The “Best” Investor Pitch Deck Outline

0) Cover Slide
1) Elevator Pitch Slide
2) Team (If not impressive, move slide to after “Your Solution” to show who built it and why)
3) Board Members & advisors & Future Hires (Optional, combine w/ team slide)
4) Market Opportunity: Define Market, Size & Target Customer
5) Market Problem & Current Solutions: What need do you fill?
6) Your Solution (1-5 slides)
7) Traction & Awards (Optional, if none yet. Can be right after Elevator if impressive)
8) Market Fit / Competition (Optional, can be explained in slides 5 & 6)
9) Competitive Advantages (Optional, can be explained in slides 5 & 6)
10) Business Model: Key Revenue Streams
11) Market Approach & Strategy: Key Expenses / Time-Efforts / How you grow
12) Financial Projections 5 Slide Deck: 4, 5, 6, 2, combine: 10, 12, & 14
10 Slide Deck: Don’t include optional slides
13) Exit Strategy (Optional) 15-25 Slide Deck: Slides 1-15 + add’l slides: Market
14) The Ask: Capital Raise / $ Uses / Intros Size vs. Target Client, Your Solution (1-5), Traction
15) Closing Slide: Questions? Contact Details (1-3), Market Fit vs. Competition, Marketing
Approach vs. Business Strategy, $ Raise vs. $ Uses

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 Potential Appendix Slides
• Timeline: History, Milestones & Prior Funding
• Detailed Value Proposition to Clients / Users / Partners
• Detailed Financials: Revenue and expense breakdown, showing % of total revenue / expenses
• Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)? Per Client Size?
• Life-time Value of Customer (Churn Rate?) vs. Cost to Acquire Customer
• Breakeven Analysis: Base-case vs. Bare-bones case. # Clients / $ Revenue needed?
• Pipeline of potential clients, % likelihood of closing, revenue potential from pipeline
• Partnership Agreements / Structures
• Proprietary aspects not discussed in core deck
• Additional Strategy Slides: Ex. Architecture, How to avoid/limit circumvention, Funnel system of
business operations, Growth strategy
• Capital Structure: Ownership of founders & current investors
• Competitors Capital Raises / Investors
• Head Count (# Employees) Projections / Key Hires Needed
• Additional Screen Shots from Demo
• Summary Slide: Why We’ll Be Successful (Add if deck > 15 slides, otherwise too redundant)

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 Cover Slide
• Logo / Name of Company
• Purpose of Presentation: “Investor Presentation”
• Date: Optional - if you send a deck with an old
date, you look outdated (is it taking you a while to
raise the round?). We recommend never using a
date – also people know today’s date
• Other Potential Additions:
• Logos of accelerator, awards, publications featuring company
• Slogan
• Name of Presenter / CEO

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 Elevator Pitch Slide
Create a brief one liner that describes:
• Short and memorable
• What’s the core problem (describe pain) in the
marketplace and the solution you’re providing?
• What’s your vision? Ultimate
solution/business/service for customers/users?
• Graphically show this if possible
• Try: making it relatable… as in “We are X for Y”
– (“We are Airbnb for Event Spaces”)
– (“We are the Starbucks of Frozen Yogurt”)

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 Team (if not strong, move to later)
• Core Team: The Founders & Chiefs that are critical to success
• Show a well-rounded team, technical AND business- if you are
lacking in an area, show advisors
• Photos (Optional- Don’t put in if mostly students)
• Relevant Experiences / Successes (Exits?) / Failures (Good war
stories?)
• Leadership Experience/ Education – whichever is impressive
• Don’t write sentences, do 1-3 brief bullets per person, or even
better do 1 key bullet per person

“We are the right team who can execute this

business plan because...”

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 Board / Advisors / Future Hires
• Board of Directors? (Startups shouldn’t have BODs! Wait
until after Series A round to establish a board)
• Board of Advisors? (Give 0.1%-1% to advisors, no more!)
• What’s their relevancy / support, other than big names?
• Are they investing? Big points if “Yes”!
– If “No”, be careful. Your big fancy advisors will go from being a
positive to a negative. If they are successful and have capital, they
should invest, otherwise it shows lack of real support. Have a good
reason for why not if asked.
• Reference key holes in management or operations that
need to be filled (intros needed?)
– Few companies have the perfect team from the start, recognize
that and solve it

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 Market Opportunity
• What is the General Market Focus?
• Name it. Size it: Units / Revenue? Growth?
• What is the Total Addressable Market
• What’s Your Target Market? The sub-sector of the General Market?
• Name it. Size it: Units / Revenue? Growth?
• Define Target Client? Key characteristics?
• Ex. Small vs. Large businesses, independents vs. agencies,
examples of ideal clients or individuals
• Clients’ Current Needs?
• Describe any important market evolutions or trends and
why we’re at an inflection point now

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 Market Problem / Current Solutions
• Big Market Problem? Big Un-met Need?
– You can’t create demand (only market leaders can)
• Current Solutions = Current Problems?
– Biggest competition = Status quo, changing customer behavior, even if
old systems are inferior, they exist everywhere, you don’t
• Clearly show the pain of the problem or convey the strong
desire that is being unfilled, don’t just say it
• “Solve your clients' number-one problem,” Cyrus Massoumi,
CEO of ZocDoc. Not their 4th or 10th problem. What keeps
them up at night or really bothers them?
• Conclusion: The market has evolved and the current solutions
don’t fulfill/solve the clients’ current BIG needs/problems. There
is a BIG opportunity here!

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 Your Solution / Demo
• Show > Tell: ~1-5 slides of your product / service
• Show a live demo when presenting or show screenshots of
key parts (Have screenshots within presentation prepared
anyway, demos love to fail)
• Don’t show a video, it can fail to play and takes away from
your precious time
• Tell a story: Future client or an example of current client
• Show core value proposition to client
– Better, Faster, Cheaper (More Economical)

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 Traction / Performance / Awards
• Timeline / Key Milestones
• See, other people think we’re awesome!
• Accelerator programs (we graduated!)
• Awards: #1 Best Startup / # 1 Best DEMO
• Lots of articles about us: TechCrunch / Forbes / CNN / FOX

• We’re growing fast! We’ve got lots of clients/users, some

are brand name clients, look at our monthly growth, and
we have a growing pipeline that will generate lots of $
• We’re performing amazingly for clients, look at these
results!
– Customer success stories/testimonials

• See our key business metrics, we’re doing great!

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 Market Fit / Competition
• Show how you fit into the Market Landscape
• Your advantages?
• Indirect Competitors vs. Direct Competitors?
• Your biggest competitor is the status quo! Why will
customers switch to you vs. the incumbent?
• Are you changing customer behavior?
• Types of Diagrams/Charts:
• Market Landscape Comparison
• Feature List Comparison

Pitch why you’re 10x better, not just 3x better!

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 Market Landscape (Example 1)
Industry Segment 1

Indirect
Competitor
Logos

Direct Direct
Competitor Competitor Competitor
Logos Logos Logos

Industry Indirect Indirect Industry

Segment 2 Competitor Your Logo Competitor Segment 3
Logos Logos
Direct Competitor Direct
Competitor Logos
Competitor
Logos Logos

Indirect
Competitor
Logos

Industry Segment 4

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 Market Landscape (Example 2)
Your
Co. A Your

High
Logo Co. A
Logo

Quality
Quality

Co. D Co. D

Low
Co. B Co. C
Co. B Co. C

Expensive Discounted
Economical
Economical

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 Feature List Comparison
Company Feature 1 Feature 2 Feature 3 Feature 4 Feature 5 Feature 6 Feature 7 Total

Your Company        7
Competi tor A     4
Competi tor B     4
Competi tor C    3
Competi tor D   2
Competi tor E   2
Indi rect Competi tor A   2
Indi rect Competi tor B    3
Indi rect Competi tor C    3
Indi rect Competi tor D    3
Indi rect Competi tor E    3

This often makes you look 2-3x better,

not 10x, so maybe only have as an
appendix slide
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 Competitive Advantages
• Current Competitive Advantages?
• Sustainable Competitive Advantages?
• Unfair Competitive Advantages?
• Patents? (Status, International?)
• Key Relationships / Partnerships?
• Barriers to Entry for New Players?
• Money, Time, Expertise, Relationships, Patents
• Competitor’s Competitive Advantages / Weaknesses?

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 Revenue Model
• How do you make money? Key revenue streams?
• Pricing? Flat fee or %? Why that rate?
• Recurring Revenue Frequency?
• Is there a big difference between Gross vs. Net Revenue?
• High Volume vs. Low Volume Business?
• Example showing basic math:
• 100 Clients x A Units x B Fee = $C Revenue
• Easy to apply multiples: 10x, 100x clients
• Cash collections: Immediately? 30-90 Days?
• Expected conversion rate to get a paid client?
• Expected ARPU (Average Revenue Per User)?
• Life-time Value of Customer?

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 Expense Model (Marketing / Strategy)
• Key Expenses / Time-Efforts Needed To Generate Revenue?
• Channels: How to reach / market to customers?
• Strategy: How to convert, acquire or close clients?
• Unique Strategic Relationships / Partnerships?
• Potential for leverage or scalability to grow fast economically?
• How long is sales cycle to get a client?
• Average Cost to Acquire a Customer?
• Cost to Maintain a Customer & Build Recurring Sales?
• Monthly burn rate, now vs. after funding?

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 Financial Projections
• # Years Projected:
• Startups: 6 year projections (accounts for ~1 yr of getting started)
• Early-mid stage: 1-2 year historical, 3-5 year projections
• Target Market Size vs. Acquired Clients:
• Total # Clients in Target Market (Show each year with growth)
• # Free Users vs. # Active Revenue Generating Users (shows
conversion rate)
• % Penetrated (shows entrepreneur’s sanity: growing from 0% to 1%-
5% penetration is usually sane, 50%-100% is usually insanity)
• High Level Financials:
• Revenue, Expenses, EBITDA, EBITDA Margin %
• Optional: Break out key revenue streams or Gross vs. Net Revenue
• Optional: Break out key expenses (Ex. # Employees)

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 Financial Projections

By year 5:
Revenue = $30-50M+, EBITDA = $10M+
• Investors look for exits of 6-12x+ EBITDA = $100M+ Sale of Company

EBITDA margins usually range 10%-40%

• Look up public companies in your industry or reports to see what is normal

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 Exit Strategy
• Acquisition: Most likely exit option for companies
• Name potential companies (any unique relationships with them?)
• Name types / categories of companies that could acquire you
• Why would they acquire you, how do you fit into their strategy?
• Why won’t they try to build it themselves?
• Financial Buyer: Will your company generate excess cash
flow that could make it attractive to financial buyers to
generate a return?
• IPO: The least likely exit for a company, but a possibility.
Often not preferred to founders or investors compared to
top two choices, due to required holding period and
volatility, etc.

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 Capital Raise / Use of Proceeds
• The Ask: How much are you raising and with what general terms (equity, debt, Convertible
Note) and the timing

• Capital Raise:
• Stage / Size? Ex. Seed Round: up to $500K, Series A: $2-3M
• Investment Terms: Ex: Pre-Money Valuation Expectations / Range, Discount into next round?,
Valuation Cap?, Dividend / Interest Rate?, Liquidation Preferences?
• Current Investors in Round: Founders, Key Angels, VCs
• Monthly Burn Rate? / How long will new $ last (runway)?
• Prior Investment Rounds: Size? Investors? Valuation? Key Terms?

• Use of Proceeds: (Name It / $ Amount / % of Capital Raised)

• How much raised? From whom?
• Sales & Marketing
• Hire key employees
• Founders salaries (Don’t be greedy!!!)
• Build out / further develop technology
• File patents
• Achieve Milestones: 1st Client? Get to Breakeven? 3x Rev Growth?

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 Closing Slide
• Your Logo (Big & in Middle) / Link to site
• Any Questions?
• Contact Info: Name / E-mail / Phone

After all questions have been asked by the investor, ask

“What’s the next step in the process?”

Remember:
Goal of Meeting =
Get the Next Meeting

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 Before The Pitch
• Get introduced to an Angel or VC, they don’t respond well to random calls/e-mails
• Review portfolio companies of Angels / VCs before sending them your investor deck
• Investors don’t invest in companies that compete directly with a portfolio company (shocking!)
• If there are strategic companies in their portfolio, they can make introductions to them even if they
don’t invest, such as potential clients, strategic partners, future acquirers, etc.
• Review investment criteria of Angels / VCs before sending investor deck
• Make sure you fit their industry focus (ex. Energy) or business type focus (Ex. B2B / B2C)
• Check the size of capital they invest ($250K? $1M? $3M+), the company stage (Startup/Early
Stage/Growth Stage, etc.), or required financial metrics (Ex. Min of $1M in Revenue or EBITDA)
• Review investor backgrounds to find useful overlaps or who best to speak with at fund
• Practice, Practice, Practice! Nail down flow, slide transitions, timing, clarity of concepts,
key mental frameworks, stories, answers to likely questions, etc.
• Arrival: Arrive 10 minutes early to set up computer, projector, get access to Wi-Fi, etc.
• Attire: Business casual is usually fine, but in doubt, wear a suit or ask them
• Ask the investors to provide a quick background on themselves and the fund ONLY if
there’s time. (You may just learn something and people love talking about themselves!)
• Can also ask who will be at the meeting (your audience) so you know their technical level

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 Preparing the Pitch Deck
• There are no correct # of slides, only key pieces that need to be covered
• Don’t be afraid of leaving things out of pitch, especially for short pitches, all other slides are back-up
• Follow their pitch rules- for ex. no more than X people, slides, minutes
• Use images (big) more than words, and very simple graphics and diagrams
• Keep slides clean, no clutter: ~2-5 bullets with each ~5-10 words/bullet
• Show, Don’t Tell: Don’t be cocky, show AMAZING results!
• Key Takeaways: Concisely summarize main points at the top or bottom of slides
– Show real validators to prove your points, supported by strong emotional validators
– The Right Opportunity: Clearly convey a Big Market + Big Problem + The Right Solution
– The Right Team: Qualities - Integrity, Credibility, Passion, Experienced, Knowledgeable, Skilled,
Leadership, Confidence, Commitment, Visionary, Realist, Coachable, Doers
• Consistent Formatting: Caps vs. lowercase, colors, font type & size, spacing, etc.
• Font Type: Arial (Easy to read)/ Font Size: Only use size 20 or larger
• Don’t use dashes “-” as bullets, they look negative, use other styled bullets
• Add page numbers (Bottom right of page)
• Dark backgrounds with light text colors project well (some print options allow for the
white background for printing.)

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 How to Pitch Effectively
• Open by saying your name, title/role, and company name (Allows audience to get familiar
with your voice before you start pitching, and it’s just polite!)
• The Quick Hook: Grab the emotional attention of the audience within the first 1 minute, or
take the audience with you on a STORY
• Team: Likewise tell the personal story of why you are invested in this company, and say
what is relevant about each team member in the company. Use pictures of team if
older/shows experience.
• Pitch your vision, not just what you currently have or are
• Reference things people know / understand, don’t make people think or question you
• One Joke: Make audience laugh at least once, but don’t do a comedy routine
• <10 min presentations – Only one person presents, the CEO who can sell
• Don’t read slides or stare at projector screen! Look forward / connect with your audience
• Don’t speak too fast, people listen better when you speak slower and you sound wiser!
• Don’t use industry acronyms / terminology, or reference companies they won’t know
• Don’t show a video, do show a quick DEMO or screen shots (pictures fail less often)
• If you run out of time, learn to skip to the end and the “ask” – your purpose for being there

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 Handouts and After Pitch
• Prepare various presentations (PDF’s) using 1 PPT file with all core
slides and appendix slides
1) 1st Meeting PDF: Send Core Slide Deck (No Appendix Slides), when presenting use
PPT so you can access appendix slides during Q&A if needed
2) Follow-up Meeting PDF: Additional slides (they may have requested you to create)
and some appendix slides
3) Full Due Diligence PDF: All slides and all appendix slides (possibly requiring NDA)
(This is usually once they have drafted a term sheet)

• Deck should be clear enough to explain itself and not need you
– When presenting, have add’l insight to share on each slide = Your “added
value”
– They often use the pitch deck now as a standalone business plan
• Afterwards, don’t forget to follow up and get feedback. Don’t just keep
reusing the same pitch deck- revise it based on their feedback.

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 Top Investor Questions
Company Questions:
• What’s the history of the company? When did you start operating?
• Why did you create this company?
• How did you meet/find your team members? Why are you / team right people to execute this
business?
• Target market size? Minimum market penetration needed for success?
• What’s your traction? (MVP done?, user/revenue growth?, key milestones?)
• Why will you fail? Biggest challenges?
• Why will you succeed? Unfair / sustainable advantages?
• Show how you achieve the magic ratio: ARPU / Life-time Value > Cost to Acquire / Maintain a
Customer

Capital Raising Questions:

• What’s the capital raising history of the company? How much / what terms?
• When did you start raising this round? What investors have committed?
• Have you invested any of your own money?
• Are your advisors investing?
• What’s your valuation? Terms?
• How much cash is in the bank? What’s your monthly burn rate (expenses not covered by
operating cash flow from revenues)? = Runway (Cash / Burn Rate)
• Use of proceeds and expected results/milestones?

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 Words of Wisdom
• Be 10x better (at one thing vs. doing 10x more things), Being
2-3x better isn’t good enough
• Focus on your customers’ #1 problem, not 10th problem
• Prepare yourself for rejection, ask why and learn
• There are lots of great ideas, but few can execute them
• Time is your biggest enemy! Build quick and cheap, and
iterate, iterate, iterate…pivot when needed
• Biggest Competition: Companies with equally great ideas and
teams, but more traction at your stage
• Best Opportunity: A big growing market, with a big problem,
and a simple solution (not overly complicated)
• You don’t know, the market does! Ask often.

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