Pitch Deck 101

What’s a pitch deck?

When raising funds from VCs for your startup, the most important step is to create a pitch deck.

But what’s a pitch deck? A pitch deck is a brief presentation (usually based on slides) that provides the audience with an overview of your business. It is usually created using PowerPoint.

For the purpose of investment, it gives potential investors a good idea of what your business is about, who your target market is, and other information that will help convince them to write you a big fat check.

A pitch deck is a required fundraising tool, whether you’re looking to raise $20,000, $200,000 or $20 million.

Creating a pitch deck is not easy. If you’ve never done it before and you’re a first-time entrepreneur, it can be incredibly difficult.

To help you with this task, why not take some examples from other startups who’ve raised funds from angel investors and VCs? We have compiled a list of 3 of the most famous startup pitch decks to help you to use as an example.

Facebook

Everyone has heard of them. Here’s a great fact: Peter Thiel, the billionaire venture capitalist and entrepreneur, was the first outside investor in Facebook back in 2004. That’s when Mark Zuckerberg first set out to turn his dorm room project into a lasting business. Zuckerberg received $500,000 from Peter Thiel.

They don’t have an investor pitch deck, but they do have a media kit providing the company’s value proposition, key metrics, and marketing services that were used to sell ads to potential clients.

Favorite fact: The focus of the pitch deck was based on solid numbers such as their user engagement, traffic, users, and growth metrics.

Airbnb

Airbnb is a revolutionary platform that allows people to list, find, and rent properties.

This company is one of the greatest startup success stories of our time. Airbnb’s pitch deck has become a great reference for entrepreneurs around the world.

Favorite fact: The biggest takeaway from Airbnb is the intro. It’s all about hooking your audience. You need to describe your business using as few words as possible. Imagine telling a 5-year-old what your business is about. If you can’t do that, it’s time to rethink your intro to your investors.

Buffer

Buffer is a social media scheduling platform that helps you create content on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Pinterest.

The almighty startup pitch deck that Buffer used to raise half a million dollars is a popular deck because of Buffer’s transparency. The founder decided to put it up to help other startups to raise funds.

Favorite fact: Similar to Facebook, the deck was based on solid numbers from Buffer’s users (e.g. 800 users, $150,000 annual revenue run rate, etc.)

Located in UAE, Dubai. Sami Kayyali creates professional powerpoint presentations, get in touch today!