Marcus Richards
Congratulations on a fantastic business concept. If you’ve already established your company and gained some traction, you deserve an extra round of applause. You did a fantastic job! All you need now is some cash to make your idea a reality. So you sit down and start crafting a pitch. You’ve done your homework and come up with some great ideas, but now it’s time to condense and convey your strategy so that investors can see its full potential.
Like any persuasive presentation, a pitch aims to persuade listeners to adopt an idea and take action. However, some elements make creating a pitch deck a one-of-a-kind beast, not least the difficulty of capturing the attention of busy investors who hear startup pitches all day.
Prepare to create a pitch deck that is clear, short, and tough to forget if you want to be a diamond in the rough. To accomplish so, keep these helpful hints in mind.
Don’t Consider Your Deck Is Your Teleprompter
Your script is not your deck. That is one of the most deadly presenting sins. The purpose of slides is to assist you and magnify your voice. Furthermore, your pitch should be so effortless that you won’t require slides. Concentrate on creating a design that highlights your most significant numbers and facts.
When it comes to slide simplicity, keep in mind that your audience won’t be able to listen to you and read at the same time. The goal is to keep your slides simple, with only one idea for each slide. So what if that means more slides? There’s no need to limit yourself to a certain number of slides as long as your thoughts are clear and concise. Apply Duarte’s three-second rule: can someone understand the point of your slide in three seconds? If not, make it simpler.
Identify Your Audience
Every person you’ll ever pitch to will have a unique perspective on you and your storey. They each have their ambitions and anxieties. So, before you create the best ico pitch desk, you must first understand them to tap into their wants and specific strain of FOMO.
Consider this scenario: Investor X has never made an investment in your industry. Investor Y has been burned before by a company similar to yours. Investor Z is infamous for interrupting people’s pitches after three minutes. What effect does this have on your flow, tone, and the most important elements to emphasise?
Leave Your Mark
Spend time thinking about how you’ll end your pitch deck to make it memorable and be creative.
Try this formula: bold sign-off + call to action. Your call to action is your opportunity to lead them to the outcome you desire – a check to finance your startup concept or another conversation. So, what exactly do you want now?
When you go, they’ll remember your powerful sign-off. Perhaps it’s a catchphrase that’s also depicted on the final slide. Perhaps it’s an emotional photograph, and you’re encouraging people to imagine a world without the problem you’re addressing. Perhaps it’s reassuring them that you, as a leader, are completely dedicated to their success. In any case, aim for a quick and dramatic conclusion.
Be A Sophisticated Sherpa
You are the guide for your audience if they are the hero on a quest. Sherpa, as they call him. It is your role to inform rather than to overwhelm. To do so, thoughtfully organise and serve information. Many investor decks for startups read like long paragraphs with no clear breaks. This is a bad concept. A quick information dump makes it difficult for them to remember and comprehend information. You rush them up the hill, giving them little time to gather their breath or digest what they’ve just witnessed.
A smart presenter drip-feeds material to their audience, breaking it down into logical portions and systematically establishing a case. Consider the chapters of a book while creating a pitch deck, and use your words and graphics to guide the audience through the storey.
Don’t Think of An Investor Deck As A Commercial
“We’re truly onto something that will make you a lot of money,” does your deck say? “We have attractive colours, and our customers like it,” or “We have pretty colours, and our customers like it”? Even though you’ve spent time developing your brand and selecting the perfect colours and design, remember that a pitch deck is intended for investors and business professionals, not customers or recruits. Consider whether your brand’s ethos adds value to the investor storey before you start designing your pitch deck.
