The comprehensive guide on fundraising pitch
In this article, you will learn everything about the presentation to the investor: what data to include, how many slides, where you can create it. We have also collected for you a few examples of unicorns’ pitch decks.
The fundraising pitch is a startup presentation used at one of the steps of fundraising. This is the moment when many questions arise in the minds of entrepreneurs: what information to share with the investor, how detailed it should be, how to make the presentation interesting, etc.
In this article, you will find the answers for these and other questions.
What you should know before the pitch:
‘If you can’t explain it to me in a minute, you don’t understand it well enough.’ Albert Einstein
- Investors don’t like very short presentations. You can find lots of material about a pitch where experts recommend having a short presentation to attract investors. Yes, it is true: don’t make your pitch sound too long and boring. However, your presentation should not miss any important data either.
- Don’t rely on improvisation. Prepare your text before the pitch. Try to present in front of a mirror or ask somebody to listen to you and give feedback. You can also address to a mentor or coach to help you prepare a professional presentation. Do not forget that the success of your pitch depends on your charisma and soft skills. It would be great if you could improve your public speaking skills.
- Accompany your speech with visuals. Help your listeners to catch as much information as possible: your slides should not be distracting, on the opposite they should complement your speech and make it more clear to the listeners. Include more graphs and infographics on your slides and cut the text.
- Exclude long explanations from your pitch. Use only those data that will help listeners understand your business in general. After the presentation, you can answer the questions from interested people and explain in more details.
- Don’t lie. Some startups think that pitch is a performance and they need to impress investors (which is not untrue), can be a success, but the trick will be detected during the due diligence process and the startup reputation will be damaged. What is worse, that investor can spread information about untrustworthy project among his network: which will further complicate the fundraising process. pitch and use some unconfirmed information. Such
- Don’t say “we have an unlimited market”, our product is unique and we don’t have competitors”. First of all, these statements often mean that you have not made a proper market analysis. Second, this information will provoke investors to ask more questions to understand the situation better. They would actually prefer to hear that founder know about potential risks (such as limited market, competitors, etc.) rather than speak to people who are completely unaware of the market they plan to enter. You can catch investors with a business model, perfect research of your market and knowledge about how to develop the business.
What information should be included in ppt presentation
To help you create the best presentation, we share some basic slides plan based on Guy Kawasaki’s tips.
By the way, you can read about the pitching rule 10/20/30 from Guy Kawasaki here.
Slide 1: Title
Provide your company name, your name and title, address, email, and phone number.
Slide 2: Problem/Opportunity
Describe the pain that you're alleviating or the pleasure you’re providing to your target audience.
Slide 3: Value proposition
Explain the value of the pain you alleviate or the value of the pleasure you provide.
Slide 4: Underlying magic
Describe the technology, secret sauce, or magic behind your product. The less text and the more diagrams, visuals, and flowcharts, the better. If you have a prototype or demo, this is the time to transition to it.
You can read more about slides here: The comprehensive guide on fundraising pitch
Read also:
✅ 10 must watch videos for startups
✅ The 7 (Pitching) Habits of Highly Effective Founders (Infographic)