Founders everywhere have to go through the daunting task of creating a pitch deck that will sell your business idea and opportunity to your investors. We get questions all the time about what are the most impactful slides to include. In this article, we will discuss some tips on how to convey your message as well as what the best slides are to include. 

Here are some overall tips that will help you succeed:

Keep it cohesive
Make sure your slides are clean and include consistent branding and color scheme. I have seen many slides with a variety of colors. This doesn’t convey cohesiveness and actually disrupts the viewer. Putting it all together in a cohesive look helps draw your viewer in. 

Keep it simple
Don’t try to put too many ideas on a page. Think about what the one thing is that you want the individual/investor to take away from that page. No one can consume that much information from a slide, especially if it is in a fast-paced pitching environment. Make sure you keep your ideas concise to convey those big messages. 

Keep it short
Don’t go too in-depth into details, but have the details to back your slides up. You want to keep not only your theme for each page concise but you also want to keep the visuals simple. Pages that have a lot of text are overwhelming and end up conveying nothing. Try to use graphics, charts, and graphs as much as you can, when applicable.  

Use References
If you have documentation to back up your statistics, please reference them. If your slides need more explanation, it is always great to be able to follow up with your investor with that additional information and answers to their questions. You don’t have to get all of your ideas and thoughts out at once; saving some pieces for later with referenced documentation or reports is a great way to follow up. 

Follow-up
Have some sort of follow-up defined that makes it easy for you to send a note afterward. A thank you email, with well-defined next steps that are already written can easily be customized and help you get your message out quickly. Follow-up is part of proving to your investor how hungry you are for their business and how steadfast you will be at getting business. 

The best slides to include in your pitch deck:

Vision and Value Proposition
I like to call this your Interrupt Statement. Tell the investor what it is that you do, and the vision of where you are going/what you are building. Try to keep this to less than 200 characters and describe it in a way that anyone can understand. 

The Problem Statement
What problem are you solving? Who specifically has this particular problem? If you can do this in the form of a story, perhaps how you discovered the problem, this will make it easier to relate. 

Your Target Market/Market Size
Focus this slide on who your ideal customer is and what that market of your ideal customer looks like. You may go into how you are going to reach this customer.  For instance, your strategy for reaching customers. If you already have had traction, include it here.

Your Solution
This slide will detail how your solution uniquely solves your target market’s problem. 

Competitive Landscape
Who are your competitors and how do they compare to what you are doing? How do you differentiate yourself? What success/failures have your competitors had?

Proforma/Revenue Model/Business Model Slide
In this slide, you will translate how you plan to make money and the growth you expect over a three-year period. (for more on a sample proforma slide, please look here).

Team
Who is on your team and board and their relevant experience? Why did you select them and how are they poised to help you win. 

The Ask
What investment are you seeking and how will you use those funds. 

These are the most impactful slides that you can include in a presentation. There are many more details that you can provide offline. Remember the key here is to impress with your presentation and keep them engaged and interested to want to dive in deeper. 

About the Author: Apryl Syed is a management consultant focused on helping organizations optimize for success in areas of customer acquisition – customer success.