Automated pitch decks in just 3 hours

A pitch deck is a short presentation that gives potential investors or clients a clear idea of how your business works. It should contain a series of slides that provide an overview of your business plan, products, services, goals and strategies.

The main goal of a pitch deck is to pique the interest of potential investors and get them excited about your business. You want to convince investors that your business is worth funding and get them to agree to another meeting where you can further discuss the possibility of investment.

You could use your pitch deck in face-to-face meetings with investors or in your initial contact via email. Creating a good pitch deck can be the key to getting the funding you need to grow.

You can create a pitch deck using presentation software or an AI pitch deck creator. 

Our pitch deck creation tool aims to automate the heavy lifting of creating a pitch deck. It will ask you the questions that investors will want to know the answers to and use this information to create your pitch deck on your behalf.  

When creating your pitch deck, be sure to cover all the basics of your business. Your pitch deck design should use graphics and images to support your message, while bullet points can help you to explain ideas clearly and concisely.

Don’t waste your time creating a pitch deck that exceeds 20 slides as investors simply don’t have the time to read or sit through long presentations.

Your pitch deck should include the following components:

• An introduction: This should explain your business in simple terms. 
• Target market: Outline who your product or service is aimed at, as well as what the market size is like.
• The problem: This should explain a problem that your target market faces and why your product or service will help.
• The solution: Next, explain how your business will solve the problem your target market faces. 
• Traction: You should include a slide to show month over month growth of the business. 
• Team members: Talk about the people on your team and their experience. Highlight why they are the right fit for your business and what they bring to the table.
• Market competition: Cover who your competitors are and what sets you apart from them. 
• Testimonials: Include a slide that shows that customers are satisfied with the product or service. 
• Projected financials: Present three years’ financial projections if you can. Aim to be realistic but conservative.
• Funds required. Explain how much funding you need and how you will use the funds. Expressing this as a range rather than a fixed sum can attract more offers.

To give you an idea of what your pitch deck could look like, this article from Pitch.com highlights some great pitch deck examples. 

Your pitch deck doesn’t need to tell the life story of your business, so avoid cramming everything into it. 

• When thinking about how many pages you need, it shouldn’t be more than 15 to 20 slides long. 
• The minimum number of slides in your pitch deck should be eight to 10.

Don’t go overboard as potential investors won’t have the time to sift through umpteen pages of information and your pitch deck could end up on the reject pile.

It’s sensible to open your pitch deck with a key problem that highlights why your business exists and how your product or service could help customers. You might want to list out pain points and create a story that your potential investors can relate to.

To end your pitch deck, consider summarising and reinforcing three or four key points about your business. You could also include a call to action, whether that’s asking your audience to schedule another meeting, request a demo or sign a contract. Use words that convey enthusiasm and urgency when doing this. 

Alternatively, you might want to conclude with a powerful customer testimonial or a story that highlights how your product or service has helped someone. 

Avoid ending your pitch deck with a Q&A session as this can often undercut everything you’ve just said.

Presenting a pitch deck in person will generally always be the better option. Get some practice in beforehand to make sure you sound genuine and you’re not simply following a script. You want to show enthusiasm but also that you know your stuff. 

It’s crucial to keep your audience engaged, so it can help to have one slide per topic in your pitch deck. Make sure each topic is backed up with hard data and insights and be prepared to talk about each point in more detail.

You can show market size by breaking it down into total addressable market (TAM), serviceable addressable market (SAM), and serviceable obtainable market (SOM). You should provide definitions and quantifiable data for each one. 

Your financials slide should include the following:

• Income
• Expenses
• Business KPIs
• Profitability
• Market sizing
• Past funding
• ROI

Market validation is the process of testing how well your product or service will do in the marketplace. It simply means finding out whether there is an appetite for your product or service. It’s a crucial step to take early on in the development process as it can help you avoid costly mistakes and optimise resources.

Traction means the progress and momentum of a startup. It shows that your business is attracting attention, that your business idea has demand and your business model is working. 

As part of this, you should outline how you have validated your product-market fit (the extent to which your product satisfies market demand) and acquired and retained customers. Also show how you’ve generated revenue and hit key milestones.

It’s crucial not to downplay your competitors in your pitch deck. Every business has competition. If it didn’t, this would suggest there’s no market or demand for your product – which is the last thing investors want to see. 

Your competitors' slide should list all significant competitors in your market and you should carry out research to highlight their strengths and weaknesses. You should also use this slide to highlight how your business stands out from the competition and why your product or service is more efficient. 

If you’re struggling to emphasise the benefits and values of your product or service, an AI pitch deck creator can help you identify your business’ unique values.

Yes, although you can send your pitch deck to potential investors via email to gauge interest, you ideally want this to be followed up with a meeting where you can present your pitch deck to a live audience. 

There are several tips and tricks you can use to help craft a good pitch deck. These include:

• Keep your pitch deck concise: Entrepreneurs should avoid overloading potential investors with large volumes of information. If there’s too much text, your audience could be distracted from your pitch as they’ll be reading while you talk.  
• Avoid jargon: Use straightforward language that’s easy to understand. Don’t try to impress with industry or technical jargon that could confuse investors. 
• Always visualise data: It pays to present data as infographics and graphs. This can make your points stand out and make slides easier to read.
• Prioritise your story: A narrative approach is far more engaging than a list of facts. Aim to provide a story that your audience can relate to, such as how your product could make a difference in their lives. 
• Use consistent branding: This helps to build your brand identity and keep it memorable.

Continually refresh your pitch deck: Don’t let your pitch deck get stale. You’ll likely need to present to several investors before you secure funding, so keep your pitch deck up to date with the most recent milestones and metrics.

Once your pitch deck is complete, it’s worth asking colleagues, mentors or industry peers for feedback. Carry out a practice run and make sure your pitch deck is clear and easy to understand. 

As part of the cost of paying for Swoop's pitch deck service, you'll also receive feedback from Swoop's equity team. 

Once you go ahead and present your pitch deck to investors, you will likely receive additional feedback that you should use to your advantage and incorporate into your deck for next time. 

In any case, register with Swoop, and upload your pitch deck for us to review and offer guidance (even if you haven't used our tool).