adjusts to accommodate new content, ensuring that text, images, and graphs all integrate flawlessly. This keeps the presentation looking sharp and professional from start to finish.

Healthcare VC pitch deck

This VC pitch deck sets a new standard for presenting a healthcare startup, blending a clear problem-solution narrative with engaging interactive features and a clearly mapped out future journey.

Timeline slide: This deck features a timeline slide that charts the startup's growth trajectory, offering a glimpse into future innovations and key milestones, laying out a clear path forward.

Video embedding capability: By incorporating the ability to embed and play videos within the deck, it uses multimedia to showcase the startup's healthcare solutions and their transformative impact, making the presentation more dynamic and compelling.

Multiple smart CTAs: The presentation wraps up with cleverly positioned call-to-action buttons, designed to prompt potential investors to engage further, whether by seeking more information, booking a meeting, or delving deeper into what the startup has to offer.

B2B venture capital pitch deck

This B2B venture capital pitch deck serves as a standout example of how to succinctly and effectively present a complex B2B solution.

It achieves clarity in the problem-solution narrative, engages with interactive data visualizations to highlight growth, and clearly presents a robust business model, making it a benchmark for B2B startups looking to make an impact.

Strategic use of grayed-out content: The deck employs grayed-out content to subtly direct focus to the most crucial information, ensuring key points are immediately noticeable and easily understood.

Timeline slide: It features a timeline slide to present market analysis, showcasing the startup's grasp of industry trends and its potential for growth.

Transparent business model explanation: The presentation of the business model is marked by clarity and precision, with dynamic numbers that provide a clear picture of the startup's revenue streams and financial health.

Fintech VC pitch deck

This VC pitch deck weaves together a narrative that spotlights key problems, introduces innovative solutions, and is supported by compelling growth metrics.

Designed to grab the attention of potential investors, it positions the startup as a frontrunner in the fintech arena.

Real-time data integration: The ability to incorporate real-time data ensures the presentation remains fresh and engaging, allowing it to showcase the most recent successes and metrics.

Post-send edit capability: This feature adds incredible flexibility, permitting updates to the deck even after distribution. This ensures that every recipient has access to the latest, most accurate information about the startup.

Strategic smart CTAs: By embedding multiple smart call-to-action buttons, the deck effectively nudges readers towards meaningful engagement, whether it's to book a meeting, explore the website further, or initiate contact for more details.

Education VC pitch deck

This VC pitch deck introduces a forward-thinking solution to the pressing challenges in today's educational landscape.

It highlights the key issues faced by learners and educators alike and proposes an innovative solution aimed at transforming education for the next generation.

Customizable logo placeholders: Featuring easy-to-use placeholders for logos, this deck allows startups to swiftly personalize their presentations, maintaining brand consistency and recognition throughout.

Branding extraction feature: This functionality enables startups to pull branding elements directly from their website, ensuring the pitch deck seamlessly matches their online identity for a unified brand experience.

Multimedia placeholders: The inclusion of multiple placeholders for images and videos invites the use of rich multimedia content. This helps simplify complex educational topics, making the presentation more engaging and understandable for viewers.

General VC pitch deck

This general VC pitch deck shows how to succinctly and effectively communicate a startup's mission, pinpointing the problem being addressed, the proposed solution, and the compelling metrics that support its achievements.

Designed as a blueprint for creating pitches that are clear, engaging, and impactful, this deck is tailored to capture the focus of potential investors.

Interactive data visualization: By integrating dynamic charts and graphs, the deck vividly illustrates the startup's growth metrics, transforming raw data into a compelling narrative that's easy for the audience to grasp and appreciate.

Analytics panel access: The inclusion of an analytics panel offers a behind-the-scenes look at how viewers interact with the deck. This feedback loop is invaluable for identifying the most engaging parts of the pitch and areas that might need refining.

Responsive design: The deck guarantees a smooth and consistent viewing experience across various devices, ensuring that every potential investor can easily navigate and understand the startup's proposition, regardless of how they access the presentation.

What are VCs looking for in a pitch deck?

VCs sift through countless pitch decks, seeking signals of potential unicorn status within a concise presentation.

Understanding the key elements VCs look for can transform your pitch from just another deck to a compelling narrative that captures their imagination and investment interest.

1) The pitch deck’s purpose

The opening of your pitch deck should immediately clarify what your startup is about. Use the cover slide and tagline to succinctly convey your business's essence and the sector you're disrupting.

This isn't the place for vague aspirations; be specific and direct to anchor your audience's understanding from the get-go.

2) The team behind the vision

Early-stage investing is as much about betting on the jockey as it is on the horse. Highlight your team's expertise, experience, and unique qualifications early in the deck.

Show why your team, above all others, is equipped to turn this vision into a reality. Remember, a compelling team slide is not just a list of names but a narrative of capability and drive.

3) The significance of the problem

Articulate the problem you're solving in a way that resonates personally with VCs. This slide sets the stage for everything that follows, framing your startup as a solution to a significant, urgent problem.

Make the problem relatable, ensure it's a "hair-on-fire" issue for your target market, and demonstrate why it matters now.

Here's a great example of a problem slide:

4) The solution’s impact

Present your solution as the inevitable answer to the outlined problem. This is where your product or service shines, showcasing its uniqueness and value proposition.

Be clear on how it addresses the problem better than anything else on the market, focusing on user benefits and potential for scale.

Here's what a good solution slide should look like:

5) Proof of market traction

Traction is the proof that your solution has market fit. Include metrics that matter—revenue growth, user acquisition rates, notable partnerships, or customer testimonials.

This slide is your opportunity to show not just promise, but real-world impact and demand.

Here's an example of a traction slide:

6) The market’s scope and potential

VCs are in the business of big wins. Detail your addressable market size and how you plan to capture a significant portion of it.

Use credible sources and logical assumptions to back your claims, showing a clear path to a large, scalable opportunity.

Here's what a market size slide should look like:

7) The strategy for market entry

Outline your plan to enter and capture the market. This should include your marketing and sales strategies, growth plans, and how you'll overcome initial barriers to entry.

It's about demonstrating a thoughtful, actionable roadmap to market dominance.

Here's an example of a go to market slide:

8) Competitive edge and customer appeal

Position your startup within the competitive landscape, highlighting what sets you apart.

This isn't just about who your competitors are but how your solution better meets customer needs. Differentiation is key; show how your approach is not just different, but better.

Here's an example of a competitive analysis slide:

9) The revenue generation strategy

Clearly articulate how your startup will generate revenue. Detail your pricing strategy, revenue streams, and the logic behind your business model. This slide reassures VCs that you have a viable, profitable path forward.

Here's an example of a revenue slide:

10) Potential for investor returns

Present realistic financial projections that outline your path to revenue and profitability. Show how investments will be used to fuel growth and what returns VCs can expect. This is about translating your business model into potential returns on investment.

Here's an example of a ROI slide:

11) Funding needs and allocation

Be transparent about how much funding you're seeking and how it will be used. This slide should align your funding request with your growth plans, showing how the investment will accelerate your path to key milestones and valuation increases.

Here's an example of an investment and use of funds slide:

Investment and use of funds slide example

12) The startup’s long-term vision

End with a compelling vision of what your company will become. This is your chance to inspire, showing the long-term impact and legacy your startup aims to achieve. Make it clear why your startup is not just a good investment, but a transformative one.

Understanding what VCs look for in a pitch deck and addressing these points thoughtfully can significantly increase your chances of making a memorable impact.

Remember, it's not just about answering these questions but weaving them into a narrative that tells a compelling story of opportunity, innovation, and growth.

How do you build a fundable VC pitch deck?

Creating a pitch deck that opens doors and secures funding is not just about showcasing your business; it's about crafting a story that resonates with VCs on a personal level.

Here's how you can build a VC pitch deck that stands out and positions your startup as an irresistible investment opportunity.

1) Personalize your pitch

Every VC brings a unique perspective, shaped by their experiences, interests, and investment thesis. Personalizing your pitch to reflect this can significantly increase your deck's impact.

Tools like Storydoc offer dynamic, interactive pitch decks that can be easily customized for different audiences.

By incorporating elements that speak directly to an individual VC's focus areas, you're not just presenting; you're engaging in a conversation.

Here's how you can easily personalize your deck with Storydoc:

How to personalize your decks with Storydoc

2) Align with your funding stage

Your pitch deck should reflect the maturity of your startup. Early-stage companies should focus on vision, team, and market potential, emphasizing the problem and your innovative solution.

As you progress, the emphasis shifts towards traction, growth metrics, and financials. Understanding what VCs expect at each stage and tailoring your deck accordingly can make your pitch more compelling and relevant.

3) Adjust for different types of VC investors

VCs come in various flavors, from those specializing in early-stage startups to those focusing on specific sectors like tech, healthcare, or sustainability.

Researching and understanding the types of investments a VC firm makes can help you adjust your pitch to highlight the most relevant aspects of your business.

Whether it's your technology's groundbreaking nature or your business model's scalability, make sure your deck speaks their language.

4) Show, don’t tell

In a pitch deck, effective visuals can convey complex information quickly and memorably. Use charts, graphs, and images to illustrate your points, from market growth trends to user engagement metrics.

Interactive elements can bring your data to life, making your case more compelling without overwhelming your audience with text.

5) Leverage the power of storytelling

Your pitch deck should tell a story, one that takes VCs on a journey from identifying a pressing problem to presenting your solution as the inevitable answer. Use storytelling techniques to create a narrative arc that builds interest and culminates in a clear call to action.

Engage emotions and logic, weaving in customer testimonials or case studies to make your startup's impact tangible.

James Currier, Founding partner at NFX, says:

“"Each time you start to tell your story again, you’ve got to be able to judge the room and speak to what they’re interested in, only including the key details that are relevant for that audience.

You need to adjust your story so that they can understand from their perspective—using their language—what you are doing and why it’s interesting for them."

—James Currier, Founding partner at NFX

6) Highlight your Unique Value Proposition

In a sea of startups, your unique value proposition (UVP) is what sets you apart. Clearly articulate what makes your solution different and better than existing alternatives.

Whether it's a proprietary technology, a novel business model, or an untapped market opportunity, ensure your UVP shines through in your pitch deck.

7) Include a clear call to action

End your pitch deck with a clear call to action. Whether you're seeking a specific amount of funding, partnerships, or simply the opportunity for a follow-up meeting, be explicit about what you want from VCs.

A compelling CTA can be the difference between a pitch that fades into the background and one that moves forward.

Here's an example of an effective call to action:

If you want more specific advice, check out our in-depth guide on how to create fundable pitch decks as advised by VCs .

What are some key mistakes to avoid when making a VC pitch deck?

Making a pitch deck is a crucial step on the journey to securing venture capital, but common pitfalls can derail even the most promising presentations.

Steering clear of these mistakes can significantly enhance your pitch's effectiveness, ensuring your startup stands out for the right reasons.

10 common mistakes to avoid:

Overcomplicating your message: A complex or convoluted pitch can confuse potential investors. Ensure your message is clear, concise, and easily digestible.

Lacking a clear value proposition: Failing to articulate what sets your startup apart from competitors can leave VCs questioning your investment worthiness.

Ignoring the market size: Underestimating or not clearly defining the market size can make your business seem like a small opportunity. But, both extremes can turn off investors - so do not make unrealistic projections either.

Skimping on the business model: Not providing a clear business model or how the company will achieve profitability is a red flag for investors.

Underestimating the competition: Failing to acknowledge competitors or explain how your solution is better can undermine your credibility.

Overlooking the design: A poorly designed pitch deck can detract from your message. Ensure your deck is visually engaging and reflects your brand.

Being vague about the use of funds: Vague statements about how you'll use the investment can make VCs hesitant. Be specific about how funds will drive growth.

Neglecting the team slide: Investors invest in people. Not highlighting your team's expertise and roles can be a missed opportunity to build confidence.

Overloading with information: Cramming too much information into your pitch deck can overwhelm investors. Focus on what's most important.

Missing a clear call to action: Concluding without a clear call to action can leave potential investors unsure about the next steps.

If you want to learn more, check out this video on the top pitch deck fails:

Interactive VC pitch deck templates

Staring at a blank slide, knowing the future of your startup hinges on the presentation you're about to craft, can be overwhelming.

It's not just about filling the space with words and images; it's about weaving a narrative that captures the essence of your business, its potential for growth, and its appeal to investors.

With sections tailored to highlight your team, solution, market potential, and more, interactive VC pitch deck templates remove the guesswork from the equation.

Unlike static slides, interactive elements can engage investors on a deeper level, allowing them to explore data, dive into details, and truly connect with your proposition.

Just grab one and see for yourself.

Hi, I'm Dominika, Content Specialist at Storydoc. As a creative professional with experience in fashion, I'm here to show you how to amplify your brand message through the power of storytelling and eye-catching visuals.

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Top 11 Venture Capital Pitch Decks

Healy Jones blends his venture capital experience with operational knowledge to support startup financial strategies. With a background in investing in over 50 startups and holding executive roles in VC-backed companies, Healy has been featured in major publications like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and TechCrunch. His efforts at Kruze have been crucial in helping startups collectively secure over $1 billion in VC funding, showcasing his ability to effectively navigate financial challenges and support startup growth.

Top 10 VC Pitch Decks, Examples and Templates

A big part of my job at Kruze is to help our clients prepare to raise venture capital. So I’ve seen a lot of venture capital pitch decks recently. As a former VC who also has been an exec at a number of startups that have raised quite a few million in venture financing, I have some strong views on what information VCs want to see. And because Kruze clients raise over two billion dollars in venture funding annually , I get to see a lot of what works - and what doesn’t.

Since I’m regularly being asked for a template for a venture pitch deck, I thought that I’d compile the best templates available on the internet that I know about. Again, I’m strongly biased, as I’ve seen many companies successfully raise and some not. These are investor pitch deck examples that I think are working.

In addition to the example presentations below, I also lay out the standard slides that I’ve seen companies use to successfully raise venture funding. You can scroll down to also see a TechCrunch interview with a Kruze Client, DeepScribe, where the founder and their investor walk you through the deck they used to raise a $30M round. Finally, I’ve added in a dozen+ questions that VCs often ask founders during the pitch (I’ll probably create an entire article around VC questions and answers).

We’ve released our free startup pitch deck course ! It includes 2 free Google Presentation templates that are free to use, and one downloadable financial model template - plus over 8.5 hours describing what VCs look for on every slide in the deck.

Again, the pitch deck course has two free templates that are free to use. No email or registration or anything - just click the links, open the Google Slides and duplicate them into your own Google Drive. One of the free templates is a B2B example, the other is a B2C example. Haje Kamps, the well known TechCrunch writer who produces the pitch deck teardown series, helped me create those free templates - so get them!

Top 10 11 venture capital pitch deck templates on the internet right now

Guy Kawasaki’s pitch template - https://guykawasaki.com/the-only-10-slides-you-need-in-your-pitch/ This is the OG demo pitch deck. Short and sweet. Starting to get a bit long in the tooth, but still the first one to check out because it will highlight how simple and short can be better (don’t make a 30 slide deck!!)
Ycombinator’s slide template - https://blog.ycombinator.com/intro-to-the-yc-seed-deck/ The actual deck that YC links to (it’s a Google Slide file) has such poor design, I wouldn’t recommend using it. HOWEVER, the order of slides and the topics are 100% on, so it’s worth carefully reading the commentary in the actual post. I like the final slide, as it clearly outlines how much funding is needed and the use of the funds. A solid slide to end the conversation on.
First Round Capital’s deck - https://www.beautiful.ai/blog/uber-vc-pitch-deck-presentation-template One of the top, East Coast VCs supposedly had a hand in creating this one, and the slide order/content is one of the best examples of what to put into your deck. I don’t know how you actually download this - it’s in some kind of a proprietary format, but if you are looking for a view on how to order and design a pitch deck, this is one you must check out.
Series A pitch deck used by Front to raise their A - https://medium.com/@collinmathilde/front-series-a-deck-f2e2775a419b This founder very kindly shared their slides and fund raising experience. Great example of a competition slide in an industry that has a lot of legit competitors.
Airbnb’s seed deck - https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/airbnb-seed-pitch-deck/ This is a classic (although the visual design did not age well). If you are looking for a consumer deck or one that talks about how to launch into a new(ish) industry, this is worth looking at.

We’ve also put links to six other examples below, like the Uber deck and the Mattermark slides. Scroll down to see more real-life examples, and dig into our commentary on slide order and content strategy.

Slides in an example Investor pitch deck

The professionals (like YC and Guy Kawasaki) are suggesting 10 slides in a standard pitch deck. I think the real point is that you should be able to deliver your pitch in 15 minutes or less - and if pressed, do a 5-minute pitch. That’s really short.

Why so short? Aren’t most VC meetings scheduled for 30 minutes? Well sure, but…

Assume that your VC is late to the meeting by 5 minutes (they will always say something like “something came up with a portfolio company’s acquisition, but the truth is probably that the barista messed up and gave them an almond milk latte instead of a soy milk one and they had to wait for the right beverage - kind of a joke.) The VC will probably then give you a few minute spiel around what makes their fund different. Then assume that you need to answer at least 5 minutes of questions if your pitch is not going well - and 10 minutes of questions or more if the investor is engaged. And you’ll need a 5-minute pitch, that isn’t rushed, if some important partner is running way late or misses the first 20 minutes of your 30-minute meeting.

The standard table of contents in a good pitch deck is:

Based on the $1 billion our clients raised last year in VC funding, we think you will want:

1. Cover/title slide - including the company name and the founder’s contact info

2. The industry’s or customers’ problem - the pain that your startup is solving

3. Your startup’s solution or value proposition - how your startup fixes the issue / the benefits you provide

The templates start to diverge, so a few different next slides are:

Traction - metrics that show adoption or market validation or
Product magic/product demo - showing off the offering
Market size
Business model / how you make money

6. Go to market/growth - explain how you are going to grow

7. Competition and or competitive analysis/advantages - all startups have some sort of competition, or there is at least a way that customers are currently dealing with the pain your startup is solving

9. Financial projections - include revenue growth, high-level spend, burn, and other KPIs like customer count (you can go deeper in an appendix or in a financial model). And if you are looking for a free downloadable model template, visit our financial modeling page .

10. Summary:

How much you are raising
Traction if you haven’t already done so
Use of proceeds (what you do with the money)
Current investors participation level (if any - strong investors who have already invested in previous rounds and who are participating in this one are a very good signal)

I am slightly older school - I usually like an “executive summary” after the cover page that goes over the company and round. I think this is probably a page that went out of style in 2015 or so, but I still like it because it quickly helps the VC see what your key metrics/sales points are, and how much you are raising. I usually recommend only four or five bullets on this slide:

Disrupting the $x billion industry
1,500 customers using product [or] Marquee customers include McDonalds and Marriott
ARR of X, growing 20% month over month
Team has deep domain experience from XYZ
Raising $8 to $10 million Series A

Given that YC and Guy Kawasaki seem to no longer (or maybe never) had an exec summary at the front of their venture capital pitch deck templates, you are probably OK ignoring my advice and just getting straight from the cover page to the problem statement.

Tips for your slides

Here are some of the slides that we mention above and some tips that founders we work with have found helpful:

Problem Slide - Invite the investor into discussing / discovering the problem with you. Some problems are obvious - but that doesn’t mean that the VC has thought about them deeply before. Help the investor understand the issues from the eyes of the buyer/consumer. The best venture capital pitch decks have problem slides that are strong enough to make the investor really, really want to meet with you.
Go to Market / Growth Slide - For companies that are already generating revenue and growing, show that you know who your customers are and where you can find them. For pre-revenue startups, use this slide to prove that the founders have 1) thought about how to sell the product and 2) have a plan on what you will try to prove vis a vis your sales and marketing with the capital you are raising.

Seed Pitch Deck Outline

Our COO, Scott Orn (also a former VC) has been assisting a number of seed and pre-seed companies during their fundraises, and has produced an outline/template for a seed pitch deck.

Pre-seed is sort of a new asset class. It’s essentially the first money in. That’s what seed used to be for everyone. So this is applicable to pre-seed and seed - basically, what to present when your company is more of an idea.

Company’s slogan / 1 sentence elevator pitch - the first page or first slide should really just be the company’s name and slogan, or the one sentence, what you are doing. And just get the audience focused on that. Make sure to make an impression, deliver it with passion. You are in sell mode here. You’re pitching investors.
Problem - what are your customers struggling with? A lot of investors like the problem-solution type of framework, so the next slide would be the problem. So talk about how your potential customers are suffering, what’s going on right now in the market, why it’s not working, and then the next page in the deck will be your solution.
Solution - how are you going to make everyone’s life better? You can explain how you’re going to be better, how you’ll save your clients or customers a ton of time, a ton of money, etc. Better, faster, cheaper is a Silicon Valley slogan that people typically use when explaining their startup’s solution.
Nothing is more powerful than a demo. That also shows that the company has actually built something and you can get a taste for it.
Often you see a screenshot of the demo and often can click for video.
Some people like more visual depictions of what you are doing. Regardless, in this section, something visual is pretty helpful. You want to get the conversation going, you want them to react to something, you want them to feel vested in what you’re doing. Get them to buy into the solution.
This is kind of a “check the box” because it’s always hard to size the market.
And many of the best companies look like they have a tiny market but turn it into something huge.
But it’s a good exercise and tells investors where you are going. And, remember, venture capital is really just wanting to invest in big opportunities. VCs are okay with some losses, but when something works, they need it to be big. And so that’s why they really care about market size. This section helps prove to the seed investor that you are pointed at a big possible market, and that you are aiming to make a big company vs. a nice, small, lifestyle business.
You would be surprised at how many small businesses, that never really anticipate getting bigger than a couple of million in revenue, try to raise seed financing. So the seed investors need to be able to weed out the entrepreneurs who are not focusing on big opportunities, and you do that in this part of your seed pitch deck.
And if you’re willing to spend a bunch of your time, five, 10 years of your career on something, there better be some size to it!
You want to identify competitors. If you pretend you don’t have competitors or bad mouth them, you’ll lose credibility. investors typically like you to acknowledge your competition. And oftentimes there’s a little bit of education, because you know this market really well, but the seed investor doesn’t, so here is where you teach them about the competition.
Seed investors know that competitors aren’t the end of the world. In fact, the best venture capitalists actually LIKE successful competitors, because it helps validate that there is a market for the solution.
This is a super important slide. Are you using a sales team? Partnerships? Online marketing? Events?
Creativity, different approaches and things that investors have seen work are great.
How much money do you need?
How long will that get you?
When do you think you’ll start to generate revenue.
A visual is really good as part of this slide.
It’s important to understand the seed investors mindset on this slide. They are doing the math, and they’re thinking, what does this company need to raise money from a series A venture capitalist? Because really, at every step of the venture capital game, people are putting money into your company and then hoping other people will step up down the road to fund the company. The seed investors that you are pitching only have so much capital. They are going to rely on your company doing well enough, and looking strong enough, to be able to get a VC to invest in your next round. And so, they’re doing that math and trying to figure out what is going to be that milestone that really brings other venture investors in the company?
Some seed investors don’t want you to talk about a sale eventually. They are essentially saying “I don’t want to even hear that you’re thinking about selling the company in three years or four years, or how could you possibly know who’s gonna buy it?” Which is very fair. So you needed to kind of tread lightly on this. I think the way I typically like to do this is just point out the players in the market and make the point that if you get traction and you’re successful, these people or these companies are gonna have a real strong vested interest in acquiring you. And so that’s kind of enough.
It’s enough to say that if we hit traction, there will be a lot of interested companies like X, Y Z.
You don’t need to say like “I’m going to get bought for X number of dollars in year three” or something like that. Just talking about who could buy you or who would be interested is a delicate way of doing this.
It’s always great when a founder says, “I’m taking this through IPO. I’m committed.”
Note from Healy: While Scott may really like this slide, I don’t love it as much, because, as Scott mentions, it makes me afraid that the CEO is not in it for the long term. I usually prefer to discuss this on the competition slide, “here are other, very big companies, that don’t play in this solution but who have the same customer base as we want… they may get into our market. Who knows, they may acquire their way in once they realise the solution is being adopted.” I like that method better, as it doesn’t imply to the seed investors or the VCs that you are putting the cart before the horse, instead it says that you know who the heavy hitters are in the general market, and then the investor can do the mental math to think that they may want to buy their way in eventually.
Team - some people like to put this way up in the front, right after the slogan and what they’re doing, because they have a team that has accomplished a lot and the team is backable just because they’re just so successful and so technically strong and know what they’re doing. But you can have it here at the end of the presentation, either way is fine. It’s good to get some bios up there, get some pictures so that people can identify. Also the nice thing about bios and your founding team in the slide is that oftentimes you can play the name game with venture capitalists or seed investors - they’re professional networkers, they know a lot of people. And so oftentimes, you can get to a point where they know someone that’s on your team or that you know, and that’s a really great background diligence channel. If they want to invest in you, they may actually call their friend who knows someone on the founding team or knows you and just check and see what kind of person you are or your team is just for diligence sake. It also can be very impressive if it’s a super strong technical team or a marketing team that’s gone to market in a really unique way. But, wherever you put it in the pitch deck, definitely have a team slide.
Any examples of progress - this is huge. If you can say you already have clients, revenue, etc, it is much more convincing. All these signs that what you are doing is working, and that it’s legit and it’s something the seed investors want to be a part of, it’s a social proof type of thing if you know that from influence. And so showing your traction is probably the best thing you can do to sell the company. So don’t hesitate to do that. If you have a commitment from a lead investor, that’s great, always put that in this slide in your investor pitch deck because it’s a lot easier to follow on than be the lead and set the evaluation, write the check, that’s a lot of responsibility and sometimes people don’t want to do that. But that’s what you can end up with.

And then there’s a tiny little tip which is, oftentimes you get to the end of the presentation and that slide just sits up there for the remainder of the pitch discussion. If it’s going to sit there, just make it like something showing how awesome you are or helping you close the sale, maybe it’s pictures, maybe it’s graphs or your traction. Instead of having that boring, “questions” slide, do something that spices it up. And every time they kind of subconsciously look at the slide deck on the wall, or the presentation, even though you’re just talking after the presentation has been done, it can kind of help convince them in a small way. So just a little tip to help your investor pitch deck be a bit stronger at the end.

At the seed stage, you’re still living the dream and you’re convincing investors that they should come along. So it’s a little less finance, a little less metrics and more vision. But really this framework should work for any type of venture capital presentation.

How to write a pitch deck to raise funding

Ok, so you’ve now seen the VC and seed deck outlines above - but how so you actually start writing a presentation that will help you get funding? Here is how I have successfully written pitch decks when I was raising VC money:

Understand WHY you’ll be able to raise funding - this could be your traction, the market, the team, the product strength. Find the one thing that will blow investors out of the water, and build your story around it.
Now that you know what your biggest strength is, put together the outline of the deck.
Decide what the one major takeaway is for each slide - this might be the slide title, or it might be a point driven by an image or chart. But you only have a handful of slides, so each one has to drive the vision forward; make each one count.
Start from the strength slide; don’t get it perfect yet, just make sure it highlights the “wow.”
Next, fill in the rest of the slides, remembering that you are selling your vision. Use data, market insights, customer quotes to support the conclusion that your company is going to be successful.
Now, practice running through the deck. It sounds cheesy, but I recommend doing it out loud! Make improvements to the slides and flow based on how it sounds delivering it to yourself.
You are ready to practice on some “friendlies” - either current investors, partners, mentors. Get their opinions, and then iterate the pitch deck until you feel confident that you’ve got the story down.

Tips for your fund raising presentation if time is running short

Ok, so as I outlined, it’s highly likely that your 30 minute conversation gets cut into a much shorter time frame. There are good ways to handle this and bad. The worst way that I’ve seen is when a CEO talks REALLY REALLY fast and blows through the preso. It’s hard for anyone to soak in the information, it can be hard to understand, and it usually doesn’t work. A better way is to have the 5 minute presentation ready to go, and then to just walk through that briskly. No demo, and try to answer the VC’s questions as quickly as possible.

Common mistakes founders make crafting their investor pitches

In the Kruze pitch deck course, I talked with renowned pitch deck consultant and author, Haje Kamps, about some of the most common mistakes we’ve seen founders make over and over when they present to potential investors. Here are some of those problems - and you can watch the entire video.

Making the Team Slide Weak : We’ve noticed that many founders often inundate their team slide with unnecessary information, such as a full organizational chart, instead of focusing on key members and demonstrating their relevant skills for the specific startup. Don’t overload it; you don’t get points for lots of logos. Instead, figure out the most relevant or impressive items and
Misunderstanding Market Size : The total addressable market and serviceable markets need to be sizeable enough to show potential for a venture-scale company. It’s fine to start in a niche, but you need to be able to create a company that’s worth at least a billion dollars, if not more. As you need to be attacking a big space.
Unrealistic Projections : We’ve seen founders showcasing either slow, steady growth or overly aggressive, unrealistic growth - both extremes are unappealing to investors. Look at some of the templates we share on this slide - those projections are good! You aren’t going to go from founding to $100 million in revenue in a year. And if you are growing from $4 million to $4.5 million in revenue, congrats, you’ve got a great small business, but it’s not venture-scale.
Failing to Accurately Represent Traction : A traction slide should provide substantial evidence of growth, often in the form of customers generating revenue or being in the sales funnel. Unfortunately, many founders include markers such as press coverage or vague “interest” that doesn’t translate into tangible growth.
Lack of a Coherent Story : Haje really talks to this well. It’s essential for founders to weave a coherent story that sells not just the product, but the vision of the company and its future value. Many founders fail to communicate this effectively, resulting in a disconnected or confusing narrative. You want the partner who you just presented to to be able to walk off and talk about one of your main customer successes, and how that ties into your company’s vision and traction.
Absence of a Competition Slide : Many founders overlook the importance of including a competition slide in their presentation. This is a major mistake, as not acknowledging competition can lead investors to think the founders are unaware of their market landscape. It’s one of my favorite slides. If you’ve got big competitors, great, you’ve just helped the VC understand who you might sell the company to in a few years!

That’s just a few of the top venture capital pitch deck fails we go over in the video - check it out. Being aware of these common mistakes and addressing them in your pitch deck can significantly enhance your chances of capturing a venture capitalist’s interest.

Common VC Pitch Deck Fails Video

Tips for the financial section of your pitch deck

As financial advisors to funded startups, we tend to overly index on the financial section of our client’s fundraising pitch decks. Note that this is our interest area (and how we get paid), so it may or may not be all that interesting or important for your startup’s presentation.

The financial detail that you go into in your VC deck will vary based on the stage of your business. So, let’s breakdown what you might need for a seed to Series C company.

Seed stage - Your pitch deck only needs a brief description of what you are intending to do with the money. As Scott mentioned above, a visual can go a long way here. Since revenue is now often expected for an A, you should articulate some sort of an expectation in revenue before the money runs out (i.e. investors want to know if you’ll have the exit velocity you need to raise the next round).
Series A - A 5-year view is ideal, as this gives you the chance to show / “prove” that you are going to create a venture scale business. An extrapolated income statement with include revenue growth, high-level spend, burn, and other KPIs like customer count. You ought to have an appendix with more detail - or just a piece of excel that you can share (probably better at this stage).
Series B - You are still going to need the 5-year projections. But, at a B, you’ll have more financially minded investors. This means that you ought to have a real appendix section that gets into the drives and assumptions to your continued growth. SaaS companies are going to need to be able to explain how they calculate their LTV to CAC - so your pitch deck will have to address both parts of that calculation. You can still put the detail in the appendix, but have it organized so that you can go through all the financial part in an organized presentation if needed.
Series C - Series C companies should have real financials that have been prepared by a professional accountant, either in house or as a consultant. While you’ll still want a single slide in the meat of the pitch deck that has your five year vision, your historical results will also matter - so that slide will have to do a lot. This may mean that you have to push your KPIs like customer count into a seperate slide(s). And the financial appendix should have historical statement - probably all three - and projections.

Finally, we’ve complied some other pitch deck examples that you may find helpful. Again, we think the best VC pitch decks templates/examples are the ones we highlighted at the top of this page, but here are some of the others that are floating around on the internet that you may like.

Five SIX More of the Best Pitch Deck Examples

Uber ( pitch deck here ) - this is when they were still called “UberCab.” And it’s very early in the life of the company, so is product and market focused. You won’t find data about the company’s performance, since it’s so early. This deck may be helpful to pre-launched startups.
Intercom ( seed pitch deck here ) - another example of a seed stage pitch deck, this one for when Intercom was raising $600k. This is a short deck - only 8 slides - and it focuses on the team, problem, solution and market. Note that the “progress” slide consists of a tweet from a user - pretty slight - you may not be able to get away with this lightweight of a presentation unless you have the clout of these founders. BUT if you are looking to talk about the market size and opportunity, this is a decent example.
Mattermark (deck here ) - data company Mattermark has real traction, and there are several examples of solid metrics/charting visuals in this deck. With $1.5M in ARR at the time of this pitch, they are probably around where many Series A’s are getting done in Silicon Valley. (I’ve even seen Series B’s happening at this level). This is a great pitch deck example if you are looking to impress the VCs’ with your traction. Check out slides 11, 12 and 13 for information on how to present historical revenue growth, projections and customer industry diversification.
Mixpanel (deck on slideshare here ) - Mixpanel shared their deck as an example that other startup can use. This is the set of slides that Mixpanel used to raise a $65M round. The competition slide is particularly good for driving a disucssion with the VCs. The traction slide is also strong - one of the best in combining the visual “up and to the right” chart with some details on the company’s milestones. The slide that is close to the “what we do with your money / operating slide” is a good overview of what the company needs to do to grow, although it’s not as focused on financials as I’d like.
Mint (seed pitch deck here ) - A great seed stage fundraising deck, with the whole enchilada: a good team slide, a great market size one, solid competition, user acquisition, and a financial slide that makes my inner accountant happy. Notice the flow on this slide, with the team slide right near the front. This could be the best template/example for companies with an experienced team.
Orange (seed pitch deck template here ) - A great example of a hardware as a service deck. It gets into the problem, the market size, the solution and then makes a solid case for why this team is the one to solve it. One of the best parts of this one is the intro slide - it kicks off right at the front with a strong explanation of what the problem is, and the VC looking at it can immediately infer what the startup’s solution is.

So that makes 11 of the best pitch deck templates and examples that we’ve seen on the internet.

Pitch Deck Example from a Kruze Client

One of our clients, DeepScribe , was interviewed on TechCrunch Live about their Series A fundraising process. Akilesh Bapu, the CEO and co-Founder of DeepScribe, was interviewed along with Nina Achadjian, a VC and Partner at Index Ventures. Nina invested $30 million into the company, and was impressed with the founders and the story they explained during their pitch.

In addition to giving Kruze Consulting a shout-out for our help on his accounting diligence (thanks Akilesh!) he also walks through part of his VC pitch deck. It’s one of the better examples that we’ve seen of a live pitch deck presentation. You can watch on Youtube or see below.

What Questions do VCs ask During a Pitch?

Questions during a pitch are a GREAT sign - that means that the venture capitalist is paying attention. I strongly recommend founders use their venture capital pitch deck as a crutch, jumping to the right slide to answer the specific question , then going back to the original presentation order to make sure all important topics are hit. Again, I’ve seen partners reject a company because “the founder didn’t talk about go to market.” Yeah, they didn’t have time to talk about it because of all of your questions!

Here are some of the trickier questions investors might ask during a presentation. Think about which slide you might be able to use to answer these questions. Resist the temptation to argue with a VC if they ask difficult questions; saying you don’t know but then laying out your plan to figure it out is a great response to many questions.

Questions VCs Ask

What’s the backstory?
Tell me about yourself
How did you meet your cofounder?
Tell me about the team? How did you find your first hires?
What is the specific problem you are solving?
What’s the key insight about your user that led you to build this business?
What’s the ideal outcome for your customer?
How are customers currently solving this problem, before your product/solution existed?
What differentiates your solution from alternatives?
What have your biggest learnings been so far?
How are you planning to acquire customers?
What would your customers say about your solution, and how would they react if it went away (i.e. you went out of business)?
Why now? What has changed in technology or the market that makes this possible only now?
What do you think has to go right for this to be a massive outcome?
How much do you want to raise, and what milestones do you hit with that capital?

VC Pitch Deck FAQ

Because Google says people are asking questions.

What is a VC pitch deck?

A VC pitch deck is a presentation (typically in Powerpoint, Google Sheets or PDF) used to explain a startup idea to potential venture capital investors. A pitch deck contains information on the business, the market and the company’s traction/financials.

What is a pitch deck used for?

These presentations are used to 1) convince venture capitalists to take a 1st meeting with the founder(s); 2) begin investment due diligence and 3) convince the venture firm’s partnership to want to invest in a startup.

Will a deck help you get a meeting with a VC?

A great venture capital pitch deck may help you get a meeting with a venture capitalist. VC firm NFX reminds startup founders that investors are looking for the following 12 data points before taking a meeting with a startup:

Company description
Market opportunity
Business model (how you make $ + your financial projections)
Geography (less important post COVID)
Team size (FTEs)
Timing of the fundraise
Company traction
Fundraising history
Fit for the specific VC
Referrer - who introduced you to the fund

Does your venture capital presentation have to be PowerPoint?

VCs typically expect a slide deck; these days usually a PowerPoint, Google Slides or a PDF of one of those formats. I’ve been with companies that have used designers to create an incredibly slick venture capital presentation, which they presented as a PDF - no idea which tool was used to actually design the presentation, but it was likely an Adobe product. The most important thing is making the presentation be in 1) slides and 2) something they can share and access from their computer.

Is it OK to share your venture capital presentation by DocSend or a presentation sharing platform instead of as an email attachment?

These days more and more VCs are Ok getting the presentation as a DocSend or other presentation sharing platform that asks for their email address or asks to verify that they are someone you to share the document with. However, you’ll occasionally find the grump VC who wants their presentation the old school way. Often these investors write up their dislike of sharing tools on their blog or Twitter.

How do you modify your pitch deck for the final, all-hands VC partner pitch?

The final step to getting a term sheet, at many venture capital firms, is to pitch the partnership one final time. This is after you’ve already gotten one of the partners to support your investment internally as the champion. In the final meeting, you’ll have the full range of understanding of your company - from the partner who is supporting you and who knows a ton to partners who know close to nothing.

It’s not safe to assume knowledge on your industry or problem. Invite all the partners into the fold by explaining and building excitement around what you are doing. Don’t gloss over the market size or competition!

Hope this helps you find a good pitch deck template for your fundraise!

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30+ Best Pitch Deck Examples, Tips & Templates

Written by: Ryan McCready Jul 04, 2023

A startup is, by definition, a fast-growing company. And to grow you need funding.

Enter the pitch deck.

In this post, we’ll look at the best startup pitch deck templates from heavy-hitters such as Guy Kawasaki, Airbnb, Uber and Facebook. We’ll also uncover the secrets of their successful startup pitch decks, and how you can leverage them to attract investor dollars, bring on new business partners and win new client contracts.

Haven’t created a winning pitch deck before? Then, use Venngage’s Presentation Maker to easily edit the templates — no technical expertise required.

Table of contents (click to jump ahead):

What is a pitch deck?

30 pitch deck examples for businesses

What makes a good pitch deck, what is the difference between a pitch deck vs business plan, pitch deck faq, create a pitch deck in 4 easy steps, what is a pitch deck .

A pitch deck is a presentation created to raise venture capital for your business. In order to gain buy-in and drum up financial support from potential investors, these presentations outline everything from why your business exists, to your business model, progress or milestones , your team, and a call-to-action.

The best startup pitch decks can help you:

Prove the value of your business
Simplify complex ideas so your audience can understand them (and get on board)
Differentiate your business from competitors
Tell the story behind your company to your target audience (and make that story exciting)

What is a pitch deck presentation?

A pitch deck presentation is a slideshow that introduces a business idea, product, or service to investors. Typically consisting of 10–20 slides, a pitch deck is used to persuade potential investors to provide funding for a business. It serves as a comprehensive overview of your company, outlining your business model, the problem you solve, the market opportunity you address, your key team members, and your financial projections.

1. Buffer pitch deck

Industry: Social Media Management

Business model: Subscription-based SaaS (Software as a Service)

Amount raised: $500k, according to Buffer’s co-founder Leo Widrich .

Location: San Francisco, California, USA

Website: Buffer.com

Key takeaway : The traction slide was key for Buffer: it showed they had a great product/market fit. If you have great traction, it’s much easier to raise funding.

What’s interesting about Buffer’s pitching process was the issue of competition, as that’s where many talks stalled. Investors became confused, since the social media landscape looked crowded and no one was sure how Buffer differed.

Eventually, they created this slide to clear the air:

To be frank, I’m still confused by this addition to the Buffer pitch deck, but perhaps their presentation would have cleared things up.

In any case, we’ve recreated Buffer’s pitch deck with its own traction, timeline and competitor slides, plus a clean new layout and some easy-to-customize icons:

Design tip : don’t forget to add a contact slide at the end of your pitch deck, like in the business pitch example below.

Simple Marketing Presentation - Best Pitch Deck Template

Because sometimes you’re going to pitch to a small room of investors. Other times, it will be to an auditorium full of random people in your industry. And I can guarantee that not everyone is going to know your brand off the top of their head.

You should make it extremely easy for people to find out more info or contact your team with any questions. I would recommend adding this to the last slide, as shown below.

Alternatively, you could add it to the slide that will be seen the longest in your pitch deck, like the title slide. This will help anyone interested write down your information as event organizers get things ready.

Related: Creating a Pitch Deck? 5 Ways to Design a Winner

2. Airbnb pitch deck

Industry: Hospitality, Travel, and Technology

Business model: Online marketplace (peer-to-peer) for lodging and travel experiences

Amount raised: $20k at three months and $600k at eight months (seed), according to Vator .

Website: airbnb.com

Key takeaway: A large marketplace, impressive rate of traction and a market ready for a new competitor are the factors which made Airbnb stand out early on, says Fast Company. The organization’s slide deck clearly demonstrates these points.

Your pitch deck should explain the core information in your business plan in a simple and straightforward way. Few startups have done this as well as Airbnb.

We’ve re-designed Airbnb’s famous deck as two light and airy sample pitch deck templates. The focus here is on engaging visuals, with minimal text used.

Airbnb fundraising slide deck

This type of deck is also called a demo day presentation . Since its going to be viewed from a distance by investors while you present, you don’t need lots of text to get your message across. The point is to complement your speech, not distract from it.

Another great thing about Airbnb’s fundraising slide deck format is that every slide has a maximum of three sections of information:

As one of the most popular presentation layouts , the rule of three design principle has been drilled into my head. And for good reason!

Here’s one of the slides that demonstrates why this pitch deck design tip works:

VIDEO TUTORIAL: Learn how to customize this pitch deck template by watching this quick 8-minute video.

Minimalist Airbnb pitch deck template

This simple sample pitch deck template is clean and incredibly easy to customize, making it perfect for presentation newbies.

Don’t forget to insert your own tagline instead of the famous “Book rooms with locals, rather than hotels” slogan. Hint: your tagline should similarly convey what your business offers. Airbnb’s pitch deck offers up tantalizing benefits: cost savings, an insider’s perspective on a location and new possibilities.

Design tip : Click the text boxes in our online editor and add your own words to the pitch decks. Duplicate slides you like, or delete the ones you don’t.

Related: How to Create an Effective Pitch Deck Design [+Examples]

3. Uber pitch deck

Industry: Transportation, Technology, and Logistics

Business model: On-demand transportation network and logistics platform

Amount raised: $1.57M in seed funding in 2010, reports Business Insider .

Website: uber.com

Key takeaway : Successful pitch decks clearly highlight the key pain point (the inefficiency of cabs) and a tantalizing solution (fast, convenient 1-click ordering).

Uber co-founder Garrett Camp shared the company’s very first pitch deck from 2008 via a Medium post .

While there’s a surprising amount of text, it still manages to hit on every major part of their business plan succinctly — including key differentiators, use cases and best/worst-case scenarios.

Want something similar? We’ve updated the classic Uber pitch deck template with a sharp layout:

Uber investor deck

Many of the best pitch deck presentations out there are rather brief, only covering a few main points across a handful of slides. But sometimes your deck needs to provide more information.

There’s nothing wrong with having a longer investor pitch deck, as long as you switch up the slide layouts throughout — no one wants to see basically the same slide (just with different metrics or points) 25 times over.

This sample pitch deck template we created based on the infamous Uber deck has 20 or more slides and a diversity of layout options:

Uber-Startup-Deck-Template-Best-Pitch-Deck-Examples-1

Design tip : Replace the photos with your own or browse our in-editor library with thousands of free professional stock images. To do so, double click any image to open our “replace” feature. Then, search for photos by keyword.

Blue Uber slide deck

In this navy version of the Uber pitch deck template, we’ve added bright colors and creative layouts.

Again, it’s easy to swap out the icons in our online editor. Choose from thousands of free icons in our in-editor library to make it your own.

Related : 9 Tips for Improving Your Presentation Skills For Your Next Meeting

4. Guy Kawasaki pitch deck

How much did they raise? Guy Kawasaki’s Garage Capital raised more than $315 million dollars for its clients, according to one estimate .

Key takeaway : Avoid in-depth technical discussions in your pitch deck. Focus on the pain point you’re solving, how you’ll solve it, how you’ll make money and how you’ll reach custvomers.

Guy Kawasaki’s 10 slide outline is famous for its laser focus. He’s renowned for coining the 10/20/30 rule : 10 slides, 20 minutes and no fonts smaller than 30 point.

While you may be tempted to include as much of your business plan as possible in your pitch deck, his outline forces you to tease out your most important content and engage investors or clients within a short time span.

We’re recreated his famous outline in two winning templates you can adapt and make your own:

Gradient Guy Kawasaki pitch deck

This clean pitch deck template has all the sections you need and nothing you don’t.

Kawasaki’s format steers you towards what venture capitalists really care about : problem/solution, technology, competition, marketing plan, your team, financial projections and timeline.

Gradient Guy Kawasaki Pitch Deck Template

Read our blog post on persuasive presentations for more design and speaking tips.

Design tip : Quickly add in charts and graphs with our in-editor chart maker. You can even import data from Excel or Google sheets.

Blue Guy Kawasaki pitch deck

This more conservative pitch deck template design keeps all the focus on the core information.

Remember: opt for a 30-point font or larger. This will force you to stick to your key points and explain them clearly. Anything smaller, and you’ll risk losing your audience — especially if they’re busy reading while tuning out what you’re actually saying.

5. Sequoia capital pitch deck

How much did they raise? Sequoia Capital is actually a Venture Capital firm. According to TechCrunch , they’ve raised almost $1B for later-stage U.S. investments.

Key takeaway : “If you can’t tell the story of the company in five minutes, then you’re either overthinking it or you haven’t simplified it down enough.” – Mike Vernal, Sequoia Capital

VC firm Sequoia Capital has its own 10-slide pitch deck format to rival Guy Kawasaki’s famous example that we’ll take a look at a little later on. Its highly-curated, clarified format shines a spotlight on innovative ideas.

As the video above suggests, effectively communicating your mission, not just listing features, is key. Below is our take on the Sequoia Capital pitch deck example; you’ll find it clean, clear and easy to create.

Design tip : Click the blue background and select a new color from our color wheel (or one of your own brand colors via My Brand Kit, available with Venngage for Business ) to create a pitch deck with your branding.

Related: How to Make Successful Financial Pitch Decks For Startups

Blue and pink iconics pitch deck

Ready to try it for yourself? Add a pop of color to your version of the Sequoia pitch deck template with this pink and blue slide deck. The contrasting colors will make your information stand out.

6. Facebook pitch deck

How much did they raise? $500K in angel funding from venture capitalist Peter Thiel (first round).

Key takeaway : If you don’t have revenue traction yet, lean heavily on other metrics , like customer base, user engagement and growth. Use a timeline to tell a story about your company.

The best pitch decks tell the real story about your company or brand. You should not only want to sell the audience on your product but also on the hard work you’ve done building it from the ground up.

Design tip: Try data visualizations to relay a company or product timeline . Since people are familiar with the format and know how to read them quickly, you can convey the information impactfully and save room while you’re at it.

Here, Facebook’s classic pitch deck shows the incredible schools that’ve already signed on and describe when future launches will happen.

The sample pitch deck template featured below shows another example of a company or product timeline . This would have been a great fit in the Facebook pitch deck, don’t you think?

Plus you can summarize a ton of information about your brand on a single slide. Check out how well the timeline fits into this pitch deck template below:

If the designer wouldn’t have used a timeline, the same information could have been spread over five or six extra slides! Luckily, Venngage’s timeline maker can help you visualize progress across a period of time without any design experience required.

7. TikTok Pitch Deck

How much did they raise? $150.4M in funding in 2014 (back when TikTok was called Musical.ly), says Crunchbase .

Key takeaway : Use icons as visual anchors for written information.

(The full slide deck is available to Digiday subscribers , though you can view some of the key slides in this Medium post . Keep in mind: this TikTok pitch deck was created for potential advertisers, not investors. No other TikTok pitch decks are publicly available.)

What TikTok does really well in the above example is use icons as visual anchors for their stats. (I could write a whole article about using icons in your presentations correctly. There are so many ways you can use them to upgrade your slides.)

If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, just look at the slide deck template below.

Each of the main points has an icon that gives instant visual context about what the stat is about to the audience. These icons draw the eye immediately to these important facts and figures as well.

Design tip: Remember to use icons that have a similar style and color palette. Otherwise, you run the risk of them becoming a distraction.

8. Y Combinator pitch deck

How much did they raise? This startup accelerator has invested in over 3,500 startups to date, according to the company website . They state their combined valuation nears $1 trillion.

Key takeaway : Create clear, concise pitch deck slides that tell a story investors can understand in seconds.

The classic Y Combinator pitch deck is incredibly simple, and for good reason. Seed stage companies can’t provide much detail, so they should focus on telling a story about their company.

That means your slides should tell a story investors can immediately understand in a glance.

Note that one of Y Combinator’s key components is the problem (above) and solution (below) slides.

Explaining how your startup is going to solve a pain point is a vital part of any slide deck. According to Y Combinator , startups should use the problem slide to show the problem your business solves, and how this problem currently affects businesses and/or people. Additionally, if you’re starting a new startup, forming an LLC could be a great choice to launch your business in the right direction, especially if you are focused on asset protection .

Without that information, investors are going to be left with more questions than answers.

Blue Investor Presentation - Best Pitch Deck Examples

The solution slide should show the real-world benefits of your product/service. I recommend using data visualization to show traction, like the chart above, with a couple of notes for context.

To ensure your problem and solutions slides are easily understood, use a similar layout for both, as shown below.

This will help the audience quickly recall the main problem you want to solve, and connect it to your solution (even if the slides are separated by a few other points or ideas).

9. Front pitch deck

Front Startup Presentation - Best Pitch Deck Examples

How much did they raise ? $10M in Series A funding

Key takeaway : Use a simple flowchart to visualize a problem your product/service solves.

Not everyone is going to be able to explain their problem and solution as succinctly as the previous examples. Some will need to take a unique approach to get their point across.

That’s why I want to highlight how Front masterfully communicated the problem to be solved. They likely realized it would be a lot easier (and cleaner) to create a flow chart that visualizes the problem instead of text. (Did I mention you can make your own flowcharts with Venngage?)

Also, I really like how they distilled each down to a single phrase. That approach, combined with the visuals, will help it stick in investors’ minds as one of the best pitch decks.

Here’s another example pitch deck that uses a chart to convey their problem/solution:

It splits the competition slide right down the middle to illustrate the differences. It also shows exactly how the processes differ between the two entities using mini flowcharts.

Helping the audience make the right conclusions about your company should be an important part of your pitch deck strategy. Without saying a word, the visual choices you make can greatly impact your message.

Colorful Creative Presentation - Best Pitch Deck Examples

10. Crema pitch deck

How much did they raise? $175K in seed funding .

Key takeaway : Choose background images carefully — making sure they have a similar color palette.

The best pitch decks keep things consistent, mainly because there are so many moving parts in any presentation. You want each of your slides to feel like they’re connected by a singular feeling or theme. An out-of-place presentation background image can throw that off.

Keeping things consistent when you use a solid background color or pattern isn’t hard. But things can get tricky if you want to use different photos for your backgrounds.

However, if you pick presentation background images that have a similar color palette, you’ll be fine. Check out the images Crema used in their startup pitch deck below:

If you’re struggling to find exactly the same colored photos, you can use a color filter to make things more uniform.

11. WeWork pitch deck

WeWork Pitch Deck - Best Pitch Deck Examples

How much did they raise? $6.9M in seed funding in 2011, says Crunchbase .

Key takeaway : Put your metrics on display.

The behemoths at WeWork still have one of the best software pitch decks, despite recent troubles (layoffs, and a valuation that dropped from $47 billion to $2.9 billion).

In fact, this investor pitch deck actually helped them raise money at a $5 billion valuation.

My favorite thing from this is how their key metrics are on the second slide. They waste no time getting down to business!

Minimalist White WeWork Pitch Deck Example

A lot of the time brands hide these metrics at the end of their presentation, but WeWork made sure to put it front and center in their slide deck.

This approach puts the audience in a positive state of mind, helping them be more receptive to the pitch.

12. Crew (Dribble) pitch deck

How much did they raise? $2M in seed funding

Key takeaway : Start your presentation with a simple statement to set the tone.

Sometimes you have to set the mood of the room before you jump into your slide deck. A simple way to do this is by adding a powerful statement or famous quote at the beginning of your slides.

This may sound cliche, but the creatives over at Crew (now Dribbble ) used this approach well in their pitch presentation.

By claiming that every business is an online business, they instantly change the way that people think about the business sector.

Additionally, the designers used this straightforward statement to set up the rest of the presentation. In the next few slides, the potential market is explained. Without the statement, I don’t think these numbers would be as impactful.

Let’s take a look at the graphs and charts the Dribble team used in their slide deck. In the below business pitch example, you can see that the line charts use the same color palette, size, and typography.

Crew Startup - Simple Pitch Deck Examples

One of my favorite tips from my presentation ideas roundup article states you should never make the audience do the math.

You can also use this mantra when you’re adding data visualizations to your slides. Make each slide extra easy to consume, as well as, easy to compare to other visualizations.

Below the pie charts use the exact same color palette, size, and typography as well:

If the designers would have used a different example, the audience would be distracted trying to decipher the information.

But consistent design across multiple visualizations will ensure your audience can make comparisons that lead to the right conclusions.

Pro Tip: You can use a comparison infographic to summarize key points you’re comparing.

13. Aspire Food Group pitch deck

How much did they raise? $1M from the Hult Prize in 2013 to scale their project.

Key takeaway : Simple graphics clearly illustrate the problem (food security), the size of the market and Aspire’s unique farming project (spoiler alert: it’s insects).

Nonprofits pitching donors or social enterprises pitching for funding have a slightly different challenge than other organizations. They need to present a unique solution and make an emotional connection to their audience.

Aspire’s simple pitch deck graphics allow investors to grasp their unique business idea at a glance. Plus, by introducing the audience to one of their customers and describing how insect farming has impacted her food budget, the concept is made relatable to many.

Another simple design hack is to choose a unique background for your nonprofit or social enterprise pick deck. Take this sample pitch deck template:

Minimalist White Pitch Deck Example - Best Pitch Decks

There are millions of stock photos out there for you to pick from, so finding one that will work shouldn’t be too hard.

However, when you’re picking your presentation background images , it’s important to make sure it matches your message or brand.

In the above example, the pitch deck’s slightly crumpled paper background fits an eco-friendly startup well. Especially because eco-friendly living and minimalism share similar tenants.

Another great example is this sponsorship pitch deck above. It elevates the message by opting for a simplistic background choice.

With a beautiful yet minimalistic slide deck like this, who wouldn’t want to donate?

Most of the time your pitch deck background images are supposed to be used in a supporting role. However, you can also design your presentation around the background images to create some of the best pitch decks out there.

As you can see in this pitch deck template, we added written content to the white space in each of the stock photos:

Plus no one can really copy your pitch deck layout, so you will instantly stand out from other companies.

Marketing Tech Presentation Pitch Deck Example

Be sure to pick photos that share the same color palette and theme. Otherwise, the benefits of using these presentation backgrounds will be lost.

14. Mattermark pitch deck

Mattermark Startup - Best Pitch Deck Examples

How much did they raise? A total of $17.2M so far, says Crunchbase .

Key takeaway : Use screenshots in your pitch deck to show the problem you’re solving.

Highlighting digital problems is tough when you have limited space and time…like when you’re pitching your new digital product to a room full of investors.

That’s why some of the best pitch decks include screenshots of the problem being solved.

As you can see above, the people from Mattermark used screenshots to show how unorganized SAAS reporting was. At that time it was spread over a ton of different sites, with different reporting standards and values.

It would be difficult to sell an investor on their product just by talking about the market. Mainly because not a lot of people have experience in that specific niche.

But with a handful of screenshots, they were able to highlight the product potential almost instantly.

In terms of design, the team at Mattermark stuck to the rule of three (see slide below). This rule will help you keep your team from overwhelming the audience with a flood of stats or figures.

Simple Modern Business Pitch Deck Example

They also decided to make these figures easier to consume by highlighting them in different colors

Compared to a boring list of figures, it’s a lot easier to remember three distinct colored numbers. Plus because the background colors darken as they go, it naturally guides the reader’s eyes down the slide.

15. Dwolla pitch deck

Dwolla Startup - Best Pitch Deck Examples

How much did they raise? $12M in funding as of 2018.

Key takeaway : Give the reason your company was founded in one quick sentence.

In many of our own presentations, we talk about how Venngage started from humble beginnings before undergoing tremendous growth in just a few years.

That’s because people love origin stories — they help your audience connect with your brand and appreciate all the work put into it.

Take a look at the pitch deck slide from Dwolla above. In a single sentence, they outline their reason for doing business, and what they hope to solve.

Just be sure to talk about your company founding in the first few slides of your pitch. Otherwise, it won’t have the same impact.

On another note, as a design company, we always love to see people create great visualizations in their pitch decks — particularly when these visuals communicate key information well….like when it comes to your ideal users!

I have seen a lot of brands just talk about their users, but I recommend creating visual user personas instead. Our persona guides can help you with this!

As you can see above, Dwolla visualized their user personas for each use case.

These visual user personas allow audiences to put a “real” face to your user base. And if you have many ideal users (like Dwolla), it helps keep each group organized.

16. Kickfolio (App.io) pitch deck

Kickfolio Tech Startup - Best Pitch Deck Examples

How much did they raise? $1M in seed funding.

Key takeaway : Go for huge graphs! The bigger, the better.

Be proud of your brand’s growth and metrics in your slide deck.

You worked hard to grow a company from nothing, and that’s a big achievement! So why would you want to make that growth hard to see?

However, I’ve seen a lot of people inadvertently hide their key metrics by using small graphs or charts.

The only solution to this problem is…get bigger with your graphs! And I mean huge, like the ones App.io deployed in the pitch deck above. Their graph is so large and imposing, every audience member could see it clearly.

Venngage’s graph maker can help you do this for your own pitch decks too.

17. Yalochat pitch deck

Yalo Tech Startup - Best Pitch Deck Examples

How much did they raise? $15M in Series B funding, says TechCrunch.

Key takeaway : Use icons as illustrations to add instant context.

Icons have been making a comeback in the design world over the past few years. According to recent reports on graphic design trends , they’ll continue to be popular.

Simple Modern Tech Startup Pitch Deck Example

This presentation from Yalochat is one of the best examples of how to use illustrated icons correctly.

Each icon perfectly illustrates the point being made on each slide, giving instant context. They will definitely catch the eyes of any audience member.

Just remember to follow their lead and use consistently designed icons !

18. Brex pitch deck

How much did they raise? $1.5 billion to date.

Key takeaway : Include a single slide about your team and highlight what makes them truly exceptional.

Another important part of your story is the people who helped you build your company. These people are the lifeblood of your brand, and what helps it stand out from the competitors.

Corporate card startup Brex does this well by using team member photos, and including their titles and company affiliations to build credibility. You can download the Brex slides for free, thanks to Business Insider .

Let’s tale a look at a sample pitch deck that employs a similar philosophy.

Modern Business Presentation - Best Startup Pitch Deck Template

I’m guessing you already planned on adding something similar to your pitch deck. Again, I would recommend using only a single team slide like they did.

You can use a team photo if you want to talk about the whole team, or add an organizational chart instead. Alternatively, like Brex, you can highlight the most important individuals, like this business pitch example:

Creative Business Presentation - Best Startup Pitch Deck Template

Whatever you choose to do, don’t forget to talk about your team on a team slide, and highlight the people who make your company truly great.

Read More: 12+ Organizational Chart Examples and Templates

19. Purple Go pitch deck

Purple Go Tech Startup - Best Pitch Deck Examples

How much did they raise? Undisclosed.

Key takeaway : Use a contrasting hue to draw your audience’s attention to key information.

Color isn’t just about making your designs look good — it can also draw your audience’s attention to important information.

Minimalist Modern Tech Pitch Deck Example

For example, take a look at this simple pitch deck from Purple Go . They contrast deep purple with white to help certain sentences pop.

This is a simple way to make your slides have a lot of impact; pick colors that contrast boldly with each other.

20. Mint pitch deck

How much did they raise? $31M to date, according to Mint.

Key takeaway : Add visual cues, such as illustrations and icons, to help explain your brand to investors.

I’m guessing your pitch deck is already going to touch on how you stand out from the competition. But just listing a few things that set you apart may not be enough on your slide deck!

You may need to add some visual cues to help the audience out.

We decided to redesign Mint’s original deck for a contemporary take on this.

Mint Simple Creative Pitch Deck Template

In this minimalist pitch deck template, our designers used visuals to make the main company stand out even more. And best of all, it doesn’t distract from the minimalist theme.

This simple addition to your slides will help your information jump off the page, providing a rewarding visual break from related companies.

21. Park Evergreen (Plot) pitch deck

How much did they raise? $400k in seed funding.

Key takeaway : Give each metric its own slide.

Generally, slide decks are full of important metrics that you’re supposed to remember. But not all of those numbers are presented in a way that would make them easy to.

Some are hidden in long paragraphs, while others are smashed together with less important findings.

Modern Creative Tech Startup Pitch Deck Example

That’s why I’m a huge fan of how Park Evergreen (now called Plot ) included important numbers in this slide deck. As you can see below, each metric is given its own slide:

With this approach, the audience members place their full attention on that number. And they’ll be able to recall the information a lot quicker.

It may look overly simple to some, but the best pitch decks use this tactic a lot.

22. Hampton Creek (Eat Just) pitch deck

Black Minimalist Business Tech Pitch Deck Example

How much did they raise? $1.5M in Series A.

Key takeaway : Create a minimalist title slide to build anticipation for your presentation.

You probably know that presentations don’t always run as smoothly as planned. With long breaks and technical problems, the time between presentations can end up running rather long.

Translation: you might spend more time looking at the title slide than the actual presentation itself.

So if you really want to build some anticipation for your pitch, create a minimalist (some might even say, mysterious) title slide. As you can see, the team at Eat Just (once known as Hampton Creek) did just that.

Hampton Creek Tech Startup - Best Pitch Deck Examples

The lack of information makes spectators want to learn more about your brand, effortlessly engaging them.

The only negative is that no one is going to know the name of your company — yet.

23. Sickweather pitch deck

Sickweather Tech Startup - Best Pitch Deck Examples

How much did they raise? $2.6M to date, according to Crunchbase.

Key takeaway : Pull out the main metrics from your graphs and charts to make your slide a snap to understand.

Remember when I said: “Don’t make your audience do the math”?

Yeah. That’s because people hate doing math — so you never want to make investors try to calculate your data themselves. Especially when dealing with millions of dollars, tiny percent changes or other complicated numbers.

Out of all the tips in this article, this one might be the most important. Mainly because forgetting this idea all but guarantees your failure.

That’s why I recommend you “do the math” on every slide where you include a graph or chart — like how Sickweather did above.

By pulling out the main growth metrics from the graph, they made this slide a lot more consumable, and showed the audience exactly what they should pay attention to.

24. Dutchie pitch deck

How much did they raise? $35M in 2020, according to TechCrunch .

Key takeaway : Set the tone by putting your most impressive stat(s) in the introduction.

Dutchie, an all-in-one technology platform for eCommerce, POS and payments, wastes no time coming out the gates with one impressive insight: “10% of all legal cannabis in the world” is purchased through their product.

Now I don’t know about you, but that’s pretty tantalizing.

So it makes perfect sense they would pull it out from their market share figures and feature it in their introduction. By doing so, investors get an idea how successful and established Dutchie is right off the bat.

25. Studysmarter pitch deck

How much did they raise? $15M according to TechCrunch .

Key takeaway : Illustrate your vision over several slides.

Rather than dedicate one slide to their vision for the company, digital learning company Studysmarter continuously brings up how their product will be understood in the future — as “the world’s central hub” for “lifelong” learning, becoming the “largest learning platform in Europe” by 2021.

While this visionary sentiment is not new to the pitch deck industry, it makes sense Studysmarter would want to focus much of their presentation slide deck on this idea: the idea of an unlimited target market and use cases.

Design wise, their illustrations are consistent, using visuals to illustrate their message and various target demographics.

These graphics build off the sleek, modern interface Studysmarter’s brand image invokes. It also illustrates what they want investors to envision for the future of the brand.

26. Clearbanc (Clearco) Pitch Deck

How much did they raise? $70M in series A funding, according to TechCrunch.

Key takeaway : Use flow charts to communicate complicated processes.

As a company that offers startups “growth capital for the new economy” through non-dilutive revenue-share agreements, Clearco (previously known as Clearbanc) wins big by communicating how the process works in less than a slide’s time.

That’s right: the company uses a flowchart .

For complicated business processes that would normally take several slides of text to communicate, a flowchart is a smart way to visualize a process while saving space and keeping your audience engaged.

Particularly for a company like Clearco, this is key for getting investors up to speed. Then you can move on to the other facts and figures they’ll surely want to hear.

27. Foursquare Pitch Deck

Key takeaway : Show how the end-product looks in your presentation.

Okay look, I get it. This slide deck from 2009 is certainly behind on times when it comes to design tips in this current day and age…

BUT take it back to more than a decade ago, and you’ll see why Foursquare’s pitch deck won big with investors.

As one of the first businesses to employ gamification, the company lets this selling proposition shine by using an iPhone graphic to show how the app’s points and badges look to the end-user. These visuals communicate the appeal by showcasing exactly how consumers will interact with, and understand, the product.

In essence, it takes the guesswork out of their pitch.

So while the text-heavy aspect of this sample pitch deck isn’t exactly ideal, their use of visuals can teach us a lesson.

28. TalentBase pitch deck

How much did they raise? $330K to date.

Key takeaway : Let the numbers do the talking.

Rather than take up a ton of slide space in this pitch deck example, TalentBase, an affordable payroll solution , focused their real estate on the real deal-closers: the numbers.

While this won’t work for every business, as you may need to add more slides to truly explain the environment your organization exists in and your processes, TalentBase uses their positioning to drive forward a captivating narrative.

And this narrative utilizes only numbers to connect the dots in the mind of potential investors about the value TalentBase offers, in terms of market capture.

29. Peloton pitch deck

Key takeaway : Discuss both the tangible and intangible benefits your product offers.

In 2018, back before the real pandemic hey-day of this tech unicorn, Peloton dazzled in a funding round and managed to capture in $550M funding.

Part of this can be attributed to Peloton’s emphasis on the benefits it brings customers.

Across multiple slides, the exercise equipment and media company highlights how customers’ lives are improved in various emotional and functional ways. Since this connection lays the groundwork for long-term B2C relationships, investors can immediately identify the value encompassed by this modern fitness tool.

Looking to try something similar? Check out the below Peloton sample pitch deck, reimagined by our Venngage design team.

30. Ledgy pitch deck

How much did they raise? $ 10M in September 2021.

Key takeaway : Cut down on space with text and graphics that follow a clear logical narrative.

In just seven slides, the equity management and investor relations platform, Ledgy, was able to convince their audience that their product was worth investing in.

By putting their mission first, and following it up with engaging visuals, the company tells a story despite using minimal text.

Yoko Spirig, CEO and co-founder of Ledgy, echoed this sentiment in an interview : “Starting with the ‘why’ lets you build the business case for the product, and create a logical narrative that investors can follow.”

That’s why, design-wise, this is one of the cleanest pitch deck examples in the bunch. It’s one of the shortest too.

I also appreciate how their brand colors are used in conjunction with white to keep everything consistent (something that Venngage’s automated branding feature My Brand Kit can help you out with).

To summarize, some of my favorite pitch deck design tips include:

Adding icon headers to your most important insights
Use similar charts and graphs for easy comparisons across slides
For longer pitch decks, switch up the slide layouts
Pick a consistent theme for your presentation background images
Don’t just list your ideal users, create visual personas
Use a timeline to show how your company has grown
Always do the math for your audience

Now let’s take a look at what’s the difference between a pitch deck and a business plan.

A pitch deck and a business plan serve different purposes in the world of entrepreneurship, each playing a crucial role in showcasing and strategizing a business venture. The main distinction lies in their format, level of detail and intended audience.

Pitch decks typically consists of a series of carefully crafted slides, highlighting key aspects of the business such as the value proposition, target market, revenue model, competitive advantage and team expertise.

The goal is to pique interest, generate excitement and secure further engagement or funding opportunities. A pitch deck emphasizes storytelling, persuasive visuals, and concise messaging to create an impactful impression.

On the other hand, a business plan is a comprehensive and detailed document that provides an in-depth roadmap for the entire business venture. It outlines the company’s mission, vision, goals, market analysis, marketing strategies, operational details, financial projections and risk assessment.

A business plan serves as a strategic blueprint, guiding the entrepreneur and internal stakeholders in executing the business idea effectively. It tends to be more exhaustive, often spanning several pages or even chapters, and is typically presented in a written format.

What should a pitch deck contain?

A well-crafted pitch deck should contain key information that effectively communicates your business concept, value proposition, and growth potential. While the specific content may vary depending on your industry and target audience, here are the essential elements that a pitch deck should typically include:

Problem statement
Market opportunity
Business model
Competitive analysis
Marketing and sales strategy
Team members
Financial projections
Milestones and timeline
Investment opportunity

Not a graphic designer? No sweat — creating your own pitch deck is a breeze using Venngage’s Presentation Maker . (We’ll go over the basics here; for a more in-depth look, check out this article .)

Step 1: Sign up on Venngage for free using your email, Gmail or Facebook account. If you already have an account, log in to access the platform.

Step 2: Browse through our selection of professionally designed pitch deck templates and select one that suits your needs and preferences.

Step 3: Once you’ve selected a template, start customizing it to match your branding and content. Venngage’s drag-and-drop editor allows you to easily modify every aspect of the template, including colors, fonts, images and layout. Replace the placeholder text with your own content, such as your company information, product or service details, market analysis and financial projections.

Note: there are hundreds of templates available that you can design and share for free. If you want to access certain designs, take advantage of in-editor features like My Brand Kit/Team collaboration .

Step 4: Once you’re satisfied with your design, you can download it in various formats such as PDF or PNG. Alternatively, you can use also Venngage’s sharing options to present your pitch deck directly from the platform or share it with others via a generated link.

To leave a lasting impression on your audience, consider transforming your slides into an interactive presentation. Here are 15 interactive presentation ideas to enhance interactivity and engagement.

Now that you know how to create the best pitch decks to communicate your ideas, present your startup or raise venture capital, take action and start designing your own pitch deck today!

And if you want to learn more, there are a ton of other presentation design resources you can take a look at next:

20+ Business Pitch Deck Templates and Design Best Practices
120+ Best Presentation Ideas, Design Tips & Examples
15 Presentation Design Statistics to Know For 2019
7 Tips for Designing a Persuasive Presentation [Presentation Design Guide + Templates]
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Building A Venture Capital Pitch Deck For Seed Rounds: Plus 11 Examples

As a three-time entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO, and angel investor, I’ve seen first-hand what it takes to build a venture capital pitch deck that actually earns startups the investment they need.

A compelling startup pitch deck can be the start of a productive founder-investor relationship, but a vague or over-complicated deck can cause you to miss out on funding opportunities.

Below are my tips for how to create a concise and impactful seed round VC pitch deck for your startup, plus eleven examples to refer to when you’re building a deck to raise money for your business.

How To Build A Successful Venture Capital Pitch Deck

If there’s one key piece of advice to keep in mind as you create your pitch, it’s this: Present your story in the simplest form possible . When it comes to building your pitch deck, shorter is better—you should be able to fit the key information onto 10 to 12 slides with simple fonts and supporting visuals.

Most businesses that achieve impressive seed round investment use the following outline in their venture capital fundraising decks, although the number of slides it takes to cover each section may vary depending on your industry—for example, some businesses may need two slides to explain their product, whereas others will only need one slide.

Starting A VC Pitch Deck

The start of your venture capital pitch deck is critical. If you don’t make an impression in the first few minutes, the rest of your slides are unlikely to bring your presentation back on track. Front-load your slide deck with the information potential investors need to quickly understand the value of your company.

At pre-seed and seed stages, venture capitalists are primarily investing in the founders and their story, so you need to convince them of your entrepreneurial spirit and conviction in your business idea. Start the deck with a team slide—briefly introduce the startup’s founding team, their relevant experience and qualifications, and highlight anything that gives your team a competitive advantage. You may also include advisors to your business, their background, and role at your startup. This allows you to establish some context and credibility for who you are and why you’re worth listening to before you dive into explaining your business.

Section 1: The problem you’re solving.

Begin the VC deck by explaining the problem your startup is addressing. Many founders spend as little time as possible on the problem section, but this is your opportunity to demonstrate why your solution is necessary. I recommend devoting more time to this section.

To emphasize that the problem you’re addressing desperately needs to be solved, show the worst-case scenario if it isn’t solved, the pain people do or will experience as a result, and why the current solution isn’t effective.

Section 2: The solution you have to the problem.

Describe your solution, why it works, and how it benefits customers. The simplest ways to solve a problem are often the most powerful, so keep your solution as straightforward as possible: If you can’t explain it in under 30 seconds, you’ll likely confuse investors rather than convince them.

Section 3: The product or service you're offering.

If you’re still in the process of building the product, explain your vision for how it will work when complete. Alternatively, if you already have a version of your product in development, show how it’s performing thus far, user engagement, and early traction in the marketplace. Key metrics might include usage, churn and growth metrics, NPS scores, referral rates, or other milestones relevant to your product/industry. Consider walking investors through a demo of your product or sharing screenshots or mockups of how it will look if it’s still being built.

Section 4: The market opportunity.

Your startup’s maximum potential annual revenue can make the difference as to whether VC firms consider it worth their investment, so make it clear if your solution is addressing a global problem or catering to a multi billion-dollar market. Demonstrate why the problem you’re addressing has substantial market size and business potential by outlining:

The total addressable market (TAM)
The particular market segments you’re targeting
The amount of available revenue
If the market is national or international
If the market is growing and how fast

Section 5: The secret sauce.

Explain to investors what makes your solution unique and how this opportunity is different from anything else on the market. Depending on your solution, this might include talking about:

The unique technology you’re developing
The expertise of your team
The competitive landscape
Your go-to-market strategy
Your customer acquisition strategy (Note: More established startups should prepare to discuss customer acquisition cost (CAC) and customer lifetime value (LTV), both independently and related to one another.)
Why now is the right moment for your business

Section 6: The business model.

Tell investors how you’re going to monetize your solution and why this model makes sense for your market. Stick to explaining your main revenue stream rather than detailing plans for possible future expansion. In the next section, you’ll reveal how you expect the financial results to look based on this revenue model.

Section 7: Financial projections.

At the seed stage, you only need to present high-level financials, but this information is vital to share your vision for the business’s future and prove that it can be profitable. Provide projections for the value of revenues and the numbers of customers or users you expect to gain. Because each fundraising round usually covers the next 18 to 24 months, your projections should include predictions for at least the next three or four years.

Section 8: Investment and use of funds.

The purpose of your pitch deck is to raise funds, so always tell potential investors how much money you’re looking for. To provide some context on your request, explain why you’re looking for this amount and outline any previous rounds the startup has raised. You also need to show how you will put the money to use: Share some key goals you plan to achieve in a given timeframe with this investment—for example, hiring a specific number of employees in the next 12 months.

(Optional) Section 9: Exit strategy.

Your exit strategy is a crucial part of Series A or Series B funding round proposals, but you can also include this at the seed stage to show you’re working towards a long-term return for investors. Let them know your preferred exit strategy (most likely an IPO or acquisition) and projected exit date. Consider suggesting companies who may be interested in buying your business or mentioning similar startups who have been acquired recently as proof of your strategy.

Concluding A VC Pitch Deck

To conclude your venture capital pitch deck, you can summarize the key takeaways of your pitch. However, it’s important to note that the end of the investor presentation is far less impactful than the beginning, so focus on telling the story of your business in the first few minutes rather than tying your pitch together in the final slide.

Remember that your completed pitch deck isn’t one-size-fits-all. In general, you should only pitch your startup to VC investors relevant to your market and with expertise in your area. For example, a VC fund specializing in hospitality is unlikely to be interested in a SaaS business because it has a low chance of adding value. Even within your industry, each group of investors to whom you present will have different interests and backgrounds, so take time to personalize your VC deck before every meeting.

11 Top Venture Capital Pitch Deck Examples

Although you will need to customize your venture capital pitch deck to your business’s market and product, plenty of slide deck examples and templates are available as a starting point for the design and structure. Here are six of the best pitch decks:

Y Combinator’s simple VC pitch deck template uses punchy bullet points rather than flashy graphics, so the focus stays on your startup’s idea.
‍ Coinbase’s seed round pitch deck uses graphs and visuals to demonstrate the traction their product is getting and emphasize the growth potential. ‍
Beautiful.ai’s pitch deck template was built in partnership with First Round Capital, the VC company behind successful companies like Uber and Warby Parker. ‍
Transferwise’s VC deck gives more detail—it includes all the key information on the slides, rather than relying on the presentation. ‍
Venngage shares Mattermark’s pitch deck , which uses screenshots and graphs to show the scale of the problem and the market for their solution. Venngage also offers a range of downloadable templates and resources based on successful VC decks. ‍
Intercom’s pitch deck focuses on walking investors through the problem their product solves, and also includes a clear fundraising ask. ‍
Next View Ventures' template offers both a short venture capital pitch deck and an appendix that allows for more detail in case your discussion becomes in-depth. ‍
Postmates seed round deck includes a link to their product demo and shows exactly how their solution measures up to competitors with a comparison table. ‍
Business Insider shares Divvy’s pitch deck that helped them raise $30 million in VC funding. Business Insider also has dozens of other deck templates available to subscribers. ‍
Sequoia Capital’s business plan outline inspired Airbnb’s pitch deck and led to them securing investment from Sequoia. You can find this outline as a ready-to-use deck template . ‍
Airbnb’s original investor pitch deck is short and simple. It shares impactful numbers to show the scale of the available market.

How Zeni Helps Startups Build Better Pitches

Zeni is a modern, full-service finance firm that can handle all your startup’s bookkeeping , accounting, tax, and CFO needs, freeing up founders to focus on growing their business. When you subscribe to Zeni’s CFO services, our team of experts build financial projections and modeling to show how your startup will perform against KPIs in the coming years, including the number of employees you’ll need to hire, expected revenues, and the rate at which the customer base will grow. In short, we give you everything you need to produce a compelling finance slide for your fundraising pitch deck.

Plus, Zeni can help startups decide when it’s the right time to start looking for their next investment round. Based on financial projections and existing startup budget , we can advise on the cash runway and cash zero date, so you can start the fundraising process in good time to close the investment you need.

‍ To learn how Zeni can help your startup secure the next round of venture funding, click here to book a demo .

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Creating the perfect pitch deck and business plan: Examples and best practices [2022]

January 7, 2022

I know you’ve probably been told that a good pitch deck and business plan are essential in the world of startups. It’s true — they are — but there is a LOT of conflicting advice out there on how to create them. (Hint: There isn’t just one right way.) I want to share some ideas based on solid research and real-world experience so you can create something that works for you.

What is a pitch deck?

What is its purpose, do you need a pitch deck and a business plan, who should create the pitch deck, how do you create a pitch deck, what is a financial model, what is a financial forecast, how accurate does a startup financial model need to be, what to include in an early-stage pitch deck, what should i avoid putting into my pitch deck, slide #0 – title, slide #1 – executive summary, slide #2 – trends, slide #3 – problem, slide #4 – solution, slide #5 – business model, slide #6 – market, slide #7 – competition, slide #8 – go to market, slide #9 – traction, slide #10 – team, slide #11 – investment proposal (the ask), keep it simple, stick to a consistent layout, make it easy to read, use a pitch deck template, beautiful.ai, key takeaways.

In this article, I’ll discuss what a pitch deck is, explain its purpose and its importance in the outreach process, give you tips and practices to create your perfect pitch deck, and what to include in it. We’ll also look at an example of a pitch deck template, using slides from startups that have raised hundreds of millions from VCs. We’ll also explore why you must build a financial model alongside your pitch deck.

Before we get started, remember that pitching on stage and building your pitch deck are two very different things. Pitching is a form of art. Anyone can present a business plan or startup idea to another person, but only a few pitches are memorable and truly capture the interest of investors.

Practice makes perfect, and the better you get at pitching, the more likely you are to succeed. So sign up to pitch competitions, put yourself out there, and get feedback. The more you pitch, the better you will become at it. It’s better to make mistakes when it doesn’t matter than pitch unprepared to critical investors and risk disaster.

Now let’s dive into what it takes to build a great pitch deck!

Pitch decks are an essential document for every founder to master, but there is a lot of conflicting information out there, and no one-size-fits-all template.

To help you get started, we’ve pulled together pitch deck examples and best practices for new founders and early-stage startups.

Using this information to guide you, you’ll be able to create a pitch that will wow investors and get you the funding that your business needs.

A pitch deck is a condensed business plan that communicates your business idea to investors or partners. It should be clear, concise, and well-organised so that it promotes a conversation, not just information that needs to be digested. The pitch deck is used as an elevator pitch during your outreach process and should highlight the key aspects of your startup in a way that gets investors excited about working with you.

The pitch deck itself isn’t going to fund or run your startup — it’s just one piece of the puzzle — but it’s an important one. As Guy Kawasaki, Chief Evangelist at Canva, former Chief Evangelist at Apple, and author of The Art of the Start puts it .

The purpose of a pitch is to stimulate interest, not to close a deal.

While the pitch deck is an information-packed overview of your startup, it should be more than just numbers and figures. A winning pitch deck also captures the imagination by telling a story and getting the audience emotionally involved. People don’t buy products, they buy stories — pitch decks help people to see your startup as a compelling narrative instead of just an idea on paper.

A pitch deck helps you generate interest from investors so that they will fund or work with your company in some way. It is a way to quickly pitch your business idea and get feedback, without having to go through the entire business plan. The pitch deck should be used as a tool to start a conversation with potential investors so that you can get their feedback and determine if they are interested in what you’re doing.

For an early-stage startup, the pitch deck and financial model are the business plan. There are too many uncertainties to waste time writing a 100-page business plan. Founders should use tools like the Lean Canvas to help them think through the different aspects of their business, but a pitch deck and financial model are essential when trying to raise money and get investment.

The pitch deck should be created by the founder or co-founder of the company. They are the ones who know the most about their business and can best pitch it to investors. Remember, the pitch deck isn’t what wins you the investment, but it will start the conversation and get people interested in what you’re doing.

There is no one-size-fits-all answer for this question, as the pitch deck needs to be tailored to your specific startup and its investors. However, there are some best practices that you can use to make sure your pitch deck is as compelling as possible.

Financial Model

The pitch deck should always include a financial model, typically as a supporting document, that shows financial projections for the next three to five years. This will help investors understand how you will manage the financial risks associated with your startup.

A financial model is a document that shows how your business will make money and what kind of return investors can expect on their investment. It includes projected revenue, expenses, and profits over a specific period of time.

Investors will expect to see a three to five-year financial forecast, broken down by year and month.

The financial model should also include a section on the startup’s burn rate – how much money the company is spending each month and how long it can continue to do so before running out of funds.

A financial forecast is a projection of future income, expenses, and profits. It typically covers a period of three to five years and breaks down revenue, expenses, and net cash flow by month.

The financial model doesn’t need to be complex, but it should show a realistic understanding of the numbers behind your startup.

It is important to remember that venture capitalists and angel investors do not expect your financial forecasts to be 100% accurate – they simply want to see that you have put thought into your business, that your operational plans are accounted for, and that you understand the basics of financial forecasting.

Pitch Deck Structure

As a founder, you’ll quickly learn that you’ll need more than one pitch deck. Different pitch decks are used for different purposes, and you may end up using a pitch deck that is specific to your target investor, the stage of investment, or the format in which you’ll be pitching.

This means that there is no magic formula for your pitch deck structure. However, there are a few essential slides that should be in every business pitch deck.

Title or cover slide
Market size and opportunity

These slides will give the pitch deck a good structure and focus on the key elements that you want to talk about. There may be more slides depending on your company, but those are the main ones that should always appear somewhere in every pitch deck.

Early-stage startup pitch decks are used to spark interest in your idea and the founding team. Venture capital firms and angel investors will be comfortable with greater uncertainty and higher risk in this pitch deck, so there is more leeway to experiment with different ideas and concepts. This doesn’t mean that you should just throw in everything without a thought though!

At this early stage, there will be multiple unknowns that you are setting out to solve, including exactly how you’ll build your solution to the problem, how you’ll find your scaleable route to market, and maybe even how you’ll convert users to paying customers.

It’s normal to not have all the answers to these questions, and that’s OK! It doesn’t mean that you should pitch an idea if you don’t know how it will work yet. All of this is just a reality check for potential investors — they need to see that you have a realistic idea of what you need to do and a plan for how you might do it.

It’s a common mistake for first-time founders to try to put too much information into their pitch decks. This can include everything from detailed financial models to a full history of the company’s founding story. While it’s important to have all this information ready, it’s best to save it for when you’re actually speaking with investors.

Your pitch deck should be focused on your idea and the current state of your company. It should be set up in a way that clearly lays out who you are, what problem you’re solving, and how you plan to solve it. You want investors to see the actual value in investing in your startup so avoid including anything that’s not absolutely necessary for them to understand this concept.

– Do not include unnecessary information or graphics

– Keep your pitch deck to a maximum of 20 slides

– Stick to clear and concise language

– Make sure all the data is accurate and up to date

Be cautious about adding in anything that doesn’t support your pitch deck theme or the key points you want to make. If it isn’t relevant, remove it! You don’t have time for extra fluff when pitching investors; be direct and focus on what matters most.

Early-Stage Pitch Deck Example

The following pitch deck template is a good example of how you can tell a story that builds investor confidence in your startup idea. Using this format will set a great first impression and can help you with raising capital.

This is the most important slide in the whole deck, you need to grab the attention of the investor with a title slide that convinces them to keep reading. Your title slide must:

Showcase your logo and brand name.
In one phrase, state your value proposition.
Engage the reader by promising them an interesting pitch.

It’s important to make your startup feel credible and trustworthy. Just as people will judge a book by the cover, investors will judge your pitch deck in less than five seconds, so make sure you have a strong first impression!

A common mistake that founders make with the title slide is not making the most of the opportunity. Taking inspiration from other industries, a prize-winning sticker on a book cover or a wine bottle has a tremendous impact on sales. What can you do to make your pitch deck stand out?

After catching your audience’s attention, you should include a company summary on slide one. Investors are unlikely to know anything about you or your company, so this is where you need to tell them what you do, where you’re going, and why they should care.

In just a few sentences, you should be able to concisely state the following:

What your company does
The stage you’re at
The traction you’ve made so far
Where you’re heading

If the title slide is about grabbing attention, the executive summary is about keeping it.

You need to get investors hooked and hungry for more information.

With the investor’s attention now captured, it’s time to give them some context. What industry are you in? What trends are happening in that industry?

Trends are the market conditions that you have zero influence over. But, by showing how you understand them and how they impact your startup, you can demonstrate that not only is your startup inevitable, but that the risk of failure is also reduced.

Your goal with the trends slide is to show that your startup idea isn’t some crazy gamble, it’s obvious and inevitable, and that the market is about to change in a big way.

In the context of startup ideas, the important things to consider about trends are whether they are weak or strong, societal and cultural, or technological.

Weak Trends: These are usually easy to spot and include things like the aging population, increasing internet penetration rates, or a growing demand for a new product or service.

Strong Trends: These are hard to argue against. They will be big and happening quickly. They could be something like the rise of mobile payments, a technology reaching critical mass, or a new way of thinking about an old problem.

Technological Trends: These trends focus on the development of new technologies. For instance, the rise of drones, Web3, and artificial intelligence technologies are all technological trends that would be relevant to an investor pitch deck when combined with a startup idea.

Societal and Cultural Trends: These trends are about the way people are living their lives, and integrating new technologies into them. A good example of this is the trend towards health and wellness. This could be anything from the increasing popularity of mindfulness to people taking more interest in their food.

It’s important to consider societal trends alongside advances in technology, just because a technology is possible, doesn’t mean that people will want to use it (remember Google Glass?).

Building into emerging trends can lead to you raising millions without even having a pitch deck , like Hopin, or still whilst the world is in lockdown and your app is still in beta – like Clubhouse.

Now that you’ve got the pitch deck rolling, it’s time to talk about your startup idea. What problem are you solving? What is happening right now? What are people not happy with?

When it comes to the problem slide, be specific. Don’t just say that there is a problem. Tell them what it is and make your audience feel the pain; they should be able to recall having had it themselves or easily empathise with those that do.

As a founder, you need to prove that you have a deep awareness and understanding of the problem you’re solving. You need to demonstrate that you can stand in the shoes of your customers and see the problem as they do.

Ideally, you should be able to summarise all of this into a problem statement. This is a simple one or two-sentence explanation that describes the problem, identifies the pain points, and explains why it needs solving.

Providing data to back up your problem statement is also important, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. You’re not trying to show the size of the market, just the severity of the problem.

The problem slide from the Front pitch deck

Having built up an understanding of the problem, you now need to explain how you plan on solving it. What is your solution? How will your startup solve this problem? What makes your product or service different?

Your solution slide should be clear, concise, and easy to understand. You should have a brief paragraph explaining what your startup does, followed by supporting information in the form of screenshots, images, or diagrams.

Remember, during live pitching or conversations, you may be able to talk about your solution in more detail – maybe even showcase a live demo – but in your pitch deck, you need to keep it simple.

If you’re having trouble boiling down your complex solution then consider how you would sell it to a potential customer. If you can pitch it to them in a way that they understand and see the value, then your pitch deck will be able to do the same.

With the problem and solution explained, it’s time to move on to your business model. This is a critical slide for any pitch deck as it demonstrates how you plan to make money from your startup idea. It’s showing your investors that you understand the business side of things and that you have a plan for growth.

This slide can be a little tricky to get right, as you don’t want to overload your audience with too much information (especially at idea stage, when you don’t have a fully formed business model). However, you need to convey that the unit economics make sense and that there is a path to profitability.

There are lots of different ways to structure this slide, but the most common model breaks it down into a one-paragraph pitch of your business model, followed by one or two diagrams showing the relationships between your costs and revenue. By using simple visuals, you can convey complex ideas far more effectively than words alone.

Unfortunately, pitch decks don’t have the space to explore every aspect of your business model. It’s a good idea to create a separate document for this, which you can then share with interested investors or partners.

Odeko Cloosive pitch deck business model slide

Now it’s time to move on to the all-important question of market size. Market sizing for early-stage startups can be a contentious issue.

Many entrepreneurs think that they need to show huge total addressable markets (TAM), and pitch themselves as the next billion-dollar startup. However, most sophisticated investors how that for most early-stage startups this is not appropriate.

Pitching a large TAM isn’t going to impress investors, they’ve seen it all before, but pitching yourself as the best company in your segment will demonstrate that you have a great understanding of your industry and the opportunity at hand.

It’s most important to be able to show that there is a market for your product or service, that it’s growing, and that there is room for you to compete. You don’t need to pitch yourself as a billion-dollar company, just pitch that you have a good understanding of the market segment, that people are spending money solving this type of problem, and that you’re going to be one of the best companies in your space.

For example, if your idea is to launch the next big analytics platform, don’t pitch a market size that includes every business in the world. Instead, focus on a specific industry or sector and show how behaviours in that industry are changing, paving the way for your product or service.

Again, you don’t need to go into too much detail in your pitch deck. A one-paragraph pitch of your market size is usually enough, followed by a simple diagram showing the trends that are opening up opportunities for your startup.

This is another key slide for any pitch deck, as it demonstrates that you have done your research and that you understand the competitive landscape.

Start by defining the market segment you are targeting, and then show the key points of differentiation when compared to your primary competitors.

Describe how they fit into the customer’s perspective of the market, show where their strengths and weaknesses lie, and how you plan to compete with them.

This isn’t the place for a full analysis of your competitors, but you should be able to pitch yourself as the best company in your space, with a clear understanding of how you’re going to win.

There are two common ways to visualise your competitor analysis, the magic quadrant (or 2×2 matrix) and a comparison table.

The magic quadrant is a way of plotting your competitors on two axes, based on two factors that you’ll pluck from thin air. These visualisations are rarely credible unless you have a lot of experience in the market you are analysing, or they’ve been produced by large consultancies like Deloitte or Gartner.

On the other hand, comparison tables can be very effective as they’re easy to digest, position you alongside recognisable brands, and allow you to highlight the key differences between your company and your competitors. By comparing factors that are demonstrably important to customers, you’ll come across as more credible and able to back up your pitch with cold, hard facts.

Clearbanc pitch deck competitor comparison table

Now it’s time to talk about marketing and sales strategy, or how you’re going to get your product or service in front of customers. This is where you’ll pitch your go-to-market strategy. Your go-to-market slide should include the following elements:

The channels you will use to reach your target audience
The actions you will take to put your product in front of potential customers
The milestones you will hit as you progress through your go-to-market plan
The resources you will require to reach your target successfully

Start by describing your target market and how you plan to reach them. This might include explaining your distribution channels, sales strategy, or marketing approach. You can also use this slide to talk about any partnerships you have in place, or how you plan to leverage them.

Next, explain the actions you will take to reach your target audience, and how you plan to measure success. These actions should fit within each of the channels that you’ve already identified. For example, if you’re using digital marketing, your actions might be things like website development, SEO, or social media campaigns.

Lastly, list the key milestones you will hit as you progress through your go-to-market plan, and identify the resources you will require to achieve them. You can include your team, budget for marketing activities, or specific assets like signage.

The go to market slide for the Castle pitch deck

As a startup, traction is key. Investors want to see that you’re making progress and that your product is resonating with customers. This slide is often one of the trickiest for startups at idea-stage, as it can be difficult to show commercial progress and it will be too early for product-market fit.

There are a few different ways to pitch traction, and you need to choose the one that works best with your company and the stage you’re at. Some options include user base, revenue growth, or market validation.

If you’re focusing on your user base, you’ll want to pitch a clear and compelling story about your customer base. If you have a small data set, it’s worth showcasing your first 100 customers as this makes the numbers seem more real.

If you have a large customer base, pitch your exponential growth in terms of percentage or absolute figures. For example, pitch how many customers you signed in the past quarter or year.

Revenue Growth

If you’re focusing on revenue growth, pitch your current (or projected) sales figures. You can also pitch the average ticket size or value of your deals. Alternatively, pitch your revenue growth (in terms of percentage or absolute figures) over the past year.

Market Validation

If your product is still at idea-stage and still has a long way to go before it’s ready for market, pitch your progress in terms of real-world validation. For example, pitch the number of people who have registered to use your product or service, or pitch the number of companies that have expressed interest during interviews.

Most importantly, be honest about your progress. If they are interested, investors will dig into your traction claims and you’ll need to back them up with data – if it turns out that you’ve lied or embellished the facts, you’ll not only lose trust and credibility, you’ll probably lose the investment too.

Having set the scene in which your startup operates, it’s time to introduce the management team behind your startup. Investors will be keen to learn about who is leading your company and how they will transform your idea into a profitable business.

The focus here must be you and your co-founders. People invest in people, so you’ll need to show how you have the vision, experience, and motivation required to deliver on your pitch.

Keep your team slide short and sweet. You’ll want to include the founding team, highlighting their relevant experience in the industry or field that you’re operating within.

Pictures help to make your presentation more personal, so make sure you have a good quality headshot of each team member, consistently formatted so that everyone appears the same size and in focus.

The team slide should only include the founding team, though it is acceptable to include key team members, as well as notable advisors or investors if beneficial. If you do this, ensure that there is a clear visual separation between the two groups.

This is the big one. The pitch deck wouldn’t be complete without a clear proposal of what you’re asking for from your investors. This slide should clearly state the amount of money you’re seeking, as well as what you plan to do with it.

It’s important to remember that investors are looking for a return on their investment (ROI), so your proposal must be realistic and demonstrate how you will use the funds raised to reach key growth milestones.

To convince investors, your “Ask slide” will need to answer these three questions:

How much are you seeking to raise?
What will you do with the money?
What do you intend to accomplish with the funds?

Always remember to pitch the ask in terms of how it benefits the investor – not just you. For example, if you’re seeking a £100,000 investment, explain how that money will help you reach a specific milestone that will create value for your investors.

Be specific about how much you need to raise, and where you plan to deploy the money. This will show that you’ve done your homework and understand how you will grow your business.

A simple pie chart with the breakdown of how you plan to use funds can go a long way towards demonstrating to investors that you’re serious about using their money wisely. For example, if 25 percent goes towards marketing spend, 30 percent for technology development, and 45 percent for new hires, that’s a good indication you have your priorities straight.

It’s unlikely that you will be profitable before the next round of funding, but it is usually worth highlighting the key numbers from your financial projections to give investors an idea of the scale and trajectory of your business.

Perhaps the most important factor in your investment ask is demonstrating that you understand how much capital you require to hit key growth milestones without requiring further funding rounds for at least 12-18 months. This is something that almost every investor will expect you to have a solid plan for.

Pitch Deck Design

Whether you’re sharing your deck by email or presenting on stage, the design of your pitch deck matters. However, you can’t afford to hire a professional pitch deck designer to help. So, what do you do?

KEEP. IT. SIMPLE.

Your pitch deck is not the place to show off your design skills – or highlight any lack of expertise in this department! The only goal of your pitch deck is to communicate information clearly and concisely so that investors understand what you’re pitching and can get excited about it.

Keep your presentation simple, use bold typography, highlight key information, and stick to a maximum of two or three colors. Resist the urge to use lots of graphics and animations, as these can be distracting and take up valuable space on your slides.

How to design a better pitch deck

There are a lot of things to consider when designing your pitch deck presentation. Below are some tips on how to make your pitch more effective:

The average investor has a short attention span, so keep your deck concise and easy to follow. Use clear language, avoid complex graphs and charts, and stick to a maximum of 15 slides.

Use the same fonts, colors, and layouts throughout your pitch deck to create a cohesive look.

Slides that are crowded with text and images will be difficult for your audience to read and comprehend.

A pitch deck template is a great way to ensure that your pitch deck looks professional and follows the proper design guidelines.

Pitch deck design tools

Today, there is a huge selection of online design tools and no-code builders to help you build your perfect deck. Below are just a few of the design platforms that can help you craft your pitch.

An easy-to-use platform that allows startups to build a beautiful slide deck without any special design skills. Start from scratch or create your slides using predefined pitch deck templates.

https://slidebean.com/

Offers a wide range of design tools and templates for creating professional pitch decks. The free version includes limited features, while the paid plans start at $12/month.

This pitch deck design app is great for startups and entrepreneurs who need to create a pitch deck quickly. The basic plan starts at $12/month (billed annually) but there is a 14-day free trial.

https://www.beautiful.ai/

The tools provided by Pitch allow you to quickly produce a high-quality pitch. Even if you’re not a designer, you can create a strong pitch deck that looks great. The basic plan is free, but you’ll need to upgrade to the paid plans for more features.

https://pitch.com/

While these design tools can be extremely powerful, it still pays to follow the same basic guidelines to ensure that your pitch deck is easy for investors to understand; Keep it simple, avoid animation, stick to a consistent layout, and make sure your text and images are easy to read.

When you’re trying to capture investors’ attention and raise equity funding, you need to show them that you have a good plan. But startups aren’t traditional businesses and they don’t use traditional business plans.

like the Holy Grail, the business plan remains largely unattainable and mythological. Most experts wouldn’t agree, but a business plan is of limited usefulness for a startup because entrepreneurs base so much of their plans on assumptions, “visions,” and unknowns. Guy Kawasaki

This is why pitch decks are the perfect approach to sharing a startup business plan.

Fundamentally, your pitch deck is used to share your vision, attract investors, and start conversations. As a founder, you should be prepared for investors who may not “get” your pitch deck right away — this doesn’t mean that they aren’t interested in what you’re doing.

Be prepared to answer questions and have an engaging conversation about your startup. Investors want to see that you have a clear understanding of your business, the problem you’re solving, and how you plan on making money. They also want to know that you’re capable of executing your vision.

Remember, pitch decks are just one part of the overall investment process. If you’re able to create a pitch deck that effectively communicates your idea and leaves investors wanting more, then you’re on the right track!

How to prepare the perfect VC pitch deck

Mastering the Art of Crafting a Winning VC Pitch Deck

Author: Muhammad Faheem

"If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe," said Abraham Lincoln. This quote is super important when it comes to crafting a winning VC (Venture Capital) pitch deck. A pitch deck is a visual presentation that provides an overview of your business to potential investors.

The success of a VC pitch deck lies in planning and developing a crystal clear structure of your business. This should be done in the simplest way so a 10-year kid can understand your idea. The simpler you make it, the quicker the investors will get it and thus there will be higher chances to get funded.

Once you are done with the structure, start working on your contents to make it compelling. You can’t make it compelling until you get it designed a professional pitch deck designer.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you create an effective VC pitch deck:

Understand Your Audience:

Research the VC firm and individual investors you’re pitching to. Understand their investment focus, previous investments, and their expectations from a pitch. Tailor your pitch to address their specific interests and concerns. It will be an icing on the cake if you can personally meet the investors prior to your presentation. This will give you insights about their investment taste which can greatly help you in designing a convincing pitch deck for them.

Craft a Compelling Story:

Your pitch deck should tell a story that captures the essence of your business. Start with a strong opening that hooks the audience and explains why your business matters. You shouldn’t take a lot of time to reach the solution as investors don’t have a lot of time to waste on the details.

Choose the Right Structure:

A common structure for a VC pitch deck includes the following sections:

Problem Statement: Clearly define the problem your business solves.

Solution: Explain your product or service and how it solves the problem.

Market Opportunity: Showcase the size and growth potential of your target market.

Business Model: Describe how your business operates and generates revenue.

Traction: Highlight key milestones, user adoption, revenue growth, partnerships, etc.

Competition: Enlist competitors and higlight your competitive advantage.

Marketing and Sales Strategy: Explain how you plan to acquire and retain customers.

Financial Projections: Provide a realistic financial forecast.

Team: Introduce key team members and their expertise.

Ask: Clearly state how much funding you’re seeking and how you’ll use the funds.

Keep it Concise:

Aim for a deck that’s around 10-15 slides. Avoid overwhelming the audience with too much information.

Design and Visuals:

Your pitch deck should be visually appealing and easy to read. Use consistent fonts, colors, and imagery that align with your brand. High-quality visuals, such as charts, graphs, and product images, can make complex information more understandable.

Tell, Don’t Read:

Your pitch deck should support your verbal presentation, not replace it. Use each slide as a visual aid to emphasize key points and insights, but don’t read the slides word for word.

Showcase Traction:

Investors want to see evidence that your business is gaining traction. Highlight key metrics, customer testimonials, partnerships, and any other relevant achievements that demonstrate progress.

Address Risks and Mitigations:

Be honest about potential risks your business might face. Show that you’ve thought about these challenges and have strategies to mitigate them.

Practice Your Pitch:

Rehearse your pitch multiple times. Practice in front of colleagues or mentors to get feedback. This will help you refine your delivery and ensure you can confidently present your material.

End with a Strong Closing:

Summarize the key points you’ve covered and re-emphasize why your business is a great investment opportunity. End with a clear call to action, such as inviting questions or discussions.

Follow-Up Materials:

Be prepared to provide additional information if requested, such as a detailed business plan, financial statements, market research, and.

Remember, a successful pitch deck not only conveys information but also sparks interest and leaves a lasting impression. Customizing your pitch deck for each VC firm and refining it based on feedback will increase your chances of securing funding.

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Crafting the Perfect VC Pitch Deck: Your Key to Venture Capital Success

Anshuman Sinha
September 28, 2023

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In the world of startups and innovative ventures, securing funding is often a pivotal moment on the path to success. Venture capital (VC) funding can provide the necessary financial support and expertise to help your business grow and thrive. However, before you can secure that funding, you need to make a compelling case to potential investors. This is where the VC pitch deck comes into play.

In this blog, we will delve into the world of VC pitch decks, discussing what they are, and their significance in the fundraising process , and providing you with some insightful examples to guide you through the process. Additionally, we’ll touch upon the concept of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) in the context of venture capital.

What is a VC Pitch Deck?

A VC pitch deck is a visual presentation that entrepreneurs use to introduce their startup or business idea to potential investors, particularly venture capitalists. It’s a concise and visually appealing document that outlines the essential aspects of your business, from your value proposition to your financial projections.

The Significance of a VC Pitch Deck

First Impression: Your pitch deck is often your first interaction with potential investors. A well-crafted pitch deck can make a lasting impression and pique the interest of investors.

Clarity and Conciseness: Investors receive numerous pitch decks daily. Your deck should communicate your business idea clearly and concisely, grabbing their attention and maintaining it throughout the presentation.

Storytelling: A great pitch deck tells a compelling story. It should outline the problem you’re solving, your unique solution, and why your team is the right one to execute it.

Investment Opportunity: Ultimately, your pitch deck should convey the investment opportunity. Investors need to see the potential for a significant return on their investment.

VC Pitch Deck Examples

To help you understand what effective VC pitch deck examples look like, here are some key components you might include, along with examples:

Introduction Slide: Start with a captivating introduction slide that includes your company name, logo, and a brief tagline that summarizes your business.

Problem Statement: Clearly define the problem your business addresses. Use real-world examples and statistics to emphasize the significance of this problem.

Solution: Explain how your product or service solves the problem. Use visuals, such as infographics or diagrams, to simplify complex concepts.

Market Opportunity: Present the market size, target audience, and growth potential. Investors want to know that there’s a substantial market for your offering.

Business Model: Describe your revenue model and pricing strategy. Investors want to understand how you plan to make money.

Traction and Milestones: Highlight your key achievements and milestones to date, such as user acquisition, partnerships, or revenue growth.

Team: Introduce your core team members and their relevant expertise. Investors invest in people as much as they do in ideas. So, you must include key details about your team in venture capital pitch deck examples.

Financial Projections: Provide a clear and realistic financial forecast. This should include revenue projections, expenses, and funding requirements.

Venture Capital Pitch Deck Examples: Top 5 Successful Companies

Uber’s Pitch Deck: Initially, Uber operated under the name “UberCab.” Its early pitch deck represents a pivotal moment in the company’s infancy, predominantly focusing on its product and market strategies.

Intercom’s Pitch: The company’s VC fundraising pitch deck showcases Intercom’s pursuit of a $600k funding round. This 8-slide pitch deck zeroes in on critical aspects such as the team, the problem they aim to solve, their proposed solution, and the target market.

Mattermark’s Pitch Deck: Mattermark, a data company, boasts substantial traction, evident in this pitch deck. With $1.5 million in annual recurring revenue at the time of this pitch, they were operating at a level comparable to many Series A startups in Silicon Valley. This pitch deck is an excellent example if you aim to impress VCs with your company’s traction.

Mixpanel’s Pitch Deck: Mixpanel’s venture capital fund deck played a crucial role in securing a $65 million funding round. Notably, the competition slide stands out, fostering meaningful discussions with potential investors. The slide resembling “what we do with your money” offers a solid overview of the company’s growth strategy.

What is an SPV Fund?

Lastly, let’s briefly touch upon Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) in the context of venture capital. An SPV is a legal entity created for a specific, often short-term purpose, such as investing in a single startup or project.

SPVs are commonly used in venture capital to pool together funds from multiple investors for a specific investment opportunity. They offer flexibility, tax advantages, and limited liability for investors.

Recommended read: Create an SPV – Step by Step Guide

In the world of venture capital fundraising, a well-crafted VC pitch deck is your golden ticket to securing the financial support you need to bring your business vision to life. By incorporating the key elements discussed in this blog and studying successful VC pitch deck examples, you’ll be better equipped to create a compelling presentation that resonates with potential investors.

Additionally, understanding the role of SPVs in venture capital can provide further insight into the intricacies of fundraising. With the right pitch deck and a solid business plan, you’ll be well on your way to attracting the funding your startup deserves.

I’m the CEO of SPV Hub. Being a founder/ co-founder (of multiple businesses) and investor (in multiple startups) myself, I experienced the challenges that an investor and a founder face while raising capital and handling multiple deals. So, we created SPVHub to simplify everything related to SPV creation and management.

I am also the co-founder of Startup Steroid .

More To Explore

Spvs and investment funds: a comparative guide.

In finance, specifically within the avenues of Venture Capital and angel investing, there lies a clear-cut distinction between Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) and Investment Funds.

What is an accredited investor?

Accredited investor definition Accredited investors make investments since the law allows them to invest in specific securities offerings not registered with regulatory authorities such

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How to Create the Perfect VC Pitch Deck

May 20, 2022

Adam Hoeksema

If you’re a new startup looking to get into the market, or you have proof of concept and you’re ready to expand, you may be looking to venture capital investors to give you the help you need.

That’s easier said than done though, and the vast majority of people leave pitches with VC investors with their tails between their legs. So, what is it about a pitch that gets investors’ attention?

Successful pitches are well designed to cover the required details and nothing more. They’re appealingly short and to the point, and most importantly demonstrate the strength of the founder, the organization, and their reliability in terms of protecting the investor’s ROI.

Here we look at exactly what all that means and how to put it together to build and present a perfect venture capital pitch deck.

What is a Venture Capital Pitch Deck?

A pitch deck is essentially an information pack, presented to prospective investors in order to persuade them to invest in your project. It’s a summary of what you do, what you know, and how you’re going to make money from their investment.

Pitch decks are typically presentations done on PowerPoint, with 10-20 slides, taking anywhere between two minutes and half an hour (although we’ll go into why those specific times aren’t necessarily a good idea).

The Role of a VC Pitch Deck

Your pitch deck should give a brief overview of your company, your plan, and your vision, in a way that will garner the support of your prospective investor. The presentation form is a far more engaging and personal approach, but a pitch deck can be sent via email too. I

n the latter case, it will need to be more of a brochure, with all the information on its pages. A presentation gains the benefit of a tailored narration, meaning slides can be more aesthetically pleasing and generally fewer.

Forming one for your startup will require an understanding of what a VC Investor wants, why they commonly say “no”, how to design and build your deck in the right order, and perhaps a few examples to get you started. Luckily, that’s exactly what we’ve got ahead for you.

What a Venture Capitalist Wants

As obvious as it might seem, it’s worth pointing out that the process of compiling a VC pitch deck needs you to think more about what a VC investor wants, and less about how excited you are over your idea and how much you want more money. With this in mind, you will reduce redundancy and better target your pitch to the key points an investor is going to be looking out for.

Here are five of those key points:

What urgent problem are you solving?

Investors are going to be bombarded with pitches and need to be able to spot a good one from a distance. The first mistake half of startups make is failure to actually address an important issue with a functional solution.

If investors can’t see quickly what you’re doing and how you’re doing it, as well as why that’s important, the power of your pitch is going to be significantly reduced, so make sure you have this, and make sure it’s presented and understood early on in the pitch.

Show your smarts.

Investors put their money down on people. As a representative and responsible person for your startup, they’re going to be looking to you to provide sensible judgment across a range of disciplines. You need to bring them confidence that your smarts are going to be a strength in your industry.

Can you demonstrate that you’re thinking outside of the box? Do you have a new algorithm or an unusually cost-effective way of grabbing clients? Show that you’re smart in more than one way and build trust in your pitch.

Understand your competitors.

This is a big one. Are you competitive and can you differentiate? Can your prospects solve their problem without you, and how easy is the solution to find? What are your competitors doing right and wrong, and how are you planning to stand apart from them?

Forcing your way into a saturated market might not be a very appealing idea to all of your investors, so make sure that whatever your approach is, you don’t give the impression you’re underestimating the competition. Make sure you show you’ve done your homework.

Go To Market (GTM)

Show that you’ve developed a focused, scalable go-to-market strategy. This means displaying the key attributes of customers or markets and how you’re planning to go after them. Explain in your pitch exactly why they’re important to your strategy and in which order are you going over these markets.

Projections.

No investor wants to see blind optimism. Even if you’ve explored the layers of your assumptions, pipeline, and conversion rates with deep scrutiny, a financial projection that’s too optimistic will still be a sign that you’re not taking things seriously.

And if you haven’t explored those layers in your pitch, nobody will believe your projection anyway. Forecast accurately, carefully describe, and figure out the assumptions, and know beforehand how to defend them. Fortunately for you, we’re experts at this part, check out our financial projection templates for more than 50 industries.

Find CPA Prepared Financial Projections for YOUR Industry Here:

Now we’ve got some of the dos let’s point out some of the don’ts.

Why a VC Says No

Another way to approach the pitch deck is to listen to the reasons VC investors turn people away. Alicia Syrett, CEO of Pantegrion Capital , suggests five reasons a VC investor may say no to your pitch.

The first thing to point out about VC investors is that they may say No to 99 out of 100 pitches that they’re presented with. Fielding thousands of pitches, they are faced with numerous options from countless entrepreneurs. In order to improve your chances of being in that 1%, consider the following reasons the rest fail:

Making rookie mistakes . For example, pitches that show the founders haven’t done their homework are a quick way to lose VC interest. Research your investor and make sure you’re targeting the right person. Trying to pitch to anyone you can get a meeting with will just waste your time and theirs.

Then there’s also the importance of timing – don’t hound an investor when they’re on holiday or in the middle of lunch. Basic principles of human decency apply here, and surprisingly, numerous pitches fail from a lack of it.

Character .

Investors value people with integrity. Fakes and cartoonish salespeople are not going to convince a lender you’re genuine. Honesty is important; don’t be weird or act shady with NDAs right off the bat – it spreads an atmosphere of distrust.

Show that they’re investing in what they want to see happen . This means don’t think about giving yourself an inflated salary with their money; make it clear that you’re going to put it into your project.

Fit matters. Don’t only focus on the money – say how they can contribute in other ways. Respond quickly and with quality, and make sure you’re not difficult to work with.

Make investors excited, share your enthusiasm, and point out ways in which you want the person as well as their capital. Pay attention to what they bring to the table with their networks and expertise.

Business basics .

You need your fundamentals to be strong. Don’t focus on small or highly-competitive markets, come into the pitch with something that competitors can’t easily replicate. Know your financials; profitability, gross, etc., and be able to hold a conversation about them.

You don’t need to be as experienced as your investor, so don’t try to pretend you are – but make sure you know what you’re talking about.

Investors also make mistakes. You may get everything right, form the perfect pitch deck, and they still just aren’t in the mood. This is normal, and if you’re faced with a No at every attempt, use it as a learning opportunity.

Keep it Short

With a rise in VC interest in recent years, investors are assessing more pitch decks than usual. This means they have a lot of options, and they’re eager to shop around. Consequently, the need to be concise and efficient when pushing through your message has never been more important.

While some of the most famous pitch decks were 30+ slides and over 15 minutes long, these are outliers from a different time. Typically, a pitch deck should take no more than five to ten minutes to get through. Ideally, closer to 3.5 minutes, and with the recent increase in interest, it’s possible to cut that back even more to under 2 minutes.

However, there are numerous exceptions and drawbacks to doing this (as you’ll see below) and these times will differ depending on whom you’re pitching to and what kind of project you’re running. So, the timings aren’t set in stone, but keep in mind that anything over 15 minutes or under 2 minutes may be entering the red zones of what is likely to be effective.

If you find you want to go for a short deck, this also doesn’t mean you have to cram in the same information; instead, think of the pitch as a trailer for your service. It doesn’t need to be comprehensive – it just needs to be an engaging demonstration to your investors. If there is a place you can use a visual to better demonstrate with fewer words consider making some compelling data visualizations. We’ve got a guide to help you decide which charts are most effective and how to make them.

This may seem like a daunting task, but if you have done the homework needed of you, it shouldn’t take too long to demonstrate you know your stuff.

Putting it all Together

With all this information understood and your fundamentals and research well established, it’s time to build your venture capital pitch deck. Here’s a general template for a ten-slide VC pitch deck that will cover the basics for most people’s needs. While you can add slides to this template, this could be considered the bare bones of a pitch, so think twice before taking ant out!

Cover slide

Keep all these slides as concise as you can make them, but particularly let the cover just be a place for your company name, logo, and contact details. This might be the most important slide to create an initial, tasteful impression.

Pain point

Now you get into the philosophy of your project. There’s a problem, and you’re here to fix it. Clearly state and show understanding of the problem in this slide, but save the solution for the next one.

Your solution

This is where you offer the details of exactly how you’re addressing the customers’ pain points; what your product or service does, and how that helps settle the problem.

Market size

Now you’re going to show you’ve done your homework. Show you’ve thoroughly studied your market here. Use graphics and eye-catching statistics.

Business model

And this explains your approach to reaching that market, as well as how that market will bring you revenue.

How are you going to grow? This is where you’re going to identify your marketing strategies, your sales team, and any creative approaches or tried-and-tested methods of your go-to-market plan.

Competition analysis

How are your customers currently dealing with their pain points? Show your competition. Competitors may be a hindrance to your business, but they mean that there’s a market for what you’re offering, which can be an appealing concept to investors

Who are you, and what are your skills? This slide can be kept for the end, but it’s sometimes better to leave something for the investors to ruminate on for the lingering final slide, while you field questions after the pitch.

Financial Projections

What do you envision for the financial future of the company? Forecasts for revenue, high-level spend, burn, and KPIs like customer count should be put in here. It’s fine to add an appendix for more detailed financial reports if you have plenty to offer; keep the slides relatively simple though.

This slide should use easily-absorbed visuals to present your data. The importance of financial projection in your pitch deck in the demonstration of an investible company in the next stage. Funders will want to know that someone will be helping your company grow in the future because that improves their ROI; so it needs to have a solid financial foundation and a good outlook reflected in the projections.

For help with financial statements and forecasts, it’s a good idea to use a template, such as the ones we have here at Projection Hub . These can take the hassle out of the forecasting process and impart a professional style to your documents that could well improve your chances at the pitch.

For this section, put a short overview of your pitch, including how much money you’re looking for and what your traction is. If you have other investors interested, this is the time to add that information as it will be more attractive to VC investors if someone has already taken the leap.

Use diagrams to show where the money will go and keep the page neat and appealing. This will be the last slide your investors see and may well be sitting up on the screen for a while after the pitch, so keep that in mind!

Still not sure how to go about it? Let’s take a look at some of the most famous pitch deck examples and find out what made them so successful.

Perfect Pitch Deck Examples

This is possibly the most famous pitch deck and makes use of very concise slides with very little text on them, summarizing their intentions with graphics and tastefully arranged statistics. They follow a pitch deck format of 14 slides and have a relatively long pitch of 10 to 12 minutes.

Uber had a colossal 25 slides in their successful pitch deck. One of the ways they made this successful is by changing the slide design throughout the deck, which helps to keep people interested during what could otherwise be a tedious expedition into the company’s inner workings.

This length of the pitch is still a bold move, but the benefits are in creating a pitch deck that contains almost everything there needs to be known about your business.

Guy Kawasaki

This is a great example of how the 10-slide method can be effective. This short and sweet deck cuts to the chase. Guy is a proponent of the 10/20/30 rule, claiming a pitch should have no more than ten slides, last no longer than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than 30 points.

These examples are of pitch decks that worked. However, focusing on the design of the slides may give the impression that VC investors are simply looking for a pretty slide show. In reality, these entrepreneurs had something powerful to offer, and that’s why they got selected.

Still, presenting the information in a digestible way and in the right order makes a big difference to how many people you’re going to find to pay attention to your pitch in the first place, so the importance of a well-planned VC pitch deck shouldn’t be overlooked.

About the Author

Adam is the Co-founder of ProjectionHub which helps entrepreneurs create financial projections for potential investors, lenders and internal business planning. Since 2012, over 40,000 entrepreneurs from around the world have used ProjectionHub to help create financial projections.

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18 Pitch Deck Examples for Any Startup

What Should You Include in a Pitch Deck?

Often overlooked but one of the most important elements of fundraising, the pitch deck can change the trajectory of your company’s growth journey. Every startup that aspires to be the next Facebook, Slack, or Salesforce has to start from the beginning. The pitch deck is a key component when fundraising and growing your company that sets the path, the evolution your startup will take.

From Seed to Series C and beyond, the fundamentals of a pitch deck are critical to understand and execute. An investor pitch deck allows you to tell the story, paint the vision, highlight the wins, and articulate the possible. However, if done poorly, a pitch deck can tell the wrong story or simply not tell a compelling enough story to turn the funds necessary for accelerated growth.

Great companies like Front, LinkedIn, Mixpanel and more have publicly shared their pitch decks, making great pitch decks accessible to all founders. However, with all of the investor pitch decks out there it can be hard to decipher which decks are worth the review, and what parts of a pitch deck from various leading companies are most important to tune into. Our team has gathered a list of best in class examples to review. These sample decks are a great starting point when building out your own pitch decks that will hopefully take your startup from seed to Series C.

Before diving into our best-in-class investor pitch deck examples, it’s critical to understand what exactly a great pitch deck should include. The best pitch decks include company purpose, the problem, the solution, market size and opportunity, competition, product, business model, team, and financials, and key metrics. Every part of the pitch deck should be information you already know and have built out for your business.

Breaking it down into these subsets of information paints the picture and tells the story of your company to an investor who may only have 30 minutes with you to understand the possibility and potential of their investment. Articulating each component clearly is mission-critical. Share the potential, what’s truly possible if your startup were to reach unicorn, even double unicorn status? From there, ground the vision in facts and back it up with the credibility of the team and execution up until this investor pitch.

Company Purpose

As a startup founder or leader, you’re living and breathing the Company’s Purpose each and every day. Articulating that purpose may be a bit easier said than done. A company’s purpose is so much bigger than what your product does, the problem you solve, or the technicalities of how your solution solves that problem. A company’s purpose is all about who you are as a company and the “why”, why you exist. A company’s purpose should drive a company’s leaderships decisions and actions, serving as a north star for the direction of the company.

If possible, sum up your company’s purpose into a single sentence. This sentence is the anchor point of your pitch deck and serves the jumping-off point for the story you will tell. If the company’s purpose cannot be clearly articulated or understood, there is a bigger problem at hand. Company purpose should be clear and concise before pitching to venture capitalists, much less putting down ideas in Powerpoint or Keynote. Start with the company’s purpose and expand from there.

The problem refers to the challenge or issue in a particular market, the market that your startup fits into and serves. The problem should be painted as clearly as possible, setting up the volume of that problem and prevalence of that problem. If your startup serves an industry that is niche or something your potential investor has maybe never invested in before, make sure to articulate the scope of that problem within the realm of that space, or even compare it to something more well known like the problems marketers face that ABM solves or remote work connectivity issues that both Zoom and Slack address.

After clearly articulating the problem that your company solves, now it’s time to talk through how your startup is the perfect solution for that problem. Treat this section like the big reveal in a sales demo, you’ve teased out the possibility and related to the pains, now walk through how specifically your startup is the solution. What does your product do from a high-level perspective, and then how does it actually work? This is a great time to walk through the product at a high level, talk about the features, methodology, and functionality your startup product or service has that address said the problem in a unique way. The goal of sharing your solution is to sell the fact that your startup’s solution for the problem you shared is the best solution that exists for that problem today.

Market Size and Opportunity

Now that you’ve articulated that your startup’s solution is the best to solve the problem that exists today and your company’s purpose is a clear and concise vision driving that solution’s success, it’s critical to paint the picture and show the scale of the problem that exists today. Outlining the market size and opportunity for your startup solution to penetrate shows investors just how much profit is possible.

Large markets are always a good thing, but if your total addressable market, or TAM, is on the smaller side, showcasing how untapped that TAM is in the space your startup exists or how large the spend opportunity is within that tight TAM showcase the financial potential for the investor as well. Showcase exactly how many businesses or people today could benefit from the solution you provide, how many people or businesses are experiencing the problem you articulated today. From there, lay out how much of that market is already solving that problem either with your business or competitors. The untouched or even competitor occupied part of your TAM showcases the opportunity for growth, expansion, and ultimately profitability to the investor.

Competition

Competition is a part of most industries today. The investors and venture capitalists you are pitching to will want to understand who the competitors in your space are and how they are different than your business and how you will approach or are approaching your market because of these competitors. Be sure to outline all of the current competition as it exists today, outlining what these companies do, how they do it differently than you, and how much of the market share they currently occupy. It can also be helpful to share a plan of attack into how you will differentiate and approach the competition of your space.

Don’t shy away from talking through the competitive landscape of your business, competitors are actually validating because it shows that the market is hot and there is demand for a solution for problems in that space. If there aren’t any competitors today or very few, talk through that as well. Talk through how you will approach breaking into a new space and building a category. Every category needs a trailblazer so if you have articulated the problem and solution in a clear way alongside a compelling market and opportunity landscape, a lack of competition should be understood as well.

Although you’ve already touched on the product in your solution, how your product is different at a high level, and even the high-level functionality, be sure to include a detailed product section of your investor pitch deck. This product session is key for diving a layer deeper into how your product works, possibly even sharing some proprietary information (with an NDA signed of course) that differentiates you from the competitors even more. A light demo or live look at the product is a great option in this section of your presentation as well.

Business Model

After seeing the market potential and the amazing problem your startup solves, your potential investors are going to want to see your business model aka how you are currently making money or planning to make money in the future. Your business model should include your Go-to-market plan, how you will acquire customers, and how you will sell and price your product.

Your business model should also include how you plan to retain customers and maintain recurring revenue. It’s important to highlight if you are a product-led growth company, letting potential users convert from a free trial for example. Or, if you will build out a traditional sales and marketing funnel to drive leads to convert to business. Whatever the type of customer acquisition, make sure to detail that in your business model. Additionally, make sure to highlight what type of revenue model you have in place. Maybe you have a SaaS business, then make sure to include if you operate on annual, quarterly, or monthly fees revenue from customers. If your startup product is a one-time purchase, highlight how that becomes a repeatable purchase. Talk through your success team and plans for retaining customers.

Related Resource: Top VCs Investing in the $100 Billion Creator Economy

Don’t forget to highlight your experience as a founder and the rest of your team’s experience and success. Presenting the team is a great way to foster relationships with your investors, to ensure they know they are investing not only in a great idea and product but a great team of smart individuals that they can count on to drive that business forward.

Financials and Key Metrics

Whether your company is in stealth mode or has been operating for years, full transparency with your financials and key metrics for success is critical to include in your pitch deck. It’s critical to share two major financial metrics. First, share how much money your company is currently making in profit each year. Next, be sure to share the amount of money you have previously raised, if any. This helps your potential investors understand how much of the company they would potentially be acquiring with an investment.

Cash runway is critical to share as well, how much money is left in the bank and how long could the company continue on at their current earning pace. In addition to financials, be sure to share key metrics such as customer retention rate, the conversion rate from your sales team, and month over month and year over year growth to date. All of these metrics provide a clear picture of your company so they can make an informed investment decision and structure a fair investment offer.

After working through the aspects that you should include in a pitch deck, it’s helpful to reference some best-in-class examples as you pull together your Keynote or PowerPoint deck. Read on for 18 of the best pitch deck examples and a breakdown of why they work.

Related Resource: Important Startup Financials to Win Investors

Best Pitch Deck Examples To Take You From Seed to Series C

The Visible Team has taken the time to find 20 of the best pitch deck examples for your reference. These 18 pitch decks work, and we’ve shared our take as to why.

Front – Series A

Front is the leader in customer communication that brings teams together to offer tailor-made service at scale. They used this deck for their Series A , and ended up raising $10M with Social Capital, Stewart Butterfield and a few others. The Front team did a great job outlining the problem, solution and market opportunity.

LinkedIn Series B

LinkedIn is a professional networking site that allows its members to create business connections, search jobs, and find potential clients. Their Series B, back in 2004, is an oldie but a goodie. It does a great job laying out the consumer internet landscape and the market size and opportunity of online professional networking. Check out an additional recap of this deck here .

Related Reading: How to Pitch a Perfect Series B Round

Facebook’s Original Pitch Deck

Facebook is an online social networking service that enables its users to connect with friends and family. The original Facebook pitch deck is one of the most legendary pitch decks in the tech space. The main takeaway from Facebook’s pitch deck should be the use of solid data and key metrics. For a concept all about massive amounts of users, clear cut user engagement, growth path, and daily traffic were reported well and critical to the ultimately successful investments into Facebook.

Airbnb Original Pitch Deck

Airbnb or AirBed&Breakfast’s original pitch deck got them started on their successful trajectory to ultimately become the public company we all know and use today. Airbnb is an online community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book accommodations through mobile phones or the internet. This pitch deck is legendary for it’s hook, the story telling that captivated the audience and made them really care about the problem, solution, and possibility at hand.

Uber’s Original Pitch Deck

Uber, or UberCap as it was originally known, develops, markets, and operates a ride-sharing mobile application that allows consumers to submit a trip request. Their original pitch deck showcases the importance of keeping your investor pitch deck concise and to the point. The storytelling is engrained in facts and details not fluff.

Buffer Seed Round

The Buffer seed round pitch deck raised the company half a million dollars. Buffer is a social media management software for growing brands. Buffer gets a lot of credit for their ultra transparency, something they have continued today by releasing their salaries annually. This deck is a great example of that transparency by emphasizing their focus on profitability vs. growth even in the early days.

Sequoia Capital Pitch Deck Template

Sequoia Capital is a venture capital and private equity firm. They are passionate about enabling their portfolio companies to present best in class pitch decks. They have created a template, available for anyone, that they encourage their founders to use along with anyone presenting to their firm as well. Check out the template here .

Divvy Series A

Divvy is a platform that helps businesses manage payments and subscriptions, build strategic budgets, and eliminate expense reports. While Divvy’s storytelling could be better, they do a great job with slide length, word amount, and headers – their headers especially are noteworthy as they are much more captivating than most decks out there.

Buzzfeed First Pitch Deck

BuzzFeed is a cross-platform digital media company delivering news and entertainment content to a global audience. Their 2008 origin pitch deck is a great example for startup founders building out their business plan in their investor pitch deck. They break down their previous history (2 years at time of presentation) and how they are differentiating and making revenue in the digitization of news, a space that could feel overcrowded.

Mixpanel $65M Round

Mixpanel is an analytic platform that helps companies measure what matters, make decisions fast, and build better products through data. The Mixpanel team shared this pitch deck on their website. The cool thing about this deck is that the team is transparent that it might not be a fit for all products. This is also a great deck that emphasizes a connected story. C heck out the Mixpanel deck example here.

Guy Kawasaki Pitch Deck

Guy Kawasaki is an American marketing specialist, author, and Silicon Valley venture capitalist. His pitch deck template is legendary. His philosophy is that your slide deck should have 10 slides . No more, no less. Consider his template and the 10/20/30 rule as your building out your pitch deck.

Canva Seed Deck

Canva is an online design and publishing platform that provides user-friendly design tools for non-designers. The Canva Seed deck is a great example. The Canva seed deck story is all about iteration. They had over 4 rounds of decks for their seed investment (all that they presented) but they didn’t stay satisfied with their first or second copy. They took feedback and kept perfecting, a great testament in iteration and learning from each time you present.

Mint Pre-Launch Pitch Deck

Mint aggregates all your financial life in one, easy-to-understand platform. Pre-launch, Mint put together this pitch deck. The Mint deck is a great example of quality content winning the day over average, standard design. The quality and content of what Mint had to offer stood out. This deck is a good reminder that you can’t hide a bad business behind great design but you can have a great business without a perfectly designed slide deck.

Slidebean Demo Day Pitch Deck

Slidebean is an online platform that designs and creates presentations on demand with user provided content. Because Slidebean is a presentation platform, the pitch deck itself is a way to show off the product. Slidebean has a unique product story to tell in that way. Check out their demo day pitch deck to get a flow for how a different story can be told when focusing on the product vs. engaging investors.

TikTok Pitch Deck

TikTok is a short-video sharing app and social network platform that develops a lip-syncing video application to create videos. Breaking barriers is what TikTok is all about and it’s pitch deck is no different. This Pitch Deck is a great example of pitching whats possible and even category creation / repositioning a company outside of whats expected. TikTok is on the surface a video-sharing app, but they pitched themselves as a commerce driver. This deck was hard to find a lot of visuals for, but you can read more about it in Business Insider here.

Intercom First Pitch Deck

Intercom is a Conversational Relationship Platform helping businesses build customer relationships through personalized, messenger-based experiences. Intercom’s first pitch deck was short and sweet (only 8 slides) but this simplicity helped keep the vision extremely clear.

Oomf Seed Deck

Oomf is a software platform enabling the sharing economy. Oomf’s seed deck raised the company 2M. This company was incredibly small when they raised their seed. This deck is a prime example of combining compelling data with great design.

High Alpha Pitch Deck Model

High Alpha creates and funds companies through a new model for entrepreneurship that unites company building and venture capital. While this example is not a direct pitch deck example, High Alpha is a venture studio known for its hyper-focus on design. Their guide on “ how to make a perfect pitch deck ” is extremely helpful when taking all the insights you’ve absorbed about what you should include in your pitch deck and then distilling it down into a great design.

Related Resource: Check out our free guide and downloadable template, Our Favorite Seed Round Pitch Deck Template (and Why It Works)

Key Takeaways: Building a Better Pitch Deck

The examples above are a great starting point for your next pitch deck. The desgin of the decks may come in different shapes and sizes but they can all be boiled down to a few key points:

Consistency matter s — determine a desgin/theme and stick with it. Even it is not the most polished you want to keep things clean and professional.
Highlight the problem — all of the examples do a great job of highlighting their problem and how their solution will help address it.
Tell your story — every company is different. Use your deck to offer a unique perspective and tell your company’s story.
Listen and tweak — chances are you will get a great deal of feedback on your deck. Continue to listen to the feedback and tweak/change your message when needed.

Related Resource: Pitch Deck Design Cost Breakdown + Options

Use Visible for Your Next Raise

Advice from these 18 startups and venture capital firms is a great jumping off point as you start building your pitch deck in Powerpoint or Keynote. Looking to continue diving into the world of pitch decks? Check out our startup pitch deck templates as a starting point for building your own. Each template can be downloaded in a variety of formats to fit your desired tech stack or presentation tool.

Download report: →

Arthur Le Boudec

How to create a winning corporate venture pitch deck in 9 proven steps..

A step-by-step roadmap so you can build your own irresistible corporate venture pitch deck.

As a corporate innovator, you’re most likely familiar with the concept of corporate venturing and its potential as a tool to accelerate growth and create new revenue streams. Having the freedom and resources to bring a promising new concept to life and scaling it into a thriving independent business is the stuff of entrepreneurial dreams. However, before you can get the ball rolling, you’re going to need internal board or stakeholder approval.

That’s where your winning corporate venture pitch comes in.

The right pitch deck can help you convey the potential of your new product or service, create engagement and get internal leadership excited enough to greenlight your project. This is no easy feat, considering that most corporate boards and stakeholders:

Listen to pitches all the time, and won’t be easy to impress
Are aware that new concepts like yours are a risky investment
Like direct returns, making visionary, radical concepts harder to pitch

The trick is to create a pitch deck that can communicate complex strategic plans, technical information and research in a structured, visual and easy-to-understand way. It also has to contain the key data points your board and stakeholders will be looking for. Having successfully pitched numerous corporate ventures through the years, we’ve leveraged our insights to create this practical corporate venture pitch deck guide and template .

Our goal is to provide you with a step-by-step roadmap so you can build your own irresistible pitch deck - and hopefully get the approval you need to take your venture to the next level.

Let's kick things off with a bit of context.

A practical guide and template to create a winning corporate venture pitch.

What’s the purpose of a corporate venture pitch deck?

Before you get started on your new corporate venture pitch deck, it’s important to establish a clear purpose. In short:

To convey the strength of your concept
To gain the trust of your board or stakeholders

Most people think pitching a new concept or initiative is about creating a five-year business plan and presenting detailed financial figures on revenue, profits and cash flow. While this information is indeed imperative, gaining the trust and confidence of the people you’re presenting to is just as important. That means every fact or figure presented on your pitch deck should be thoroughly validated and backed by reliable data.

A tricky endeavour since most early-stage ventures tend to bring about more questions than answers.

The best way to get around this challenge is to put in the work beforehand, ensuring that:

You’ve done some initial testing to validate your concept
You’ve thoroughly analysed the results
You’re reporting them clearly and visually in your pitch

Having positive projections that you can easily back with detailed data will go a long way in helping you create the interest and trust you need to move your venture forward.

Now let’s get started on those nine steps! Remember that the descriptions below are meant to serve as an introduction to each of the steps, with more detailed information presented in our corporate venture pitch template.

What should be included in a pitch deck?

Step 1. clearly state the problem.

If your value proposition (VP) isn’t solving a problem, meeting a need or alleviating a customer pain point - it’s probably time to re-evaluate. The more need there is for your offering, the stronger your case will be. Think of it this way: Would you rather invest in a vitamin or a painkiller ?

Boards and stakeholders love offerings that solve real and present customer problems, and this is the section in your deck where you’ll describe the one you’re going to solve. Here’s a quick checklist of the points you should cover:

Explain the problem and its opportunities.
Describe your target audience and their size group in the market.
Specify your customer pain points, their impact and how they will evolve in the future.
Illustrate the strategic importance of seizing the opportunity now rather than later.

Make your narrative as story-like and relatable as possible. The more your investors can relate and understand the issue, the more likely they are to support your solution.

Step 2. Describe your solution

Having thoroughly described your problem and hopefully gotten your audience to empathise with it, it’s time to introduce the hero of the story - your solution. This is the part of the deck where you describe how customers will use your product or service and the improvements it will bring to their lives. Make sure you cover the following points in this section:

- Talk about the value your solution creates (e.g., What’s your VP?)

- Provide a solid overview of the concept, including:

The unique selling proposition (USP)
The key features

- Define the concept’s benefits, linking back to the pain points it alleviates

- Present your customer journey (e.g., How does the concept work?)

If there’s a place in your deck where you want to start bringing on the visuals, it’s here. Use pictures and images to bring your story to life - remember, an image can speak a thousand words.

Step 3. Demonstrate why your product is desirable

This is the part in your deck where all that tireless validation work you did beforehand is really going to pay off. It’s your chance to show the board and stakeholders how much your target audience likes and needs your product or service. Here are some of the points you should cover:

- What assumptions did you test and why

- The experiments you used, including:

The type of experiments (e.g., smoke tests, interviews, surveys)
How they were set up
The number of respondents/participants you worked with

- The key insights you gathered during the process

Communicating your validation results can be a complex endeavour with all the data and numbers. Make it as clear and easy to understand as possible with charts, graphs and to-the-point conclusions.

Step 4. Show that your offering is feasible

This is the part in your pitch deck where you assure your audience that you can make the venture happen and tell them how you’re going to do it. Make sure to detail how you plan to leverage both your internal and external capabilities in all areas, including:

Customer service

Networks and partnerships also count, so don’t forget to mention them and explain how they can help elevate your efforts. On the flip side, it’s just as important to address any technical or operational gaps and provide a clear explanation of how you’re planning to overcome them.

Step 5. Show that your product is viable

Now that you’ve shown your concept is both desirable and feasible, you’re ready to talk about viability. This is the part of your deck where you show your concept is profitable by explaining your business model and how it will create revenue. Here are a few tips on how to do it:

Use TAM SAM and SOM to visualise your market opportunity
Show your projected three to five-year revenue
Present any expected losses

Lastly, make sure to clearly illustrate any investments you’ll need along the way and tie them to specific growth milestones.

Step 6. Showcase your go-to-market strategy (GTM)

In this part of your pitch deck, you’ll be outlining a detailed, step-by-step plan to succeed in your new market with your new customers. It’s basically a roadmap showing your audience how you plan to conquer the market and how you plan to measure your success. Here are just a few of the questions you should cover in this section:

How will you reach your first 100 customers?
How will you achieve that goal (e.g. partnerships, campaigns, digital marketing, etc.)?
Once you’re there, what’s the next milestone?
When will you be ready to scale, and how will you do it?

Step 7. Proclaim your ‘right to win’

This is the part in your pitch where you tell your audience how your offering is different from the others in the market. In other words, what assets, unfair advantages or secret weapons will place you ahead of the competition. Here are some of the questions you should answer in this section:

What is your current market landscape like?
Who are your competitors?
What gives you a competitive edge?
How will your unfair advantage evolve in the future?

In a business landscape that is often saturated with competitors, having strong differentiating factors can help create the interest you need to move forward.

Step 8. Provide a clear roadmap for success

Now that you’ve covered most of your bases, it’s time to bring it all together to create a final strategic roadmap. The goal? To answer the question: How will we tackle development and growth in the future? Here are just some of the things you should do in this part of your pitch deck:

Visualise each stage in your venture’s development, from start to finish
Indicate who is involved in each stage and the roles they’ll play
Estimate how much FTE time you’ll need for each stage

Make sure to include detailed information outlining any additional resources you might need to meet your targets at each stage of development.

Step 9. Present your ‘ask’

Now for the most important part of your pitch, the part you’ve been building up to this whole time: The ask. This is the part in your pitch deck where you tell the board and/or stakeholders what you exactly need to make your venture work, e.g. funding, resources, infrastructure, partnerships, etc.

Make your ask as clear and concise as possible, and try to formulate it in a way that gets you a straightforward, yes or no answer.

Final thoughts

Like most business processes, there is no one foolproof way to pitch a new project that will guarantee a win. Every company is different, with its own success metrics and approach to approving new ventures for development. There are, however, certain factors that are common to every successful pitch:

A product that solves a real problem
Straightforward, concise and visualised content
A good story to bring it all together
A clear ask that ties directly into milestones, growth and return on investment (ROI)

Following the steps above will ensure that you cover all your bases in a detailed structured way - enabling you to engage your audience and shape the conversation for success from the start.

If you’re thinking about pitching your own corporate venture concept in the near future be sure to check out our pitch deck template–download button below. It’s the perfect way to kick start your journey!

‍ Are you a corporate entrepreneur looking pitch to your leadership? We can help you create a an irresistible pitch deck that leverages your unique assets to expand your market share, gain a competitive edge and create new revenue streams.

The proven pitch deck template.

Get access to the only corporate venture database in the world.

Looking for insights and inspiration for your next venture track? See who's changing the game and explore this ever-expanding database.

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33 Legendary Startup Pitch Decks and What You Can Learn From Them [+10 Free Templates]

A startup pitch deck is a brief presentation that provides investors with an overview of your new business and/or startup idea through presentation slides.

It usually focuses on showcasing your product, sharing your business model, giving a look into your monetization strategy, and introducing your team.

A startup pitch deck is an essential fundraising tool for successful startups, whether you’re looking to raise funding from $50,000, $500,000, or $50 million. However, an investor pitch deck is just one of the best pitch decks and examples we will share below.

best startup pitch deck examples for potential investors

Despite the brevity of the successful startup pitch decks, which usually run for 10 slides or less, creating a pitch deck that wins investment is not an easy task.

What Does a Successful Startup Pitch Deck Cover?

A great pitch deck covers key points through visuals and bullet points and usually has a competition slide, a problem slide, and a solution slide to explain your offering and the market.

Additionally, a business model slide and a team slide (if your business is developed enough to present these) can turn a good deck into a great startup pitch deck.

Don’t forget, a simple pitch deck is a good pitch deck—and you’re about to learn how to nail it.

best startup pitch decks, seed decks and more for potential investors and business presentations for your startup

In This Legendary Startup Pitch Deck Article You Will Find:

Examples of 33 successful pitch decks
Takeaways that you can apply when creating your own startup pitch deck
Editable templates of 10 pitch decks that you can use for free

Looking for a winning pitch deck template ASAP to present in front of potential investors? Try our free template created in collaboration with HighSpark – an agency that has helped more than 500 startups raise cumulatively over $80 million in funding.

piktochart highspark, investment pitch template

Here is the list of 33 of the best startup pitch deck examples that we will go through:

ZenPayRoll (Now Gusto)
Wealthsimple
AppVirality
Shape Integrated Software
Ooomf (now Crew)
Sequoia Capital

These startup pitch deck examples were created by top brands in tech. At the time, they were all small startups (seed stage companies) looking to raise money or venture capital through potential investors and grow their businesses. Sound familiar?!

We hope that their business idea and investor pitch decks will inspire you (and of course, potential investors).

If you are more of a visual learner than a reader type, you can watch a video summary of the first 10 startup pitch deck examples mentioned in this blog post:

Alternatively, if you’re ready to create your own pitch deck, we’ve added some startup pitch deck examples and pitch deck templates to the bottom of this article. You can go straight to them by clicking here . Or get access to Piktochart’s online design tool by signing up for a free account and choosing a presentation template to get started easily.

From behemoths like Facebook and YouTube to superstars like Buffer, together these startups have raised millions of dollars and are now worth billions!

It’s time to see how they did it.

33 Legendary Startup Pitch Deck Examples

1. facebook pitch deck.

Here’s a fun fact: Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist, and entrepreneur, was the first outside investor in Facebook back in 2004. That’s when Mark Zuckerberg first set out to turn his dorm room project into a lasting business. Zuckerberg received $500,000 from Peter Thiel.

Facebook’s pitch deck was more of a media kit of sorts. It was containing the company’s value proposition, key metrics, and marketing services that were used to sell ads to potential clients.

Favorite takeaway : The focus of the startup pitch deck was based on solid numbers such as user engagement, traffic, and growth trajectory.

2. Airbnb pitch deck

Airbnb is a platform that allows people to list, find, and rent lodging.

This company is one of the greatest startup success stories of our time.

The now famous Airbnb pitch deck has become one of the best pitch decks for inspiring entrepreneurs around the world.

airbnb's pitch deck, one of the best pitch deck examples

Favorite takeaway: The intro. It’s all about hooking your audience. You need to describe your business using as few words as possible. Imagine telling a 5-year-old what your business is about. If you can’t do that, it’s time to put some time into nailing it down.

3. Buffer pitch deck

Buffer is a social media scheduling platform that helps you schedule content for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

buffer pitch deck example, one of the best startup pitch decks

The almighty startup pitch deck that helped Buffer to raise half a million dollars gained popularity by becoming one of the first pitch decks openly shared online. The founder decided to put it up to help other startups to raise funds.

Favorite takeaway: Similar to Facebook, the deck was based on solid numbers from Buffer’s users (e.g., 800 users, $150,000 annual revenue run rate, etc.)

4. Square pitch deck

Square is a company that allows merchants to accept mobile credit card payments via a dongle.

Favorite takeaway : Social proof! It doesn’t hurt to promote the management team if they’ve been with Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, PayPal, and more. It shows that your management team’s experience is an armor to the company. This detailed startup pitch deck outlines Square’s business model and a simple financial model that portrays its annual revenue and five-year growth rate.

5. LinkedIn pitch deck

Founded in 2002, LinkedIn is the top business-oriented social networking platform.

The company’s pitch talks a great deal about company values, the power of networking, and how it’s different from other social networks out there.

Favorite takeaway : The deck also provides an extensive analogy to showcase to investors what LinkedIn is. For example, it talks about “Web 1.0” vs. “Web 2.0”: Alta Vista was “Search 1.0”, and Google was “Search 2.0”. The deck talks about how LinkedIn is “Networking for Businesses 2.0”.

6. Mint pitch deck

Mint is a personal financial services tool that helps people track their spending and find ways to save money.

mint pitch deck, example of best pitch deck for inspiration

This startup pitch deck example was used in a competition and was never used for raising money, but it’s still a powerful deck that startups can learn from.

Favorite takeaway : This simple deck provides a clear value proposition to customers and investors. The creators of this deck also understood that one of the key concerns of an investor is the exit mechanism of his or her investments. I love how the deck highlights a number of exit strategy options.

7. MapMe pitch deck

MapMe allows users to create universally accessible (i.e., on smartphones, tablets, and computers) maps of anywhere they want with no coding required.

This startup deck was used to raise $1 million in seed funding.

Social proof almost always works. The deck showed that the startup had over 20,000 unique visitors, 18,000 monthly alerts, and12 minutes average sessions on the site.

Favorite takeaway : The pitch deck has fewer than 13 slides but provides investors with knowledge of the traction the site got going viral on social media and its go-to-market strategy.

8. LaunchRock pitch deck

LaunchRock allows users to create landing pages and quickly get their startups known through social media, even before the launch of their full site.

launchrock pitch deck example from piktochart

Favorite takeaway : As a more creatively designed pitch deck example, this pitch deck had only 15 slides but showed how the product works and the different ways it can be used. They also utilize an analogy similar to what LinkedIn had in their decks.

9. Mixpanel pitch deck

Mixpanel is an advanced analytics platform for mobile and the web. They not only measure page views but also analyze the actions people take. This is the series-B startup pitch deck for Mixpanel that helped them raise over $65 million.

Favorite takeaway : This pitch deck example started off with a problem: people guessing their analytics. It followed up by providing its solution to that problem and, ultimately, its competitive advantage. One of the best pitch decks, this is a great example of showing the problem and solution.

10. Moz pitch deck

Moz started out as an SEO company but has pivoted to support marketers across all inbound marketing strategies.

This is the series-B startup pitch deck for Moz which they used to raise over $18 million. If you’re an established startup, this is a great example of an investor pitch deck, and you can follow this guide. The pitch deck is packed with information about the company since it was founded five years prior to this pitch.

Favorite takeaway : Because the company had already been in operation for five years, they were able to present an accurate estimated revenue, revenue run rate, average customer lifetime value, cost of paid acquisition, etc.

11. Buzzfeed pitch deck

We all have a love-and-hate relationship with Buzzfeed, don’t we? I’m sure you’ve stumbled on their pages or watched their videos before. As of today, BuzzFeed has managed to raise over $240 million in investor capital (another great example of an investor pitch deck).

buzzfeed best pitch deck for potential investors

Favorite takeaway : SOCIAL PROOF! It doesn’t hurt to start a pitch deck with big numbers the company has, like the millions of users visiting the website on a monthly basis and quotations from large organizations such as CNN.

12. YouTube pitch deck

YouTube was acquired by Google in 2006 for $1.6 billion. Like Facebook, this company doesn’t require any introduction. Unfortunately, this is not the original deck. This is YouTube’s pitch deck to Sequoia Capital (one of the most established VC investors who’s often regarded as one of the industry’s best), which was released through a legal proceeding.

Favorite takeaway : The company wanted to be the primary outlet for video content, and it succeeded in doing just that. It goes to show that if you know what your product can do, are able to show its potential, and build on the momentum gained through early investments to create that, then you can achieve its potential. If you’re aiming to build an investor pitch deck to land a VC like Sequoia Capital, this presentation slide deck is a great template for you!

13. Manpacks pitch deck

Manpacks is a platform that delivers men’s essentials such as underwear, razors, grooming, and other products.

The company raised $500,000 with this pitch deck.

Favorite takeaway : This deck stands out! They clearly understand who they are, and they stayed that way throughout the entire presentation. The startup pitch deck is filled with a fun tone that helps explain the product well.

14. Foursquare pitch deck

Foursquare is a mobile platform that helps you find the best places to go in your area.

Favorite takeaway : This pitch deck does a great job using screenshots of social proof that the app already has from its users sharing tweets of them being the ‘mayor’ of a particular area.

15. Flowtab pitch deck

Flowtab was an app that allowed people to order drinks quickly at a crowded bar. Despite shutting down, the founders still made an effort to help other startups.

Favorite takeaway : Simplicity. This pitch deck example does well explaining critical information like the problem, the solution, their business model, and traction. You can’t really go wrong with this pitch deck.

16. Dwolla pitch deck

Dwolla is a payment solution that allows users to send, receive, and request funds from other users. This 18-slide startup pitch deck landed the company $16.5 million.

Favorite takeaway : Most startups are founded because of a problem they faced, but not many people tell their story well through their pitch decks. In their slide deck, Dwolla shared a great story of how the founder paid $50,000 a year in credit card fees and then created a solution for never doing it again.

17. ZenPayRoll (Now Gusto) pitch deck

Gusto (previously ZenPayroll) is a cloud-based solution tool for small businesses to pay employees.

The company raised $6 million with this pitch deck.

Favorite takeaway : This isn’t just a startup pitch deck. It is a template that you can use and replicate easily by filling in the blanks.

18. Bliss pitch deck

Bliss provides metrics for coders and allows them to collaborate easily.

The company raised over $400,000 using Angel List.

Favorite takeaway : The pitch deck was well composed with a clear understanding of the product and the investors they were pitching to. This is one of the best pitch decks to use if you know your target market.

19. Adpushup pitch deck

Adpushup allows companies to maximize ad revenues through advanced A/B testing. They raised more than $632,000 in investments.

Favorite takeaway : This slide deck proves that going back to the basics works. This pitch deck has basic principles like a great introduction, an outline of problems, potential solutions, market opportunities, products, case studies, milestones, traction, and a future plan.

20. Wealthsimple pitch deck

Wealthsimple is Canada’s first online investment manager. They raised more than $2 million in seed funding with this slide deck.

Favorite takeaway : The startup pitch deck is sweet and short but effective. Our favorite part is the transformation of the industry, which is laid out in a table format.

21. AppVirality pitch deck

AppVirality allows app developers to grow their platforms using growth method techniques proven by other startups.

appvirality best pitch deck for potential investors

Favorite takeaway : Our favorite takeaway is how the flow of the pitch deck goes through the problem, the proven solution, and how it works within their app to their target market in multiple slides.

22. Shape Integrated Software pitch deck

Shape Integrated Software is budget management software that helps PPC analysts manage various budgets across different channels.

Favorite takeaway : When you have the traction to back your startup, use it. Shape clearly took advantage of it and presented it clearly in their pitch deck.

23. Podozi pitch deck

Podozi is an online e-commerce platform based in Nigeria.

Favorite takeaway : Most startup pitch decks work well when they’re short and sweet, in multiple slides, like Podozi’s. The best takeaway is the working partnership with large brands that this platform already has.

24. Fittr pitch deck

Fittr is a platform that designs custom workouts tailored to equipment, access, time management, and goals.

Favorite takeaway : As a user of this platform, we love the investment goals and the purpose of what the company is planning to use it for.

25. Swipes pitch deck

Swipes is a task manager app to help its users increase their productivity.

Favorite takeaway : One of their pages used social proof of quotations from The Next Web and Lifehacker. You can’t go wrong with that.

26. Canvas pitch deck

Canvas replaces paper-based processes with affordable and easy-to-use mobile apps and forms. They raised $9 million with these decks.

canvas best pitch deck for potential investors

Favorite takeaway : Instead of saying what they do, the second slide in their pitch deck shows how their startup helps businesses. No words are needed.

27. Ooomf (now Crew) pitch deck

Crew (formerly Ooomf & then PickCrew) is a freelancer marketplace that connects mobile and web developers with projects or work. This deck was used to raise over $2 million dollars.

Favorite takeaway : Well-designed with an easy-to-understand flow.

28. Cubeit pitch deck

Cubeit is a mobile application that allows users to aggregate content from anywhere. Cubeit used this 13-slide deck to raise seed funding before they even had a finished product.

Favorite takeaway : A strong introduction will get investors to pay attention. Their deck starts out with a clear message, which was that “owning more devices doesn’t make your life easier”. I can’t help but pay attention to how this company will help.

29. Castle pitch deck

Castle was a startup that let rental owners put their properties on autopilot. This was the deck Castle used to raise $270,000 for their startup.

Favorite takeaway : Great design and easy to digest.

30. Sequoia Capital pitch deck

Sequoia Capital is one of the leading investment firms in Silicon Valley. This deck is a template they recommend following.

sequoia capital best pitch deck for potential investors

Favorite takeaway : It’s like having the keys to the kingdom. You don’t have to guess what this investment giant is looking for. They tell you straight away.

31. Uber pitch deck

When Uber hit the scene, they fundamentally reimagined urban transportation. Their pitch deck tells this audacious story perfectly. Simple yet impactful, it illustrates the problem of expensive taxis and car services, then introduces Uber as the affordable, tech-driven solution.

They use stark data points to highlight the financial opportunity, a vital touch for potential investors.

As you create your pitch, remember Uber’s two key strengths: painting a clear problem-solution scenario and using compelling data to underscore their market potential. This strategy not only shows understanding of their market but also communicates their transformative vision effectively.

Favorite takeaway : The deck is clean and minimalist. The flow is easy to follow, and you get a clear idea of what’s the problem they’re trying to solve, and how they solve it.

32. WeWork pitch deck

WeWork’s pitch deck beautifully encapsulates its community-driven approach to shared workspaces.

They use visually appealing slides that mirror their innovative, modern brand. Their pitch deck deftly articulates the benefits of shared workspaces in today’s economy, setting the stage for their unique value proposition.

Favorite takeaway : what we do, who we do it for, why we do it; the deck walks you through their company vision with smart visuals and copy. We loved how they generated urgency by highlighting how co-working spaces were a fast-growing trend and investors could miss out on a profitable investment if they didn’t act quickly.

33. MatterMark pitch deck

MatterMark’s pitch deck is a testament to the power of storytelling. utilizing clean visuals to aid comprehension and coupled with succinct copy to keep the narrative engaging. The 30-slide deck earned the platform $6.5 million in seed A funding.

Favorite takeaway : Strong visual storytelling through the use of charts and graphs. In just a few moments, you can see where the majority of their revenue comes from compared to their other revenue streams.

Summary of Pitch Deck Template Takeaways

To sum up, a strong startup pitch deck not only serves to reinforce your brand to the target audience or investors, but shows your business plan and unique offering through the slides presented; using a problem slide, a solution slide, and a traction slide including concise bullet points.

The best startup pitch deck also shows off your company’s personality, through the inclusion of a team slide or similar in the next few slides, to be presented after your business plan is clearly outlined.

As your company grows, you’ll probably start thinking about the next stage of growth. You can use these successful pitch decks can as the foundation to make an investor deck for your next round of financing.

Look at the takeaways from these startup pitch decks as a guide to help you in your quest to raise funds and venture capital for your own startup for an investment round.

Here are some of the key takeaways from our pitch deck examples:

Pitch decks don’t have to be formal or beautiful.
A great pitch deck will provide an impactful intro or slogan.
Keep your deck short (less than 20 pages).
Use analogies to back up the points that you’re making.

After going through so many startup pitch deck examples, we recommend that to make your pitch presentation stand out you should:

Start with a strong intro/vision.
Show problems and offer solutions.
Identify market opportunities.
Showcase products/services clearly.
Digest your business model
Highlight financials
Add social proof/case studies.
Differentiate from competition.
Show an experienced management team.

Designing a strong pitch deck could turn your business idea into a reality after convincing investors to provide support financial support to your project.

If you’re looking for additional information, DocSend shared lessons they got learning from 200 startups who raised $360 million from their first pitch deck.

10 Pitch Deck Templates for You to Try

The following pitch decks are free templates available in Piktochart that you can use. This makes it easy to work on your slides without having to worry about design. We took care of that for you.

If you don’t have an account yet, just sign up for a free Piktochart account here and then click on one of the templates below.

To learn how the online pitch deck creator works, watch this on-demand demo .

1. Investment Pitch Deck Template With HighSpark

investment pitch deck, template highspark

2. Finance Pitch Deck Template

financial pitch deck template Piktochart

3. Business Pitch Deck Template

4. Startup Pitch Deck Examples

5. Tech Pitch Deck Examples

6. Business Keynote Template

7. Product Pitch Deck Template

8. Product Pitch Deck Template

9. App Product Presentation Template

10. Product Website Pitch Deck Template

product presentation template piktochart

How to Make a Presentation (2023 Guide With Tips & Templates)

How to Create an Infographic Syllabus With Piktochart (Plus Templates)

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Thirteen essential tips for pitching venture capitalists

Here’s everything startup founders need to know when preparing to pitch venture capitalists (VCs).

Introduction

Explain the opportunity in the first five minutes

Make your pitch interactive, avoid reading from your deck, make the meeting a mutual evaluation, brag about your team, be big, bold, and ambitious in your view of the future, be specific about your potential market, know who your competition is—and what sets you apart, admit what you don’t know, practice—a lot, speak clearly about money, keep your deck short and sweet, have other asks besides money.

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For startup founders, successfully pitching venture capitalists (VCs) can be a necessity for business growth. Venture capital is the primary financial driver behind startups in almost every industry and vertical.

In 2021, a record $329.6 billion in investments was raised across more than 17,000 deals. This was nearly double the record set the previous year, which represents the massive growth in volume of VC capital in the startup ecosystem. VC funding reached a peak of $70 billion in November 2021, but 2022 saw a downward trend in VC funding month over month. Like all aspects of the economy, conditions in the VC world are forever changing, and the trends governing venture capital are subject to countless variables.

Whether or not companies receive VC funding to operate and scale is highly dependent on what happens during pitch meetings. As a founder, your challenge is to convince investors that you and your business are an excellent investment.

Here are 13 best practices for approaching pitch meetings with VCs.

Don’t bury the lede. Within the first few minutes of your pitch, your audience should have a clear idea of what the opportunity is and how you plan to take advantage of it. You’ll have lots of time to get into the details during the rest of your pitch. If you can’t tell investors why you are seeking funding, what you’ll do with it, and why they should trust you to make their investment grow, you need to spend more time prepping your pitch.

Find natural points in your pitch to pause and ask questions like, “Is this all making sense?” or “Do you have any questions so far?” Give your audience a chance to chime in with questions as the pitch unfolds, even if the structure of the meeting allows for Q&A at the end.

Your deck is a visual aid to assist in your pitch—it is not the pitch itself. Investors are looking for proof that you really know your business and the market you’re addressing. Though it can feel counterintuitive, investors don’t need to see that you have an incredible deck, so avoid using your slides as a crutch in the meeting. For a deeper understanding of how to craft a successful pitch deck, see our guide on this topic.

Questions such as, “What type of relationship do you typically like to have with founders?” and “What are your biggest investment goals for this year?” make it clear that you are interested in more than someone willing to write a check. You should be looking for investors who genuinely align with your business and share your vision for working together.

VCs don’t just care about you, your ideas, and your market—they want to see that your team is capable of executing your vision. Talk up your people, and make the VCs in the room feel as excited about them as you are. As a founder, the ability to build and maintain a solid team is arguably the most important skill you can showcase to investors.

Being a founder means having a bold vision that’s grounded—not hindered—by practical decision-making. You can expect VCs to ask detailed questions about what you’re doing and how you plan to achieve your goals. What they might not ask about is the big picture. Be proactive and lay out your vision for the future, backed up with an actionable plan.

Your vision might be huge, but your understanding of the market opportunity must remain detailed and specific. Two of the worst things you can say in a VC pitch meeting are “Everyone is going to buy this” or “Our target market is everyone with a computer.” Saying you’re “going after everyone” means your plan is not fleshed out. And VCs will notice this. It’s important to show that you have thought through which segment of the total market is right for your company—and that you have a plan to capture it.

A competitive analysis is an important component of every pitch. If you don’t know who your competitors are, you probably won’t be able to compete against them effectively. Be prepared to speak from an informed position to VC audiences about your competitors.

There’s nothing wrong with answering a question by saying, “That’s a great question. Let me think about it and follow up with you.” VCs don’t expect you to have all the answers; it’s okay to let them see your thought process. This will lend you more credibility than attempting to answer every question on the spot, whether or not you are prepared.

Ideally, you should practice your pitch in front of people who have experience both giving and fielding investor pitches. However, your roommate, partner, relative, or friend will suffice. The key is to put in the necessary time, practicing your pitch out loud several times before taking any investor meetings.

You should know exactly how much money you’re trying to raise, what you’ll use it for, and what it will do for the business—and you need a very clear understanding of your business finances. Directly address the subject of money—nothing is more off-putting to VCs than a founder who is hesitant or unclear about the funding they need.

Don’t focus on creating the perfect 40-slide deck you spend three months preparing with a team of copywriters and designers. Keep it short and sweet—include only the key information you want investors to have on hand when they’re reviewing it after your presentation. More than 15 slides is probably too much detail for a pitch deck.

Money isn’t the only resource that investors can offer. Do your research on every individual investor you meet with, and decide what else they have that might be valuable to you. Could they introduce you to other companies in their portfolio that might be beneficial to your business? Is there someone in their network who could be a great mentor to you? Do they know someone you’ve always wanted to get coffee with? Do they run an annual conference that you could be a part of?

Avoid walking into a pitch meeting with a list of demands. Approach these meetings as if they are part of an ongoing relationship, rather than one-off transactions. Even if a particular VC doesn’t want to join your latest fundraising round, you might still walk away with something deeply meaningful and valuable.

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How Venture Capitalists Really Assess a Pitch

The surprising behaviors that can make a difference

Before Lakshmi Balachandra entered academia, she spent a few years working for two venture capital firms, where she routinely witnessed a phenomenon that mystified her. The VCs would receive a business plan from an entrepreneur, read it, and get excited. They’d do some research on the industry, and their enthusiasm would grow. So they’d invite the company founder in for a formal pitch meeting—and by the end of it they’d have absolutely no interest in making an investment. Why did a proposal that looked so promising on paper become a nonstarter when the person behind the plan actually pitched it? “That’s what led me to pursue a PhD,” says Balachandra, now an assistant professor at Babson College. “I wanted to break down and study the interaction between the VC and the entrepreneur.”

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Navigating the Pitch: Turning Your Business Plan into VC Gold

In the competitive realm of venture capital (VC), turning your business plan into a compelling pitch is the key to unlocking funding opportunities. A business plan is not merely a document; it’s a dynamic tool that, when presented effectively, can attract the attention and investment of venture capitalists. In this article, we explore strategies for navigating the pitch and transforming your business plan into VC gold.

1. Craft a Captivating Narrative: Your business plan should tell a story – one that captivates and engages your audience. Start with a compelling introduction that highlights the problem your business is solving and why it matters. Weave a narrative that takes VCs on a journey, emphasizing the uniqueness of your solution.

2. Know Your Audience: Tailor your pitch to resonate with the specific interests and priorities of your target VC audience. Research the venture capital firm and individual investors you are presenting to. Understanding their investment focus, industries of interest, and previous investments allows you to align your pitch with their expectations.

3. Emphasize the Problem-Solution Dynamics: The core of your pitch should revolve around the problem your business addresses and the innovative solution it offers. Clearly articulate the pain points in the market and position your product or service as the transformative solution. Emphasize the urgency and significance of the problem to capture attention.

4. Showcase Traction and Milestones: VCs are attracted to businesses with momentum. Highlight any existing traction, such as customer acquisitions, partnerships, or revenue growth. Clearly outline key milestones your business has achieved and those you aim to reach. Demonstrating progress builds confidence in your business’s potential for success.

5. Team Dynamics and Expertise: Your team is a critical factor in the investment decision. Showcase the expertise, skills, and track record of your team members. Emphasize how their collective strengths uniquely position your business for success. VCs invest in teams as much as they invest in ideas.

6. Interactive and Visual Elements: Make your pitch visually engaging. Incorporate visual elements, such as slides, infographics, and charts, to convey complex information concisely. An interactive presentation captures and sustains the attention of your audience.

7. Address Market Size and Opportunity: VCs are interested in markets with significant growth potential. Clearly articulate the size of your target market and the opportunities it presents. Illustrate how your business is poised to capture a meaningful share of this market, showcasing the scalability of your venture.

8. Financial Projections with Realism: Financial projections should strike a balance between ambition and realism. Clearly present revenue forecasts, growth trajectories, and profitability expectations. VCs scrutinize financial models to understand the business’s financial viability and potential returns on investment.

9. Anticipate and Address Questions: Be prepared to address questions proactively. Anticipate potential concerns or inquiries that VCs may have and incorporate these insights into your pitch. A well-prepared response demonstrates your thorough understanding of the business and the market.

10. End with a Strong Call to Action: Conclude your pitch with a compelling call to action. Clearly outline the next steps, whether it’s scheduling a follow-up meeting, providing additional information, or discussing terms. End on a confident note that invites further engagement.

In conclusion, transforming your business plan into VC gold involves mastering the art of the pitch. Craft a narrative that resonates, tailor your presentation to your audience, and highlight the strengths of your team and business. By effectively navigating the pitch, you increase the likelihood of turning your business plan into a successful venture capital investment.

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How To Approach a Venture Capitalist For Company Funding

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Approach Venture Capitalists to Invest in Your Company

When you’re starting a business, one of the biggest challenges is finding the money to get it off the ground. You may have considered seeking venture capital (VC) funding but don’t know where to start. This article will walk you through the process of approaching venture capitalists for funding.

Decide If a Venture Firm or VC Funding Is Right For You

Before you even bother to approach a venture capitalist, you need to decide if this type of funding is right for your business. There are many types of businesses that are venture-funded materials, not just software companies. Typically, VCs are looking to invest in companies that have the potential for high growth. They want to see a business with a large addressable market, a strong team, and a unique product or service. If your business doesn’t fit these criteria, you may want to look into other funding options, such as small business loans or crowdfunding.

Research Potential VCs & Network

There are hundreds of venture capitalists (VCs) and venture capital firms out there, so you need to do your homework to find the ones that may be a good fit for your business. Start by looking at VC firms that have invested in companies in your industry. Then, narrow down your list by looking at things like the size of investments they typically make and their investment stage preferences. You can also check out VC portfolio companies such as Crunchbase or PitchBook.

Although many entrepreneurs and firs time founders prefer a warm introduction there is nothing wrong with emailing, especially if they are not directly in your network. That being said, the best way to approach a VC is through a personal introduction. See if you have any mutual connections that can introduce you. If not, many first-time founders try attending industry events or conferences where VCs will be in attendance.

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Know How VCs Assess Companies

Before networking or pitching to a VC, entrepreneurs need to understand what most VCs want and how they assess companies. They are looking for a few key things:

A large addressable market: They want to see that your product or service has the potential to be used by a large number of people.
A strong founding team: Venture Capitalists invest in people as much as they do in ideas. They want to see that you have a strong team in place that has the skills and experience necessary to execute your plan.
A unique product or service: They want to see that you have a differentiated offering that can’t be easily replicated by your competitors.

Develop A Solid Venture Capital Business Plan & Create a Pitch Deck

Once you understand what VCs tend to look for, you need to develop a solid plan that addresses these key points. Most entrepreneurs’ plans include things like a company mission and vision, an executive summary, a market analysis, a competitive analysis, and your go-to-market strategy.

In addition to a business plan, you’ll also need to create a pitch deck to present to potential investors and VC partners. Your pitch deck should be around 10-20 slides and cover topics like problem/solution, the business’s initial approach, market opportunity, business model, founding team, and financials.

Prepare For Due Diligence & Get A Valuation

If a VC is interested in investing in your company, it will likely do a thorough due diligence process. This is when they will dig into your financials, your business model, your competitive landscape, and anything else that could potentially affect their investment. It’s important to be prepared for this process and have all of your documentation in order.

Getting a valuation is one of the most important aspects of raising venture capital. This is because it will determine how much equity you will have to give up in order to raise the money you need. There are a few different methods that VCs use to value companies, so it’s important to understand these before you start pitching to investors.

Common Methods to Value Companies

The venture capital method is typically used for early-stage companies that don’t have much revenue. This method values a company based on its potential future returns.
The discounted cash flow method is typically used for more established companies that have a history of revenue and cash flow. This method values a company based on its expected future cash flows.
The comparable companies method is typically used for public companies. This method values a company based on the valuation of similar companies in the market.

Knowing which method VCs will use to value your company will help you determine how much equity you will need to give up to raise the money you need.

Know Your Financials And Other Metrics

In addition to knowing your valuation, it’s also important to know your financials and other key metrics. This includes things like your burn rate, your churn rate, your customer acquisition costs, and your lifetime value of a customer. This information will be important when you are pitching to investors and negotiating your investment.

Rehearse Your Pitch

Once you have everything in order, it’s time to rehearse your pitch. This is where you will practice delivering your presentation to make sure that you are confident and polished when you meet with potential investors. Practicing will also help you memorize all the details so you can focus on delivering a great pitch.

You can practice your pitch with friends, family, or even VCs themselves. The more you practice, the better you will be at delivering your pitch and closing a deal.

Ask Them Questions

Finally, don’t forget to ask the VCs questions during your meeting. This shows that you are interested in their opinion and that you value their input, while also ensuring that the one you choose is the right VC for your startups. Asking questions also gives you an opportunity to get feedback on your business and see if there are any areas that you need to improve.

Some great questions to ask VCs include:

What companies have you invested in?
What kind of companies are you looking to invest in?
How much money do you usually invest?
What is your role in the companies you’ve invested in?

Pitching to VCs can be a daunting task, but it is necessary to get the funding you need to grow your business. By following these tips, you will be better prepared to approach VCs and close a deal.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you find vcs.

There are a few different ways to find VCs. You can search online, attend investor events, or network with other entrepreneurs.

What is the best way to approach a venture capitalist?

The best way to approach a venture capitalist is to be prepared before trying to raise money. This includes having a well-researched business plan, a solid pitch deck, and knowing your financials.

What do VCs look for in a company?

VCs look for companies with high growth potential. They also want to see a strong management team, a solid business model, and a market opportunity.

What is the difference between a venture capitalist and an angel investor?

An angel investor is typically an individual who invests their own money in a company. A venture capitalist is usually a firm that invests other people's money.

What is a valuation?

A valuation is a process of determining the worth of a company. This can be done using different methods, such as the discounted cash flow method or the comparable companies' method.

News & Analysis on Food & Beverage Development & Technology

Pitch perfection: Alt-protein founders share tips for securing funding at Future of Protein Production event

06-May-2024 - Last updated on 06-May-2024 at 14:41 GMT

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During the “Startups in Action: Life in the Trenches” session, founders from across the alternative-protein space gathered to share tips and lessons learned on securing funding despite the difficult economic environment.

‘Flip the pitch’ to focus on accomplishments, first-time founders might have to do more

Founders first and foremost need to establish credibility with investors, said Luiza Villela, founder of mushroom-based meat company unClassic. After finding investors would often question her expertise and knowledge of the alt-protein market, Villela changed her tactic to lead with her expertise in food science.

"I used to do a lot of pitch competitions, and you get on stage, and you have all these people looking at you and already judging you from the onset ... [I] start off with [saying] 'hi, I'm a food scientist. I have been in the space for seven years. I developed products for a living, and this is my product’” Villela said.

When seeking two rounds of venture-capital (VC) funding, alternative seafood company Aqua Cultured Foods found that it was crucial to not just talk about the market potential but to highlight the company's accomplishments and its talent, Brittany Chibe, the company’s co-founder and chief growth office explained.

From first-time founder pitching to saying no to VC

First-time founders and those who do not have a CPG background might also find a harder time securing the funding that they need to grow their business, noted Christie Lagally, CEO and founder at Rebellyous Foods. This often means that first-time founders will have to do extra work to get the attention of investors, she added.

“When you are a non-traditional founder, you just have to do more and do a lot more ... I am not talking about emails. I am talking about actually pitching in order to really find those diamonds in the rough that actually understand what you are doing, even if it is the most boring thing that people could think to talk about.”

Though many CPG startups rely on VC funds to grow their business, some founders rely more on angel investing — a high-net-worth individual who invests in exchange for brand equity — to grow a business, said Candice Choi, founder of seaweed snack brand Geem.

“I do not think VC funding is a good fit for CPG. Therefore, I think angel investing is probably — friends and family — the best way to go for CPG products, especially ones that do not have anything super proprietary about it,” Choi said.

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A sports startup for bettors and creators raised $3.7 million. Read 10 key pitch-deck slides it used to get seed funding.

Sports startup SoBet announced that it raised $3.7 million in seed funding.
The company built a platform for sports-betting content from short-video creators.
Below are 10 key slides founder Cooper Lycan used to pitch investors.

Sports-media startup SoBet is building a sports-betting community around content creators.

Its platform, which launched in June 2022, distributes exclusive short-form videos and other content from sports creators popular on social platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

The company announced on May 1 that it closed a $3.7 million seed round led by Third Kind Venture Capital to help grow the platform.

SoBet aims to set itself apart from other betting-content sites like the Action Network and VSIN by offering easily digestible and entertaining sports content for the next generation of sports gamblers, while giving content creators more ways to monetize their audiences.

"We like to call it the trusted creator network for sports-betting influencers," founder and CEO Cooper Lycan told Business Insider. "We've built a platform that looks and feels a lot like a social-media platform that houses exclusive content in the form of short-form writeups, short-form videos, etc. — all posted by sports-betting creators in the space."

The company is targeting 18-to-35-year-old casual bettors who may be relatively new to sports betting and want information to help them make bets. Lycan said they're people "looking to be responsible bettors at the end of the day and not trying to become degenerate gamblers."

He compared it to platforms like StockTwits for betting.

The company's next phase of growth is focused on building out the tech engine behind the platform to offer features that make it more transparent, like automatic bet-tracking leaderboards.

Lycan said the subscription-based platform, which charges $9.95 monthly for a base plan, has over 6,000 paying subscribers and more than 50 creators posting weekly.

Despite it being a relatively tough time for fundraising , Lycan said investors during the pitching process were drawn to the amount of user-generated content that influencers were producing on the platform, as well as metrics like growth in daily active users and revenue.

The company said it had more than $1 million in annual recurring revenue from subscriptions, and Lycan said it was targeting more than $2 million this year.

"The social betting nut is really tough to crack," Lycan said. "I don't think there have been a lot of companies that have gained the traction or the revenue as quickly as we have. So I think that's probably the most attractive part of our deal and why, ultimately, we were able to get people to back us."

SoBet shared 10 key slides from the pitch deck used to close its recent funding. The full deck, which was viewed by BI, also included slides with images of competitor websites and partners that the company did not have permission to share publicly, as well as financial and user-growth figures and a product road map that the company did not want to release.

Introducing SoBet

The company introduces its logo and app to investors and presents itself as a place to "elevate your betting game."

What is SoBet?

The deck describes SoBet as a platform for sports bettors and content creators.

Founder Lycan said the app was built to look and feel like a social-media platform with exclusive short-form write-ups and videos. The posts are created by sports-content creators with followings on other apps like Instagram.

The product was created to help sports bettors be more informed.

At the time of the pitch deck, SoBet said it delivered about 2,000 posts a month. That figure is now up to about 5,000 posts a month, the company said in a press release announcing the fundraise.

The platform aims to help gamblers be more informed when they place a bet, providing tools to track money lines live or compare bets. It also offers features for creators to grow and monetize their communities, such as the ability to launch VIP channels.

The growth of sports-betting creators on social media

The company said it has about 50 creators on its platform and more within its network.

It estimated an even larger and growing pool of more than 2,000 creators on other social platforms, such as TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram, that could be tapped.

SoBet says its user-friendly platform is a key differentiator.

The company describes how it sets itself apart from other sports-betting sites with content that is easy to use, entertaining, and from a curated selection of sports-betting creators.

Lycan said SoBet's target audience is 18-to-35-year-old sports bettors who are looking for a platform with transparency and information.

SoBet’s business model

SoBet charges users $9.95 a month to subscribe to its base plan with access to content from its more than 50 creators. The company then shares 60% of that revenue with its creators.

VIP channels with exclusive content from individual creators cost $25 a month, and 90% of that revenue is paid out to the creator.

SoBet touts its 50-plus creators.

The company said it had more than 50 creators with over 3 million daily views across platforms.

The deck highlights SoBet’s founder and key executives.

Lycan, the founder and CEO, was a former sports-betting analyst and US Army Ranger. SoBet's tech chief and head of growth also have backgrounds in tech, sports, and startups.

How SoBet plans to use the new funding.

SoBet breaks down how it plans to use its funding, including paying creators and staff and spending on marketing.

The pitch deck closes with the title slide from the beginning of the presentation.

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UK court sends government back to work on climate plan

By Lesley Clark | 05/06/2024 06:18 AM EDT

The plan relies on “vague and unquantified” data to set its carbon reduction goals, a judge said.

People take a break in London during a 2022 heat wave. Carl Court/Getty Images

The British government will once again need to revise its climate plans, following a court ruling that said officials relied on “vague and unquantified” information to set carbon reduction measures.

London’s High Court on Friday found the government’s plan unlawful, siding with three environmental organizations that last year sued the government over new carbon emissions targets under the nation’s 2008 Climate Change Act. U.K. officials set the limits after a 2022 court ruling found that the climate plan championed by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson was insufficient to meet the government’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

Friends of the Earth, ClientEarth and the Good Law Project had argued in court that the government failed to show how the goals of its new plan — enacted in 2023 under then-Secretary of State Grant Shapps — could be achieved.

The decision to approve the plan was “simply not justified by the evidence,” wrote Judge Clive Sheldon in the court’s ruling.

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Clark’s Rising Entrepreneurs Shine in Pitch Perfect Performance

Clark entrepreneurs win $2,000 in prize money.

The Clark University Entrepreneurship & Innovation program is excited to share the details of the Clark Tank Business Plan Pitch Competition which took place on April 29, 2024, from 6:00pm-9:00pm in ASEC202. The evening started with dinner, provided by David Ly (’27), owner of Taste of Asia, and networking time between judges, participants, and guests.

Clark Tank 2024 Business Plan Pitch Competition

Related course.

The Business Pitch course, an extension of the Clark Tank program, was offered in module two of the spring semester to prepare students for presenting at the pitch finals.

Taught by Clark alum, Emilee Cocuzzo (‘18, MBA ‘19), the course is focused on helping entrepreneurs develop a top-notch pitch deck for their venture. Throughout this class, students are provided with tools and resources to help develop their pitch. This course helps students explore their market, understand their customers and competitors, build their business model, and finalize their financials. At the end of the course, students pitched to a panel of judges for a prize pool of $2,000.

Throughout the course, the students were also inspired by guest speakers of entrepreneurs and investors, which included Jon Weaver , Eric Butler , Katie Cella (‘07), and Parna Sarkar-Basu .

Pitch Night

Seven students, from first-year to grads, completed the course and were ready to pitch. The evening guests joined to support their “pitcher” in-person and live stream.

Each participant had up to 10 minutes to pitch their venture idea to a team of judges – Katie Cella (‘07 ), Ryan Cohen (MBA ‘18), Frank Crocetti , and Howard Goldstein , with up to five minutes of questions from the judges.

Winners and Participants

The winning pitches included Sophie Lee (’26), owner of Sophpremacy , who won 1st place, Will Brothers (’26), owner of No Hour Vintage , who won 2nd place, and Yajaira Bonilla (’26), founder of Gen.Scholars , and Benicio Root (’27), owner of Home in 1, tied for 3rd place.

Additional Business Pitch Participants

Chandraditya Ghosh (grad student), Connect.ai

Rishav Mondal and Soumya Ghosh (grad students), BUDA

Ana Gabriela Santana, International Food Hub

Student Support Staff and Vendors

Jack Rogerson (’23 ’24), and Alyssa Martinez (’26), Technology Support

Maile Marguleas (’25), Emcee

David Ly (’27), owner of Taste of Asia (dinner)

Maddy Steigman (’24), owner of Dough is Me (dessert)

To learn more about the class, you can watch the final pitches via this livestream link .

The Clark Tank 2024 – Business Plan Pitch Competition – was a tremendous success. Please follow the E&I Program’s social accounts – LinkedIn , YouTube , Twitter, TikTok , and Instagram – to keep up with the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program’s Clark Tank events and other activities.

If you are interested in getting involved with the Clark Tank or E&I program, please reach out to Teresa Quinn at [email protected] .

About the Clark University Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program:

The E&I courses are designed to help a student to identify problems, ideate solutions to those problems, and implement the best solution to bring about the desired change. Whether your interest is business ownership or social change, Clark University’s E&I minor complements any major to help you gain the full benefit of your educational experience and future goals.

Media Contacts:

Emilee Cocuzzo, Adjunct Professor

Email: [email protected]

Teresa Quinn, Manager of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program

Email: [email protected]

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Over the past week, students at dozens of universities held demonstrations, set up encampments and, at times, seized academic buildings. In response, administrators at many of those colleges decided to crack down and called in the local police to detain and arrest demonstrators.

As of Thursday, the police had arrested 2,000 people across more than 40 campuses, a situation so startling that President Biden could no longer ignore it.

Jonathan Wolfe, who has been covering the student protests for The Times, and Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent, discuss the history-making week.

On today’s episode

Jonathan Wolfe , a senior staff editor on the newsletters team at The New York Times.

Peter Baker , the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times covering President Biden and his administration.

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As crews cleared the remnants of an encampment at U.C.L.A., students and faculty members wondered how the university could have handled protests over the war in Gaza so badly .

Biden denounced violence on campus , breaking his silence after a rash of arrests.

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COMMENTS

Writing a Business Plan
You can find our guide to pitching below (with a few refinements from years of use). Company purpose Start here: define your company in a single declarative sentence. This is harder than it looks. It's easy to get caught up listing features instead of communicating your mission. Problem Describe the pain of your customer.
Fundable VC Pitch Deck Examples (+How-to Tips & Templates)
A venture capital (VC) pitch deck is a presentation that startups use to explain their business to potential investors and venture capitalists (VCs). It highlights the company's vision, team, market opportunity, and financials, aiming to secure investment by showcasing potential for growth and success.
Top 10 VC Pitch Decks, Examples and Templates
The standard table of contents in a good pitch deck is: Based on the $1 billion our clients raised last year in VC funding, we think you will want: 1. Cover/title slide - including the company name and the founder's contact info. 2. The industry's or customers' problem - the pain that your startup is solving. 3.
30+ Best Pitch Deck Examples & Templates from Famous Startups
A pitch deck is a presentation created to raise venture capital for your business. ... A pitch deck and a business plan serve different purposes in the world of entrepreneurship, each playing a crucial role in showcasing and strategizing a business venture. The main distinction lies in their format, level of detail and intended audience.
How to Write a Business Plan for Raising Venture Capital
Make sure that the milestone projections are consistent with the rest of the venture capital business plan - particularly the financial plan. ... The process typically includes sending the VC a teaser email to get their interest, following up with a business plan, giving a pitch presentation, and negotiating the terms of the funding round.
Building A Venture Capital Pitch Deck For Seed Rounds: Plus 11 ...
Business Insider shares Divvy's pitch deck that helped them raise $30 million in VC funding. Business Insider also has dozens of other deck templates available to subscribers. ‍ Sequoia Capital's business plan outline inspired Airbnb's pitch deck and led to them
Creating the perfect pitch deck and business plan: Examples ...
For an early-stage startup, the pitch deck and financial model are the business plan. There are too many uncertainties to waste time writing a 100-page business plan. Founders should use tools like the Lean Canvas to help them think through the different aspects of their business, but a pitch deck and financial model are essential when trying ...
How to prepare the perfect VC pitch deck
The success of a VC pitch deck lies in planning and developing a crystal clear structure of your business. This should be done in the simplest way so a 10-year kid can understand your idea. ... Be prepared to provide additional information if requested, such as a detailed business plan, financial statements, market research, and. ...
Crafting the Perfect VC Pitch Deck: Your Key to Venture Capital Success
Intercom's Pitch: The company's VC fundraising pitch deck showcases Intercom's pursuit of a $600k funding round. This 8-slide pitch deck zeroes in on critical aspects such as the team, the problem they aim to solve, their proposed solution, and the target market. Mattermark's Pitch Deck: Mattermark, a data company, boasts substantial ...
How to Create the Perfect VC Pitch Deck
Guy Kawasaki. This is a great example of how the 10-slide method can be effective. This short and sweet deck cuts to the chase. Guy is a proponent of the 10/20/30 rule, claiming a pitch should have no more than ten slides, last no longer than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than 30 points.
18 Pitch Deck Examples for Any Startup
Buzzfeed First Pitch Deck. BuzzFeed is a cross-platform digital media company delivering news and entertainment content to a global audience. Their 2008 origin pitch deck is a great example for startup founders building out their business plan in their investor pitch deck. They break down their previous history (2 years at time of presentation ...
How to create a winning corporate venture pitch deck in 9 ...
Like most business processes, there is no one foolproof way to pitch a new project that will guarantee a win. Every company is different, with its own success metrics and approach to approving new ventures for development. There are, however, certain factors that are common to every successful pitch: A product that solves a real problem
How To Create a Pitch Deck For Venture Capital Funding
With Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template, you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less! Click here to finish your VC business plan today. Growthink's detailed article will walk you through the steps to create a pitch deck to help secure capital funding, while also providing you with real world examples.
15 Effective Ways To Prepare To Pitch To VC Investors
7. Be Ready To Execute Your Business Plan. Make sure to have your pitch deck completed, the team established, and projections and proforma done. You must be able to show the ability to execute ...
LP Investor Pitch Deck: Free Template for VCs
A pitch deck is a presentation that describes a business plan and solicits outside investment. Often, company founders and executives use a pitch deck to help raise funding for a startup from venture capitalists (VC). Other times, a VC fund manager uses a pitch deck to raise new capital from limited partners (LP) for an investment fund.
33 Legendary Startup Pitch Decks (+10 Free Templates)
A startup pitch deck is an essential fundraising tool for successful startups, whether you're looking to raise funding from $50,000, $500,000, or $50 million. However, an investor pitch deck is just one of the best pitch decks and examples we will share below. Despite the brevity of the successful startup pitch decks, which usually run for 10 ...
How to Pitch to A Venture Capital Firm
Be ready for anything. You might have a conversation, you might informally go through your pitch, you might stand in front of a room of partners and give your full pitch. Be ready for detailed questions, or follow-up requests for more data. They are really evaluating now, and you want to be ready.
How to Pitch to a Venture Capitalist
4. Dress the Part. Pitching for venture capital isn't only about what you say, but also how you present yourself. While this isn't a job interview, you still need to give the right impression to potential investors. This might sound like a basic tip, but your appearance can make or break your credibility.
Thirteen essential tips for pitching venture capitalists
For startup founders, successfully pitching venture capitalists (VCs) can be a necessity for business growth. Venture capital is the primary financial driver behind startups in almost every industry and vertical. In 2021, a record $329.6 billion in investments was raised across more than 17,000 deals. This was nearly double the record set the previous year, which represents the massive growth ...
How Venture Capitalists Really Assess a Pitch
The VCs would receive a business plan from an entrepreneur, read it, and get excited. They'd do some research on the industry, and their enthusiasm would grow. So they'd invite the company ...
Navigating the Pitch: Turning Your Business Plan into VC Gold
In the competitive realm of venture capital (VC), turning your business plan into a compelling pitch is the key to unlocking funding opportunities. A business plan is not merely a document; it's a dynamic tool that, when presented effectively, can attract the attention and investment of venture capitalists. In this article, we explore strategies for…
Approaching Venture Capitalists for Company Funding
In addition to a business plan, you'll also need to create a pitch deck to present to potential investors and VC partners. Your pitch deck should be around 10-20 slides and cover topics like problem/solution, the business's initial approach, market opportunity, business model, founding team, and financials.
VC Pitch Deck
Business Plan Articles . When it comes to raising money from venture capitalists, you are likely to require a pitch deck to provide them that helps them better understand the investment in the simplest, most effective way possible. VCs don't have a lot of time and by being concise and to the point, you are helping them to capture the most ...
Pitch perfection: Alt-protein founders share tips for securing funding
Alt-protein startups that are trying to attract the attention of venture-capital (VC) investors often need to ensure their business pitches focus on how they can capture a market through their ...
Sports Startup Pitch Deck: SoBet Raises $3.7 Million in Seed Funding
The company announced on May 1 that it closed a $3.7 million seed round led by Third Kind Venture Capital to help grow the platform. ... which charges $9.95 monthly for a base plan, has over 6,000 ...
UK court sends government back to work on climate plan
London's High Court on Friday found the government's plan unlawful, siding with three environmental organizations that last year sued the government over new carbon emissions targets under the ...
Clark's Rising Entrepreneurs Shine in Pitch Perfect Performance
Clark Entrepreneurs Win $2,000 in Prize Money. The Clark University Entrepreneurship & Innovation program is excited to share the details of the Clark Tank Business Plan Pitch Competition which took place on April 29, 2024, from 6:00pm-9:00pm in ASEC202. The evening started with dinner, provided by David Ly ('27), owner of Taste of Asia, and networking time between judges, participants, and ...
The Protesters and the President
Hosted by Michael Barbaro. Featuring Jonathan Wolfe and Peter Baker. Produced by Diana Nguyen , Luke Vander Ploeg , Alexandra Leigh Young, Nina Feldman and Carlos Prieto. Edited by Lisa Chow and ...
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May 1, 2024. April wrap-up: One month in global markets. Our latest Global Markets Snapshot breaks down a month of trends in the equity, debt, and commodities markets, tracking returns across a range of indexes and sectors. It also features private market activity, including major deals, fundraising, IPO performance, lending volume, and unicorn ...