MIND THE GAP

As an executive consultant and advisor, I’ve seen, evaluated, and contributed to the creation of dozens of pitch decks. Whether you are pitching for investment in your business or for new clients or customers, there is a tried-and-true formula for getting your point across quickly yet effectively. Even if people aren’t ready to invest or buy from you, leaving them with a lasting impression will enable you to live rent-free in their heads.

CLOSE THE GAP

No need to worry. Every company starts off not knowing what to say, and even seasoned professionals struggle with presenting a new idea or concept. Although I'm referring to this as a pitch deck, its content will help you pitch like a pro in front of a large audience or just one person, with or without a formal presentation, in five minutes or fifty.

A pitch deck is a critical tool for entrepreneurs. It is a succinct and visually engaging presentation introducing your business idea to potential investors. It aims to spark interest and convince them to invest in your venture. By clearly outlining the problem you solve, your unique solution, your target market, and financial projections, a pitch deck effectively communicates the potential for growth and return on investment, making it a powerful asset in securing funding for your startup.

🛑 Before you’re ready to pitch, you must have clearly identified your value proposition.

Almost every pitch deck follows a standard flow and narrative. The audience (investors) is short on time and attention, so you need to get to the point quickly. Because they’re used to a particular structure, they can anticipate when you will reach their points of interest.

You will be tempted to show everything about your product or service in your first few drafts. Resist that urge. You will quickly lose your audience. When you reach the end of your pitch, they will ask you questions.

Consider Shark Tank contestants. They present for a few minutes but answer a barrage of questions.

Here’s the simple outline, using a fictional on-demand grocery delivery service as an example, that will get you pitching like a pro and make you irresistible. Each topic is its own slide. You can combine slides or exclude them sometimes, but your presentation shouldn’t be longer than this. The order can also be slightly different depending on your audience.

What problem is your target audience facing, and what's wrong with what's currently available?

You must define your target audience now if you don’t know your target audience. When you try to sell to everyone, you sell to no one.

“As a busy professional with a family of five, there are a thousand things on your to-do list. Studies show people spend five hours weekly shopping for groceries and household supplies. And even though stores are within 5-10 miles of their homes, they spend 60-90 minutes per trip. That’s time away from their family or taking away from other things that need your attention.”

How do you solve the problem?

Some people will include a brief one-sentence description of the company and its mission or vision. If not here, there’s another opportunity later in the outline to do so.

“We are Eat Now, a company dedicated to freeing up time for busy professionals who still want to eat real food at home. We created an app allowing you to order groceries from your local stores and have them delivered when you want so you can reclaim your time.”

Look at competitors’ number of customers, product offerings, etc. - you're demonstrating there is market demand.

“Market research reveals that people would pay an affordable fee to have someone shop for them and deliver their groceries. Apps such as Food Now have grown at 40% CAGR in various markets”.

This is the market's total size and what you believe you can capture.

This is often referred to as TAM (Total Addressable Market), SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market), and SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market). Show the relevant data for your market, and remember to cite the sources. Here, you can describe your target audience.

You may also hear the terms unmet need, prevalence, and incidence in healthcare. If you’re developing a product such as a medical device, biotech, or drug, your TAM, SAM, and SOM would be based on prevalence and incidence. Prevalence is the number of people with the disease state and the number of new cases diagnosed annually. Unmet need is the number of people with a condition without adequate treatment or resources to meet their needs.

High-level overview of product features and benefits.

“Our app includes five major national grocery store chains. You can shop your preferred store in the app and even leave notes for the shopper. Once you’ve completed your selections and delivery time, your shopper will confirm receipt of your order. And if the brand you like isn’t available, you can select alternatives, or the shopper will contact you”.

How you operate and make money.

“We charge an annual membership fee of $100. On orders less than $50, we charge a delivery fee of $10. The shoppers earn 10% of the order and keep all tips. We collect an inclusion fee from the stores of $5,000 per year”.

Channels to reach your target customer. Essentially, how will you win over your target audience?

“To capture our target audience, we will advertise through the national chains. Since the stores won’t have to build their own apps, they will have a significantly lower investment. We will also run ads on popular food-focused websites.”

Who are your competitors, and how do you compare to their offerings?

A chart of some kind works well here.

“Food Now launched three years ago with two national chains, Food Here launched three months ago with one national chain, and On The Way Food launched two years ago with four national chains and accepts coupons.”

What sets you apart from the competition?

If there’s little competition or it’s relatively simple, you can combine 8 and 9 into one. This is where your unique value proposition shines!

“Unlike our competitors, we offer the ability to use manufacturer coupons through the app, while Food Now and Food Here only allow in-store coupons at this time. Our latest delivery time is 10:00 pm local, while our competitors’ cut-off time is 8:00 pm. And because we allow shoppers to keep 100% of their tips, we attract more highly-motivated shoppers”.

General overview of traction (current sales), future projections, investment rounds, and valuation.

Include a simple chart of your financials and estimated valuation (how much your company is worth). Talk about your growth rates. This is also called traction. This isn't necessary if you pitch a service such as consulting or coaching. But you can show how many clients, the types of projects, and outcomes. Keep your financials private.

“Last year’s revenue was $500,000 with a user base of 15,000 installs, 10,000 active users, and 20,000 monthly orders. We expect to reach a revenue of $750,000 by the end of the fiscal year and a projected growth rate of 40% CAGR over the next five years. We have received $1.2M in investment rounds so far.”

Who's running the ship and 1-2 sentences on their relevant experience. What does the company do, and who do they do it for?

“Eat Now's leaders have a collective 30 years of experience in e-commerce, food distribution, and digital marketing. Our CEO is a 10-year Kroger veteran, and our CMO ran digital marketing for Wuber Eats for five years. We have 100 employees in Chicago, IL. Our mission is to make life easier”.

Brief highlights of customer accolades.

Include social proof and quotes from satisfied customers. This offers a reason to believe.

This is the reason you're in the room. Once you've laid out your case, you must ask for what you want.

You don't need a lot of information on this slide. Include:

End with a call to action (you would be surprised how many don’t include a call to action):

As you prepare your pitch, here are some do’s to keep in mind:

Here are a few things to avoid:

You want to condense this entire outline to five minutes without slides. I know what you’re thinking, but it is possible.

I once took a training where I put together a 60-minute presentation and then had to present it in 10 minutes. You can do it!

The best way to train for this is to watch Shark Tank. It will teach you to pull the key points. Remember, you won’t always have your slides or props. Practice this as if you’re encountering a potential investor, customer, or client on an elevator.

Statistically speaking, women and people of color founders receive fewer investment dollars than the mainstream. Even though women entrepreneurs own 38% of all businesses, they (we) receive about 2% of venture funding. According to a study published in Harvard Business Review, women receive different questions than male founders.

Male entrepreneurs were more likely to be asked promotion-oriented questions or those focused on achievement and advancement. Conversely, women were asked prevention-oriented questions or those focused on safety and responsibility.

Although this study was initially published in 2017, it is still likely to be a significant contributing factor. You can potentially combat this phenomenon in two ways:

Read more about this study here —> Male and Female Entrepreneurs Get Asked Different Questions by VCs — and It Affects How Much Funding They Get

Here are pitches from 15 female founders.

Here are pitch decks from a few well-known companies.

THE GAP DĒMĬSTəFĪED

Having a pitch deck is important whether you're pitching for funding or clients for your professional service. You can use it to present in person or out in the wild. There is a standard outline of content that works well and that investors or customers want to see. You can start with this outline and take inspiration from the examples. Once you get the hang of it, you can add your own twist or switch around the order. The examples show successful companies followed the basic outline while refining the content.