How to Build a Seed Round Venture Capital Pitch Deck
A compelling start-up pitch deck can lead to the start of a great founder-investor relationship. Having a strong investor pitch deck can help start-ups obtain the investment they need. Having an over complicated pitch deck can lead you to miss out on funding opportunities. We have outlined the tips you need to create a concise and impactful seed round Venture Pitch Deck.
How to Build a Strong Venture Capital Pitch Deck
It is important that you present your story in the simplest form possible. Having shorter pitch deck is better. You should aim to fit the key information onto 10-12 slides, including simple fonts and strong supporting visuals. This will depend on the type of business you have too. Some businesses may only need to show 1-2 slides to explain their product, others may need 10-12 slides.
Starting Your Venture Pitch Deck
The start of your venture pitch deck is most important. Making a strong first impression will help you gain interest. Front-load your slide deck with the information potential investors need to quickly understand the value of your business.
At pre-seed and seed stages, venture capitalists are primarily investing in founders (the PEOPLE) and their story. You need to showcase your entrepreneurial spirit and convince them your business idea is valuable. Starting the deck with a brief introduction to the start-ups founding team, their experience, and qualifications, helps to showcase your competitive edge. You may also want to include advisors to your business, their background, and their role at your business. This establishes context and credibility for who you are and why it is worth their time listening to you before you begin to explain your business.
The Problem You Are Solving
Explain the problem your start-up is addressing in the beginning of your venture capital deck. This is your opportunity to demonstrate why your solution is necessary. Emphasise the problem you are addressing and how important it is to solve this problem. Highlight the pain points people have and why your business’ solution will help them relieve this pain point. Devoting time to this section will help you highlight your business value.
The Solution You Have to The Problem
Describe the solution you are providing in detail. Explain why this works and how it benefits customers. Keeping this section as straightforward as possible, will help investors understand your idea. Try to explain this solution in under 30 seconds. This will help investors understand the solution and avoid confusion about your products or services.
Your Product or Service
If you are still in the process of building the product, explain your vision and how it will work when complete. If you have a developed version of your product, show investors how it is performing so far, user engagement and early traction in the marketplace. Key metrics include usage, churn, and growth metrics. Read our blog in relation to start-up KPIs which will provide you with guidance in relation to what you should be tracking.
Market Opportunity
Your start-up maximum potential annual revenue helps Venture Capital firms decide if your business is worth their investment. Demonstrate why the problem you are addressing has substantial market size and business potential by outlining the following.
- The Total Addressable Market
- The Market Segments you are targeting.
- The amount of available revenue.
- If the market is national or international.
- The growth of the market
Your Unique Selling Point
Highlight what makes your solution unique and how your business provides opportunities different to other businesses. This will depend on your business and products. Some examples could include a unique technology you are developing or using, your team’s expertise, your go-to market strategy or why it is the right time for your business.
Business Model
Tell investors how you are going to monetize your solution and why this model makes sense for your market. Explain your main revenue stream instead of detailing plans for possible future expansion. You will reveal how you expect the financial results to look, based on this revenue model in this section.
Financial Projections
Present high-level financials at this stage on the venture pitch deck. This gives investors an insight into your vision for the business’ future and prove how it can be profitable. Provide projections in relation to the value of revenues and the number of customers or users you expect to gain. Your projections should include predictions for at least the next three or four years. Read more on building a start-up financial model.
Investment and Use of Funds
As the purpose of the pitch deck is to raise funds, it is important to tell investors the amount of funding you are looking for. Explain why you are looking for this amount and explain what the money will be used for. Share some goals you would like to achieve in the given time frame for your investment.
Conclude the Venture Capital Pitch Deck
To conclude your venture capital pitch deck, summarize the key points of your deck. The end of the investor pitch deck is less important than the beginning. It is important to focus on the story of your business, rather than finish your pitch together in the final slide.
Accurate Financials
Having accurate financials when you are pitching to investors shows that your business financial processes are in order. Gallagher Keane provide professional accounting, tax, and financial advice to many start-up businesses. This helps them make informed business decisions to reach their business goals. Gallagher Keane provides cloud accounting services to clients, giving start-ups a modern accounting solution.
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