Entrepreneurs are always on the lookout for investors who can help them fuel their ideas into viable profit-making businesses. But to capture their attention, you need more than a LinkedIn connection to get your foot in the door.

A pitch deck is an essential tool that you'll need when you're trying to attract investors. It's your chance to show off what you do and how receptive people are to your revolutionary product.

A well-designed, concise pitch deck can help you close deals in a way that email and in-person meetings just can't. Find out in this article how to create a winning investor pitch deck and get the seed funding you need!
 
What is a pitch deck?
A pitch deck is a multimedia presentation that captures the overview of your startup's campaign, objectives and strategy, market analysis, competitive factors analysis, operational plan, and financials.

Developing a winning pitch deck can take months of work, and it might seem like an impossible feat to create a compelling presentation in just a day or two. Therefore, you need to plan the whole process of raising funds.

To create a pitch deck, you need a proper template to support the information you want to include. For example, some entrepreneurs like to impress with one-pager, while others usually follow the standard template of 10-15 slides.

There are many pitch deck templates available on the web as entrepreneurs like to experiment with them. A pitch deck is a startup’s introduction to an investor, so it must be well-designed, professional, and compelling. This article will provide you with some general tips for creating a pitch deck to help you get funded.
 
How to prepare a pitch deck?


Start with the right numbers
Before drafting a pitch deck, you need to lay down the groundwork on getting the fundamental stuff right – valuation, the amount of money you want to raise, the portion of ownership you are ready to sacrifice, and the usage of funds.
Even the most impressive pitch deck falls short when you can't justify why and how much money you want to raise.
 
Back it up with data

Once you get a hold of the valuation part, support your theory with data. For example, showcase why your early-stage startup is valued at $4 million and how $1 million of 'funding in ask' is going to fulfill your business goals (for now).

To create a data-rich pitch deck, go through all the resources that provide numbers and data for the idea, the business model, the market, and competitors. Then, put all these things in one place (slides) with the references in your pitch deck.

Keep in mind that an investor reviews 100+ pitches every day, so your pitch deck needs to be unique to stand out and create a lasting impression. Reviewing 100+ pitches every day is not an easy task! Therefore, making it more data-centric is the only solution to capture the attention of 'skim reader' investors.

Add information to slides

There is no limit to the number of slides you can include in a pitch deck, but the standard 10-15 slides template is enough to set things in motion. The 13 key slides for any pitch deck are -

• The 'Vision & Value Proposition' Slide
• The 'Problem' Slide
• The 'Solution' Slide
• The 'How it Works' Slide
• The 'Market Size and Opportunity' Slide
• The 'Target Customers' Slide
• The 'Competitors and Competitive Advantage' Slide
• The 'Business Model' Slide
• The 'Traction and Validation' Slide
• The 'Financial Projections' Slide
• The 'Highlights' Slide
• The 'ASK and Use of Funds' Slide
• The 'Team' Slide
If you want to make a great impression when presenting to a potential investor, these '13 Slides Your Pitch Deck Must Have.'
 
Finalize pitch deck template
Ultimately it all comes to how you present the data. Visual aspects are as important as the data your slides contain. You can incorporate different tools like Canva to create a killer pitch deck.
After studying the UX of 100 successful pitch decks, here are some of the standard visual guidelines deduced from them -

• Give your pitch deck an excellent but simple look from a design point of view. For example, do not use any dark colors in the background of the pitch deck slides.
• Avoid using more than three colors and font styles for the pitch deck. Jumbling between a lot of colors and font styles might take investors' attention to a toss.
• Do not use Crore/Lakhs and Million/Billion formats in the same pitch deck. Instead, decide on one form and follow that for the entire pitch deck.
• Include accurate data, facts, figures, and numbers in the slide whenever required. Also, try to hyperlink the source in the data so that investors can validate the source with one click.
• Add charts and graphs to explain data, projections, and financials, making information easy to read and understand.

Now that you've successfully drafted the pitch deck, the next step is to reach out to potential investors. Since many investors' funds/groups are active in the market, it's always wise to who will be the right fit for your early-stage startup.