Pitch Deck Outline: What To Include

Pitch deck outline: What to include to get funded? That’s one of the most critical questions entrepreneurs face.

Your next fundraising round could bring in seven, eight, or nine figures. Important capital that could mean all the difference between having to give up on your idea or making it a reality.

Bringing in this money is going to heavily rely on your pitch deck. Everything can ride on how effective your deck is. Here are the slides you need and what to put on them to make your startup fundable.

The Cover Slide

You only get one chance at making a first impression. This makes the cover your most important slide. If this slide isn’t good no one will swipe to view the rest.

This is the slide for your startup’s company name, logo, and contact information. Set it all up with a good tagline or slogan too.

The Problem Slide

To get funded you need a strong problem to solve. Be crisp, clear, and simple about the one main problem you are solving. Show the pain associated with it.

The Solution Slide

How is your startup going to solve this big problem? What’s the big vision and strategy to help people out of this painful problem?

Market Size Information in a Pitch Deck Outline

How big is this market? How much is it projected to grow over the next few years? What is your potential share of this market? Your numbers are ideally at least in the billions of dollars range. Take your time here, this is one of the most important data points for investors.

Competition Slide

Every startup has competition. If you don’t see the competition, then you haven’t done your research or aren’t thinking far enough out. Competition isn’t a bad thing. Show who they are and position your startup against them for your benefit.

Competitive Advantages Slide

What advantages does your startup have over potential competitors? Identify, what are your strengths? Explain to your investors, what is the one thing that you can keep excelling at to stay out ahead of them and build value.

The Product Slide

What is the product you are creating to solve this problem? Use images to show prototypes, screenshots of it, or how it is commonly used in real-life settings.

Customers Slide

Who are your ideal customers? What type of customers are they? Are you a B2C, B2B, or enterprise startup? What are your target customer avatar and their use cases?

Are you exploring what is a pitch deck outline and how to include customer information in it? Check out this video where I explain how to send a pitch deck to investors.

Feedback Slide

What feedback have you’ve already solicited and received from potential customers, and actual users who have paid for your product? What reviews have you accumulated?

Traction Slide

What traction have you gained so far? Focus on one specific metric. What progress have you obtained? How have you been able to maintain that growth? This may be displayed as customers acquired, sales units, revenues, or profits.

The Business Model Slide

Put simply, what is your business model? How do you secure customers, serve them, and make real money?

Financials Slide

If you include a financial slide, know that your investors will spend the most time on this one slide. If you’ve already started the business, show what your numbers look like. What are your customer acquisition numbers, sales, revenues, profits, and profit margins?

Financial Forecast Slide

Even if you are an early-stage pre-revenue startup you can and need to forecast financials. How many customers are you going to bring in? How many do you need to break even? What are your goals for sales volume, revenues, and profits? Your pitch deck outline must include these details.

Other Investors Slide

What other investors have you brought in during previous funding rounds? Which investors have committed to this round or even to lead this round?

Keep in mind that in fundraising storytelling is everything. In this regard for a winning pitch deck to help you here, take a look at the template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel (see it here) that I recently covered. Thiel was the first angel investor in Facebook with a $500K check that turned into more than $1 billion in cash.

Remember to unlock the pitch deck template that is being used by founders around the world to raise millions below.

The Team Slide

Along with your cover slide and financials slide, this is one of the top three most important slides in your pitch deck. Your team is even more important to investors than your startup idea for forecasts. They want to know you are committed, capable, and coachable. Include a headshot and one or two-line bio for each cofounder.

Use Of Funds Slide

How much are you asking for? Why is this money needed? What will you do with the money to invest it for the best returns? When figuring out a pitch deck outline, make sure you have this key information.

Upcoming Milestones

What upcoming milestones are on your goals list? Which will this round of funding enable you to achieve? When do you expect to be able to reach them? Don’t be too aggressive here. It is more important you prove that you can do what you say than to overpromise.

Closing Slide

Thank investors for their time viewing your pitch deck. Repeat your contact information again so that they can get in touch right away if they are interested in funding your round, or have questions. Make your contact details obvious and easy.

Summary of Your Pitch Deck Overview

Your whole business idea, vision, and future can all ride on the effectiveness of your pitch deck. These are the most important slides to include in your outline, and what to put on them. Put it together, and get feedback from an experienced advisor before you rush to publish it and start presenting live.

Don’t skimp on the pitch deck. Respect the value it can offer. Consider that if you have a 20-page pitch deck, and you are asking to raise $20M, then each page is worth at least $1M.

A pitch deck outline: what to include? We have some additional tips you can use. Check out the Inner Circle for more fundraising training and a free pitch deck template you can use.

You may find interesting as well our free library of business templates. There you will find every single template you will need when building and scaling your business completely for free. See it here.