As an angel investor I go through hundreds of investor decks every year. While most of the decks are good, there are still too many of those that you would rather put down than read through. Thus, with the mission of seeing higher quality pitch decks in the future, I draw out this summary on how to make a kick-ass investor deck in 9+1 slides.
1. Problem
Start with the problem. What is the problem you are solving? Why do you believe the problem is worth solving? How big is the market for solving the problem? How will the world be a better place once the problem is solved?
2. Solution
How are you solving the problem you defined in the previous page? How does your solution change the world? What makes your solution a special one (and the best one) for the problem)?
3. Business model
Ok, so you have the problem and you have the solution. How are you going to make money out of it? Who are your customers? What is your monetization model?
4. Magic
What is your magic, i.e. what makes you special? What can you do that no one else cannot; and why?
5. Go-to-market strategy
What is your go-to-market strategy? How you are going to find your customers, market the product and close the sales? What part of the market you are aiming for?
6. Competition
Who are your competitors? How you are different from them? (And how they are different from you?)
7. Team
Who are on your team? Why are they passionate about solving the problem? What are their roles and responsibilities? What is their track record for their role in your company?
8. Today vs. tomorrow
Where are you now (product, operations, sales)? What will be your next major milestones? What is your ultimate goal?
9. Financials
How you are planning to use the funds from the funding round to achieve your next milestones? What are your financial projections for the next three years? How did you build up these projections? What are the KPIs to achieve in order to meet these projections?
Bonus slide: Summary and key terms
This slide acts also as a one-pager for the funding round. It summarizes the key takeaways from other slides and sets out main points of the funding round: size of the round, proposed valuation and other key terms.