Why a Pitch Deck Is the Key To Landing Funding for Your Business

The key to successfully launching your business, is to use someone else’s money to startup. And the key to getting someone else to give you their money is hidden within the slides of a convincing pitch deck. Think of your pitch deck as the gorgeous face and charismatic personality you (wish) you were born with. A good pitch deck makes a winning first impression on its audience, and should invite them to consider funding your business idea.

The Pitch Deck: Your key to Getting Funding For Your Business

Like a good CV, a pitch deck should arouse interest in its subject before you even have the chance to ace (or blow) the interview. The information contained in your pitch deck, will become a determining factor in whether or not investors and banks should consider your business as a potential investment opportunity. Moreover, it obligates you to form a quick and concise explanation for your business and the problems it solves.

By telling a compelling story, and answering the investors’ questions (before they’ve even asked them); your pitch deck generates interest in your business and confidence in your abilities and knowledge as an entrepreneur.

The Questions Your Pitch Deck Should Answer

So what’s on an investor’s mind when considering whether or not to fund your business? Simple. Put yourself in his or her place; I -a relative stranger- am asking you to give me money and assuring you that giving me money is a good idea, and will benefit you in the long run. Now, I bet you’ve got a lot of questions you’d like answered before you’ll seriously consider giving me those funds.

• What’s the money for? – In a nutshell, what is your business?
• Why would I want to give you money for that? – What is the problem your business provides a solution for?
• How will you solve this problem?
• Does this problem affect a lot of people? – Who and how big is your market?
• How will you pay me back? – How does your business make money?
• What’s your secret? – What sets you apart from your competitors?
• How will you find the people that need your product? – What is your marketing strategy?
• Who are you competing with? – Who is already doing what you plan to do?
• Who will help you to achieve your goals? – Who are the key players on your team>
• How much and when can I expect you to pay me back? – What are your financial projections and forecasts?
• Anything else you can tell me to make me feel more confident about this loan? – What achievements, accomplishments or goals have you reached to date?

Now, once I’ve adequately answered each of these questions, are you more likely to give me that money? Do you feel more confident in doing so? The same is true for potential investors when seeking funding for your business.

How Do I Know I’ve Got a Good Pitch Deck?

If the potential investor has any interest in hearing more or meeting with you again, then your pitch deck has successfully done its job. The goal of the pitch deck is to engage the investor sufficiently so that they want to know more about you and your business. Here are a few good tips for building a good pitch deck:

Tips For Creating a Good Pitch Deck

• Use a template. Find a template that was successful for another business, and make it your own.
• Be clear, but don’t overshare. Leave some questions unanswered.
• Don’t bore them with data. Let your pitch deck tell a story rather than just regurgitate data.
• Save it as a PDF. Don’t leave room for formatting pitfalls and mistakes.

Learn more about how to build your own pitch deck here.