Crafting a compelling pitch deck for investors

Securing investment for your startup or business expansion can be a transformative step toward achieving your goals, and this can be accomplished with a pitch deck. This is simply a collection of slides and information about your business idea. It includes important information an investor will want to know, such as potential market size, revenue forecast, customer insights, and details about the business’s management team. In this article, we'll take you through the essential elements of a winning pitch deck.

1. Understanding the investment landscape

Before diving into the creation of your pitch deck, it's important to have a grasp of what investment options there are available; ie angel investors, venture capitalists, government-backed schemes.
A good place to start would be by researching potential investors who align with your industry and stage of growth. This knowledge will help you tailor your pitch deck to resonate with their specific interests.

2. Begin with the elevator pitch

Like a good film or book, a captivating beginning will be a great way to engage your audience – so stick to the elevator pitch method, which is to try to summarise your business idea – the problem it’s solving and why it is an investor opportunity – and put that all into a 30-second summary.

3. Continue with a compelling story

Now that you have your audience’s attention, it’s crucial that you keep them interested in the next part, and that’s the story of your business. This should be done by using a variety of tones and pacing. Begin with a compelling opening slide that captures attention and introduces the core problem your product or service solves. Make sure to highlight the market gap and explain why your solution is unique and necessary.

4. Problem and solution

Investors want to see that you’ve identified a real pain point in the market and have developed a viable solution. To help them see this you should provide data and/or at least anecdotes to back up your claims. Follow this with a concise presentation of your solution, emphasising how it stands out from existing alternatives.

5. Demonstrate your business model

This next section is a crucial piece of your investment pitch journey and it needs to clearly outline how your business intends to generate revenue, and – most importantly – how it can be scaled up. Create scenarios that show how increased customer numbers lead to profit growth.

6. Experience counts!

There’s something worth remembering during this process, and that this is not all about your business…it’s also about you and your team – specifically, how all your experience will be effectively used on this venture so that the odds of a successful outcome are all but guaranteed. If you manage to convey this to your investors then you will have scored some major points.

7. Financial projections

It may be stating the obvious here, but yes, as part of your pitch, you need to display your financial projections. Include revenue forecasts, expense breakdowns, and assumptions underlying your projections. Make sure to highlight key financial metrics such as gross margin, net profit, and customer acquisition cost. Also, go through different scenarios to indicate what factors could affect the businesses finances.

8. Competitive landscape

It’s incredibly rare for a business to be entirely unique and one on its own, so you need to acknowledge your competitors and outline what sets you apart. While explaining competitor strengths and weaknesses is important, you also need to outline potential gaps in the market that your business can hopefully fill.

9. Don’t waffle

Conclude your pitch deck with a clear and concise ask. Specify the amount of investment you are seeking, the equity offered in return, and any additional terms. Make it easy for investors to understand what you're looking for.

Want to know more?

There is a range of investment opportunities in the southwest, with the recently launched SWIF fund (see our article here for more details: https://www.accesstofinancesw.co.uk/news/1647570) offering equity, debt and loan solutions. If you are an early-stage business, there are a number of Angel Investment groups in the South-West region.

One such Angel network that you may want to check out – Mainstream – is based in Exeter.

Established by Michelmores law firm back in 2019, they are registered with the UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA), and have a 60-strong team of investors/entrepreneurs who can invest and offer support to early-stage companies – https://www.michelmores.com/mainstream/.

Two others that we can recommend are Dorset Angels and Bristol Private Equity Club. They both potentially offer capital investment to SMEs and startups. Check out their websites here: https://www.bristolprivateequityclub.com/ & https://dorsetbusinessangels.co.uk/.

For general business finance advice and support, check out the HotSW Growth Hub – covering all sectors in the Somerset and Devon region. https://www.heartofswgrowthhub.co.uk/.

Are you in the process of drawing up your pitch deck? If so, then let us know how you’re getting on and what tips you have for other fundraising founders