A business pitch is an art of representing an idea to investors, thereby tempting them to invest funds for a share in a successful business venture. A deck is a collection of visually and contextually rich, meaningful slides to present a strong storyline about the startup. Hence, a pitch deck is an aesthetically designed business case for the investors. For a successful fundraise, Founders shall be able to present a compelling narrative to investors that piques their interest and unlock the funds their business needs to grow. Thus, a pitch deck is the most popular and important fundraising tool for any startup business. Visual appeal for the deck, validated numbers and an impressive story are all critical design elements of a winnable pitch deck.
Here are design tactics, that investors will find worth their time and money, for you to kickstart your business in 2023. Before that introspect and answer thoughts provoking questions.
- Do you really need a pitch deck?
- Why should investors care about your pitch?
- How much time do you have at your disposal?
- How much context investors need before sharing it with them?
- How should you balance design with the content?
Best Practices for a Formidable Pitch Deck Design
In this globally connected world, startups have access to a plethora of investment/ funds managers. Different portfolio managers may have varied requirements and goals to pursue. Some investors may prefer a polished deck, some may focus on learnings learnt and for some novelty of idea may be deal clinching. Founders need to focus on business first and working on pitch deck design may not be time prudent. So, hire the best talent in the pitch deck design for an impactful fundraising event.
To get you going, we have outlined pitch deck design tactics to make 2023 a memorable milestone in your business journey. Follow these gems of design elements and come out with flowing money:
Be Formidable at Storytelling
A set of visuals and powerful images about your business, held together in the minds of investors with an impressive storytelling, holds the key to your fortune. A story helps to engage your investors and let them stay hooked on to your business idea for long. So, make sure you present your information in a story form, with clearly identifiable plot, audience, protagonist, antagonist and most importantly the climax, for an impressive investor meet.
Use Charts and Graphs for Data
A pitch deck will always have plentiful of numbers, but the key to a winner is how you present data in an easily comprehensible and delightful manner. Chart and graphs are an ideal fit to highlight growth journey, business valuation and deployment of funds needed, in a crisp and attractive way. Heavy data becomes simpler to understand with charts and graphs, and aid investors in effective decision making. So, leverage your data and pinpoint the context of business better with a creative display of charts and graphs. Investors love this form of data presentation and make an instant connect with numbers that matter for your business.
Be iconic and use Icons or images
Use of icons or images help express more words in less space and break language barriers. Icons help represent complex ideas and guide the visual flow of the deck. Effective use of icons helps to tell a story about your business or the takeaway from a particular slide instead of drafting the whole story. Different icons and images can be useful in describing functions or evoke a particular emotional connect for the business.
Use only high quality and uncommon images for a unique visual appeal and an iconic pitch deck. For the team section, it will be wise to invest in professional headshots for a consistent startup brand presence.
Have a Crystal-Clear Objective
The objective of a well thought out pitch deck is to ensure that investors believe in your startup and consider it a viable case for investing. Enshrine this objective in the design of the pitch deck and stay simple throughout. Include things or facts which are necessary for the build-up of your story and realization of the objective of the pitch – convince investors to raise funds. Each slide should have a clear takeaway or call to action in line with the objective.
Deploy Layouts that Matter
For a win, it is crucial to pair your business idea with a presentation layout that has professionally designed slides customized to your needs. Select a theme of the template which resonates with the essence of your pitch deck. Narrating a coherent story is only possible with a matching layout, to engage with the investors. Different layouts appropriate for the purpose, are a wonderful way to emphasize varied sections of your pitch and storyline. To put this in perspective, imagine highlighting a big problem or an exciting metric with a big splash template.
Put Timeline to Highlight Milestones
Use of timelines is highly recommended for displaying critical milestones of your business journey. This gives strength to the story of your pitch deck by visually displaying milestones achieved and what is in store for the future. Just as the story build up leads to excitement, timelines generate confidence in the mind of investors about the traction in the business. A successful uptick or a dip in the business, if captured and explained transparently on the timelines or using charts, create a sense of dynamism and excite the investors about the future. Thus, enabling them to think positively about the fundraising.
Professional Pitch Deck Designer is the Need of the Hour
Any startup is a brainchild of the founders, and they work tirelessly to achieve its Vision. Their entrepreneurial zeal leaves little time for preparing the organization for fundraising. Investors are hard core professionals pressed for time too. An expert pitch deck designer transforms an entrepreneurial vision into a real life decisive moment with the investors. Specialist pitch deck design companies work hard with founders and develop an investment grade pitch deck. Professional knowhow brings life to value creating opportunities, making both ends meet in a time savvy manner.
One minute Recap
- Carefully choose a template or palette
- Put forth your brand (use colors of your brand, company Website)
- Simplify content with charts
- Take advantage of stellar images (do not use too much of imagery to avoid distracting audience)
- Organize text with icons (maintain similarity across the deck)
- Infographics depict complex information better
- Use professional headshots for team
- Follow a type-hierarchy
- Be creative with text-heavy slides
- Highlight key points
- Use bullets instead of a long paragraph
- Position of primary design elements should be same throughout the deck (slide title, page number, footer, source text boxes)
- Select one professional font for the entire deck with optimal size.
- Use image or vector infographics discerningly
- Use animation and transition effects only if essential, to avoid distraction.
AlphaValley, an expert pitch deck designer is here to uplift your vision into the realms of success. These 7 pitch deck design tactics present you with an opportunity to realize your once in a lifetime moment and emerge a winner in 2023. Your investment in our pitch deck knowledge will pay the best interest for your business. Next 14 days can decide your future course, try it for free.