The challenge in creating a pitch deck is not knowing what to put in and what to leave out. What do investors and VC want to hear or see? One size does not fit all when it comes to a pitch deck. The best way to get started with creating a pitch deck is assessing your audience. They are one of the most important factors to consider. Start by asking yourself how familiar is your audience with your market? If they’re industry investors, you shouldn’t spend time educating them about the market opportunity and the pain points that your product is solving. "What kinds of businesses are they looking at? What model/criteria/triggers do they use to judge whether a project will be successful or not? If you don’t have some sense of their points of view, your likelihood of making the pitch go well is more random. You may happen to emphasize the right points that pique an investor’s interest, but you shouldn’t leave your financing up to chance." Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn Co-Founder Secondly, how will you deliver this pitch deck? A document that is being emailed to an investor will “read” very differently from one that is presented to the same investor in a one-on-one meeting. Likewise, a deck used to present to a big room in a “one way presentation” will play very differently from a presentation to a room full of VCs. Having said that, a good pitch deck should cover each of the following areas, in varying detail depending on your audience and your presentation setting: * Vision * The problem/pain * Product/Service * Market Opportunity * Business Model * Traction * Marketing Strategy * Financials * Team * Call to action Here are some quick tips to designing a successful pitch deck, as well as some good case practices from startups who made it.

1. PITCH DECK
DESIGNING A SUCCESSFUL
featuring Chable

2. Not all startup founders are born good
communicators. But it’s a skill you can learn
to master, just like any other technical skill.
And you’re going to need it if you’re going to
create a successful pitch deck that will help
secure funding for your startup.
The problem with creating a pitch deck in
the first place is not knowing what to put in
and what to leave out. What do investors
and VC want to hear or see?

3. Khosla Ventures,
one of the top investors in early stage
startups are open to help founders answer
that question. They provide potential
applicants with a detailed explanation of
what the VC thought process is while making
an investment, including basic tips and tricks,
dos and don’ts.

4. Sequoia
also created a playbook to help founders get
started with mapping out their business plan
and creating a compelling pitch deck.

5. Regardless of the amount of money that
you are seeking for your business or idea,
there are X things that you should address
in your pitch deck.
Let’s take a look at the things you should
be focusing on as you prepare to
approach investors.

6. 1 How to present your idea

7. A common trap that founders fall into is
being too secretive or protective about
their idea. Yes, it is the pillar of your whole
future business but it’s not just the idea that
will ensure your success or your failure.
It’s impossible to build a business in a
vacuum. In order to validate your idea as a
viable business startup, you need to iterate
and get feedback from the market.

8. Once you’re over this fear, you need to tell
your story. What made you start this in the
first place and why are you obsessed with it?
Authenticity will help investors connect with
your business.
They may not be experts in your field or
share the same passion for your idea but
you have to convince them to take a leap of
faith and be open to hearing your pitch. That
can only happen if you establish an
emotional connection.

9. Tinder
made sure to connect with everyone who’s
ever tried dating. And it worked.

10. Intercom
started their pitch with their team
presentation. This provided emotional
connection and set the start of a great pitch.

11. Our ission
2Focus on WHAT you want to build
and HOW you’re going to achieve that
M

12. 1. Vision
Lay out what your vision for the product
is. Start with answering the key question
“What problem does your product/service
solve and for whom?” The pain point that
you’re trying to solve needs to be clear
and simple to understand, meaning it has
to be a real problem.
2. Problem
What is your solution to this problem? Talk
about your product or service and the value
that it will bring to your customers.

13. 4. Market
Which brings us to the next essential factor
- your market. Show that you know you
target market by using accurate, real data.
Demonstrate how your product/service will
fit into this market space.
This also means talking about your
competitors and what will differentiate
your business. Another key point to
address here is market timing, believed to
be one of the biggest reasons why startups
succeed. Why is now the right time to
launch your business?
3. Product/ Service
Google made search better. Amazon
simplified online buying and selling.
Netflix solved on-demand streaming
media. Uber is trying to make on-demand
car service better. What can you make
smarter or better?
Is your solution unique or does it offer a
new way of looking at an already existing
solution? Here, you have a chance to
demonstrate that you've done your due
diligence and found real solutions that
have a practical applicability.

14. 6. Traction
Probably one of the biggest challenges of
any startup - traction. Describe what stage
your company is at, what you've achieved so
far, how many clients you already have and
where you want to be in the nearest future.
Validate your startup by showing it solves a
genuine problem that your market has. Back
it up with numbers.
5. Business model
How do you intend to generate revenue
from your business? Are you building a
marketplace or a software-as-a-service? Or
are you opting for a subscription model or a
freemium with premium features.
Talk about the average account size and
lifetime value of your customers. Having a
sales and distribution model can also be
helpful, as is a customer pipeline list.

15. 8. Financials
Address key indicators such as:
• Cash and Burn
• Cap-Table Breakdown
• Current Use of Funds
• CAC Breakdown
• Realistic projection for the
next 6–12 months
Include what you intend to do with the
proceeds and how you plan to maximize this
investment. A risk analysis and a mitigation
strategy can also come in handy at this point.
7. Marketing
Talk about the marketing strategy and
growth plan that's going to bring you
(more) clients. Your product/service
has to have distribution baked into it
from the beginning.
Although spending on marketing
might not seem like a priority, your
idea needs momentum. And that’s
brought on by a holistic approach to
marketing and distribution.

16. 9. Team
Who are you and what makes you and your
team the right people to bring this idea to life?
Talk about your story and your experience. If
you're on your own, it’s important that you at
least have a team of advisors to guide you.
10. Call to action
How much money do you want them to
give you? Ask for it. The key to effective
communication is communicating.
You can reiterate the use of funds here
as well if you feel like the conversation
requires it.

17. Brief overview What does your
company solve for,
and for whom?
How do you solve
problem/ create value
for your customer?
How big a business
can this be?
How does your
firm monetize
the business?
What is your
validation roadmap?
Any anchor clients?
How do you
get the clients?
Historical and
Forecast
Includes BOD,
advisors, key
management
Amount of the raise
10. Recap
Call to
action
TeamFinancials
Marketing
Strategy
Traction
Business
Model
Marketing
Opportunity
Product/
Service
The problem
/Pain
Vision

18. 11. Get inspired by some of the most famous pitch decks of all time.

19. 3Budget the length of your presentation

20. You’ll be easily tempted to include everything
in your pitch deck. It’s one of the problems
we’ve talked about earlier - what to include
and what not to include.
If you’re confident in your abilities to
organize ideas and communicate clearly, you
can allocate between 10-20 slides and simply
put in the information. If you’re most people,
you’ll end up with 50 slides and no clue as to
how to reduce them to 10.
“Less is more”
– Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

21. Try to think like an investor. They’ve heard
and seen so many pitches that their brains
have become very hard to impress. Be
authentic and translate your ideas in the
simplest manner possible.

22. ‘Your primary goal is to get their attention.
A normal human being cannot comprehend
more than ten concepts in a meeting — and
venture capitalists are very normal’
Says famous investor, advisor and author
Guy Kawasaki. That’s why he came up with
the 10/20/30 rule, which says a pitch
should have ten slides, last no more than
twenty minutes and contain no font smaller
than thirty points.

23. The rule here is:
SIMPLIFY AND CONDENSE.

24. Take a look at how these (now famous)
companies chose to budget their decks.

25. Download the full guide here:
http://bit.ly/2pVAMUO
REQUEST FREE QUOTEProfessional visual design for presentations,
infographics, business documents, pitch
decks, sales reports and eBooks. visualhackers.com