investor pitch presentation example

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30+ Best Pitch Deck Examples, Tips & Templates

By Ryan McCready , Jul 04, 2023

A startup is, by definition, a fast-growing company. And to grow you need funding.

Enter the pitch deck.

Haven’t created a winning pitch deck before? No worries. You’ll find a ton of pre-made pitch deck templates and designs inspired by the examples throughout.

Then, use Venngage’s Presentation Maker to easily edit the templates — no technical expertise required.

A well-designed pitch deck is vital to convincing investors that your company has massive growth potential, so you can get the resources you need to scale.

In this post, we’ll look at the best startup pitch deck examples from heavy-hitters such as Guy Kawasaki, Airbnb, Uber and Facebook. We’ll also uncover the secrets of their successful startup pitch decks, and how you can leverage them to attract investor dollars, bring on new business partners and win new client contracts.

 Table of contents (click to jump ahead):

• What is a pitch deck?

What is the purpose of a pitch deck?

What makes a good pitch deck, best pitch deck examples & sample pitch deck templates, what is the difference between a pitch deck vs business plan, pitch deck faq, create a pitch deck in 4 easy steps, what is a pitch deck .

A pitch deck is a presentation created to raise venture capital for your business. In order to gain buy-in and drum up financial support from potential investors, these presentations outline everything from why your business exists, to your business model, progress or milestones , your team, and a call-to-action.

The best startup pitch decks can help you:

• Prove the value of your business
• Simplify complex ideas so your audience can understand them (and get on board)
• Differentiate your business from competitors
• Tell the story behind your company to your target audience (and make that story exciting)

What is a pitch deck presentation?

A pitch deck presentation is a slideshow that introduces a business idea, product, or service to investors. Typically consisting of 10–20 slides, a pitch deck is used to persuade potential investors to provide funding for a business. It serves as a comprehensive overview of your company, outlining your business model, the problem you solve, the market opportunity you address, your key team members, and your financial projections.

The purpose of a pitch deck presentation can be to generate interest, secure funding, form partnerships or gain clients. A well-crafted pitch deck can greatly support a pitch deck presentation by effectively conveying the key messages, engaging the audience , and enhancing the overall impact of the presentation.

Great. Now let’s take a look at the elements of a good pitch deck.

To summarize, some of my favorite pitch deck design tips include:

• Adding icon headers to your most important insights
• Use similar charts and graphs for easy comparisons across slides
• For longer pitch decks, switch up the slide layouts
• Pick a consistent theme for your presentation background images
• Don’t just list your ideal users, create visual personas
• Use a timeline to show how your company has grown
• Always do the math for your audience

Now let’s take a look at some of the best startup pitch deck examples out there. 

1.  Sequoia capital pitch deck

How much did they raise? Sequoia Capital is actually a Venture Capital firm. According to TechCrunch , they’ve raised almost $1B for later-stage U.S. investments.

Key takeaway : “If you can’t tell the story of the company in five minutes, then you’re either overthinking it or you haven’t simplified it down enough.” – Mike Vernal, Sequoia Capital

VC firm Sequoia Capital has its own  10-slide pitch deck format to rival Guy Kawasaki’s famous example that we’ll take a look at a little later on. Its highly-curated, clarified format shines a spotlight on innovative ideas.

As the video above suggests, effectively communicating your mission, not just listing features, is key. Below is our take on the Sequoia Capital pitch deck example; you’ll find it clean, clear and easy to create.

Design tip : Click the blue background and select a new color from our color wheel (or one of your own brand colors via My Brand Kit, available with Venngage for Business ) to create a pitch deck with your branding.

Related:  How to Make Successful Financial Pitch Decks For Startups

Blue and pink iconics pitch deck

Ready to try it for yourself? Add a pop of color to your version of the Sequoia pitch deck template with this pink and blue slide deck. The contrasting colors will make your information stand out.

2. Airbnb pitch deck

How much did they raise?  $20k at three months and $600k at eight months (seed), according to Vator .

Key takeaway: A large marketplace, impressive rate of traction and a market ready for a new competitor are the factors which made Airbnb stand out early on, says Fast Company. The organization’s slide deck clearly demonstrates these points.

Your pitch deck should explain the core information in your business plan in a simple and straightforward way. Few startups have done this as well as Airbnb.

We’ve re-designed Airbnb’s famous deck as two light and airy sample pitch deck templates. The focus here is on engaging visuals, with minimal text used.

Airbnb fundraising slide deck

This type of deck is also called a demo day presentation .  Since its going to be viewed from a distance by investors while you present, you don’t need lots of text to get your message across. The point is to complement your speech, not distract from it.

Another great thing about Airbnb’s fundraising slide deck format is that every slide has a maximum of three sections of information:

As one of the most popular presentation layouts , the rule of three design principle has been drilled into my head. And for good reason!

Here’s one of the slides that demonstrates why this pitch deck design tip works:

VIDEO TUTORIAL:  Learn how to customize this pitch deck template by watching this quick 8-minute video.

Minimalist Airbnb pitch deck template

This simple sample pitch deck template is clean and incredibly easy to customize, making it perfect for presentation newbies.

Don’t forget to insert your own tagline instead of the famous “Book rooms with locals, rather than hotels” slogan. Hint: your tagline should similarly convey what your business offers. Airbnb’s pitch deck offers up tantalizing benefits: cost savings, an insider’s perspective on a location and new possibilities.

Design tip : Click the text boxes in our online editor and add your own words to the pitch decks. Duplicate slides you like, or delete the ones you don’t.

Related:  How to Create an Effective Pitch Deck Design [+Examples]

3. Uber pitch deck

How much did they raise? $1.57M in seed funding in 2010, reports Business Insider .

Key takeaway : Successful pitch decks clearly highlight the key pain point (the inefficiency of cabs) and a tantalizing solution (fast, convenient 1-click ordering).

Uber co-founder Garrett Camp shared the company’s very first pitch deck from 2008 via a  Medium post .

While there’s a surprising amount of text, it still manages to hit on every major part of their business plan succinctly — including key differentiators, use cases and best/worst-case scenarios.

Want something similar? We’ve updated the classic Uber pitch deck template with a sharp layout:

Uber investor deck

Many of the best pitch deck presentations out there are rather brief, only covering a few main points across a handful of slides. But sometimes your deck needs to provide more information.

There’s nothing wrong with having a longer investor pitch deck, as long as you switch up the slide layouts throughout — no one wants to see basically the same slide (just with different metrics or points) 25 times over.

This sample pitch deck template we created based on the infamous Uber deck has 20 or more slides and a diversity of layout options:

Design tip : Replace the photos with your own or browse our in-editor library with thousands of free professional stock images. To do so, double click any image to open our “replace” feature. Then, search for photos by keyword.

Blue Uber slide deck

In this navy version of the Uber pitch deck template, we’ve added bright colors and creative layouts.

Again, it’s easy to swap out the icons in our online editor. Choose from thousands of free icons in our in-editor library to make it your own.

Related : 9 Tips for Improving Your Presentation Skills For Your Next Meeting

4. Guy Kawasaki pitch deck

How much did they raise?  Guy Kawasaki’s Garage Capital raised more than $315 million dollars for its clients, according to one estimate .

Key takeaway : Avoid in-depth technical discussions in your pitch deck. Focus on the pain point you’re solving, how you’ll solve it, how you’ll make money and how you’ll reach custvomers.

Guy Kawasaki’s 10 slide outline is famous for its laser focus. He’s renowned for coining the 10/20/30 rule : 10 slides, 20 minutes and no fonts smaller than 30 point.

While you may be tempted to include as much of your business plan as possible in your pitch deck, his outline forces you to tease out your most important content and engage investors or clients within a short time span.

We’re recreated his famous outline in two winning templates you can adapt and make your own:

Gradient Guy Kawasaki pitch deck

This clean pitch deck template has all the sections you need and nothing you don’t.

Kawasaki’s format steers you towards what venture capitalists really care about : problem/solution, technology, competition, marketing plan, your team, financial projections and timeline.

Read our blog post on persuasive presentations for more design and speaking tips.

Design tip : Quickly add in charts and graphs with our in-editor chart maker. You can even import data from Excel or Google sheets.

Blue Guy Kawasaki pitch deck

This more conservative pitch deck template design keeps all the focus on the core information.

Remember: opt for a 30-point font or larger. This will force you to stick to your key points and explain them clearly. Anything smaller, and you’ll risk losing your audience — especially if they’re busy reading while tuning out what you’re actually saying.

5. Buffer pitch deck

How much did they raise?  $500k, according to Buffer’s co-founder Leo Widrich .

Key takeaway : The traction slide was key for Buffer: it showed they had a great product/market fit. If you have great traction, it’s much easier to raise funding.

What’s interesting about Buffer’s pitching process was the issue of competition, as that’s where many talks stalled. Investors became confused, since the social media landscape looked crowded and no one was sure how Buffer differed.

Eventually, they created this slide to clear the air:

To be frank, I’m still confused by this addition to the Buffer pitch deck, but perhaps their presentation would have cleared things up.

In any case, we’ve recreated Buffer’s pitch deck with its own traction, timeline and competitor slides, plus a clean new layout and some easy-to-customize icons:

Design tip : don’t forget to add a contact slide at the end of your pitch deck, like in the business pitch example below.

Because sometimes you’re going to pitch to a small room of investors. Other times, it will be to an auditorium full of random people in your industry. And I can guarantee that not everyone is going to know your brand off the top of their head.

You should make it extremely easy for people to find out more info or contact your team with any questions. I would recommend adding this to the last slide, as shown below.

Alternatively, you could add it to the slide that will be seen the longest in your pitch deck, like the title slide. This will help anyone interested write down your information as event organizers get things ready.

Related:  Creating a Pitch Deck? 5 Ways to Design a Winner

6. Facebook pitch deck

How much did they raise? $500K in angel funding from venture capitalist Peter Thiel (first round).

Key takeaway : If you don’t have revenue traction yet, lean heavily on other metrics , like customer base, user engagement and growth.  Use a timeline to tell a story about your company.

The best pitch decks tell the real story about your company or brand. You should not only want to sell the audience on your product but also on the hard work you’ve done building it from the ground up.

Design tip: Try data visualizations to relay a company or product timeline . Since people are familiar with the format and know how to read them quickly, you can convey the information impactfully and save room while you’re at it.

Here, Facebook’s classic pitch deck shows the incredible schools that’ve already signed on and describe when future launches will happen.

The sample pitch deck template featured below shows another example of a company or product timeline . This would have been a great fit in the Facebook pitch deck, don’t you think?

Plus you can summarize a ton of information about your brand on a single slide. Check out how well the timeline fits into this pitch deck template below:

If the designer wouldn’t have used a timeline, the same information could have been spread over five or six extra slides! Luckily, Venngage’s timeline maker can help you visualize progress across a period of time without any design experience required.

7. TikTok Pitch Deck

How much did they raise? $150.4M in funding in 2014 (back when TikTok was called Musical.ly), says Crunchbase .

Key takeaway : Use icons as visual anchors for written information.

(The full slide deck is available to Digiday subscribers , though you can view some of the key slides in this Medium post . Keep in mind: this TikTok pitch deck was created for potential advertisers, not investors. No other TikTok pitch decks are publicly available.)

What TikTok does really well in the above example is use icons as visual anchors for their stats. (I could write a whole article about using icons in your presentations correctly. There are so many ways you can use them to upgrade your slides.)

If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, just look at the slide deck template below.

Each of the main points has an icon that gives instant visual context about what the stat is about to the audience. These icons draw the eye immediately to these important facts and figures as well.

Design tip: Remember to use icons that have a similar style and color palette. Otherwise, you run the risk of them becoming a distraction.

8. Y Combinator pitch deck

How much did they raise? This startup accelerator has invested in over 3,500 startups to date, according to the company website . They state their combined valuation nears $1 trillion.

Key takeaway : Create clear, concise pitch deck slides that tell a story investors can understand in seconds.

The classic Y Combinator pitch deck is incredibly simple, and for good reason. Seed stage companies can’t provide much detail, so they should focus on telling a story about their company.

That means your slides should tell a story investors can immediately understand in a glance.

Note that one of Y Combinator’s key components is the problem (above) and solution (below) slides.

Explaining how your startup is going to solve a pain point is a vital part of any slide deck. According to Y Combinator , startups should use the problem slide to show the problem your business solves, and how this problem currently affects businesses and/or people. Additionally, if you’re starting a new startup, forming an LLC could be a great choice to launch your business in the right direction.

Without that information, investors are going to be left with more questions than answers.

The solution slide should show the real-world benefits of your product/service. I recommend using data visualization to show traction, like the chart above, with a couple of notes for context.

To ensure your problem and solutions slides are easily understood, use a similar layout for both, as shown below.

This will help the audience quickly recall the main problem you want to solve, and connect it to your solution (even if the slides are separated by a few other points or ideas).

9. Front pitch deck

How much did they raise ? $10M in Series A funding

Key takeaway : Use a simple flowchart to visualize a problem your product/service solves.

Not everyone is going to be able to explain their problem and solution as succinctly as the previous examples. Some will need to take a unique approach to get their point across.

That’s why I want to highlight how Front masterfully communicated the problem to be solved. They likely realized it would be a lot easier (and cleaner) to create a flow chart that visualizes the problem instead of text. (Did I mention you can make your own flowcharts with Venngage?)

Also, I really like how they distilled each down to a single phrase. That approach, combined with the visuals, will help it stick in investors’ minds as one of the best pitch decks.

Here’s another example pitch deck that uses a chart to convey their problem/solution:

It splits the competition slide right down the middle to illustrate the differences. It also shows exactly how the processes differ between the two entities using mini flowcharts.

Helping the audience make the right conclusions about your company should be an important part of your pitch deck strategy. Without saying a word, the visual choices you make can greatly impact your message.

10. Crema pitch deck

How much did they raise? $175K in seed funding .

Key takeaway : Choose background images carefully — making sure they have a similar color palette.

The best pitch decks keep things consistent, mainly because there are so many moving parts in any presentation. You want each of your slides to feel like they’re connected by a singular feeling or theme. An out-of-place presentation background image can throw that off.

Keeping things consistent when you use a solid background color or pattern isn’t hard. But things can get tricky if you want to use different photos for your backgrounds.

However, if you pick presentation background images that have a similar color palette, you’ll be fine. Check out the images Crema used in their startup pitch deck below:

If you’re struggling to find exactly the same colored photos, you can use a color filter to make things more uniform.

11. WeWork pitch deck

How much did they raise? $6.9M in seed funding in 2011, says Crunchbase .

Key takeaway : Put your metrics on display.

The behemoths at WeWork still have one of the best software pitch decks, despite recent troubles (layoffs, and a valuation that dropped from $47 billion to $2.9 billion).

In fact, this investor pitch deck actually helped them raise money at a $5 billion valuation.

My favorite thing from this is how their key metrics are on the second slide. They waste no time getting down to business!

A lot of the time brands hide these metrics at the end of their presentation, but WeWork made sure to put it front and center in their slide deck.

This approach puts the audience in a positive state of mind, helping them be more receptive to the pitch.

12. Crew (Dribble) pitch deck

How much did they raise? $2M in seed funding

Key takeaway : Start your presentation with a simple statement to set the tone.

Sometimes you have to set the mood of the room before you jump into your slide deck. A simple way to do this is by adding a powerful statement or famous quote at the beginning of your slides.

This may sound cliche, but the creatives over at Crew (now Dribbble ) used this approach well in their pitch presentation.

By claiming that every business is an online business, they instantly change the way that people think about the business sector.

Additionally, the designers used this straightforward statement to set up the rest of the presentation. In the next few slides, the potential market is explained. Without the statement, I don’t think these numbers would be as impactful.

Let’s take a look at the graphs and charts the Dribble team used in their slide deck. In the below business pitch example, you can see that the line charts use the same color palette, size, and typography.

One of my favorite tips from my presentation ideas roundup article states you should never make the audience do the math.

You can also use this mantra when you’re adding data visualizations to your slides. Make each slide extra easy to consume, as well as, easy to compare to other visualizations.

Below the pie charts use the exact same color palette, size, and typography as well:

If the designers would have used a different example, the audience would be distracted trying to decipher the information.

But consistent design across multiple visualizations will ensure your audience can make comparisons that lead to the right conclusions.

Pro Tip: You can use a comparison infographic to summarize key points you’re comparing.

13. Aspire Food Group pitch deck

How much did they raise? $1M from the Hult Prize in 2013 to scale their project.

Key takeaway : Simple graphics clearly illustrate the problem (food security), the size of the market and Aspire’s unique farming project (spoiler alert: it’s insects).

Nonprofits pitching donors or social enterprises pitching for funding have a slightly different challenge than other organizations. They need to present a unique solution and  make an emotional connection to their audience.

Aspire’s simple pitch deck graphics allow investors to grasp their unique business idea at a glance. Plus, by introducing the audience to one of their customers and describing how insect farming has impacted her food budget, the concept is made relatable to many.

Another simple design hack is to choose a unique background for your nonprofit or social enterprise pick deck. Take this sample pitch deck template:

There are millions of stock photos out there for you to pick from, so finding one that will work shouldn’t be too hard.

However, when you’re picking your presentation background images , it’s important to make sure it matches your message or brand.

In the above example, the pitch deck’s slightly crumpled paper background fits an eco-friendly startup well.   Especially because eco-friendly living and minimalism share similar tenants.

Another great example is this sponsorship pitch deck above. It elevates the message by opting for a simplistic background choice.

With a beautiful yet minimalistic slide deck like this, who wouldn’t want to donate?

Most of the time your pitch deck background images are supposed to be used in a supporting role. However, you can also design your presentation around the background images to create some of the best pitch decks out there.

As you can see in this pitch deck template, we added written content to the white space in each of the stock photos:

Plus no one can really copy your pitch deck layout, so you will instantly stand out from other companies.

Be sure to pick photos that share the same color palette and theme. Otherwise, the benefits of using these presentation backgrounds will be lost.

14. Mattermark pitch deck

How much did they raise? A total of $17.2M so far, says Crunchbase .

Key takeaway : Use screenshots in your pitch deck to show the problem you’re solving.

Highlighting digital problems is tough when you have limited space and time…like when you’re pitching your new digital product to a room full of investors.

That’s why some of the best pitch decks include screenshots of the problem being solved.

As you can see above, the people from Mattermark used screenshots to show how unorganized SAAS reporting was. At that time it was spread over a ton of different sites, with different reporting standards and values.

It would be difficult to sell an investor on their product just by talking about the market. Mainly because not a lot of people have experience in that specific niche.

But with a handful of screenshots, they were able to highlight the product potential almost instantly.

In terms of design, the team at Mattermark stuck to the rule of three (see slide below). This rule will help you keep your team from overwhelming the audience with a flood of stats or figures.

They also decided to make these figures easier to consume by highlighting them in different colors

Compared to a boring list of figures, it’s a lot easier to remember three distinct colored numbers. Plus because the background colors darken as they go, it naturally guides the reader’s eyes down the slide.

15. Dwolla pitch deck

How much did they raise? $12M in funding as of 2018.

Key takeaway : Give the reason your company was founded in one quick sentence.

In many of our own presentations, we talk about how Venngage started from humble beginnings before undergoing tremendous growth in just a few years.

That’s because people love origin stories — they help your audience connect with your brand and appreciate all the work put into it.

Take a look at the pitch deck slide from Dwolla above. In a single sentence, they outline their reason for doing business, and what they hope to solve.

Just be sure to talk about your company founding in the first few slides of your pitch. Otherwise, it won’t have the same impact.

On another note, as a design company, we always love to see people create great visualizations in their pitch decks — particularly when these visuals communicate key information well….like when it comes to your ideal users!

I have seen a lot of brands just talk about their users, but I recommend creating visual user personas instead. Our persona guides can help you with this!

As you can see above, Dwolla visualized their user personas for each use case.

These visual user personas allow audiences to put a “real” face to your user base. And if you have many ideal users (like Dwolla), it helps keep each group organized.

16. Kickfolio (App.io) pitch deck 

How much did they raise? $1M in seed funding.

Key takeaway : Go for huge graphs! The bigger, the better.

Be proud of your brand’s growth and metrics in your slide deck.

You worked hard to grow a company from nothing, and that’s a big achievement! So why would you want to make that growth hard to see?

However, I’ve seen a lot of people inadvertently hide their key metrics by using small graphs or charts.

The only solution to this problem is…get bigger with your graphs! And I mean huge, like the ones App.io deployed in the pitch deck above. Their graph is so large and imposing, every audience member could see it clearly.

Venngage’s  graph maker can help you do this for your own pitch decks too.

17. Yalochat pitch deck

How much did they raise? $15M in Series B funding, says TechCrunch.

Key takeaway : Use icons as illustrations to add instant context.

Icons have been making a comeback in the design world over the past few years. According to recent reports on graphic design trends , they’ll continue to be popular.

This presentation from Yalochat is one of the best examples of how to use illustrated icons correctly.

Each icon perfectly illustrates the point being made on each slide, giving instant context. They will definitely catch the eyes of any audience member.

Just remember to follow their lead and  use consistently designed icons !

18. Brex pitch deck

How much did they raise? $1.5 billion to date.

Key takeaway : Include a single slide about your team and highlight what makes them truly exceptional.

Another important part of your story is the people who helped you build your company. These people are the lifeblood of your brand, and what helps it stand out from the competitors.

Corporate card startup Brex does this well by using team member photos, and including their titles and company affiliations to build credibility. You can download the Brex slides for free, thanks to Business Insider .

Let’s tale a look at a sample pitch deck that employs a similar philosophy.

I’m guessing you already planned on adding something similar to your pitch deck. Again, I would recommend using only a single team slide like they did.

You can use a team photo if you want to talk about the whole team, or add an organizational chart instead. Alternatively, like Brex, you can highlight the most important individuals, like this business pitch example:

Whatever you choose to do, don’t forget to talk about your team on a team slide, and highlight the people who make your company truly great.

Read More:  12+ Organizational Chart Examples and Templates

19. Purple Go pitch deck

How much did they raise? Undisclosed.

Key takeaway : Use a contrasting hue to draw your audience’s attention to key information.

Color isn’t just about making your designs look good — it can also draw your audience’s attention to important information.

For example, take a look at this simple pitch deck from Purple Go . They contrast deep purple with white to help certain sentences pop.

This is a simple way to make your slides have a lot of impact; pick colors that contrast boldly with each other.

20. Mint pitch deck

How much did they raise? $31M to date, according to Mint.

Key takeaway : Add visual cues, such as illustrations and icons, to help explain your brand to investors.

I’m guessing your pitch deck is already going to touch on how you stand out from the competition. But just listing a few things that set you apart may not be enough on your slide deck!

You may need to add some visual cues to help the audience out.

We decided to redesign Mint’s original deck for a contemporary take on this.

In this minimalist pitch deck template, our designers used visuals to make the main company stand out even more. And best of all, it doesn’t distract from the minimalist theme.

This simple addition to your slides will help your information jump off the page, providing a rewarding visual break from related companies.

21. Park Evergreen (Plot) pitch deck

How much did they raise? $400k in seed funding.

Key takeaway : Give each metric its own slide.

Generally, slide decks are full of important metrics that you’re supposed to remember. But not all of those numbers are presented in a way that would make them easy to.

Some are hidden in long paragraphs, while others are smashed together with less important findings.

That’s why I’m a huge fan of how Park Evergreen (now called Plot ) included important numbers in this slide deck. As you can see below, each metric is given its own slide:

With this approach, the audience members place their full attention on that number. And they’ll be able to recall the information a lot quicker.

It may look overly simple to some, but the best pitch decks use this tactic a lot.

22. Hampton Creek (Eat Just) pitch deck

How much did they raise? $1.5M in Series A.

Key takeaway : Create a minimalist title slide to build anticipation for your presentation.

You probably know that presentations don’t always run as smoothly as planned. With long breaks and technical problems, the time between presentations can end up running rather long.

Translation: you might spend more time looking at the title slide than the actual presentation itself.

So if you really want to build some anticipation for your pitch, create a minimalist (some might even say, mysterious) title slide. As you can see, the team at Eat Just (once known as Hampton Creek) did just that.

The lack of information makes spectators want to learn more about your brand, effortlessly engaging them.

The only negative is that no one is going to know the name of your company — yet.

23. Sickweather pitch deck

How much did they raise? $2.6M to date, according to Crunchbase.

Key takeaway : Pull out the main metrics from your graphs and charts to make your slide a snap to understand.

Remember when I said: “Don’t make your audience do the math”?

Yeah. That’s because people hate doing math — so you never want to make investors try to calculate your data themselves. Especially when dealing with millions of dollars, tiny percent changes or other complicated numbers.

Out of all the tips in this article, this one might be the most important. Mainly because forgetting this idea all but guarantees your failure.

That’s why I recommend you “do the math” on every slide where you include a graph or chart — like how Sickweather did above.

By pulling out the main growth metrics from the graph, they made this slide a lot more consumable, and showed the audience exactly what they should pay attention to.

24. Dutchie pitch deck

How much did they raise? $35M in 2020, according to TechCrunch .

Key takeaway : Set the tone by putting your most impressive stat(s) in the introduction.

Dutchie, an all-in-one technology platform for eCommerce, POS and payments, wastes no time coming out the gates with one impressive insight: “10% of all legal cannabis in the world” is purchased through their product.

Now I don’t know about you, but that’s pretty tantalizing.

So it makes perfect sense they would pull it out from their market share figures and feature it in their introduction. By doing so, investors get an idea how successful and established Dutchie is right off the bat.

25. Studysmarter pitch deck

How much did they raise?  $15M according to TechCrunch .

Key takeaway : Illustrate your vision over several slides.

Rather than dedicate one slide to their vision for the company, digital learning company Studysmarter continuously brings up how their product will be understood in the future — as “the world’s central hub” for “lifelong” learning, becoming the “largest learning platform in Europe” by 2021.

While this visionary sentiment is not new to the pitch deck industry, it makes sense Studysmarter would want to focus much of their presentation slide deck on this idea: the idea of an unlimited target market and use cases.

Design wise, their illustrations are consistent, using visuals to illustrate their message and various target demographics.

These graphics build off the sleek, modern interface Studysmarter’s brand image invokes. It also illustrates what they want investors to envision for the future of the brand.

26. Clearbanc (Clearco) Pitch Deck

How much did they raise? $70M in series A funding, according to TechCrunch.

Key takeaway : Use flow charts to communicate complicated processes.

As a company that offers startups “growth capital for the new economy” through non-dilutive revenue-share agreements, Clearco (previously known as Clearbanc) wins big by communicating how the process works in less than a slide’s time.

That’s right: the company uses a flowchart .

For complicated business processes that would normally take several slides of text to communicate, a flowchart is a smart way to visualize a process while saving space and keeping your audience engaged.

Particularly for a company like Clearco, this is key for getting investors up to speed. Then you can move on to the other facts and figures they’ll surely want to hear.

27. Foursquare Pitch Deck

Key takeaway : Show how the end-product looks in your presentation.

Okay look, I get it. This slide deck from 2009 is certainly behind on times when it comes to design tips in this current day and age…

BUT take it back to more than a decade ago, and you’ll see why Foursquare’s pitch deck won big with investors.

As one of the first businesses to employ gamification, the company lets this selling proposition shine by using an iPhone graphic to show how the app’s points and badges look to the end-user. These visuals communicate the appeal by showcasing exactly how consumers will interact with, and understand, the product.

In essence, it takes the guesswork out of their pitch.

So while the text-heavy aspect of this sample pitch deck isn’t exactly ideal, their use of visuals can teach us a lesson.

28. TalentBase pitch deck

How much did they raise?   $330K to date.

Key takeaway : Let the numbers do the talking.

Rather than take up a ton of slide space in this pitch deck example, TalentBase, an affordable payroll solution , focused their real estate on the real deal-closers: the numbers.

While this won’t work for every business, as you may need to add more slides to truly explain the environment your organization exists in and your processes, TalentBase uses their positioning to drive forward a captivating narrative.

And this narrative utilizes only numbers to connect the dots in the mind of potential investors about the value TalentBase offers, in terms of market capture.

29. Peloton pitch deck

Key takeaway : Discuss both the tangible and intangible benefits your product offers.

In 2018, back before the real pandemic hey-day of this tech unicorn, Peloton dazzled in a funding round and managed to capture in $550M funding.

Part of this can be attributed to Peloton’s emphasis on the benefits it brings customers.

Across multiple slides, the exercise equipment and media company highlights how customers’ lives are improved in various emotional and functional ways. Since this connection lays the groundwork for long-term B2C relationships, investors can immediately identify the value encompassed by this modern fitness tool.

Looking to try something similar? Check out the below Peloton sample pitch deck, reimagined by our Venngage design team.

EDIT THIS PITCH DECK

30. Ledgy pitch deck

How much did they raise? $ 10M in September 2021.

Key takeaway : Cut down on space with text and graphics that follow a clear logical narrative.

In just seven slides, the equity management and investor relations platform, Ledgy, was able to convince their audience that their product was worth investing in.

By putting their mission first, and following it up with engaging visuals, the company tells a story despite using minimal text.

Yoko Spirig, CEO and co-founder of Ledgy, echoed this sentiment in an interview : “Starting with the ‘why’ lets you build the business case for the product, and create a logical narrative that investors can follow.”

That’s why, design-wise, this is one of the cleanest pitch deck examples in the bunch. It’s one of the shortest too.

I also appreciate how their brand colors are used in conjunction with white to keep everything consistent (something that Venngage’s automated branding feature My Brand Kit can help you out with).

A pitch deck and a business plan serve different purposes in the world of entrepreneurship, each playing a crucial role in showcasing and strategizing a business venture. The main distinction lies in their format, level of detail and intended audience.

Pitch decks typically consists of a series of carefully crafted slides, highlighting key aspects of the business such as the value proposition, target market, revenue model, competitive advantage and team expertise.

The goal is to pique interest, generate excitement and secure further engagement or funding opportunities. A pitch deck emphasizes storytelling, persuasive visuals, and concise messaging to create an impactful impression.

On the other hand, a business plan is a comprehensive and detailed document that provides an in-depth roadmap for the entire business venture. It outlines the company’s mission, vision, goals, market analysis, marketing strategies, operational details, financial projections and risk assessment.

A business plan serves as a strategic blueprint, guiding the entrepreneur and internal stakeholders in executing the business idea effectively. It tends to be more exhaustive, often spanning several pages or even chapters, and is typically presented in a written format.

What should a pitch deck contain?

A well-crafted pitch deck should contain key information that effectively communicates your business concept, value proposition, and growth potential. While the specific content may vary depending on your industry and target audience, here are the essential elements that a pitch deck should typically include:

• Problem statement
• Market opportunity
• Business model
• Competitive analysis
• Marketing and sales strategy
• Team members
• Financial projections
• Milestones and timeline
• Investment opportunity

Not a graphic designer? No sweat — creating your own pitch deck is a breeze using Venngage’s Presentation Maker . (We’ll go over the basics here; for a more in-depth look, check out this article .)

Step 1: Sign up on Venngage for free using your email, Gmail or Facebook account. If you already have an account, log in to access the platform.

Step 2: Browse through our selection of professionally designed pitch deck templates and select one that suits your needs and preferences.

Step 3: Once you’ve selected a template, start customizing it to match your branding and content. Venngage’s drag-and-drop editor allows you to easily modify every aspect of the template, including colors, fonts, images and layout. Replace the placeholder text with your own content, such as your company information, product or service details, market analysis and financial projections.

Note: there are hundreds of templates available that you can design and share for free. If you want to access certain designs, take advantage of in-editor features like My Brand Kit/Team collaboration .

Step 4: Once you’re satisfied with your design, you can download it in various formats such as PDF or PNG. Alternatively, you can use also Venngage’s sharing options to present your pitch deck directly from the platform or share it with others via a generated link.

To leave a lasting impression on your audience, consider transforming your slides into an interactive presentation. Here are 15  interactive presentation ideas  to enhance interactivity and engagement.

Now that you know how to create the best pitch decks to communicate your ideas, present your startup or raise venture capital, take action and start designing your own pitch deck today!

And if you want to learn more, there are a ton of other presentation design resources you can take a look at next:

• 20+ Business Pitch Deck Templates and Design Best Practices
• 120+ Best Presentation Ideas, Design Tips & Examples
• 15 Presentation Design Statistics to Know For 2019
• 7 Tips for Designing a Persuasive Presentation [Presentation Design Guide + Templates]
• 20+ Consulting Proposal Templates

35+ Best Pitch Deck Examples from Successful Startups (2024 Update with Editable Templates Included)

There’s no single recipe for creating a successful investor pitch deck. Many authors, venture capitalists, startup founders, and evangelists have created different versions of the required content structure for successfully pitching investors. The reality is that different industries, company stages, and round sizes require slightly different approaches to business storytelling.

We’ve compiled a list of the 35 best pitch deck examples from successful startups, accelerator programs, and industry experts (updated to 2024), in the hope that it helps you craft your next investor presentation.

Quick access to our best templates:

• Airbnb Pitch Deck ‍
• The Startup Pitch Deck Template ‍
• Investor Deck Template by 500 Startups ‍
• Investment Proposal ‍
• Uber Pitch Deck ‍
• Business Plan Template ‍ ‍
• Sequoia Capital Pitch Deck ‍
• Doordash Pitch Deck ‍
• Facebook Pitch Deck
• ‍ Ycombinator Pitch Deck Template ‍
• Guy Kawasaki Pitch Deck Template ‍
• Youtube Pitch Deck ‍
• Slidebean Pitch Deck
• ‍ Peloton Pitch Deck
• Go To Market Strategy Template
• Elevator Pitch Deck Template
• Tinder Pitch Deck Template ‍
• WeWork Pitch Deck Template
• Snapchat Pitch Deck Template
• Linkedin Pitch Deck Template
• Lunchbox Pitch Deck Template
• Buffer Pitch Deck
• Cannabis Pitch Deck Template
• Aircall Pitch Deck
• Intercom Pitch Deck Template
• Cryptocurrency Pitch Deck Template
• Copy AI Pitch Deck Template
• Splitwise Pitch Deck Template
• Brex Pitch Deck Template
• Sparkcharge Pitch Deck
• Dwolla Pitch Deck Template
• Evervault Pitch Deck Template
• Vettery Pitch Deck Template
• Dutchie Pitch Deck Template
• Sololearn Pitch Deck Template

100+ pitch deck templates here

These are our best 35+ startup pitch decks:, 1 - airbnb pitch deck template.

The Airbnb Pitch Deck is one of the most searched references on the internet, probably because it’s a company so familiar to us all. This is a classic 10-slide Investor Deck template that many startups find useful to fit their startup into. We’ve reimagined the original deck and created our fill-in-the-blank template.

• Industry: Travel, Hospitality, Technology
• Business Model: Online marketplace for lodging and travel experiences
• Amount Raised: $500K Angel Round
• Location: San Francisco, California, USA
• Website: airbnb.com

USE AIRBNB TEMPLATE

2- the startup pitch deck template.

What you should include in your pitch deck is a question that entrepreneurs have been asking themselves for years. The template we created, distilled from benchmarking dozens of venture-backed startups, takes this into account so all users will have more clarity on where their strengths are!

USE STARTUP PITCH DECK TEMPLATE

3- investor deck template by 500 startups.

500 Startups is a leading global venture capital seed fund and startup accelerator headquartered in Silicon Valley with over $350M AUM.

This investor deck template is ideal for initial VCs and Angel Investors. If they ask to see your pitch deck , this is what you want to send.

The outline of the investor deck mainly focuses on your startup's growth metrics and traction.

• Industry: Capital market company
• Website: 500.co

USE INVESTOR DECK TEMPLATE

4- investment proposal template by nextview ventures.

An investment proposal is the driving tool during a meeting with potential investors. This investor deck contains all the information they require. It was created based on the NextView Ventures template.

• Industry: Venture Capital company
• Location: New York, New York, USA
• Website: nextview.vc

USE INVESTMENT TEMPLATE

5- uber pitch deck template.

For the ninth anniversary of the founding of Uber, it's co-founder Garret Camp shared the first slides they created in late 2008. At the beginning, Uber was originally called UberCab, and it has evolved from a simple idea into a major platform that has improved the car service industry.

• Industry: Transportation, Technology
• Business Model: Ride-sharing and food delivery platform
• Amount Raised: $1.3 million
• Website: uber.com

Here you have Uber's 25 slide deck! There's a lot to be learned from their first ever pitch:

USE UBER TEMPLATE

6- business plan template.

The Business Plan is a crucial step in starting your own business because it represents the goals you want to achieve and outlines how they will be accomplished.

USE BUSINESS PLAN TEMPLATE

7- sequoia capital pitch deck.

Since Sequoia Capital has quite a reputation for investments, taking a page out of their book makes sense. The slides included in the Sequoia Capital Pitch Deck Template each have a specific purpose that leads them down the path of discovery into your pitch

• Website: sequoiacap.com

Related read : What is a pitch deck presentation

USE SEQUOIA TEMPLATE

8 - doordash pitch deck template.

DoorDash is one of the most well-known food delivery companies in the United States right now. The Doordash investor deck is an excellent example of a pitch using traction to back up your business.  

• Industry: Food Delivery, Technology
• Business Model: On-demand food delivery platform
• Amount Raised: $2.4 million
• Website: doordash.com

USE DOORDASH TEMPLATE

9- facebook pitch deck template.

Facebook’s original pitch deck was a media kit containing the company’s value proposition, key metrics, and Online Marketing Services .

At that time, the company wasn’t making any money from The Facebook, so they bet on solid numbers such as user engagement, customer base, and growth metrics.

• Industry: Social Media, Technology
• Business Model: Social networking and advertising platform
• Location: Menlo Park, California, USA
• Website: facebook.com

USE FACEBOOK TEMPLATE

10- ycombinator pitch deck template.

YCombinator came out with a pitch deck template that's not aesthetically pleasing. We get it. They wanted to give you the “blank canvas” so your company branding could shine, but maybe they went too far. In any case, we've taken matters into our own hands and made some style changes for better aesthetics and more functionality. We hope this helps.

• Industry: Startup accelerator company
• Location: Mountain View, California, USA
• Website: ycombinator.com

USE YCOMBINATOR TEMPLATE

11- guy kawasaki pitch deck template.

Guy Kawasaki is a well-known Silicon Valley startup guru. He is the author of several books and was one of the original Apple employees. His 10 pitch deck slides have inspired many, and his 20-minute presentation format will help you get your point across efficiently.

USE GUY KAWASAKI TEMPLATE

12- youtube pitch deck template.

Youtube’s pitch deck was used in 2005 when it had less than 10,000 users. It was actually quite straightforward. They used an elementary version of a 10 slide pitch deck to go up in front of Sequoia Capital for fundraising. Still, the company was able to raise $3.5M in that Series A round November of that year. This cost around 30% of the stakes in the company.

• Industry: Video Streaming, Music, Internet
• Business Model: Ad revenue and user subscriptions.
• Amount Raised: $3.5 million Series A
• Location: San Bruno, California, USA
• Website: youtube.com

USE YOUTUBE TEMPLATE

‍ 13- slidebean pitch deck.

Our slide deck at the 500 Startups demo day was the culmination of 2 startup accelerator processes, hours of rehearsal, and dozens of adjustments thanks to feedback from our mentors. Pitching at a Demo Day event differs from pitching to an investor in a one-on-one meeting.

• Industry: Software, Design, Productivity
• Business Model: Presentation software with design support
• Location: New York City, New York, USA
• Website: slidebean.com

‍ USE SLIDEBEAN TEMPLATE

14 - peloton pitch deck template.

Peloton broke the fitness industry with its stationary bike system, which connects users and trainers via the internet. Do you have a business idea for this industry in mind? We recreated the pitch deck Peloton used to raise their Series F.

• Industry: Fitness, Technology
• Business Model: Subscription-based connected fitness platform
• Amount raised: $500 million Series F
• Website: onepeloton.com  

USE PELOTON TEMPLATE

15- go to market strategy template.

The go-to-market strategy is a presentation that details how an organization will place its products in the market to reach maximum penetration and profitability. What is your go-to-market strategy? This template will help you summarize it engagingly!

USE GO TO MARKET TEMPLATE

16- elevator pitch deck template.

This is an elevator pitch deck template designed for initial approaches to investors. Share this template when they ask for your elevator pitch deck. With this template, you can effectively communicate your value proposition, market opportunity, key achievements, and financial projections, aiming to get the investors' curiosity and interest for further discussions.

Use this template

17- tinder pitch deck template.

10 billion matches later, Tinder has changed how people meet around the world. It’s so much more than a dating app. Tinder is a powerful tool for meeting people. Here’s the deck Tinder used in the IAC Hatch Labs Incubator in 2012.

• Industry: Social Media, Dating App
• Business Model: Subscription service, ad revenue
• Amount Raised: Approximately $50 million in total funding
• Location: West Hollywood, California, USA

18- WeWork Pitch Deck Template

WeWork fuels entrepreneurial spirit and corporate success with powerful real estate solutions. Founded in 2010, it has since blossomed into a buzzing global community transforming the way companies do business by providing physical spaces that nurture productivity, well-being, efficiency and growth - all backed up by an impressive $1 billion funding valuation of $10 billion!

• Industry: Real Estate, Coworking, Proptech
• Business Model: Office space rental
• Amount Raised: $42.8 million Series E
• Website: wework.com

GET THIS TEMPLATE

19- snapchat pitch deck template.

The Snapchat Pitch Deck Template helps you create a persuasive presentation inspired by Snapchat's successful pitch to investors. It offers visually engaging slides and a structured format for showcasing your business idea, growth plans, and revenue strategy.

• Industry: Social Media, Messaging, Technology
• Business Model: Photo-based social media
• Amount Raised: Approximately $4.9 billion in total funding
• Location: Venice, California, USA

20- Linkedin Pitch Deck

LinkedIn has skyrocketed to success, becoming the world's largest professional social networking site with a vast population of users growing daily. Reid Hoffman later publicly released his Series B pitch deck, which included advice on how it should be constructed so that other aspiring entrepreneurs would also have insight.

• Industry: Social Media, Networking, Technology
• Business Model: Professional networking site
• Amount Raised: $10 million Series B
• Location: Sunnyvale, California, USA
• Website: linkedin.com

Get this template

21- lunchbox pitch deck template.

With a mission to empower restaurants to compete in an increasingly tech-driven market, Try our Pitch Deck Template inspired by the one they used to raise $2 million in its seed round.

• Industry: Restaurants, Management Software
• Business Model: B2B Restaurant platform
• Amount Raised: $2 million Seed Round
• Website: lunchbox.io

22 - Buffer Pitch Deck Template

This is the presentation deck Buffer used to raise $500,000 for their startup, as redesigned by Slidebean. The highlight of this deck is the traction slide, which the founders describe as the critical one for their success.

• Business Model: Social media management platform
• Amount Raised: $500K
• Website: buffer.com

USE BUFFER TEMPLATE

23- cannabis investor pitch deck template.

Leverage our Cannabis Investor Pitch, influenced by the CannaBusinessPlans deck, to effectively showcase the distinctive attributes and growth potential of your cannabis business. Utilize this tailored presentation as a powerful tool to attract essential funding from potential investors

24- Aircall Pitch Deck

A well-designed pitch deck can help an entrepreneur communicate their story in a clear and concise way and can be a key tool in securing funding. However, designing a pitch deck can be a challenge, as it requires distilling complex information into bite-sized chunks and conveying it in an engaging way. That's why we decided to redesign Aircall's pitch deck as an example. We wanted to show how a pitch deck can be both informative and visually appealing.

• Industry: Telecommunications, Technology
• Business Model: Cloud-based phone system and call center software
• Amount Raised: $65 million
• Location: Paris, France, and New York City, USA
• Website: aircall.io

Here's the result from our design challenge:

Use Aircall Template

25- intercom pitch deck template.

The Intercom Pitch Deck Template is your key to crafting a compelling pitch presentation, modeled after Intercom's own successful pitch.

It's your tool to create a persuasive presentation that mirrors Intercom's winning pitch style. This template empowers you to clearly communicate your business vision, product strategy, and growth prospects to potential investors.

• Industry: CRM, Marketing, Automation
• Business Model: B2B SaaS
• Amount Raised: $600K
• Website: intercom.com

26- Cryptocurrency Pitch Deck Template

A cryptocurrency pitch deck is a dynamic presentation outlining the unique attributes of a digital currency project. It showcases use cases, team expertise, and financial projections to attract funding and build investor confidence.

27- Copy AI Pitch Deck Template

Copy.ai offers the convenience of composing emails, website content, and heartfelt love letters. Here's the pitch deck that convinced investors like Wing, Sequoia, and Tiger Global to contribute $11 million in funding.

• Industry: SAI, Copywriting, Automation
• Business Model: SaaS
• Amount Raised: $11 Series A
• Location: Memphis, Tennesee, USA
• Website: copy.ai

28- Splitwise Pitch Deck Template

Splitwise makes it super easy to divvy up bills and expenses among friends or groups with their simple app. Check out our Pitch Deck Template, inspired by Splitwise's $20 million Series A round, to show investors what you're all about and kickstart your journey to success.

• Industry: FinTech, Billing, Personal Finance
• Business Model: Ad revenue, subscription service
• Amount Raised: $20 million Series A
• Location: Providence, Rhode Island, USA
• Website: splitwise.com

29- Brex Pitch Deck Template

Brex is a startup that has come to the market with an innovative corporate card for technology companies. They recently allowed investors and potential clients access their Series B pitch deck, so we took advantage of this opportunity by redesigning all slides in order better showcase Brex's progress thus far.

• Industry: Banking, Finance, Technology
• Business Model: Corporate Banking
• Amount Raised: $50 million Series B
• Website: brex.com

USE BREX PITCH DECK

30- sparkcharge pitch deck.

Sparcharge is a startup that raised $7 million in seed funding, and Slidebean was responsible for writing and designing their pitch deck. The deck was very successful in conveying the company's value proposition and vision, and it helped them to secure funding from top venture capitalists. The design of the deck was clean and professional, and it made use of strong visuals to help tell the company's story. The slides were also easy to navigate, which made it easy for investors to understand the information presented. Overall, the pitch deck was an important part of Sparcharge's success in raising funding , and it served as a great example of the power of a well-designed presentation.

• Industry: Automotive, Energy, Technology
• Business Model: Electric vehicle charging infrastructure
• Amount Raised: $7 million Series A
• Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Website: sparkcharge.io

Check these Slides

31- dwolla pitch deck template.

Dwolla is advertised as "the best way to move money." 28-year-old Ben Milne has found a way to transfer money from the consumer or merchant to make a payment. This is Dwolla's Pitch Deck.

• Industry: Fintech
• Business Model: SaaS, transaction fees, partnerships
• Amount Raised: $16.5 million, Series C
• Location: Des Moines, Iowa, United States
• Website: dwolla.com

32- Evervault Pitch Deck Template

According to their website, Evervault's mission "is to make data privacy simple and accessible for all" by allowing developers to integrate data privacy in their apps. How did they gain their attention (and money)? Here's the pitch deck that made that happen, as redesigned by Slidebean.

• Industry: Encryption Software
• Business Model: usage-based
• Amount Raised: $3.2 million, Seed Round
• Location: Dublin, Ireland
• Website: evervault.com

Use Evervault template

33- vettery pitch deck template.

Here’s the Vettery pitch deck used to raise $9 million Series A on August 16, 2016, by co-founders Brett Adcock and Adam Goldstein.

• Industry: Hiring marketplace
• Business Model: SaaS, transaction fees
• Amount Raised: $9 million, Series A
• Location: New York, United States
• Website: hired.com

Use Vettery template

34- dutchie pitch deck template.

Dutchie is one of the fastest-growing cannabis companies in the world. They provide e-commerce and point-of-sale solutions for dispensaries across North America.

• Industry: Cannabis
• Business Model: 
• Amount Raised: $35 million Series B 
• Location: Oregon, United States
• Website: business.dutchie.com

Use Dutchie template

35- sololearn pitch deck template.

Sololearn, the Armenia-based instructional coding app, revolutionizes how people learn to code, with interactive lessons and peer-to-peer guidance.

• Industry: Ed-tech startup
• Business Model: Freemium, SaaS, Partnerships
• Amount Raised: $24 million Series B
• Location: San Francisco, California, United States ‍
• Website: sololearn.com

Use Sololearn template

What is a pitch deck.

A pitch deck is usually a simple 10-20 slide presentation designed to help founders raise venture capital.

It should give a brief and compelling presentation of a new business idea that entrepreneurs give to potential investors, customers, or partners. It's a chance for them to showcase their vision, explain their unique value proposition, and demonstrate their growth potential.

To create an effective pitch deck, it's crucial to cover a few key points, such as the problem the startup is addressing, the market opportunity it has identified, the team's expertise, and the execution plan. Moreover, highlighting the competitive advantage and potential return on investment can attract investors' attention and interest.

A successful pitch can lead to funding, partnerships, and growth opportunities. However, crafting one requires in-depth knowledge of the market, audience, and business model, as well as excellent communication and storytelling skills.

What should be in an investor deck presentation?

When creating a pitch deck presentation, it's important to remember that you only have a limited amount of time to capture your audience's attention and persuade them to invest in your company. Your deck should be concise and easy to understand, while still providing enough information to show that your business is worth investing in.

Some key things to include in your pitch deck are an overview of your business, information about your target market and competitors, your product or service, how you plan to make money, and a summary of your team. You should also have a section highlighting the risks and challenges associated with your business, as well as what sets you apart from the competition.

Most authors agree on the following investor pitch deck outline requirements :

• Market Size
• Business Model
• Underlying Magic
• Competition
• Better/Different
• Marketing Plan
• Traction / Milestones

If you're looking for more specific advice on creating a pitch the Slidebean team can guide you through the whole process.

Remember, investors have limited time, so be sure to prioritize key elements like the problem you're solving, your target market, the competitive landscape, your unique value proposition, and your financial projections.

More FAQs about pitch decks:

How to create a great pitch deck.

Your pitch deck is one of the most important tools in your arsenal. If you're pitching your startup idea or product, it's an opportunity to make a lasting impression on potential investors. And while there are many different types of decks out there, the best ones focus on three key points:

1. What problem do you solve?

2. How do you solve that problem?

3. Why should someone invest in you?

The presentation itself shouldn't take longer than 15 minutes, and it should be easy to follow along.

How to design pitch decks for investors?

A pitch deck is an important tool when pitching investors. It helps you present your business idea clearly and concisely, so they understand exactly why their investment will be profitable.

The first step is to create a list of all the things that need to be included in your pitch deck. For example, you may want to include:

- A clear description of your product/service

- An overview of your company's mission statement

- Your target market

- The benefits your product offers

- How much money you expect to raise

- Why your startup is unique

- What are your plans for growth

Once you have created this list, you can begin designing your pitch deck. You'll need to choose a template that best suits your needs. We offer over 100+ different pitch deck templates that can be used as inspiration.

How to write a successful pitch deck?

Mastering the art of creating an irresistible pitch deck can seem like a daunting task, but it shouldn’t. We're here to guide you through the process. First and foremost, you need a compelling narrative that showcases your business idea, market opportunity, and growth potential. Keep your pitch deck concise and visually appealing, with clear, simple language that gets straight to the point.

Now, if you're feeling a bit overwhelmed or simply want to supercharge your pitch deck, Slidebean's Agency Team is here to save the day. Our seasoned experts have a proven track record of helping companies raise more than $300 million in funds, and they're eager to help you reach the same heights. From crafting a compelling narrative to designing stunning visuals that captivate investors, our Agency Team will work with you every step of the way to create a pitch deck that not only looks great but also delivers results. With Slidebean by your side, you can focus on what you do best - building your business - while we take care of the rest.

Pitch Deck Presentation Service

Slidebean provides a premium service for startups, entrepreneurs, investors, and creatives who want to make better presentations. Our team of experts designs amazing slide decks every week. We want your audience to understand what you do and why you do it. If you want to start a new project, you can do it here: Slidebean Presentation Design Service

Besides the pitch deck examples we shared here, we have created, curated and redesigned several investor deck and set them as templates on our platform. Our presentation templates provide a fill-in-the-blank outline that can kick start your presentation workflow. Create a pitch deck that gets you funded. Browse templates from the most successful startups on the planet. Check them all here.

Get 100+ Templates

What is the goal of a company pitch deck.

The main goal of a company pitch decks is to:

- Attract investment from potential investors. - Clearly explain what the company does and why it's valuable. - Build trust in the team and business strategy. - Show the market opportunity and growth potential. - Highlight achievements and progress. - Present financial projections. - Request a specific amount of funding. - Spark interest for further discussions.

How much does it cost to make a pitch deck?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as the cost of making a pitch deck will vary depending on the level of detail and complexity involved. However, on average, you can expect to pay around $1,200-$6,000 for a high-quality investor deck. You can check Slidebean's prices here.

What is a Demo day?

A demo day refers to an event where entrepreneurs and startups showcase their products or services to potential investors, industry experts, and the general public. It is typically organized by incubators, accelerators, or venture capital firms to provide a platform for startups to present their business ideas, prototypes, or early-stage products.

During a demo day, each participating startup is given a specific amount of time, usually ranging from a few minutes to around 10 minutes, to deliver a presentation or pitch. The objective is to captivate the audience, generate interest in their venture, and attract potential investors or partners.

The text you provided highlights some key considerations when preparing for a demo day presentation versus a pitch deck presentation. For a demo day, the emphasis is on delivering a visually appealing presentation with minimal text. Since the audience may be seated at a distance, it is important to focus on visual elements that can be easily seen and understood. The presenter plays a crucial role in conveying the information and engaging the audience.

In contrast, a pitch presentation that is intended to be emailed should be self-explanatory, as it may be viewed on a laptop monitor where smaller fonts can be read comfortably. It is beneficial to track the recipient's activity on the presentation, such as whether they have read all the slides, as this information can inform the frequency of follow-up emails and help gauge their level of interest.

These considerations and tools for tracking viewer engagement are particularly valuable when seeking investment opportunities. Startups can utilize pitch deck platforms that offer features to monitor investor activity, which can play a critical role in securing funding.

Create beautiful and simple pitch decks with Slidebean

Unlock your full pitching potential with Slidebean! Say goodbye to design headaches and hello to a seamless experience focused on your pitch content. With customizable templates, stunning visuals, and automated formatting, Slidebean ensures your pitch deck stands out from the competition. Don't waste another minute wrestling with design software. Try Slidebean now and take your pitches to the next level!

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33 Legendary Startup Pitch Decks and What You Can Learn From Them [+10 Free Templates]

A startup pitch deck is a brief presentation that provides investors with an overview of your new business and/or startup idea through presentation slides.

It usually focuses on showcasing your product, sharing your business model, giving a look into your monetization strategy, and introducing your team.

A startup pitch deck is an essential fundraising tool for successful startups, whether you’re looking to raise funding from $50,000, $500,000, or $50 million. However, an investor pitch deck is just one of the best pitch decks and examples we will share below.

Despite the brevity of the successful startup pitch decks, which usually run for 10 slides or less, creating a pitch deck that wins investment is not an easy task.

What Does a Successful Startup Pitch Deck Cover?

A great pitch deck covers key points through visuals and bullet points and usually has a competition slide, a problem slide, and a solution slide to explain your offering and the market.

Additionally, a business model slide and a team slide (if your business is developed enough to present these) can turn a good deck into a great startup pitch deck.

Don’t forget, a simple pitch deck is a good pitch deck—and you’re about to learn how to nail it.

In This Legendary Startup Pitch Deck Article You Will Find:

• Examples of 33 successful pitch decks
• Takeaways that you can apply when creating your own startup pitch deck
• Editable templates of 10 pitch decks that you can use for free

Looking for a winning pitch deck template ASAP to present in front of potential investors?   Try our free template created in collaboration with HighSpark – an agency that has helped more than 500 startups raise cumulatively over $80 million in funding. 

Here is the list of 33 of the best startup pitch deck examples that we will go through:

• ZenPayRoll (Now Gusto)
• Wealthsimple
• AppVirality
• Shape Integrated Software
• Ooomf (now Crew)
• Sequoia Capital

These startup pitch deck examples were created by top brands in tech. At the time, they were all small startups (seed stage companies) looking to raise money or venture capital through potential investors and grow their businesses. Sound familiar?!

We hope that their business idea and investor pitch decks will inspire you (and of course, potential investors).

If you are more of a visual learner than a reader type, you can watch a video summary of the first 10 startup pitch deck examples mentioned in this blog post:

Alternatively, if you’re ready to create your own pitch deck, we’ve added some startup pitch deck examples and pitch deck templates to the bottom of this article. You can go straight to them by clicking here . Or get access to Piktochart’s online design tool by signing up for a free account and choosing a presentation template to get started easily.

From behemoths like Facebook and YouTube to superstars like Buffer, together these startups have raised millions of dollars and are now worth billions!

It’s time to see how they did it.

33 Legendary Startup Pitch Deck Examples

1. facebook pitch deck.

Here’s a fun 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.

Facebook’s pitch deck was more of a media kit  of sorts. It was containing the company’s value proposition, key metrics, and marketing services that were used to sell ads to potential clients.

Favorite takeaway : The focus of the startup pitch deck was based on solid numbers such as user engagement, traffic, and growth trajectory.

2. Airbnb pitch deck

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

This company is one of the greatest startup success stories of our time.

The now famous Airbnb pitch deck has become one of the best pitch decks for inspiring entrepreneurs around the world.

Favorite takeaway: 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 put some time into nailing it down.

3. Buffer pitch deck

Buffer is a social media scheduling platform that helps you schedule content for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.

The almighty startup pitch deck that helped Buffer to raise half a million dollars gained popularity by becoming one of the first pitch decks openly shared online. The founder decided to put it up to help other startups to raise funds.

Favorite takeaway: 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.)

4. Square pitch deck

Square is a company that allows merchants to accept mobile credit card payments via a dongle.

Favorite takeaway : Social proof! It doesn’t hurt to promote the management team if they’ve been with Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, PayPal, and more. It shows that your management team’s experience is an armor to the company. This detailed startup pitch deck outlines Square’s business model and a simple financial model that portrays its annual revenue and five-year growth rate.

5. LinkedIn pitch deck

Founded in 2002, LinkedIn is the top business-oriented social networking platform.

The company’s pitch talks a great deal about company values, the power of networking, and how it’s different from other social networks out there.

Favorite takeaway : The deck also provides an extensive analogy to showcase to investors what LinkedIn is. For example, it talks about “Web 1.0” vs. “Web 2.0”: Alta Vista was “Search 1.0”, and Google was “Search 2.0”. The deck talks about how LinkedIn is “Networking for Businesses 2.0”.

6. Mint pitch deck

Mint is a personal financial services tool that helps people track their spending and find ways to save money.

This startup pitch deck example was used in a competition and was never used for raising money, but it’s still a powerful deck that startups can learn from.

Favorite takeaway : This simple deck provides a clear value proposition to customers and investors. The creators of this deck also understood that one of the key concerns of an investor is the exit mechanism of his or her investments. I love how the deck highlights a number of exit strategy options.

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7. MapMe pitch deck

MapMe allows users to create universally accessible (i.e., on smartphones, tablets, and computers) maps of anywhere they want with no coding required.

This startup deck was used to raise $1 million in seed funding.

Social proof almost always works. The deck showed that the startup had over 20,000 unique visitors, 18,000 monthly alerts, and12 minutes average sessions on the site.

Favorite takeaway : The pitch deck has fewer than 13 slides but provides investors with knowledge of the traction the site got going viral on social media and its go-to-market strategy.

8. LaunchRock pitch deck

LaunchRock allows users to create landing pages and quickly get their startups known through social media, even before the launch of their full site.

Favorite takeaway : As a more creatively designed pitch deck example, this pitch deck had only 15 slides but showed how the product works and the different ways it can be used. They also utilize an analogy similar to what LinkedIn had in their decks.

9. Mixpanel pitch deck

Mixpanel is an advanced analytics platform for mobile and the web. They not only measure page views but also analyze the actions people take. This is the series-B startup pitch deck for Mixpanel that helped them raise over $65 million.

Favorite takeaway : This pitch deck example started off with a problem: people guessing their analytics. It followed up by providing its solution to that problem and, ultimately, its competitive advantage. One of the best pitch decks, this is a great example of showing the problem and solution.

10. Moz pitch deck

Moz started out as an SEO company but has pivoted to support marketers across all inbound marketing strategies.

This is the series-B startup pitch deck for Moz which they used to raise over $18 million. If you’re an established startup, this is a great example of an investor pitch deck, and you can follow this guide. The pitch deck is packed with information about the company since it was founded five years prior to this pitch.

Favorite takeaway : Because the company had already been in operation for five years, they were able to present an accurate estimated revenue, revenue run rate, average customer lifetime value, cost of paid acquisition, etc.

11. Buzzfeed pitch deck

We all have a love-and-hate relationship with Buzzfeed, don’t we? I’m sure you’ve stumbled on their pages or watched their videos before. As of today, BuzzFeed has managed to raise over $240 million in investor capital (another great example of an investor pitch deck).

Favorite takeaway : SOCIAL PROOF! It doesn’t hurt to start a pitch deck with big numbers the company has, like the millions of users visiting the website on a monthly basis and quotations from large organizations such as CNN.

12. YouTube pitch deck

YouTube was acquired by Google in 2006 for $1.6 billion. Like Facebook, this company doesn’t require any introduction. Unfortunately, this is not the original deck. This is YouTube’s pitch deck to Sequoia Capital (one of the most established VC investors who’s often regarded as one of the industry’s best), which was released through a legal proceeding.

Favorite takeaway : The company wanted to be the primary outlet for video content, and it succeeded in doing just that. It goes to show that if you know what your product can do, are able to show its potential, and build on the momentum gained through early investments to create that, then you can achieve its potential. If you’re aiming to build an investor pitch deck to land a VC like Sequoia Capital, this presentation slide deck is a great template for you!

13. Manpacks pitch deck

Manpacks is a platform that delivers men’s essentials such as underwear, razors, grooming, and other products.

The company raised $500,000 with this pitch deck.

Favorite takeaway : This deck stands out! They clearly understand who they are, and they stayed that way throughout the entire presentation. The startup pitch deck is filled with a fun tone that helps explain the product well.

14. Foursquare pitch deck

Foursquare is a mobile platform that helps you find the best places to go in your area.

Favorite takeaway : This pitch deck does a great job using screenshots of social proof that the app already has from its users sharing tweets of them being the ‘mayor’ of a particular area.

15. Flowtab pitch deck

Flowtab was an app that allowed people to order drinks quickly at a crowded bar. Despite shutting down, the founders still made an effort to help other startups.

Favorite takeaway : Simplicity. This pitch deck example does well explaining critical information like the problem, the solution, their business model, and traction. You can’t really go wrong with this pitch deck.

16. Dwolla pitch deck

Dwolla is a payment solution that allows users to send, receive, and request funds from other users. This 18-slide startup pitch deck landed the company $16.5 million.

Favorite takeaway : Most startups are founded because of a problem they faced, but not many people tell their story well through their pitch decks. In their slide deck, Dwolla shared a great story of how the founder paid $50,000 a year in credit card fees and then created a solution for never doing it again.

17. ZenPayRoll  (Now Gusto) pitch deck

Gusto (previously ZenPayroll) is a cloud-based solution tool for small businesses to pay employees.

The company raised $6 million with this pitch deck.

Favorite takeaway : This isn’t just a startup pitch deck. It is a template that you can use and replicate easily by filling in the blanks.

18. Bliss pitch deck

Bliss provides metrics for coders and allows them to collaborate easily.

The company raised over $400,000 using Angel List.

Favorite takeaway : The pitch deck was well composed with a clear understanding of the product and the investors they were pitching to. This is one of the best pitch decks to use if you know your target market.

19. Adpushup pitch deck

Adpushup allows companies to maximize ad revenues through advanced A/B testing. They raised more than $632,000 in investments.

Favorite takeaway : This slide deck proves that going back to the basics works. This pitch deck has basic principles like a great introduction, an outline of problems, potential solutions, market opportunities, products, case studies, milestones, traction, and a future plan.

20. Wealthsimple pitch deck

Wealthsimple is Canada’s first online investment manager. They raised more than $2 million in seed funding with this slide deck.

Favorite takeaway : The startup pitch deck is sweet and short but effective. Our favorite part is the transformation of the industry, which is laid out in a table format.

21. AppVirality pitch deck

AppVirality allows app developers to grow their platforms using growth method techniques proven by other startups.

Favorite takeaway : Our favorite takeaway is how the flow of the pitch deck goes through the problem, the proven solution, and how it works within their app to their target market in multiple slides.

22. Shape Integrated Software pitch deck

Shape Integrated Software is budget management software that helps PPC analysts manage various budgets across different channels.

Favorite takeaway : When you have the traction to back your startup, use it. Shape clearly took advantage of it and presented it clearly in their pitch deck.

23. Podozi pitch deck

Podozi is an online e-commerce platform based in Nigeria.

Favorite takeaway : Most startup pitch decks work well when they’re short and sweet, in multiple slides, like Podozi’s. The best takeaway is the working partnership with large brands that this platform already has.

24. Fittr pitch deck

Fittr is a platform that designs custom workouts tailored to equipment, access, time management, and goals.

Favorite takeaway : As a user of this platform, we love the investment goals and the purpose of what the company is planning to use it for.

25. Swipes pitch deck

Swipes is a task manager app to help its users increase their productivity.

Favorite takeaway : One of their pages used social proof of quotations from The Next Web and Lifehacker. You can’t go wrong with that.

26. Canvas pitch deck

Canvas replaces paper-based processes with affordable and easy-to-use mobile apps and forms. They raised $9 million with these decks.

Favorite takeaway :  Instead of saying what they do, the second slide in their pitch deck shows how their startup helps businesses. No words are needed.

27. Ooomf  (now Crew) pitch deck

Crew (formerly Ooomf & then PickCrew) is a freelancer marketplace that connects mobile and web developers with projects or work. This deck was used to raise over $2 million dollars.

Favorite takeaway : Well-designed with an easy-to-understand flow.

28. Cubeit pitch deck

Cubeit is a mobile application that allows users to aggregate content from anywhere. Cubeit used this 13-slide deck to raise seed funding before they even had a finished product.

Favorite takeaway : A strong introduction will get investors to pay attention. Their deck starts out with a clear message, which was that “owning more devices doesn’t make your life easier”. I can’t help but pay attention to how this company will help.

29.  Castle pitch deck

Castle was a startup that let rental owners put their properties on autopilot. This was the deck Castle used to raise $270,000 for their startup.

Favorite takeaway : Great design and easy to digest.

30.  Sequoia Capital pitch deck

Sequoia Capital is one of the leading investment firms in Silicon Valley. This deck is a template they recommend following.

Favorite takeaway : It’s like having the keys to the kingdom. You don’t have to guess what this investment giant is looking for. They tell you straight away.

31. Uber pitch deck

When Uber hit the scene, they fundamentally reimagined urban transportation. Their pitch deck tells this audacious story perfectly. Simple yet impactful, it illustrates the problem of expensive taxis and car services, then introduces Uber as the affordable, tech-driven solution.

They use stark data points to highlight the financial opportunity, a vital touch for potential investors.

As you create your pitch, remember Uber’s two key strengths: painting a clear problem-solution scenario and using compelling data to underscore their market potential. This strategy not only shows understanding of their market but also communicates their transformative vision effectively.

Favorite takeaway : The deck is clean and minimalist. The flow is easy to follow, and you get a clear idea of what’s the problem they’re trying to solve, and how they solve it.

32. WeWork pitch deck

WeWork’s pitch deck beautifully encapsulates its community-driven approach to shared workspaces.

They use visually appealing slides that mirror their innovative, modern brand. Their pitch deck deftly articulates the benefits of shared workspaces in today’s economy, setting the stage for their unique value proposition.

Favorite takeaway : what we do, who we do it for, why we do it; the deck walks you through their company vision with smart visuals and copy. We loved how they generated urgency by highlighting how co-working spaces were a fast-growing trend and investors could miss out on a profitable investment if they didn’t act quickly.

33. MatterMark pitch deck

MatterMark’s pitch deck is a testament to the power of storytelling. utilizing clean visuals to aid comprehension and coupled with succinct copy to keep the narrative engaging. The 30-slide deck earned the platform $6.5 million in seed A funding.

Favorite takeaway : Strong visual storytelling through the use of charts and graphs. In just a few moments, you can see where the majority of their revenue comes from compared to their other revenue streams.

Summary of Pitch Deck Template Takeaways

To sum up, a strong startup pitch deck not only serves to reinforce your brand to the target audience or investors, but shows your business plan and unique offering through the slides presented; using a problem slide, a solution slide, and a traction slide including concise bullet points. 

The best startup pitch deck also shows off your company’s personality, through the inclusion of a team slide or similar in the next few slides, to be presented after your business plan is clearly outlined.

As your company grows, you’ll probably start thinking about the next stage of growth. You can use these successful pitch decks can as the foundation to make an investor deck for your next round of financing.

Look at the takeaways from these startup pitch decks as a guide to help you in your quest to raise funds and venture capital for your own startup for an investment round.

Here are some of the key takeaways from our pitch deck examples:

• Pitch decks don’t have to be formal or beautiful.
• A great pitch deck will provide an impactful intro or slogan.
• Keep your deck short (less than 20 pages).
• Use analogies to back up the points that you’re making.

After going through so many startup pitch deck examples, we recommend that to make your pitch presentation stand out you should:

• Start with a strong intro/vision.
• Show problems and offer solutions.
• Identify market opportunities.
• Showcase products/services clearly.
• Digest your business model
• Highlight financials
• Add social proof/case studies.
• Differentiate from competition.
• Show an experienced management team.

Designing a strong pitch deck could turn your business idea into a reality after convincing investors to provide support financial support to your project.

If you’re looking for additional information, DocSend shared lessons  they got learning from 200 startups who raised $360 million from their first pitch deck.

10 Pitch Deck Templates for You to Try

The following pitch decks are free templates available in Piktochart that you can use. This makes it easy to work on your slides without having to worry about design. We took care of that for you.

If you don’t have an account yet, just sign up for a free Piktochart account here and then click on one of the templates below.

To learn how the online pitch deck creator works, watch this on-demand demo .

1. Investment Pitch Deck Template With HighSpark

2. Finance Pitch Deck Template

3. Business Pitch Deck Template

4. Startup Pitch Deck Examples

5. Tech Pitch Deck Examples

6. Business Keynote Template 

7. Product Pitch Deck Template

8. Product Pitch Deck Template

9. App Product Presentation Template

10. Product Website Pitch Deck Template

Ready to create your own pitch deck?

Sign up for a free Piktochart account and edit a template right away.

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12 Startup Pitch Deck Examples [+ Template]

A great startup pitch deck is an integral part of launching a business. This deck is presented to prospective investors to convince them to invest and help you grow your startup . The trick to having the best pitch deck possible is to include enough information to explain your goals and methodology without losing your audience’s interest.

Pitch decks are usually in PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, or Google Slides to make them easier to present to potential investors. However, the deck can also have an alternative format like a Word document or even a video. For inspiration, let’s go through some successful startup pitch deck examples and discuss what they got right. 

Pitch Deck Basics

There are some overarching characteristics that make for a great pitch deck. While we’ll go through what a deck typically includes and some relevant business pitch examples, you can pick and choose certain elements as long as your startup pitch deck has the following basic qualities:

• Design-forward: Customers expect a better experience with your product and that’s achieved through better UX and graphic design. Show your team’s design chops with thoughtful deck design and mock-ups.
• Comprehensive: Be prepared to answer any questions from potential investors. Your slides should cover enough so if they check back for reminders after the presentation, they’ll find the most important information.
• Engaging: A startup pitch deck inevitably includes some boring elements. Your job is to keep it exciting and break up information-heavy slides with features like illustrations and block quotes.
• Straightforward: It’s easy to get caught up with sharing every detail, but it’s more important that your potential investors understand your pitch. For more complicated slides and ideas, pare down your pitch to make it easier to understand.

1. Problem Slide

Your pitch deck should open with a key problem — this is the whole justification for your business and why consumers will find it valuable. A common structure for this slide is to bullet pain points and create a story your potential investors can relate to.

The problem slide is the basis for your presentation. Creating a relatable story makes for an engaging presentation that’s easy to follow and understand.

Uber Example

Why it works : Although it’s not the most visually engaging, Uber’s business pitch example clearly explains how Uber solves key issues with traditional cabs. Uber’s deck is broken down into multiple slides to deliver all the necessary information without overwhelming the audience.

2. Solution slide

After presenting the problem, you should follow up directly with a solution. An effective solution slide structure covers current industry solutions and identifies the gaps your startup fills. This slide has a general overview of any proprietary technology, covers basic product features, and includes relevant interface mock-ups to show investors what your product will do for consumers.

Intercom Example

Why it works : Intercom’s solution slide is simple but effective. While some extra design could elevate this slide, the bullet points are easy to understand and effectively explain Intercom’s unique selling proposition (USP) in the SaaS market.

3. Market validation slide

Market validation is especially important to investors because it shows proof that there are people who will purchase your product. This slide should include any relevant statistics for current sales if your startup has launched or competitors’ sales if it hasn’t. Don’t forget to cover basic information about your target market, their purchasing power, and their habits in your industry. This slide is especially important if your prospective investors aren’t familiar with your product or industry.

LinkedIn Example

Why it work s: At 37 pages, LinkedIn’s pitch deck is longer than we’d recommend.  But what it lacks in brevity it makes up for with powerful market validation using clear data from top competitors. It also breaks down barriers to growth and revenue for these competitors and shows how LinkedIn would improve their models.

4. Market size slide

Market size goes hand in hand with market validation. Once you’ve confirmed your target market has enough purchasing power, you need to justify your product’s longevity.

Focus on continued sales. The two most common elements to ensure your startup brings in long-term revenue are:

• A very large market
• A business model built for continuous purchases (e.g., subscription models)

Facebook Example

Why it works: Facebook is the poster child for successful startups. Its market size slides effectively communicate how Facebook’s initial launches succeeded and justify further growth. The slides with market statistics about college students also explain clearly how Facebook will create revenue.

5. Product slide

The product slide is your chance to nail your pitch and sell your vision to investors. This slide should center your value proposition. A popular strategy for this section is to pose a few questions about your industry and show how your product is the answer. Take the time to craft this slide carefully, polishing it up from the copy to design details.

Dropbox Example

Why it works: Dropbox’s product slides are effective because they show how Dropbox truly innovates over other file sharing services. They justify why now is the time to launch and why consumers will choose Dropbox over competitors.

6. Business model slide

The business model slide covers how the startup will run and launch its product for sustainable growth. This section can compare your startup to other businesses or use internal data if the product has launched.

Moz Example

Why it works : While some of these slides can look busy, Moz’s business model was ahead of its time by calling out why organic marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) have untapped potential. This deck does a good job of explaining the business model to investors who might not be SEO savvy.

But wait...there's more!

7. market adoption slide.

It’s important to show some proof that your target market has interest in purchasing your product, especially if there are other competitors in the market. This is a lot easier if your product has already launched because you can include sales data. If your startup is pre-launch, showing potential market adoption can be tricky. In this case, you can use social proof from similar competitors. If you do this, it’s also important to note how your product differs from these competitors, especially if you can resolve a customer’s complaint. If possible, include case studies in the market adoption slide. These show proof that you can use investments to increase the reach of your startup.

Buffer Example

Why it works : Buffer’s market adoption slides show social proof through key statistics outlining Buffer’s success so far. With an extremely high profit margin and growth rate for their user base, Buffer shows off why their product will offer a larger ROI for potential investors.

8. Competition slide

Many investors look at your competition to help contextualize your startup. If an investor has little or no experience in your vertical, showing competitors they’re familiar with gives them real examples of success. This slide should cover the following topics related to your competition:

• Revenue data
• What competitors do well
• What competitors don’t do well
• How your startup bridges product gaps

Mint Example

Why it works : Mint’s competitor slides are effective because they show current competitors along with future projections for these competitors. This slide effectively shows how Mint creates more value for customers over time and uses competitors as inspiration in their defensive strategy.

9. Team slide

A team slide helps investors get to know the minds behind your startup. Include information about founders, leadership, and top existing investors to show why your team is qualified to launch this startup. Any evidence of past successes with your leadership, consultants, or investors is important to include, as it shows new investors that you have relevant experience to launch your startup. If there’s any relevant history about your startup, such as a higher ROI than expected for a former investor, be sure to include this in your pitch deck.

Contently Example

Why it works : While Contently’s team slide has a lot of information, it’s all relevant to potential investors. In addition to founders and investors, Contently includes top employees, proprietary technology, advisors, and the amount they’ve raised so far. This, along with their financial model slide, show potential investors that Contently will make good use of their investment and even make them some profit.

10. Press slide

The press section of your startup pitch deck is a great opportunity to show off any buzz and get your investors excited about your business. Focus on positive reviews or attention related to your product. Stay away from negative press unless you can show you’ve changed those negative opinions. Make sure to keep these slides focused and succinct. It’s easy to get caught up in showing off product buzz, but press slides should always demonstrate potential for a more widespread product adoption.

Snapchat example

Why it works : Snapchat was in a unique position at the time this deck was created, as its press slide has strong social proof. Snapchat calls out popular users, including press and media sources, that are already using the app. The wide variety of users, including household names like MTV, shows how Snapchat is a well-known social media platform.

11. Testimonial slide

Testimonials give investors insight into what existing customers really think about your product. Testimonials can also shed light on the public perception of your product, especially compared to competitors.

Seventy-two percent of consumers only take action after reading positive reviews. You can use this logic with your potential investors, too.

Positive testimonials show that your customers have brand loyalty and that users are satisfied with the product and customer service. This section of the startup pitch deck is only possible for startups that have launched their product.

AirBnB Example

Why it works : Not every pitch deck includes testimonials, especially if the startup hasn’t launched, but it makes sense to include feedback for Airbnb. Showcasing new users makes this slide simple yet effective. It could also benefit from including average Airbnb ratings for stronger evidence of positive reception.

12. Financial model slide

The financial model slide shows how your product creates revenue. For example, if your product is a subscription-based service, has premium features, or other horizontal integration, you’ll explain that model on these slides. Potential investors should walk away from your presentation knowing exactly how your startup creates revenue and understand any plans to ensure a steady stream of income.

Shopify Example

Why it works : Shopify offers a great pitch deck example of when breaking some pitch norms can work in your favor. Although it’s nearly 30 slides, the entire deck is informative and engaging. The financial model slides work well because they show how Shopify and its past investors turned a profit. Not only do they explain their current financial model, but Shopify also covers their plans for future growth to reassure investors they’ll make a profit, too.

What should you avoid putting in a startup pitch deck?

The best pitch deck is completely tailored to your startup. While there’s no hard-and-fast rule about what you shouldn’t include, make sure everything you’re presenting is relevant to potential investors. 

How do I present my startup pitch deck to investors?

It’s almost always better to present a pitch deck live to investors. Designate one member of your leadership team, ideally a founder, to present your deck to investors. 

Following a script can come across as disingenuous, but using notes is OK, so get lots of practice in before you present to investors.

What should a startup pitch deck include?

A typical startup pitch deck template includes the following slides:

• Market validation
• Market size
• Business model
• Market adoption
• Competition
• Testimonials
• Financial model

However, every pitch deck is different, so your final pitch might skip some of these topics or use multiple slides to expand on certain sections.

Built to scale with HubSpot for Startups

It takes some time to put together a startup pitch deck that works, but once you’ve nailed your presentation, you can reuse it for multiple pitches with just a few tweaks to update any data or statistics. HubSpot for Startups helps you track marketing and sales data to make this process easier. New investors can rest easy knowing you’ve got the support of HubSpot’s powerful CRM at your fingertips.

Get the pitch deck template

100+ Investor Pitch Deck Examples + Free Pitch Deck Template

A well-crafted pitch deck provides highlights of your business and financial plans.

Below you’ll learn how to create a winning investor pitch deck so you can raise funding for your startup or growing company.

First, we’ll give you a brief overview of what a pitch deck is. Then we’ll walk through each section of your investor pitch deck so you know what to include and where. Next, we’ll show you the best startup pitch deck template that you can use to create your first pitch deck. Finally, we’ll show you over 100 startup pitch deck examples that have raised millions of dollars.

Looking for Help with Your Pitch Deck?

You’ve come to the right place! Since Growthink was founded in 1999, we have created thousands of successful pitch decks for our clients including startups, small business owners, nonprofit organizations and mid to large-sized companies. 

A great pitch deck is often the difference between success and failure in raising the money you need. Let our team expertly create a successful custom pitch deck for you.

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What is an Investor Pitch Deck?

• 5 Keys to Creating a Winning Pitch Deck
• How to Create Your Own Investor Pitch Deck

Free Pitch Deck Template

100+ pitch deck examples to inspire you.

A pitch deck is a concise presentation that gives investors a quick overview of your simple business plan template with the goal of getting them to fund you. Such presentations are typically given in person or via online video conference calls. Pitch decks are most often used when pitching to potential investors such as angel investors and venture capital funding.

The terms pitch deck, investor pitch deck and business plan presentation are used synonymously.

Keys to an Effective Pitch Deck

Your pitch deck boils down to the essential elements of your business plan. While your plan is often 15 to 25 pages, your pitch deck will most likely only contain 11 slides that you must be able to deliver in 20 minutes. As a result, being concise is key.

In addition to being brief and concise, a successful pitch deck will:

• Rely on visuals . Investors don’t want to read slides full of text. Rather, the slides should have minimal amounts of text and include quality graphics. You want the investor to be captivated by the combination of your graphics and the words coming out of your mouth.
• Include backup slides . Because you need to be able to quickly present your business, your pitch deck can’t answer every question investors might have. So, create backup slides answering the most common questions. Then, if asked those questions, you can quickly pull up a slide with a compelling answer.
• Cover the key points . Your pitch deck must cover the 11 essential elements discussed below. Utilize bullet points to prevent yourself from using too many words.
• Talk succinctly . Keep your presentation jargon-free and straightforward.
• Avoid superlatives and exaggerated claims . If you use terms like “world class” or “market leaders” be sure to back them up with proof. If you can’t, don’t use them.

How To Create Your Own Investor Pitch Deck

Whether you are a new business owner or you’re trying to grow your business, creating a winning pitch deck is essential to secure funding and grow your business. Below, we detail what you should include on each of the 11 key slides in your pitch presentation:

In this slide, present your target customer’s major pain points. Try to summarize the problem in plain language so investors quickly grasp the problem particularly if they’re not a target customer.

For example, in the Problem slide for Uber, the company stated these problems: Poor communications (radio dispatch of cabs, hailing a cab done by hand, no GPS coordination between client/driver) and poor efficiencies (significant fareseeking or “dead time”).

2. Solution

Once you have sold the audience on the problem, it’s time to offer them the solution which is your business’ product or service.

So on this slide, explain how your company intends to solve the problem you highlighted.

Emphasize the scalability of your solution. Scalability refers to your company’s ability to grow with increased customer demand and is key to investors ultimately earning a high return on their investment (ROI). Also, discuss the timing of your solution, ideally pointing to the fact that now is the opportune time to launch or grow your company.

3. Product or Service Demo

In this slide you will explain your product(s) and/or service(s). If you have a working prototype of your solution, you would present it here. If a prototype is not relevant, do your best to convey your product to the investors. For example, offer screenshots or photos of your product/service being used by customers. Ideally you can also provide customer reviews, testimonials and feedback.

In this slide, you will support your claims about the size of the problem and your business’ scalability by describing the actual or predicted size of your target market.

Potential investors will be extremely interested in this part of your presentation. They want to know the market is large enough and that if you obtain significant market share, your company can grow big enough to give them a lucrative return on their investment.

So, describe the size of your market, key trends and show how big your business can become if it captures a significant market share. This slide will be highly data driven and is often scrutinized by investors so ensure your data is from credible verifiable sources and all your estimates are reliable.

Note that investors are always on the lookout for businesses that carry the potential to completely disrupt or change the industry in which it operates. If you are trying to disrupt an industry, mention that here.

5. Business Model

Here, you need to describe how your business generates revenues. For example, Airbnb works on a commission-based business model wherein the company earns a 10% commission on every transaction taking place through its app. YouTube carries an advertising-based business model since they earn the majority of their revenues through advertising on their platform. Similarly, you need to explain to the audience how your business will generate income.

6. Competition

On the Competition slide, you will detail your competitors — those companies or solutions that are currently solving the problems you stated above. Clearly illustrate what other alternatives to your business exist in the market.

The presence of competition is generally a good thing. If there are no competitors, investors often think a market opportunity or problem doesn’t exist.

Compare your business with your competitors and highlight your unique attributes. How does your company differentiate from the competition? How is your product and/or service unique? Describe what gives your business a competitive advantage.

7. Go To Market Strategy

The Go To Market strategy refers to how your business plans to bring its unique value proposition to its target customers.

On this slide, you will illustrate how you intend to acquire customers for your product and/or service. If some marketing initiatives are already underway then highlight those and their results. The aim of this slide of your pitch deck is to prove to investors you have the ability to take your solution to a mass audience and therefore grow your business exponentially.

The Team Slide should mention the people on your management team. List their qualifications and prior achievements to showcase how and why they are the best people to lead your venture.

Investors will be extremely interested to know who will be responsible for executing the business ideas laid out in the pitch deck. A lot of times an amazing business idea never sees the light of the day due to poor execution so it is essential to have the right people in the right positions to really succeed.

9. Traction

Traction refers to evidence or proof that customers want your company’s products and/or services.

As such, the Traction slide should show the periodic growth of your company based on applicable key metrics such as sales, website visitors, users, sign-ups, downloads, etc.

If your revenues are expanding with each passing month then include that graph in the slide. Include the key metrics that most easily prove your business’ success and growth.

10. Financial Projections

Here you will include a three to five-year projected income statement for your business. If you’re a startup, you will not have any historical data so make sure your projections are reasonable.

Your projections show investors the potential future scale of your business and whether it might give them the desired ROI.

Your financial projections show when you expect to break even and start earning profits. Likewise point out where fundraising is needed, which leads to your next slide.

11. Funds Being Raised

The last slide of your pitch deck should discuss the amount of money you need to achieve your goals. Instead of presenting a rigid number, you may want to include a range and show what you can achieve with different levels of funding.

Importantly, point out the core uses of the funding. Is the funding for staffing, for product development, for marketing, etc.? Detail where and how the investor’s funding will be used to grow your business.

Copy the following investor pitch deck template into your favorite slide presentation software such as Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint, and then answer the questions to create your pitch deck:

• What problem(s) does your company solve?
• How does your company solve the problem?

Product and/or Service Demo

• How does your product or service work?
• How big is your market?
• What trends are shaping it?
• How big could your company become?

Business Model

• How do you generate revenues?

Competition

• Who are your direct competitors?
• What are your competitive advantages?

Go To Market Strategy

• What marketing strategies will you employ to penetrate your market and acquire customers?
• Who is on your management team?
• What skillsets and experience do they have that bode well for your company’s success?
• What customer milestones have you reached already?

Financial Projections

• What do your three to five-year income statement projections show?
• What are your sales and profit projections?

Funds Being Raised

• How much funding do you need?
• What are the core ways in which you will use the funding?

Below we have compiled over 100 of the best pitch deck examples including the result of their pitch and key highlights that make their slide deck great. Using the best pitch deck examples can be extremely helpful in creating your own pitch deck to successfully secure the funding you need for your own startup or growing business.

• About : Airbnb is an online marketplace that connects people who want to rent out their homes or apartment with people who are looking for lodging in that location.
• Results : Raised $600K in seed funding in 2009.
• What Was Done Best : The Airbnb pitch deck concisely explained the problem and how big the company’s market size could be.
• About : AdPushup vision is an ad revenue optimization tool that can automatically and continuously optimize your website’s ad layout for higher view-ability and number of clicks.
• Results : Raised $632k in angel funding. They went on to raise an undisclosed Series A in 2016
• What Was Done Best : This pitch deck example covers all required points and is cleanly formatted. They bolster their pitch with case studies and references.
• About : Buffer helps users share social media content by scheduling online posts throughout the day. It integrates with Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and other social media platforms.
• Results : Raised $400k in 2011 and then went on to raise $3.5M in 2014
• About : BuzzFeed is a digital media company that leverages data and innovation to deliver news and entertainment to a global audience
• Results : Raised $3.5m Series A in 2008
• What Was Done Best : The Buffer pitch deck starts off strong with a CNN testimonial. They make a strong case for potential business through various models.
• About : Social media platform
• Results : Raised $104B
• What Was Done Best : The Facebook pitch deck is backed up with lots of strong financial data.
• About : Front App is a mobile application that manages and automate team emails and inboxes. Its application brings all of the people’s communication channels into one place so people can triage and assign messages, have internal conversations around them and even sync the work across other services.
• Results : Raised $20M in 2016
• About : GoCanvas offers a wide variety of mobile apps that gives individuals and business owners the ability to handle virtually anything that usually requires a form, manual or document, right on their iPhone and iPad, or Android device.
• Results : Raised $9M
• What Was Done Best : The deck includes strong testimonials from big, well-establish companies. It also includes excellent financials.
• About : Taskly is a to-do management webapp powered by natural language processing and semantic analysis.
• What Was Done Best : They clearly define the problem.
• About : WeWork provides creative and dynamic co-working space.
• Results : Raised $355M
• What Was Done Best : The WeWork pitch deck uses visual charts to show huge projections and big plans.
• About : Mint.com is a web-based personal financial management service.
• What Was Done Best : The Mint pitch deck has a strong value proposition and shows great financials.

Four Square

• About : FourSquare is a location technology platform responsible for the original check-in feature.
• Results : Raised $155M, investors include Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures.
• What Was Done Best : They clearly illustrate how the app and all of its features work through strong visuals and explanations.
• About : Groupon is an e-commerce marketplace connecting subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services, mostly at discounted prices.
• Results : Raised $700k
• What Was Done Best : The presentation is very visual so you know exactly what they are doing. They clearly show the problem and the solution.

Brandboards

• About : BrandBoards offers an online platform for advertisers to buy live-event advertising services.
• Results : Raised $750k
• What Was Done Best : The presentation slides clearly show the problem, solution, milestones and the required investment in a concise format.

Sequoia Capital

• About : A large venture capital firm
• Results : This is Sequoia’s recommended pitch deck template
• About : Pendo is a product cloud creator for digital products and data-driven product teams.
• About : Kibin is an online proofreading & editing service.
• Results : Raised $400k
• What Was Done Best : They clearly show the problem and the solution.

App Virality

• About : AppVirality is a ‘Plug and Play Growth Hacking Toolkit For Mobile Apps’ that helps app developers in identifying and implementing the right growth techniques, without any coding.
• Results : Raised a half a million dollars

Standard Treasury

• About : Standard Treasury offers standard APIs that facilitate businesses in transfers and other transactions with banks.
• Results : Raised $10M
• What Was Done Best : The slides presented outline all potential scenarios in an easy-to-digest format.
• About : A cloud-based dairy herd & farm business management software – allowing producers across the world to become the very best.
• What Was Done Best : The presentation focuses largely on the market size, which is huge and thus, a big plus.
• About : Tinder is a dating app that anonymously finds people nearby that like each other and connects them if they are both interested.
• Results : Tinder has raised $50M in three separate rounds.
• What Was Done Best : The Tinder pitch deck explains the pain points and problem in a very clear and easily understandable way. They also use lots of visuals, which helps illustrate their product offering.
• About : Coinbase is a secure platform that makes it easy to exchange digital currency, like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others.
• Results : Raised over $547.3 million over 9 funding rounds
• What Was Done Best : The slide deck presents a strong argument for what is wrong with other solutions, while showcasing why it was the right solution to the problem.
• About : Uber operates a ride-sharing mobile application that connects drivers with people who need a ride. Its application enables users to arrange and schedule transportation and/or logistics services with third-party providers.
• Results : Raised $22B total in 18 rounds. Early investors included First Round, Benchmark, and Menlo Ventures.
• What Was Done Best : The Uber pitch deck shows how their idea can improve the convenience of the consumer and the potential outcome scenarios for the investor.
• About : YouTube is a video sharing website that enables users to upload, view and share videos.
• Results : Raised $3.5 million in Series A funding in 2005, followed by $8 million in 2006.
• About : An online property listing platform that helps you find a home and/or a roommate.; and gives visibility to local businesses.
• What Was Done Best : Clear communication and personalization.
• About : Subscrea is a turnkey platform for subscription-based businesses.
• What Was Done Best : This slide deck does a good job of showing the problem and their proposed solution.
• About : Castle manages rental homes for landlords using automation and on-demand labor.
• Results : Raised $270k
• What Was Done Best : Castle’s pitch deck includes a value proposition that is strong and clear. They utilize humor to engage the audience.
• About : Vidcaster provides an out-of-the-box solution for implementing and managing video experiences.
• Results : Raised $2.5M
• What Was Done Best : They share a compelling case study and strongly illustrate how their product works.
• About : MoPix is creating the “post DVD” experience by enabling anyone with film or video content to brand, sell and distribute it in a social-enriched digital marketplace.
• Results : Raised a total of $68K in funding over 2 rounds.
• What Was Done Best : They clearly state the problem and then demo how their product is the ideal solution. They also show several additional sources of revenue.
• About : Feast teaches people how to cook through it’s stress-free lessons.
• About : Instamojo lets you sell your digital creations directly to your customers by just sharing a link.
• Results : Raised $8.4 Million
• About : Alfred is an American technology company that connects consumers with on-demand and local services to complete errands and tasks.
• Results : Raised $10.5M
• What Was Done Best : The presentation is short and simply shows their growth.

Lovewithfood

• About : Love With Food is a marketing and market research platform for CPG food brands.
• Results : Raised $2.1M in five rounds
• What Was Done Best : They show exactly what their product is, the sales process, their website and what the customer receives.
• About : Sverve is a social media influencer marketing platform.
• What Was Done Best : Clearly communicates what the company does and visually shows milestones.
• About : Waypoint was a mobile application that enables individuals to search, book, and pay for boating slips online. The application utilized a technology platform that allows boaters to book empty slips in real time, gain access to books and electronics, and rent out their space to other boaters.
• What Was Done Best : This pitch deck example has an excellent flow.
• About : Flowtab is a mobile app that offers bars, nightclubs, and hospitality venues with mobile drink ordering and payment services.
• What Was Done Best : Concise information with a simple, minimal design.
• About : Manpacks was a quarterly subscription service offering men’s underwear, socks, toiletries and other basic needs.
• Results : Raised $500k
• What Was Done Best : They engage their audience with the use of fun and humor in their presentation.

Zen Payroll

• About : Zen Payroll (now Gusto) provides a cloud-based payroll, benefits, and human resource management software for businesses
• Results : Raised $6M
• What Was Done Best : Clearly shows the pain point and how their business solves the issue.

SteadyBudget

• About : SteadyBudget is budget management software that helps PPC analysts manage various budgets across different channels.
• What Was Done Best : They use strong traction to backup their product.
• About : Polyflint is an online community and marketplace for 3D designers to find inspiration, showcase works and get feedback.
• About : Quora is a Q&A platform with a mission to share and grow the world’s knowledge.
• Results : Quora has raised a total of $226M in funding over 4 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Apr 21, 2017 from a Series D round.
• About : Binpress helps developers build a profitable business from working on open-source projects.
• Results : Raised $1M
• What Was Done Best : They engage their audience with a presentation that is almost entirely visual.

Wealthsimple

• About : Wealthsimple is an online investment management service focused on millennials.
• Results : Raised $2M
• What Was Done Best : The deck is concise and shows how they can transform an industry.

Sickweather

• About : Sickweather is an app that analyzes data to predict and forecast population health.
• Results : Raised $2.6M
• What Was Done Best : They provide a list of well-known clients and include a stimulating video. They are also able to show impressive month to month growth.
• About : Swipes Workspace is a digital place for product teams to plan projects, work on goals, exchange notes and talk together. Swipes personal is an app that helps people collect, organize and take action on their important tasks.
• Results : Raised $270k in 2013.
• What Was Done Best : A very concise presentation, consisting of only 11 slides with a very good pitch deck design.
• About : LinkedIn is a professional networking company. In addition to networking, it is also used for employers posting jobs and job seekers posting their CVs and marketing.
• Results : Raised $10M total 2004.
• What Was Done Best : The deck relies heavily on financials. They show proven financial success and market potential.
• About : An online platform that enables its users to create viral “Launching Soon” pages with built in sharing tools and analytics.
• Results : Raised $800k.
• What Was Done Best : They show historical customer results in a very visual and engaging format.
• About : GazeMetrix empowers brands with insight into when and where their brand was photographed across social media in real-time.
• Results : Raised $100k.
• About : Vettery is an online, data-driven jobs marketplace that connects top talent with growing companies.
• Results : Raised $9M in 2016
• About : Intercom is an American software company that produces a messaging platform which allows businesses to communicate with prospective and existing customers within their app, on their website, through social media, or via email.
• Results : Raised $600k total 2012.
• What Was Done Best : The Intercom pitch deck concisely outlines their service and the current competitive landscape.
• About : Square, Inc. is a financial services, merchant services aggregator, and mobile payment company.
• Results : Raised $150M
• What Was Done Best : They included a lot of tables, charts and matrices.
• About : Idwall develops software to help small and medium-sized businesses in the customer credentialing process. It is focused on providing businesses with document validation, background check, and identity verification solutions and services.
• Results : Raised $13.8M
• What Was Done Best : Show strong, but tangible growth
• About : Pinmypet allows users to track the location and physical activities of their pets.
• Results : Raised $2.5M.
• What Was Done Best : Modern and fun presentation with lots of visuals, including screenshots of the app itself.
• About : TouristEye is a mobile application that enables users to collect destinations and activities to plan their trips and weekend getaways.
• Results : Raised $1M.
• What Was Done Best : They have a convincing argument by showing the market potential.
• About : Waygo is a translation app.
• Results : Raised an undisclosed round from Golden Gate Ventures in October 2015
• About : Owlr is a compute software tech company that offers a free mobile viewing app that provides easy-to-manage Motion Alerts, safe and secure Alert Video Storage.
• Results : Raised £240K
• What Was Done Best : The deck shows strong proof of concept through customer testimonials and case studies.
• About : Lastbite was a platform which connects cafe owners with unsold perishable goods with hungry locals looking for a cheap bite to eat.
• What Was Done Best : Information is presented in a clean, bright design.
• About : Yaydoo is a procurement automation platform that allows companies to streamline their purchasing process.
• What Was Done Best : The deck is short and sweet and shows strong historical financials and showcases their clientbook.
• About : Mixpanel is a business analytics service company that tracks user interactions with web and mobile applications and provides tools for targeted communication with them.
• Results : Raised $65M and obtained a $865M Valuation.
• What Was Done Best : They show a substantial amount of KPIs and clearly communicate the current problem they are solving.
• About : Usetrace develops test automation solutions for web applications.
• Results : Raised $287k
• What Was Done Best : They use comedy throughout to bring freshness to their presentation

Backstartup

• About : Backstartup is an all-in-one platform that allows startups and SMEs to manage their legal, accounting and payroll.
• Results : Raised $905K over three rounds.
• What Was Done Best : The deck’s design is visually appealing and it effectively captures the details of the business.

Salusive Health

• About : Salusive Health helps physicians improve patient outcomes by overcoming the traditional gaps in care between visits and provides a new passive revenue stream.
• What Was Done Best : Presents essential numbers in a visually stimulating way.
• About : Moz is a software as a service company based in Seattle that sells inbound marketing and marketing analytics software subscriptions.
• Results : Raised $18M in 2012.
• What Was Done Best : They provide excellent financial information. They also provide a strong history of the company, helping to personalize the company.

300 Milligrams

• About : 300 Milligrams brings all your cloud documents, tasks and conversations from various cloud services together in one place.
• What Was Done Best : They did a great job of showcasing their product through screenshots and an up-close look of their control panel.
• About : Contently is a technology company that helps enterprise companies create results-driven content by providing them with smart technology, vetted creative talent, and proven expertise.
• Results : Raised $19.3M over 7 rounds of funding.
• What Was Done Best : The deck includes strong data points that showcase the market problem that exists and how they going to meet the customers’ needs.
• About : Dwolla let’s users send, receive and request funds from other users.
• Results : Raised $16.5M
• What Was Done Best : The value proposition is crystal clear and they show examples of real clients

BigControls

• About : Blockchain platform for the global tax credit & incentive obligations between corporations & government agencies.
• Results : Raised $125k
• What Was Done Best : Strong, consistent design and brand identity.
• About : Almabase help colleges and universities build a thriving alumni community.
• Results : Raised $100k
• What Was Done Best : By showing 1 million users in just 8 months, the deck is immediately interesting.
• About : Slidebean is an online platform that designs and creates presentations on demand with user provided content.
• Results : Raised $250k
• What Was Done Best : They illustrate the problems through strong visuals and then show strong financial results.
• About : Mapme is a mobile app for Android, iOS and BlackBerry that provides offline maps using OpenStreetMap data.
• What Was Done Best : The deck is very concise and provides social proof to support their product.

Daily Hundred

• About : The Daily Hundred is a web app allowing businesses to reward customers by encouraging micro-level brand advocacy and product endorsements.
• What Was Done Best : Great design with good visuals of their history and growth. They also make good use of testimonials.
• About : Shopify is a cloud-based, multi-channel commerce platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses.
• Results : Raised $122.3M
• What Was Done Best : They know their market well and communicate this.
• About : Etherparty is about simple tools for the next generation of Blockchain-connected economies powered by Smart Contract automation.
• Results : They crowdfunded $34 million of their $65 million goal by selling FUEL tokens through a process called an initial coin offering (ICO).
• What Was Done Best : Amazing visuals and excellent narrative about the problem and their solution.
• About : Voxeet enables WebRTC with crystal clear 3D surround-sound, audio and video experience and is particularly optimized for a mobile user
• Results : Raised $3M
• What Was Done Best : Amazing video that immediately captures your attention.
• About : Home61 is an online real estate company that helps find rentals and homes for sale in the Greater Miami Area.
• Results : Raised $5.1M
• What Was Done Best : Showcases their investor history and their depth of knowledge in the market.
• About : Crew is an app that lets individuals find freelance graphic designers, illustrators and software developers.
• Results : Raised $2M in 2012
• What Was Done Best : They show the current market size, which is very large. They show proven financial success and show a specific client case study.
• About : Reflect is a mental health startup reimagining in-person therapy to be more accessible and effective by using data-driven matching to increase engagement and outcomes.
• Results : Pre-seed round with 500 Startups; amount unknown.
• What Was Done Best : The deck has minimal, yet effective information. They used data and facts to drive their pitch.
• About : Kickfolio provides a marketing tool that allows users to run mobile operating applications directly inside the browsers
• Results : Raised $1.06M
• What Was Done Best : Concise, excellently designed presentation.
• About : Melodics is an educational service for learning how to finger drum, using adaptive learning and other data-driven approaches.
• What Was Done Best : They use relatable examples and celebrities to get their points across.
• About : Fittr is a platform that designs custom workouts tailored to equipment, access, time management, and goals.
• What Was Done Best : Nice investment goals and illustration of what they will do with funds raised.
• About : Purple Go provides in-store mobile technology to enable traditional retailers to modernize, connect online, and compete in verticals like eyewear.
• Results : Raised an undisclosed amount in 2018
• What Was Done Best : Strong, consistent branding.

Finova Financial

• About : Finova Financial offers fast, affordable online loans based on the equity in your car.
• Results : Raised $155M
• What Was Done Best : Builds brand credibility by showing media coverage.
• About : Rock Health is a seed fund investing in digital health startups.
• About : Lexyom is an online platform that uses artificial intelligence to provide users with smart, automated legal services.
• Results : Lexyom has raised a total of €50K in funding over 3 rounds.
• What Was Done Best : Very informative presentation in just nine slides.
• About : MatterMark is a data analytics company that helps companies research, prospect, track, qualify and benchmark signals of growth and news coverage for more than 1,000,000 private and public technology companies.
• Results : Raised $6.5 million in Series A funding.
• What Was Done Best: The MatterMark pitch deck provides several visuals that help demonstrate their need for funding.

Copper Cow Coffee

• About : Copper Cow Coffee brings specialty Vietnamese coffee with 100% biodegradable pour over technology.
• Results : Raised $3M in five rounds
• What Was Done Best : Very short and succinct
• About : EventXtra is a One Stop Event Management Software Company (Event SaaS).
• Results : Raised $1.7M
• What Was Done Best : Short and succinct, but impactful
• About : Harmonica is a mobile dating application for conservative cultures, like Egypt. It helps users find the right life partner in a safe environment, by using a scientific approach.
• Results : Harmonica has raised a total of $180K in funding over 2 rounds.
• What Was Done Best : Clearly shows their solution and how their are different.
• About : Lexop has developed a Certified Email solution that allows legal and real estate professionals to deliver notices via email instead of paper, using real-time tracking and instant legal proof-of-delivery.
• Results : Lexop has raised a total of $2.3M in funding over 3 rounds.
• What Was Done Best : It captures all of the essential information and shows a strong managing team and advisors, which offers authority.
• About : BabyList is a baby registry that helps new moms discover, share and buy the things they need for their baby.
• Results : Raised $650k
• About : Kompyte is a competitor tracking software that enables businesses to collect, analyze, and act on competitive changes in their market.
• Results : Raised $4.1M
• What Was Done Best : Excellent illustration of how the product worked.
• About : Pop Survey is an easy to use SaaS survey and questionnaire site.
• What Was Done Best : True to their name, this presentation really pops.
• About : Crema is a online retailer of specialty coffees.
• Results : Raised $325k
• What Was Done Best : Cohesive deck with strong design elements.
• About : Podozi is an online e-commerce platform based in Nigeria.
• Results : Raised $120k
• What Was Done Best : They showed the working partnership with large brands that this platform already has.
• About : Yalochat is an AI platform that manages and improves relationships with your clients over whatsapp.
• Results : Raised $8M
• What Was Done Best : They paired data with visuals to make a strong, engaging presentation.
• About : Biogrify offers brands the opportunity to record and share their story, which will be displayed through compelling social infographics, or what we call creative communication.
• What Was Done Best : Lots of captivating visuals.
• About : ChangeJar designs mobile payment solutions.
• What Was Done Best : Clear and very strong value proposition
• About : Mwabu is an educational technology company focused on Africa that sells products to teachers, schools, parents, NGOs, donors and governments.
• Results : Raised a significant, undisclosed Series B investment round
• What Was Done Best : Lots of research presented in a crisp, digestible format.
• About : Datatron provides a single model governance (management) platform for all of your ML, AI, and Data Science models in production.
• Results : Raised $6.4M
• What Was Done Best : Gives an excellent overview of how the company is going to be an industry game changer.
• About : Cadee helps the golfer understand and improve their game by taking a photo of their scorecard and then digitizing their data and help them track their stats over time.
• What Was Done Best : A visually-appealing pitch deck that captures your attention.
• About : Volta is an elegant task manager for outbound phone calls.
• About : Bidzuku is a free resource that helps car buyers avert the painful process of buying their next car.

Contentools

• About : Contentools develops a content marketing software for businesses that look for website traffic, leads and clients conversion.
• Results : Raised to $300k
• What Was Done Best : Concise deck that gets straight to the point- it presents the problem and how they are going to solve it. It also shows a convincing company growth strategy.
• About : Codec provides Next-generation audience intelligence for brands to engage with target audiences.
• Results : Raised to £4.7M
• What Was Done Best : Strong visual deck with minimal text
• About : Trym provides micro business insurance.
• Results : Raised to $125k
• What Was Done Best : They use an easy to understand, step-by-step process to showcase their complex product.
• About : Chewse is a virtual meal manager for enterprise customers.
• Results : Raised to $14.6M in 6 Rounds from 19 Investors.
• What Was Done Best : A visually-appealing pitch deck with good data.
• About : Orchard leverages smartphone warranty to help enterprises improve security in personal smartphones used for work.
• What Was Done Best : The deck clearly presents the problem and solution, and then illustrates the potential opportunity.

We are Onyx

• About : We Are Onyx Beauty Box is a women’s beauty subscription box that offers products for complete beauty regimen.
• What Was Done Best : The deck shows a huge month over month growth and an enormous market potential.

BuildingLayer

• About : BuildingLayer is a crowdsourcing platform that helps users create indoor maps of buildings.
• What Was Done Best : The deck addresses the audience directly, making the deck very engaging.
• About : iControl is a cloud-based application for construction management and collaboration.
• Results : Raised $150k
• What Was Done Best : The deck has a great example of the alternative to iControl, which is clearly less efficient.

Park Evergreen

• About : Park Evergreen is a parking management software that runs entire parking facilities without relying on humans or hardware.
• What Was Done Best : The deck relies heavily on their experienced team.
• About : OpenDoor creates modern, collaborative living spaces targeted at urban creatives and millennials. Their homes are curated social environments that facilitate sharing, connections, and meaningful relationships.
• What Was Done Best : The deck clearly illustrates the old, traditional way of doing things vs. the new, OpenDoor way of doing things.
• About : StreamLoan is a SaaS/mobile collaboration and workflow platform, simplifying residential home purchases.
• Results : Raised $2.1M
• What Was Done Best : Excellent, comprehensive presentation

Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

14 Pitch Deck Examples That Win Where 99% Fail (+Templates)

See fundraising startup pitch deck examples that get buy-in. See company pitch decks, investor pitch decks, and product pitch presentations that sell your vision.

9 minute read

helped business professionals at:

Short answer

What to include in a startup pitch deck?

10 slides you should include in a startup pitch deck:

• Introduction
• The problem
• Your solution
• Market size and opportunity
• Business and revenue model
• Traction and validation
• Marketing strategy
• Team (authority, experience, and skills)
• Investment and use of funds

99% of fundraising pitch decks fail to secure funding.

You've poured your heart and soul into your startup and you’re confident that it will create waves in the market.

But here's the unsettling truth — without an outstanding pitch deck, your vision is like a ship without a sail. The hard fact is, 99% of startup pitch decks fail to secure crucial funding.

A poor pitch deck can leave you staring at someone else leaving the investor’s office with the funds you deserve, again, and again, and again…

You know that failing to secure investor funding will kill your venture before it begins. No matter how revolutionary your product or service is, without funds, scaling it beyond an idea is nearly impossible. That’s the game.

But I’m here to navigate you through these choppy waters.

I’ll show you the best startup pitch deck examples that have succeeded in securing investor funding. I’ll let you in on what they did to win, so you can steal their practices and secure your own success.

Let’s go!

Why do most pitch decks fail?

It's a hard pill to swallow, but most startup pitch decks don't make the cut. Despite the long hours, the painstaking research, and the passion poured into these presentations, still they fall short.

1) They don’t answer 9 critical questions

An effective company pitch deck is your golden ticket to answer the burning questions in every investor's mind. They're looking for solid evidence, not just sparkling promises.

9 critical questions any company pitch deck has to answer to persuade investors:

How do you know there’s a need for your solution?

What’s the competitive landscape like?

What’s your target market?

What’s your competitive advantage?

What’s your track record?

How are you planning to make money?

Is your customer base expanding?

Are existing customers satisfied with your solution?

How are you planning to spend the investors’ money?

If your deck doesn't provide clear, concise, and compelling answers to these questions, it may leave investors with more doubts than confidence.

It’s crucial to weave these answers into your story in a way that connects with investors and leaves them convinced about the potential of your startup.

To learn more about how to answer each of these questions, check out our post about the top pitch deck examples .

2) They don't present a narrative

A pitch deck sells a vision. If you already have traction and your future is secure you hardly need a pitch deck because you don’t need an investment.

Investors are on the lookout for a big idea. Something with the potential to disrupt a market and achieve the hyper-growth that their investment model relies on. They want to back a dream (a feasible vision), not another competitor in an already crowded market.

To give your dream substance and get investors excited, you have to weave it into a narrative with real-world examples, visualizations, and comparisons of how your vision takes form.

Scrollytelling is the best design approach for creating a narrative pitch deck.

3) They fail to stand out in their design

Pitch deck design isn't just about making decks look good. It's about making your information clear, engaging, and memorable.

Traditionally, pitch decks have been static, presented using slideshows. This classic approach is functional and familiar, but it won’t differentiate you from the hundreds of other pitch decks that investors sift through everyday.

But you can give investors a dynamic and immersive content experience that instantly hooks them in with our modern interactive pitch deck creator on your side.

You can see the difference between a static and an interactive pitch deck below:

4) They fail to track engagement and make informed iterations

One of our clients named Buzzer was an early-stage startup behind a promising sales enablement platform. They were struggling to get investors’ attention and decided to change their pitch decks to interactive Storydocs.

They made smart use of our deck analytics to track every step of investors’ interactions with their decks to see what resonated the most.

And they used what they learned to give investors what they craved and get the funding.

“I did a lot of A/B testing and optimizing, creating around a hundred versions along the way. With our investment deck, I was able to make tweaks that boosted the reading completion rate from just over 40% to almost 100%. "

—Assaf Klinger, CEO of Buzzer

Pitch deck advice from venture capitalists and angel investors

The best source for concrete examples of how to write your pitch deck naturally comes from investors.

They know what they’re looking for and they’ve seen a thousand ways in which founders mess up. Here’s what some of them have to say…

1) Tell a story

Founders should craft their pitch decks as a compelling story, keeping in mind that the audience is an investor, not a customer. The investor is trying to understand the potential return on their investment and the team's capability to solve the problem.

2) Research your investors and personalize

Entrepreneurs should research the investor they're reaching out to and understand why that particular investor is a good fit for their startup. This shows the investor that the entrepreneur has done their homework.

3) Make sure your content is relevant and authentic

The first slide is crucial and should convey the purpose of the startup. It should address the "why" behind the business.

The pitch deck should also highlight why the team or founder is the right fit to solve the problem.

Incorporating authentic testimonials from early users can be impactful.

Predicting and answering potential investor questions in the pitch deck shows preparation and understanding of the industry and potential objections.

The pitch deck should be simple and easy to follow. Overloading it with content can lose the investor's interest.

4) Get feedback and iterate

Entrepreneurs should constantly seek feedback on their pitch decks and iterate based on that feedback. They should have multiple versions tailored for different audiences.

5) Look for engagement and interaction

During the pitch, it's essential to keep the conversation interactive and engaging. If the investor isn't asking questions, they might have lost interest.

Founders should anticipate potential questions from investors and address them in their pitch decks.

6) Make the ask detailed and clear

Beyond seeking financial investment, founders should also highlight other forms of support or value they seek from the investor.

Types of pitch decks and how they differ

INVESTOR DECK

COMPANY DECK

PRODUCT DECK

STARTUP DECK

FUNDRAISING DECK

Investor Deck

An investor deck, also known as a pitch book or pitch deck, is a marketing presentation used by various entities, including investment banks and entrepreneurs, to provide information about a business or asset.

It is designed to present the investment considerations of a business to potential investors , aiding them in making a decision to invest or buy.

Company Pitch Deck

A company pitch deck is similar to an investor deck but is gauged at providing a company overview . It normally focuses on the company’s leadership, team, culture, expertise, and accomplishments.

It highlights the company's value proposition, financial figures, customer base, growth opportunities, management strength, and other relevant details to attract potential investors or partners.

Product Pitch Presentation

A product pitch presentation is similar to an investor deck but typically f ocused on the details of a specific product or service . It outlines the problem the product solves, its unique features, benefits, market potential, and how it stands out from competitors.

The aim is to convince stakeholders, including investors, partners, or customers, of the product's value and potential.

Startup Pitch Deck

A startup pitch deck is a critical document prepared by startups in their early stages of fundraising. It’s the same as an investor deck but focuses on things specifically relevant to startup investors, such as showing hyper-growth potential and disruptive technology.

It aims to convince potential investors of the startup's value and potential.

Key elements include an introduction to the business idea, the problem being addressed, the proposed solution, market opportunity, product details, initial traction, team composition, competition, financial projections, and investment usage

Fundraising Deck

A fundraising deck is a type of pitch deck specifically designed to raise capital. This could be for a company, a product, or a project . The sums being raised can vary greatly and the terms and stage of the company life cycle can vary as well.

It emphasizes the startup's or company's financial needs, growth potential, return on investment, and how the funds will be used. The primary goal is to persuade potential investors to provide the necessary capital.

Best pitch deck examples that outperform the rest

While visually appealing pitch decks can be eye-catching, they alone are not sufficient to secure the funding you need.

You require a deck that's designed not just for aesthetics, but for engaging your audience and closing deals.

Let's explore some inspiring investor deck examples including startup pitch deck examples, company pitch deck example, prodduct presentation examples, and other pitch deck types.

Uber funding pitch deck

What makes this deck great:

Grayed out content subtly directs the viewer's focus, ensuring that attention is drawn to the most crucial elements while still providing comprehensive information.

Narrated slides guide the viewer through the content with a clear and engaging voice, enhancing the overall storytelling experience.

Interactive data visualization elements transform static graphs and charts into dynamic and interactive experiences, making the data not only more accessible but also more compelling for the viewer.

Netflix startup pitch deck

Video placeholders are strategically placed to complement the content, allowing viewers to engage with the presentation on a deeper level.

A wide range of data visualization elements designed to present complex data in an accessible and visually appealing manner, making it easier to understand and retain information.

The competitors slide highlights key points of differentiation and revenue models, making it easy for investors to understand Netflix's competitive advantage.

Airbnb startup pitch presentation

The ability to embed and play videos straight from the deck allows potential investors to watch relevant content without leaving the deck, providing a seamless and immersive experience.

Running numbers slides , showcasing important statistics and growth metrics in a dynamic and visually engaging way.

The competitive matrix slide highlights Airbnb’s unique advantages and market position, helping potential investors understand the company’s strengths and differentiators.

Tinder startup pitch deck

The ability to add custom branded icons to enhance visual appeal and aid in storytelling.

Narrated slides with product screenshots provide a comprehensive understanding of how the app works, making the content more accessible and engaging.

Smart call-to-action (CTA) with an embedded calendar , allowing investors to easily schedule a second meeting directly from the presentation.

WeWork startup pitch deck

An interactive, uncluttered design , using ample white space to create a clean and focused presentation and enhance readability.

Easily customizable slides let you tailor the content to your specific needs within seconds, and make changes even after you've sent the deck.

The ability to add multiple CTAs at the end provides investors with clear next steps and lets you capitalize upon the momentum built throughout the presentation.

Slack company pitch deck

A timeline slide that visually represents Slack’s journey, providing a clear and engaging way to showcase the company’s history, growth, and evolution over time.

The ability to extract brand colors from the company website, ensuring a consistent and on-brand visual experience throughout the pitch deck and enhancing its professional look and feel.

Perfect balance of text, image, and video placeholders keeps the investors' limited attention and aids in the understanding of the content .

AI solution pitch deck

Logo placeholders strategically placed throughout the presentation reinforce your brand identity and, for SaaS companies, can be used to display the most important integrations of your solution.

AI assistant that can generate relevant visuals and copy based on the contents of your website or paraphrase the copy you already have.

User-friendly editor makes it easy for anyone to make modifications and customize the presentation regardless of their design experience.

VC investment pitch deck

Content grouped in tabs means that investors can easily navigate through different sections of the pitch deck without getting overwhelmed by information.

Including a video on the cover slide immediately captures the viewer’s attention and sets a dynamic tone for the presentation, boosting interaction by 32% .

Clean and minimalist layout a ccentuated with a pop of blue ensures that the focus remains on the content while adding a vibrant and professional touch to the pitch deck.

SaaS product pitch deck

Responsive design ensures that your pitch deck looks impeccable and functions seamlessly across various devices and screen sizes, which is crucial considering that a third of all decks are accessed on mobile .

The ability to embed a case study directly into the presentation. This lets you provide detailed examples of your work, showcasing your success stories and demonstrating the impact of your product or service.

Information on the average reading time on the cover slide sets clear expectations for the investors and can reduce the bounce rate by almost a quarter !

AI product pitch presentation

A variety of interactive elements that bring the content to life. This approach ensures that the viewer remains engaged and helps to convey complex information in an accessible manner.

Problem-solution framework helps to create a narrative that resonates with the audience, making the value proposition clear and persuasive.

Clear call-to-action helps to convert interest into action, driving engagement and potential investment.

Investor pitch deck

Strategic structure, starting with a strong introduction, followed by problem-solution framing, market analysis, competitive landscape, and concluding with a clear call-to-action.

Data-driven approach means that the deck effectively leverages data to showcase Unicornis’s market potential, user satisfaction, and growth trajectory to prospective investors.

Clear, comprehensive storytelling that guides the viewer through the problem statement, the unique value proposition, and the tangible benefits of choosing Unicornis.

Investor introduction pitch deck

Fresh and modern design makes your company pitch deck highly appealing to potential investors, particularly in trend-led industries.

Balanced text and visuals enable you to present all the essential metrics and data while providing the necessary context.

Scroll-based interactive storytelling design simplifies the process of explaining your solution to prospective investors by guiding them through a compelling narrative.

Modern pitch deck

Data visualization elements that can be tailored to your specific use case. Whether it's charts, graphs, or other visual representations, you have the flexibility to adjust them to best convey your data. Additionally, you can incorporate real-time variables into your charts, ensuring that the information remains up-to-date and relevant.

Interactive dynamic content that actively engages your audience. For example, you can embed an interactive ROI calculator that allows them to input values and determine if they're getting their money's worth.

Easy version management lets you make sure that your deck is unavailable once the investment round is over.

Creative pitch deck

Design optimized for engagement. With animated components and clickable elements, it has the power to transform casual scrollers into engaged readers.

A variety of visual and dataviz slides. This deck strikes the perfect balance between visual elements and data visualization slides. It allows you to showcase snippets of your portfolio in a visually appealing manner while emphasizing the most important metrics.

Dynamic variables allow you to effortlessly generate unlimited versions of your deck with just a few clicks, resulting in 68% more people inclined to read it in full .

Startup pitch deck slide examples essential for success

Transforming an innovative idea into a successful startup begins with the right pitch. Let's dissect the elements of a successful pitch deck, one slide at a time.

1. Introduction slide

In a fast-paced investor's world, your window of opportunity is narrow. Our research shows that you have merely 10 to 20 seconds to pique an investor's interest.

Tips for creating an introduction slide :

• Begin with a robust hook, a crystal-clear summary of your unique value proposition that reels investors in, transforming seconds into minutes of undivided attention.
• Swiftly follow up with a concise overview of your product or service. This should be a simple, jargon-free explanation that even someone outside your industry can grasp.

Here’s an example of an introduction slide:

2. Problem slide

Here's your opportunity to spotlight a market gap and how your solution fills it. Frame your argument around compelling user stories, highlighting common pain points, and why they must be addressed.

Tips for creating a problem slide :

• Present the problem in a way that highlights its urgency and its scale, ensuring it's significant enough to warrant a paid solution and common enough to offer a substantial market.
• Weave your problem statement into a relatable user story that reflects the pain points of your target customers. This adds depth to your problem statement, making it real, tangible, and impossible to ignore.

Here’s an example of a problem slide:

3. Solution slide

With the problem identified and its magnitude clear, it's time to unveil your solution. This is where you reveal your startup's unique superpower.

Tips for creating a solution slide :

• Your solution's description should be straightforward and concise. Avoid wordy explanations and choose punchy, impactful sentences instead.
• Visual aids such as product demos or interface screenshots can support your claims and keep investors engaged.

Here’s an example of a solution slide:

4. Market size and opportunity

Your market size and positioning within it offer investors a glimpse into your startup's growth prospects. This slide should convey that your startup is not just a bright idea, but a viable, profit-generating investment.

Tips for creating a market size and opportunity slide :

• Present a well-researched and convincing analysis of your target market and the opportunities within it. This acts as a crystal ball, providing investors with a glimpse into the promising future of your venture.
• Use data visualization tools to present complex data in an intuitive and engaging manner, helping investors understand your market landscape at a glance.

Here’s an example of a market size and opportunity slide:

5. Business and revenue model

Here, you define your financial trajectory, clarifying how you plan to turn your solution into steady revenue.

Tips for creating a business and revenue model slide :

• Outline your revenue model, whether it's rooted in direct sales, subscriptions, advertising, or a combination. Be clear and specific about where the money will come from.
• If you've already validated your revenue streams through market tests, share these results. This can dispel investors' fears about risk and enhance their confidence in your business model.

Here’s an example of a business and revenue model slide:

6. Traction and validation

Proof of progress can turn a skeptical investor into a believer. This slide is where you demonstrate your venture's momentum and growth.

Tips for creating a traction and validation slide :

• Highlight significant milestones that your startup has achieved. Whether it's sales growth, customer retention, or market penetration, use concrete figures that show an upward trajectory.
• Share your future roadmap, detailing how you plan to use potential investment to achieve your upcoming milestones.

Here’s an example of a traction and validation slide:

7. Marketing strategy

Every successful mission has a master plan, and in the startup world, this is your marketing strategy. This slide explains how you'll conquer your market and win over customers.

Tips for creating a marketing strategy slide :

• Discuss your marketing channels, explaining why they're the perfect choice for reaching your audience.
• Highlight the unique elements of your marketing approach that set you apart from competitors, giving investors confidence in your ability to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

Here’s an example of a marketing strategy slide:

8. Team slide

Behind every great startup is a dream team. This slide showcases the people who are turning your startup dream into reality.

Tips for creating a team slide :

• Share focused, relevant information about each team member, highlighting their unique skills and accomplishments that make them invaluable to your venture.
• This isn't about life stories; it's about illustrating why your team has what it takes to propel your startup to success.

Here’s an example of a team slide:

9. Financials slide

In the world of investments , numbers speak louder than words. Investors need an honest and detailed look at your startup's financial health.

Tips for creating a financials slide :

• Include at least 3 years of projections, including an income statement, sales forecast, and cash flow forecast.
• Be bold but realistic in your predictions. Nothing raises red flags faster than over-optimistic projections.

Here’s an example of a financials slide:

10. Investment and use of funds

Finally, we arrive at the climax of your pitch: asking for investment. This is where you communicate how much funding you need and how you plan to use it.

Tips for creating an investment slide :

• Clearly state the investment you're seeking. This isn't a time for ambiguity—it's your call to action.
• Elaborate on how you plan to allocate the funds. Show investors that you've thought this through and have a strategic plan for each dollar.
• Incorporate concrete projections and the key milestones that their investment will help you achieve. This helps investors visualize the growth and progress they'll be funding, making them more likely to invest in your startup's future.

Here’s an example of an investment slide:

If you want to learn more about what goes into each section, check out our blog post on what to include in a pitch deck .

Interactive pitch deck templates

Your company pitch deck is your startup's ticket to a brighter future. Instead of using static, snooze-inducing slides, why not make your pitch a memorable experience?

Turn your vision into an immersive journey, captivating investors from the first slide to the last by upgrading from PowerPoint to an interactive pitch deck creator.

Try Storydoc’s AI pitch deck maker and you’ll immediately see how easy it is to simplify complex information and weave it into a storytelling narrative that will resonate with investors.

Even better - grab a template and use it to create an irresistible startup pitch deck:

Hi, I'm Dominika, Content Specialist at Storydoc. As a creative professional with experience in fashion, I'm here to show you how to amplify your brand message through the power of storytelling and eye-catching visuals.

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31 Pitch Deck Slide Examples: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

• 14 min read

Jaclyn Robinson, Senior Manager of Content Marketing at Crunchbase

Now we don’t want to presume your investor pitch deck is bad, but if you are amongst the likes of LinkedIn , Uber , and YouTube – it very well might be. This post is going to dive into how to improve your investor pitch, specifically your pitch deck, using real pitch deck examples. Even if you are not the next YouTube, you need to be able to clearly and succinctly communicate your vision. And to do that, you need to design an amazing startup pitch deck; reviewing other investor deck examples can help you do that.

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To show you the imperative of having not having a bad investor pitch deck, here is a quick look at what you are facing as an entrepreneur. Even if your startup received seed funding, your startup faces a pretty big cliff with hefty competition. Note, only about 15% of startups in each stage get acquired.

Now we’re not saying that a bad investor pitch deck will doom you (most of the companies below raised money – and sometimes a lot of it), but investors want (and need) to be convinced by your investor pitch . And the best way to do that? Telling your story with a beautiful investor pitch deck.

To find out what makes the best pitch decks incredible , we are going to examine some of the best and worst pitch deck examples we’ve seen and investigate how they could have turned a terrible slide into an incredible one. These examples just might help you create your own pitch deck template.

Let’s dive in.

1. Complex Concepts

TLDR: You can have really complex products, you just don’t want your investor pitch deck design to be really complicated.

Moz 2012: Raised $18M Series B $29.1M in Total Funding Still Operating

Timelines are super complicated. Don’t put all that shit on your slide. You don’t need to tell me how your mom started your company in 1981, don’t tell me that you were in debt, don’t tell me when you bought the domain name. Nobody cares about the “before.” All of that doesn’t matter and is just distracting to the truly important information.

Hiding in this crazy Moz timeline is when they raised money and when they started charging for their products and services. A timeline should give that information upfront, there’s no need for any of the other unnecessary information.

Nutanix 2014: Raised $140M Series E $393.7M in Total Funding Went Public in 2016

This is an outright terrible slide made up of terrible stock art that plagues our nightmares. What is that splash thing at the bottom? Why don’t the boxes line up? Not only are do the visuals look like they’ve come out of Windows 98, but this slide also makes it impossible to know what the value prop is.

Without a clear value prop, associates at the investment firms will look at the slides and say, “NEXT!”

Airbnb 2009: Raised $600K Seed $4.39B in Total Funding Still Operating

Ahh, now a good slide. This Airbnb pitch deck took a complicated concept (TAM, the total adjustable market) and made it simple and digestible. You don’t need the rest of the deck to understand this slide – start with key numbers that are compelling enough for investors.

Cadee 2011: Raised Undisclosed Seed Undisclosed Total Funding Still Operating

Another pretty good one. This slide makes it obvious what Cadee does, without needing the rest of the pitch deck. Although there might be machine learning and algorithms behind the scenes, we don’t need all of that on a single slide. Cadee created a slide that keeps it simple, even if their concepts and execution are complicated. Thumbs up.

2. unreadable text.

TLDR: Make sure investors can read the text on your slide without having to whip out their monocle – that easy.

Standard Treasury 2014: Raised $2.7M Series A $2.7M in Total Funding Acquired by Silicon Valley Bank

“So what are these crazy little numbers?” “What costs are you not accounting for here?” “What do you mean?” (no, not quoting Justin Bieber) “What are you trying to say? What’s the point of this?”

A thousand questions cross an investor’s mind when they see this, and all this slide does it make it confusing. An investor can’t tell if you anticipate revenue or not. All this slide does is make it seem like you don’t understand your business or your cost structure.

Investors would hammer you on this slide, asking a number of questions that aren’t relevant and deviating you from your objective. Don’t put in slides because you know you have to, put in slides because you are adding value. Ask yourself, what is the story you’re trying to tell, even with your financial slide.

WeddingLovely 2011: Raised Undisclosed Seed Undisclosed Total Funding Still Operating

Again with the timelines.

Let’s just say while the investor is reading your slide, they get stuck on month six wondering what it means to send people an STD, and now they’ve totally missed the investor pitch. This could have easily been completed with bullets with touchpoints briefly summarized.

MetaCert 2016: Raised $1.2M Seed $1.94M in Total Funding Still Operating

This one is pretty good. So maybe a little wordy, but at least the content is valuable. I can understand what you are doing with this funding – but maybe next time doesn’t use full sentences.

Reduce words to short bullets to give interesting details on why you need the money while explaining why this is relevant to you as an investor.

3. Confusing Visuals

TLDR: Visuals should engage the investor, not confuse and distract them. Visuals need to add to your presentation not deter from it.

Square 2011: Raised $100M Series C $590.5M in Total Funding Public in 2015

We just need to get something off our chest real fast. Square raised $100 million with this deck. ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS. And it’s our least favorite slide showing you here, but our favorite to rip apart 😇.

First, Square built what we like to call a circle of life slide. Please read it. These things should ideally build off each other. At a closer look, none of these things build into one another and make no sense as a cycle. People put in these graphics into their presentation to make it pretty, but it just makes it confusing.

What’s worse? A purple cascading funnel on the same slide, to boot.

Think these things through, please. And don’t use purple gradients. It’s annoying.

Buffer 2011: Raised $400K Angel $3.9M in Total Funding Still Operating

Again with the cycle of life.

Buffer, we love you but we have a lot of questions for you. Which of these icons is actually your competitor? Is it Facebook , LinkedIn , Google ? Why are there small circles within the circle?

When you email this VC pitch deck design out, and you always will, investors will see this and not understand your competitive landscape and think that you have no understanding of who you are actually competing against.

Investors may also overlook you because your market looks way too big and you are going to inevitably get washed out or ignored.

TryM 2016: Raised $125K Seed $125K in Total Funding Stealth Mode

10 weeks to 3 minutes. 1 umbrella policy. All these numbers and graphics are easily understandable. This slide works – it’s is a great example of how to be compelling without being complicated.

4. Too Wordy

Tldr: now is not the time for your novel., foursquare 2009: raised $1.35m series a $207.3m in total funding still operating.

This is a prime example of a company that was neither precise nor intentional with their wording. What is “game mechanics?” Why are there four paragraphs to describe what is essentially an online check-in app?

And while we’re at it, make sure your logo makes sense and is a good fit for your business.

Claim Compass 2016: Raised Undisclosed Seed Undisclosed Total Funding Still Operating

Here is a great example of less is more. Your words matter, but you don’t need a lot of them. This compelling 5-second investor pitch makes me want to read the whole deck and is part of the super exciting power that fewer words provide.

You don’t have to explain everything right off the bat. Tease the investors in with a little hint as to why your company would be interesting to me, and then dive into the details.

Metacert 2016: Raised $1.2M Seed $1.94 in Total Funding Still Operating

This slide is another great example. Use headers to creatively ask questions and rely on visuals to tell your story and draw in your audience.

5. audience-not-in-mind.

TLDR: Think through who you are sending these decks to, and adjust accordingly. Something you think is funny might just be seen as offensive.

Gofiture 2016: Raised Non-Equity Assistance Undisclosed Total Funding Still Operating

This whole thing is weird. First of all, there’s an image of all of China, but this slide only draws attention to 3 million of those people. Also, what’s with this weird red and blue font and crazy capitalization? And doesn’t everyone want first-class healthcare? This slide is troublesome, to say the least.

Up All Night 2016: Raised $500K Seed $625K in Total Funding Still Operating

Not only does this slide wreak of bro attitude, but it’s also not what investors want to see. If you do find an investor who is interested in this imagery, it’s probably a red flag. Another point we’ll get back to is no one cares what you look like, we promise. Leave the full-blown pictures on your Tinder profiles and out of your pitch decks.

On the team slide, an investor wants to see those teeny blue letters. They want to know about your experience, plan and why you are a good fit for the job, not how you are a gangster-thief-mobster wannabe.

Uber 2009: Raised $200K Seed $11.5B in Total Funding Still Operating

So Uber ’s not great at a lot of things, but this slide is pretty good. There’s a clear description from an investor’s point of view and they managed to paint a compelling picture for potential investors .

6. Lots of Buzzwords

Tldr: buzzwords turn investors off – no one wants to hear how you are an “uber of” whatever. just don’t., fittr 2014: raised undisclosed seed undisclosed total funding not operating.

Workout generator. Supercomputing cluster. Extensive Database. Exercise Variants.

This slide contains an excruciating amount of unnecessary words. A simple visual and the mention of a “workout app” would have done just fine. How are businesses that struggle to explain their offerings in simple terms to investors ever going to sign customers and gain traction in the real world?

Carta , previously known as eShares 2015: Raised $7M Series A $67.8M in Total Funding Still Operating

We love this crisp title and description. The bullet points are entirely straightforward and have no jargon. They tear apart their competitor swiftly and succinctly to make you ask yourself “Why would I ever choose Solium?” That’s exactly what you want as a presenter.

7. Unusual Metrics

Tldr: be precise and transparent with your metrics., love with food 2012: raised $645k seed $2.09m in total funding still operating.

How Love With Food concluded that their TAM (total addressable market) is $50 billion is completely unknown. At this point, an investor would have completely discounted their entire slide as useless and not valuable.

A TAM slide needs to sell a story to help investors understand your idea and how you’re going to get your valuation while also showing compelling metrics.

Mapme 2015: Raised $1M Seed $1M in Total Funding Still Operating

However interesting it is to know how many people are interested in the cheese map of Belgium, this slide is impossible to quantify. If an investor cannot clearly determine how many people are in the target market, they will have no issue skipping out on your cheese maps.

YouTube 2005: Raised $3.5M Series A $11.5M in Total Funding Acquired by Google

This metrics slide does not tell a clear story. Retrospectively, metrics had flatlined for YouTube at this point so they decided not to show any for this slide, and the fact that they shared a slide like this shows us they must have had investors already in the pipeline.

It would have been better for YouTube to be transparent with their metrics and not be overly confident. Even if your metrics aren’t incredible, make sure to be clear about what they are with your investors – they’ll find out in the future with their due diligence anyways.

Soundwave 2012: raised $1m seed $2.9m in total funding acquired by spotify.

Soundwave has no context to where these numbers came from – for instance, where did this $5 billion spend come from? More than numbers, you should share metrics that help you tell your story.

Carta , formerly eShares 2015: Raised $7M Series A $67.8M in Total Funding Still Operating

Just the top headline alone lets you know why this metrics slide is valuable. Another great thing about this slide is that they aren’t afraid to show negative data. Talk through any negative metrics in your investor meetings . Your transparency will create trust between you and your investors and will show you truly do understand your business and metrics. If you’re searching for a good sample pitch deck, this slide is worth referencing.

Front App 2016: Raised $10M Series A $13.2M in Total Funding Still Operating

Talk about churn with your investors in your VC pitch deck! Even if your churn isn’t great, investors will discover it later on. Front App’s slide is another great example of honesty regarding metrics early on. Don’t leave anything hidden for investors to find out later.

8. ego flaunting.

TLDR: You’re raising money, not finding a date. Emphasize your qualifications and expertise, not your looks.

Crema.co 2016: Raised $325K Seed $325K in Total Funding Still Operating

This slide tells us nothing about the qualifications of the team, all we know is that you have a nice smile. Again, no one cares what you look like. A team slide should show investors your experiences and qualifications for the position, not be a blown-up selfie.

TalentBase 2016: Raised $150K Seed $150K in Total Funding Still Operating

This is a great team slide. Investors can see where people went to school and their past relevant experience. Team slides are all about creating trust between you and your potential investor. They should focus on your experience and explain why the investor should trust you with their limited amount of funds.

9. No Demo Videos

Tldr: don’t do demo videos – something can always go wrong. and even if it doesn’t it’s still awkward., cubeit 2014: raised $3m seed $3m in total funding acquihire by myntra.

Just the thought of this demo video gives us anxiety. For example, let’s say you press play, and the audio doesn’t work. Or someone video conferences in, and they can’t hear you. Or the WiFi goes down. All sorts of catastrophes await with demo videos.

Or let’s say everything goes well and the video plays – do you watch people as they watch the video (awkward), are you looking at your computer (everyone starts doing the same and checks their email) – so many uncomfortable times await.

Demo videos suck – just don’t do them.

Crew 2014: Raised $2.1M Seed $9.8M in Total Funding Acquired by Dribble

If you must do a live demo, use screenshots, or inVision to make it look like you are clicking a live website. A live demo lookalike without actually doing a live demo, what’s not to like! This investor deck example design is simple and to the point. 

Our best advice for presenting an investor pitch deck? Try to do a live demo every time, for example, if you have drones, show them the drones in the parking lot. Just no videos.

10. snoozefest, wealthsimple 2014: raised ca$1.9m seed $77.9m in total funding still operating.

There is absolutely nothing interesting about this slide, except that you are based in Canada. And as much as we like Canada, it’s just not that interesting. Make your pitch deck design fun and engaging, because chances are that this is the 100th pitch the investor has heard today, and maybe the 100th pitch you’ve done.

Make your slides dynamic so you can have fun pitching and inject that dynamism into your presentation.

LinkedIn 2004: Raised $10M Series B $103.2M in Total Funding Acquired by Microsoft

So we’ll hand it to LinkedIn. 2004 was clearly not a great year for sophisticated slides or the mecca of pitch deck designs. Additionally, this is an excellent example of a great concept, with an extremely boring slide. Moreover, this ultra-simple slide is not giving us the enthusiasm and excitement that it should, and would benefit from some visual aspects. This isn’t the deck template you’d expect from one of today’s leading social tools with millions of users.

Opendoor 2016; Raised $150K Seed $150K in Total Funding Still Operating

So this is a great slide and example pitch deck design. We are immediately drawn because of the compelling problem and the tangible metric. Additionally, investors can quickly see a pain point and a big opportunity. Opendoor also did a great job of picking a cool font and cool background that wasn’t too busy and still engaging. This slide gets investors excited, and therefore would ultimately get the pitcher fired up to tell the story and explain the pain points repeatedly.

10 Tenets of an Awesome Investor Pitch Deck

So finally we’ve walked through all the tenets of what makes a shitty investor pitch and walked through specific pitch deck examples. Now, to guide you the the process of creating your startup pitch template, here are all the tenets of what makes the best pitch decks:

• Easy to understand concepts
• Readable text
• Simple and clean visuals
• Audience in mind
• Relax on the buzzwords
• Thoughtful metrics
• Ego out the door
• No demo videos

“Just because you get funded does not mean you are successful.” – Vinod Khosla, Founder of Khosla Ventures

At the end of the day, hopefully, you’ll raise money, but remember raising money doesn’t mean that you are in any way successful, all it means is that you have another breath of air. A fresh round of capital for your technology, platform, software, etc. can come with new growth benchmarks, expectations of success, new management, and a host of other unique pressures and challenges. The difference between industry leaders (10%) and failed startups (the other 90%) often comes down to how you grow, secure and manage capital.

Once you do raise the money you’re looking for, be smart with how you spend it, and best of luck!

This piece is based on Crunchbase CEO Jager McConnell’s presentation on how to fix your bad investor pitch deck at WebSummit in Lisbon, Portugal 2017 and adopted for blog post format. You can see the full talk here . And be sure to check out the SlideShare here .

Did you know, Crunchbase’s all-in-one prospecting solution can help you find and connect with investors? With Crunchbase you can search for and follow investors, and even save investors you’re interested in to a list to track their activity with real-time alerts. When you feel confident enough in your business model to reach out, you can find contact information directly within Crunchbase. And, with our new engagement suite, you can include unique industry insights through snippets personalized to each recipient and send outreach emails directly from Crunchbase.

• Originally published April 16, 2019, updated April 26, 2023

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How to build an investor pitch: An example

Got an investor pitch to prepare?

In this article I’ll go over the in-depth investor pitch and what it contains, by showing you Pitcherific as an example, alongside what’s to be explained orally, as well as how long it would take using the Pitcherific tool for measurement. And don’t worry, I’ll make sure you know what slides are optional, and which are mandatory for a bare minimum of a presentation.

An investor pitch contains the following:

• The Solution
• The Product
• The Technology
• Company Overview: Team

The Market Opportunity

The competition.

• Business Model / Traction / Financials
• Action Plan / Marketing Plan / Launch Schedule
• Call to Action / Appendix

Whew! That’s a lot to cram into a four minute presentation, isn’t it? Yes! So always take the time limit into account and cut to the bone wherever you can. But don’t worry, the bare minimum of this investor pitch-template can be presented in five minutes.

I made a slide deck to follow this article. Feel free to make your own slides directly from the example of the Pitcherific investor-pitch. You can find the slidedeck template right here.

First slide:

Slide 1: The Hook

• Optional (But recommended)

At Pitcherific we believe that less is more. Adding more than necessary only adds to confuse your audience. Let’s avoid that by not putting our hook in text on a slide deck, and just say it in a single sentence instead. So, our first slide doesn’t feature any text, just a company-logo, and a presentation:

“The fear of public speaking is, to many people, larger than the fear of death itself. The same can be said for entrepreneurs. Seven out of ten new entrepreneurs have never received any formal training in pitching, despite it being crucial to their success. And there are millions of entrepreneurs worldwide who depend on being able to present their business quickly and concisely. At Pitcherific we help them do just that.”

Time: 25 seconds.

And that’s the hook established. We recommend you add a hook. It doesn’t have to take more than 15 seconds to establish, and it’s a good placeholder for that boring run-of-the-mill presentation.

Next slide:

Present the problem or pain point that your product / service will solve. What is the current situation? What type of person suffers? What organisations are already involved and why aren’t they solving it? Remember to create urgency in your audience, by being specific and visualizing the pain points for your audience.

Presenting your problem(s) one at a time, gives you the ability to freestyle a little as long as you mention your keywords. You can go in depth with a specific problem to a specific audience, or you can quickly glance over it if you feel the need to do so.

“Facilitating an excellent presentation is hard work. It’s even harder if you’ve never done it before, and it gets specifically harder when you have to present something that you hold dear: Your business, your product, your livelihood. It’s hard because you lack oversight. You don’t know where to begin, where to end, when to change the subject or how you create a natural flow between your subjects, and you might fail to notice on your own. And developing a convincing pitch requires sharp time management, a lot of training and relevant feedback, but how do you know how long you’ll be speaking for, how do you manage your pace and staying on time? Should you rehearse with a stopwatch? And if you’re not on time, how will you know what part of your presentation is taking too long to get through? You can’t just go buy a pitch-trainer to solve all your problems, as they’re both time-consuming and expensive, and you need to be ready for this presentation in just two days. Will you be able to convince your client, or secure the investment you’ve been working towards for the past six months?”

Time: 65 seconds.

Remember to create a common understanding between you and your audience, of what the consequence is if this problem goes unsolved, and end on the solution to this being important.

Que your product:

Your product should be easily explained in such a way that it doesn’t appear to be a problem in and of itself to apply it. Try to simplify your product in such a way that it appears to be plug and play. Don’t worry if you can’t though, everyone loves things that come in threes, so a three-way explanation slides equally easily into your audience’s understanding.

Now, in the case of Pitcherific – which is a SaaS and therefore not a Plug&Play solution – some explanation is required, so we’ve added two slides that explain the technology. Because there will be some text on the slides, we use a Logitech Presenter to guide the audience while we present:

Make sure that you give your audience a hook to latch onto when you present your solution, and that you do it in the simplest of ways. Touch on all of the pain points you’ve set up so that it sounds almost too good to be true, yet non-debatable whether or not you truly are the one to solve the issue. Project confidence by boasting a little while you present.

“With Pitcherific users can choose between best practice templates, or create a pitch from scratch following their own unique wants and needs. The Pitcherific time-checking software keeps track on how long it will take to present the pitch, and at any time the user can switch between practicing their pitch in our simulation-software, or return to the edit-session where the tool will give suggestions on how the pitch can be tweaked to perfection. If the user gets stuck along the way, they can request professional feedback on their pitch from a live pitch coach. And all of this will on a yearly basis cost the user the same as a single hour-session with a professional pitch coach.”

Time: 45 seconds.

Short, concise, straight to the point. Doesn’t linger on specifics, but touches on all the pain points presented in the problem-slide within a minute. Incidentally, this is my own elevator pitch rewritten for the purpose of presenting it to a larger audience who has never heard of Pitcherific before.

Company Overview: The Team

Investors don’t just invest in a product and a business, but also in your team. It’s not unheard of that angel investors will make startups perform team building-eque tasks for them before they invest, to see how well they coordinate or work together and if there’s anyone in the team who could potentially flip their investment the wrong way.

The Company Overview can be put first, last or wherever else you feel comfortable presenting your team. However, it is helpful for your audience to have it in the beginning, as it gives your audience a summarization of who you are, and it builds credibility towards your audience.

Whatever you do, don’t start presenting your team’s personal details. Nobody cares if you play soccer or like to go hiking in your spare time unless you’re selling soccer- or hiking equipment. Stick to professional titles and skills and mention any immediate networks or business partners that are an essential part of your business.

Presenting the slide would sound something like this:

“Pitcherific is Located in Aarhus, Denmark, and consists of * Lauge, CEO and CO-Founder. Lauge is the genius behind the Pitcherific story. He has a blend of professional skills within presentation and pitching, and has a unique vision for the pitch training community standard. * Kristoffer Hansen, CO-Founder and Software Pilot at Trifork, is our Lead Developer * Anders Schmidt, CO-Founder and Frontend UI/UX Developer, makes sure that the Pitcherific tool stays at the highest of standards at all times. * Chris Overgaard, PR and Facilitator, handles outbound contact and does a minimal amount of marketing on the side.”

Time: 39 seconds.

Optional: If time permits, also present your business partners maybe even some combined efforts, just to show that you can in fact work together, or that others are backing you already:

“The combined efforts of the team has seen over 12.000 concurrent users, we’re part of an advisory board consisting of CEO’s from Restudy and Firtal-Group, and we have already partnered with several major incubator-hubs worldwide to see the trend continue.“

Time: 16 seconds.

On a side note: A lot of investor slide decks that I’ve seen feature serious-looking people wearing shirts and looking very business-esque. That’s not hot. Just look natural. In regards to your picture I always recommend using professional photos. But you should try to use the best picture as well, and by best I mean the one with the biggest smile on it. Smiles are infectious, and you want your target-audience to latch onto that enthusiasm and feel your drive at every given opportunity.

If you’ve just started out and you’re trying to sell someone on the idea of your business, then having milestones might not be something you have. And that’s fine because this one is totally optional.

But if you do have anything to brag about such as, progress endorsements, competitions or prizes in general – anything you’re proud of – then I suggest you do so. You can do this in a number of ways through timelines, graphs, quotes, endorsements etc. The sky is your limit. I only ask that you stick to one thing. In this case I went with testimonials:

“At Pitcherific we have worked close with thousands of entrepreneurs over the past five years, and their success is our success. We have helped catapult startups to the top in Pitching Competitions, Crowdfunding Campaigns and Investment Rounds. And we’re proud to go to work every single day, helping others achieve their dreams”

…And then I’d read one of the testimonials aloud, taking full credit for their success.

No nice words were ever said about a braggart, but like the american poet and journalist Walt Whitman once said:

“If you did it, it ain’t braggin”.

Now, with all the formalities and nonsense out of the way, it’s time to get down to brass tactics: Making an investor interested in your business, not just the idea.

Essentially it all comes down to one thing; Numbers, and this is where you really have a chance to foster some interest, and make those dollar signs flash in any investor-eye. Show the investor how large the entire market is, how large a piece of that pie you expect to be taking.

If you’re scratching a niche-inch then be honest about it. If you’re eyeing a prize that’s massive then shout it from the rooftops:

Presenting this slide would sound something like this:

“We take great comfort in knowing that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates that roughly 60% of the worlds newly founded Micro, Small and Medium (MSME) enterprises are innovate, meaning that in the US alone, there’s 97 million potential customers, of which a 15% estimated market share – which is what we’re aiming for – puts us at 14 million potential customers, and that’s in the US market alone.”

Time: 26 seconds.

I’d always encourage a reasonable number as the market share, as I expect anyone around me to be a sceptic, which is why I’ve included the total market, deducted 40% of the initial number as initial casualties outside of our reach, and then another 85% of that number to match only our core customers without fear of counting anyone who doesn’t fit our personas. I suggest you do the same.

Here’s where we need to get real. Because even if Pitcherific has a massive potential market reach, that doesn’t mean that there’s no specific competition we have to share it with. And nobody is sailing on a blue ocean of opportunities by themselves, no matter how special their product is.

Show the investor who your competition is, and set yourself up as the outlier who can either disrupt or change the entire business because of your product. Be honest, and don’t be afraid to set up the competition for what it is: established.

Now, Pitcherific has one major advantage and one major disadvantage: It’s a one of a kind product, meaning that piercing the thin veil of public consciousness is hard without a massive marketing presence. On top of that we won’t succumb to bait-like sales tactics promising immediate results and one-size-fits-all-workshops. And our blog posts aren’t constructed around keywords and clickbait like most other high-ranking blog posts are.

Instead we offer 24/7 availability on our training platform from the comfort of your home, 365 days a year, as a better valued alternative to traditional pitch coaching at way below the price. Meaning that you can practice your pitching anywhere at any time.

The presentation would then sound something like this:

“Pitcherific is far from the only provider of pitch-coaching service for entrepreneurs wanting to improve upon their presentation skills. Pitch Trainers and Coaches offer coaching, workshops, or expensive personalized training sessions to those customers in their immediate orbit. And following the coaches are a myriad of blogs, vlogs and podcasts offering a vast amount of free knowledge in the field. Pitcherific caters to the people that know knowledge is important, but training is key and people who know coaching is great, but often expensive and not a replacement for training. Our offer stands in stark contrast to what’s currently being offered: Pitcherific provides an online training software with 24 hours availability alongside built-in knowledge and guides and a feedback option, at a yearly cost of less than óne coaching session, making us highly competitive.”

Time: 58 seconds.

Notice how I acknowledge that we’re not a golden goose, but don’t sell our own product short? That’s how you should present your competition as well. Acknowledge your competitors and upsell yourself. Focus on the positive aspects where you stand out, and let your investors know that you can compete or disrupt your expected market share.

Market Validation

A market validation comes in different formats. You’ve either done some legwork in the form interviewing your potential customers, or you have actual proof that you can make your business work because you already have customers. Either way, it’s not a mandatory slide to include, but it’s up there alongside nice-to-have .

Simply highlight a few things showcasing that you either can or have already created a sustainable business, like so:

“Since it’s early inception in 2015, Pitcherific has made great strides as a micro business. We currently have 12.000 concurrent users every day operating in 45 different countries world wide, and we have effectively helped other entrepreneurs raise $28million dollars in conjunction with our 24 Business Partners.”

Revenue Model

Financials – It’s pretty simple: What’s your business model and how do you (expect to) make a living? Show it:

In terms of presenting it I’d literally say what the slide says: That we are a SaaS company where members buy access on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis, and that our big brother-models are scalable and negotiable, which doesn’t take more than 15 seconds. Moving on…

Action Plan

An action plan needs to have a defined goal or purpose that you’re working towards, alongside a set of steps you need to take in order to reach said goal. To do so, you should prioritize some tasks over others, set milestones, identify the resources needed and then visualize your action plan.

I purposely haven’t chosen a project management timeline like a Gannt Chart, a Project Network Diagram, Kanban Board or a Cross Functional Flowchart because I want my message to get across in the first try: “We have a plan, and we can talk about the specifics afterwards.” I’ve instead opted for the simple 1-2-3-4 format, which is how I also suggest you approach this slide should you include it.

The strong suit of this slide is that it shows that you’ve put some thought and consideration into how you expect to spend the funding you’ll be applying for. It can also give a birds-eye-view of the current problems that you’re looking to solve, it all depends on how you present it. Just keep in mind that a potential investor might be able to help you through networking first, which is better than leaving a meeting empty-handed!

Basically, you want to cover the bulletins you’ve set up in your action plan very briefly, simply to show that you’ve put some thought into how you’re going to spend the funding you’ll receive. The Action Plan should also be a natural transition towards ‘The Ask’-slide, so don’t be afraid to be honest about what you need or why you need it:

“At Pitcherific we’d like to be better at reaching our audience, following up on the immense amount of leads we source weekly and develop our platform to accede our current users expectations. We believe that external seed will help us reach these goals through promotion and automation, so we can launch our next great endeavour: Pitcherific 3.0 – Sentient Pitching Robots.“

Time: 24 seconds.

…We’re not really going to make sentient robots, but you get the jist of it. The point is, that you can really add anything into the boxes here, as long as it is well thought out, and not halfway made up like I just did.

Another way you can show your investor how you’ll be spending your funding is to put an even more simplified action plan together with your ask -slide, like so:

Next Slide:

At this point I’d just get down to brass, and be frank about exactly what I need. I just made some numbers up in this case to give an example. ‘The Ask’ can either be a stand-alone slide, or come before or after the action plan. The reason for this is that you can either explain your plan in detail or just jump straight into asking for funding and then loosely explain what you’re planning to spend it on.

I’d recommend the first course of action: Being specific.

Being specific shows that you’ve put some thought behind your ask, and giving precise numbers lets your investor know how much you think your company is worth, and thus how big an investment they can counter you with if they disagree with your valuation, and how big a turn they can expect on their investment should you succeed. Also it lets everyone know whether or not you’re outside of their price range.

I’d present it like so:

“We’re asking for a grand total of $160.000 USD in exchange for an initial 10% of the company. The amount of funding we’re asking for has been calculated in accordance with our sparring partners at Restudy and Firtal Group and their own advisors, and reflects our ambitions for moving our company closer to a global presence. As previously stated, we’re targeting the US market as we see a lot of opportunity for high growth in that particular entrepreneurial environment where the help for startups isn’t as widespread in the US as it is here in Denmark. I’d like to formally invite you on this journey with us.“

Time: 40 seconds.

Call To Action

(Quick sidenote: The only reason the ‘ Call to Action / Appendix ’ slide is optional, is because if you just linger on ‘ The Ask ’ during the Q&A session it can feel kinda lame) Moving on:

The Q&A session is for some the worst experience, and for some the most amazing, because this is where the stakes are highest and where you have the best chance of shining through, providing you know your business. It’s basically one giant feedback session, where push comes to show and everything you haven’t touched on will be thoroughly prodded. So come prepared with a dosen extra slides for the most common and pressing business questions that you’re likely to be asked. The Pitcherific Tool has a great feature that does exactly this under “ Show Questions ”.

Now, if you’re a first-time pitcher or a nervous speaker, I highly suggest that you go read this 3-4 minute article about nervousness , because whether you’re presenting in front of several or just a single investor, you’re going to be in a high-stress environment where the spotlight is on you and your reactions, and inquisitive questioning has a tendency to amp up the temperature in any room.

If you’re an experienced pitcher and a well rehearsed speaker, I only wish you the best of luck. Remember, you came prepared! Just keep calm and answer questions.

Keep it simple (and stupid): You’re trying to peak interest, not raise unnecessary questions. A coherent story is more convincing than trying to convey every piece of information about your business.

Write your pitch beforehand: An important distinction you need to make right now, is to not substitute your pitch for a slidedeck. Write and rehearse your pitch first – then make your slides!

Support your slides visually – explain them orally. The only person who benefits from slides with high amounts of text on them are the forgetful presenter. It makes you look boring and unprofessional.

Stick to the format!: Going your own way when it comes to investor pitching will lead you nowhere, just stick to the format and conform to the fact that the best way to shine is to do so concisely.

Now that you’re prepared, you’re all set to create your own investor pitch right here at Pitcherific, today!

Remember! How much is your next client worth?

Good luck sailor!

Did I miss anything? Did you want something elaborated on?

Send me mail at [email protected], and I’ll do my utmost to not only update the article but also help you reach your full potential.

I believe in you frendo.

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Anete Ezera December 26, 2023

Let’s say you have a big idea – a new invention, a product launch, or a smarter way of doing things. To get your idea heard you need a way to showcase it to people. Not just any people – investors. They’re the ones who could potentially fund your new project or business. For this to happen, you need to be convincing and show them why investing is a good opportunity for them as well as you. This is what the purpose of an investor pitch deck is. What’s more, there are platforms out there that can assist in making your investor pitch, like Prezi . 

What is an investor pitch deck? 

An investor pitch deck is basically a presentation that entrepreneurs use when they’re talking to potential investors. The main idea is to show off your business or startup in a way that gets these investors interested. So, you create a presentation for investors that covers the key parts of your business.

You start off your investor pitch deck by introducing your business and then talking about the problem you’re solving. Next, you show how your product or service is the solution. You also include information about your target market, how you plan to make money, and your strategies for marketing and sales.

It’s also important to talk about who’s on your team and what makes them great for this business. Then, you go into the financial stuff – like how much money you expect to make and what you need funding for. The goal of an investor pitch deck is to make a strong case for why investing in your business is a good idea. It’s all about grabbing their attention and convincing them that your business has great potential.

How investor pitch decks have changed overtime

Investor pitch decks have drastically evolved. Fifty years ago, they were mostly verbal, using simple charts and focusing on substance over style. But as technology advanced, so did the way we present ideas. Now, tools like Prezi allow for visually engaging presentations, where we can include things like colors, themes, and graphics. This modern approach to investor pitch decks showcases ideas in a way that captures and holds the attention of investors, blending visuals with the core message for a more effective pitch. In the past, pitches were solely about how the presenters presented themselves, whereas now, we have the support of pitch deck presentations to back up our ideas. 

What makes a good investor pitch deck? 

To know how to pitch an idea to an investor, you need to know what goes into creating a good investor pitch deck. To resonate and persuade, be sure to include these key elements: 

A strong introduction

You need potential investors to be captivated from the very first slide. There are ways you can make them sit up, and come to attention. You can do this by asking a rhetorical question to get their brains ticking or using a dramatic statement to make them listen. It also helps if your opening slide is clear and straight to the point, so they know you mean business. 

Throughout your investor pitch deck, the information should be clear and precise. Not everyone in the audience will relate to industry-specific terms and phrases, so be sure to keep it simple. The last thing you want is to put investors off by confusing them with over-complicated language. 

Conciseness

Keep it brief. Cover all the essential points, but don’t overload your investor pitch deck with too much information. The simpler it is, the more chance of investors knowing exactly what you need and what your intentions are. They’re also more likely to remember brief content compared to overbearing information. 

Compelling story

The best investor presentations should tell a story. Your pitch deck should clearly show the problem, how your product or service solves it, and why it matters. Explaining your goals in this way is more likely to resonate with the audience, as people much prefer an interesting narrative rather than just listing facts and figures. 

This Prezi is a great example of a compelling story. The SMITH & STARR Elevator Pitch grabs our attention with its simple yet highly effective visuals and narrative. Not only does the presentation look good, but it starts by presenting a problem and then goes on to explain how they can fix it and what they plan on doing to achieve this. The way that each section contains a key block of information is really good for keeping the story easy to follow. This kind of storytelling is good for audiences, as they can keep up and understand what you’re trying to accomplish as a business.  

Solid market research

Show that you understand your market. Include data on market size, growth potential, and your target customers. This is one way to really wow your audience, and improve your chances of getting investments. If you don’t feel comfortable with this yet, then you need to do your research. Remember, data and figures can change all the time, so be sure to collect the most accurate information to date. 

Clear business model

In your pitch deck, you’ll want to explain how you plan to make money. Investors are really interested in seeing a clear path to profitability. So, you should lay out your business model in a way that makes it easy for them to understand how your business will generate revenue and become profitable. It’s about showing them that there’s a solid plan for making the business successful financially.

Competitive analysis

It’s important to acknowledge your competition and explain what sets you apart. Point out what they do well, but how you can do it better. Show what your plans are to dominate your specific field, this can help potential investors feel more confident in taking a chance on you. 

Capable team

Investors know the success behind any brand or business model is the team working behind the scenes. You should highlight your team’s strengths to show that they’re right for the job. If possible, include evidence of this. If your team is particularly good at making sales, show off real examples and figures that back this up. 

Realistic financial data

Provide realistic financial projections and clear explanations of how the investment will be used. Some entrepreneurs might think that falsifying figures is going to persuade investors, but this can turn sour as it’s going to raise questions and catch you out, which would cause your credibility to plummet. So stay honest, and keep your integrity. 

Visual appeal

When it comes to the design of your investor pitch presentation, visuals matter. This type of presentation typically includes lots of data information, so make it easy to digest by using graphics or charts. Be careful when selecting your designs, you want them to be appealing but not too flashy or distracting. Also, for entrepreneurs, think about which colors and fonts you want to associate with your brand, and incorporate them into your slides to create an identity for yourself. 

Take this Prezi for example . It’s a presentation by Max Lytvyn, the co-founder of Grammarly. It uses the well-known color scheme of Grammarly that aligns with the brand’s identity. He also uses compelling visuals and charts to showcase data which makes it easier to understand. Overall, the design is simple yet highly effective, which is important for keeping the audience focused on the message. 

Call to action

End your investor pitch deck with a clear call to action. What do you want from your investors? Be explicit about the funding you need. If potential investors can’t grasp what you’re asking for, they might not bother to invest. 

Remember, the goal of your investor presentation is to make them excited about your business and confident in your ability to deliver results.

Famous examples of investor pitch decks

Every business has to start somewhere, and it’s inspiring to think that some of the biggest companies that we see every day started with an investor pitch presentation. 

LinkedIn’s pitch to Greylock in 2 004 is a great example of startup fundraising, especially for its approach to overcoming challenges. At that time, LinkedIn faced a tough scenario – it wasn’t leading in any market trend, lacked substantial organic growth, and had no revenues. Despite this, the investor pitch led by co-founder Reid Hoffman proved successful. The deck’s effectiveness lay in its clear and strategic presentation. It began by explaining LinkedIn’s unique proposition as a network based on trusted connections, immediately setting it apart from other platforms. This clarity in defining the platform was pivotal.

Key to the investor pitch deck’s success was how it was structured. The investment thesis was presented upfront, laying out the essential beliefs needed for investment. The presentation methodically built up investor confidence, supporting each claim with data and projections. Even without a revenue model at the time, LinkedIn detailed potential revenue sources, focusing on the recruitment sector.

The presentation included a ‘show, don’t tell’ approach, which reinforced investor confidence and got them on board with LinkedIn’s vision. The pitch deck actively tackled possible challenges and stressed the importance of a different but effective approach, which was key to their business strategy. Hoffman highlighted that a good financing strategy is vital for a startup’s success. LinkedIn’s plan moved from building its network to making money, and then towards growing and making profits. This strategy is what led to their success in raising funds.

Basically, LinkedIn’s investor pitch deck teaches effective pitching and shows how important it is to plan strategically and communicate well to get investment and grow a startup.

Snapchat’s pitch deck in 2014 was quite interesting because it wasn’t really for investors. Instead, it was aimed at businesses to show them how Snapchat could be used for advertising. The deck gave a detailed rundown of how the app works, focusing on its unique feature where messages disappear after a short time. This was all about mimicking real-life chats.

By 2014, Snapchat had already grown to 46 million users and by early 2021, it was up to 280 million. They were pretty successful in raising funds too, pulling in $4.9 billion by August of 2018.

The investor pitch deck also showed how celebrities and other companies were using Snapchat. This wasn’t just about getting money- it was more about getting businesses on board with using Snapchat for their ads. The deck was quite text-heavy, which is usually more common in longer corporate presentations than in quick investor pitches. But it worked well for what Snapchat was trying to do – getting businesses interested in their platform.

Elon Musk’s pitch for Twitter is a good example of a strong and clear investor pitch deck. He bought the well-known social media company in 2022, and he had big plans for it, like making a lot more money by 2028 and bringing in new revenue streams from things like payments and a new product called ‘X’. He also predicted Twitter’s user base getting a lot bigger. What makes this pitch a standout example for entrepreneurs is the way Musk set out bold, clear goals and showed how different parts of his plan fit together. This kind of strategic thinking is key in winning over investors and mapping out a company’s future. 

These investor pitch presentation examples are a great source of inspiration if you’re about to create your first-ever pitch. Knowing that the outcome could be as successful as this is a great motivation. With this in mind, ensure you carefully plan your pitch deck and put everything you have into it- It may be your only chance. 

How Prezi can help in making your investor pitch deck

Prezi offers a unique way for you to create dynamic presentations. Its features are particularly useful for investor pitch decks. And here’s why:

Non-linear approach

Prezi’s quite different from traditional slide-based presentations. It uses a canvas instead of slides, which lets you move around freely between different points. This creates a more engaging story as you’re not just moving from one slide to the next, but actually navigating through your content. It’s a more fluid way to share your ideas.

Zooming interface

With this feature, you can zoom in to focus on the details and then zoom out to see the overall picture. It’s really helpful for clearly explaining complex ideas. You can show the finer points and then pull back to show how everything fits together, which makes understanding intricate concepts a lot easier.

Visual storytelling

Prezi allows for the visual storytelling of ideas and their links. This is useful for laying out business models and strategies, helping to show how different aspects relate and form a bigger picture.

If you don’t know where to start, Prezi offers a range of design templates that help you quickly create a professional-looking investor pitch. They are designed for ease of use, so you can focus more on your content without worrying about the design aspect. 

To find an investor presentation template that suits you, you can browse Prezi’s business templates here . 

Collaboration

With Prezi, you can collaborate in real-time on presentations, which is really handy for team projects. You and your team can work together on the pitch deck simultaneously, making it easier to combine ideas and make quick edits.

AI text editing features

Prezi now has an AI text editing tool that helps create the right content that matches your slides. This feature is especially handy if you struggle to explain points clearly, as it can easily generate and arrange text into readable and visually appealing segments.

These features help in crafting a pitch deck that not only looks good but also communicates your business idea to potential investors.

Using Prezi video for virtual investor pitch decks

Prezi offers more than just presentation creation, it also has a special function that allows you to present your investor pitch deck virtually. With Prezi Video , you can appear live on the screen right next to your slides. This creates a more personal experience for your audience. You can maintain eye contact and interact with your content as if it’s right there with you. This helps in keeping your audience’s attention and making a stronger and more persuasive pitch. 

Tips for presenting your investor pitch deck

Now you know how to make a business presentation for investors, it’s time to think about presenting one. Here’s some tips to help you master your pitch delivery:

• Body language: Your body language should convey confidence. Stand straight, make eye contact, and use gestures to emphasize points. Avoid crossing your arms or fidgeting, as these can look defensive or make you appear nervous.
• Voice projection: Speak clearly and at a steady pace. Vary your tone to keep the presentation engaging. Practice speaking loudly enough to be heard without shouting. A clear speaker is a confident speaker. 
• Tackling nerves: To manage nerves, take deep breaths and focus on your material, not on yourself. Remember, you’re the expert on your business.
• Question preparedness: Anticipate questions investors might ask and prepare clear, concise responses. This shows that you have thought through various aspects of your business.
• Show enthusiasm: Let your genuine enthusiasm for your project shine through. Passion can be infectious and may help to convince investors of your commitment and belief in the business’s potential.
• Practice: Rehearse your pitch multiple times. This is going to help you remember your content and ensure you’re comfortable with your delivery. Consider practicing in front of a mirror or recording yourself to check and improve your presentation skills.
• Use of pauses: Pauses can give the audience time to absorb information and help you emphasize key points. When used well, they can improve the overall delivery of your message. 
• Audience engagement: An effective way to make your audience listen is to address them. You can do this by making eye contact or using rhetorical questions or brief interactive elements. This keeps the audience involved and attentive.
• Use appropriate language: Depending on who your potential investors are, you’ll need to use a language style that’s universal and simple to grasp. Avoid using overly complicated words and technical phrases- this can be off-putting rather than impressive. 

By combining these tips and using the help of Prezi to create a stand-out investment pitch presentation, you’re bound to make a glowing impression on possible investors. 

Final thoughts on creating and presenting investor pitch decks

Wrapping up, a strong investor pitch deck is crucial for entrepreneurs to properly communicate their business ideas. From the clear, engaging introduction to the detailed financials, each element plays a key role. Notable examples like LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Twitter’s pitch decks show the importance of clarity, strategic planning, and a strong narrative. 

Prezi enhances this process with its unique features, enabling a dynamic, visually appealing presentation. Using Prezi Video adds a personal touch to virtual pitches, making them more engaging. Remember, successful pitching also depends on the presenter’s delivery – confident body language, clear voice projection, and enthusiasm are essential. By combining Prezi’s tools and following the presentation tips, you can create a pitch that resonates with investors and effectively showcases your business potential. 

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Top 10 Investor Presentation Templates with Samples and Examples

You are a dogged entrepreneur about to seize a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: presenting your concept to prospective investors. You need the people to believe in your idea to get that funding.

Did you know that 75% of investor presentations bomb in their investment pitch ? Which means, you need the right Investor Presentation Template to be a part of the 25%. SlideTeam is here to help, providing you with the best means to capture your audience. With our Top 10 Investor Presentation Templates that will wow your backers, you will stand out.

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Template 1: Investor Presentation to Raise Capital from Series C Funding PowerPoint Presentation Slides

Renowned business author and industry expert Brian Tracy once said, " Investment in knowledge pays the best interest ." This sentiment holds true with this Series C funding comprehensive template that covers all the essential elements, starting with an agenda for the company's operational overview, highlighting key metrics such as store count and revenue split.

Present current business statistics, showcasing the market opportunity, and the problem your company solves. Highlight your unique selling points and the vision and values ​​that drive your organization forward. Showcase your achievements with detailed descriptions, and delve into your product categories and features. Convey your value proposition and attract potential investors for Series C funding today.

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Template 3: Investor Presentation to Raise Capital from Series A Round PowerPoint Presentation Slides

Is your business prepared to take the next step by participating in a Series A round of funding? We've got you covered! 

This comprehensive deck includes various issues crucial to your success, with captivating backdrop graphics and pertinent material. It includes everything you need to make an impression for capital fundraising , including an agenda that sets the scene, information that grabs attention, pictures of your team in action, discussion of obstacles and triumphs, and an emphasis on your core values.

Template 4: Multiplayer Gaming System Investor Presentation PPT Template

In the competitive gaming industry, a fascinating investor presentation is essential. This amazing template attracts gamers with a mission statement that encapsulates your brand and highlights the exponential audience growth.

You'll see your gaming platform's potential with data-driven presentations on product development, sales, distribution methods, and revenue. Introduce your leadership team to platform performance metrics using this template. SWOT analysis features may reveal the gaming industry's landscape and top companies' advantages. Ready to jump in? Elevate your investor presentation and dominate the gaming industry!

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Do you belong to the agriculture segment and require a presentation to attract capital? This deck simplifies your company's value proposition, enticing investors. It highlights your farm goods, services, plant health monitoring, and preventive measures that can attract investors.

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Template 6: Bio-Processing Firm Investor Presentation Complete Deck

Augment your investor presentations! Use our pitch deck template! It informs investors with convincing data and highlights your firm's value proposition, massive potential market size, and lucrative business strategy.

Showcase industry leaders to compete. Show investors your company's chronology. Present confident financial predictions and capital requirements. Introduce your bio-processing firm's key clients, capable leaders, and renowned board members and advisors. Download the deck to begin your success journey.

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Chris Caplice, author and logistics expert, said, "Supply chains compete, not companies." Logistics efficiency can make or break a firm. And this is the presentation template you need to make it.

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Template 8: Investor Presentation for Software Development PPT Template

Software development funding requires a good investor presentation. And this template emphasizes application pitch essentials.

Start with your company's history and product value propositions. Lists your app's main concerns. The deck analyzes your software and monetization strategies. This presentation identifies your ideal customer, analyzes the industry landscape, and shows major competitors' market share and application information. It shows your organization's overall fundraising and assets . Use this template to shine as software development success awaits!

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A well-designed presentation influences 65% of investors' decisions. Don't take a chance on success.

You may communicate your vision with these 12 slides. This template is ideal for expert talks and gatherings. Explore the company overview, portfolio , investor-specific client composition dashboard, competitive analysis, and 2030 vision. Track profitability and growth with a dashboard and share your strategic objectives to generate confidence. Avoid mediocrity. Improve investor presentations to stand out and boost your pitching with this PPT Template.

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FAQs on Investor Presentations

What is in an investor presentation.

Attracting investors and securing cash may be accomplished with the help of a well-crafted investor presentation. The company's history, goals, and values ​​are all staples of any such document. The presentation emphasizes the issue addressed, the company's USP, and its intended audience. Details on the market, its potential, the company's management, its finances, and its future forecasts are all included. The product or service, expansion plans, and early successes may all be highlighted in a presentation to potential investors.

How do you structure an investor presentation?

To convince investors to back your company, you must give them a well-organized presentation. Get them interested immediately by opening with a strong statement of your value offer. Then, please explain the issue your company is trying to tackle and how it differs from any other. The market study should be included, highlighting the current size, projected growth, and intended audience. Then, present your company plan, income sources, and financial forecasts. Draw attention to your team's expertise and distinguishing features.

How do you conclude an investor presentation?

It's important to make a strong impression on investors when you wrap up your presentation. Summarize your main arguments, stressing the possible ROI and reiterating your value offer. Focus on the market's potential and highlight any progress or accomplishments you've made to bolster your argument. Reaffirming your team's knowledge and competence is important to carry out the company strategy. Give investors a glimpse into your plans and explain what you want to do next, whether that's more conversation or asking for their financial backing. In closing, thank investors for their time and attention and give them a clear call to action.

What are the key highlights of a good investment pitch?

Following are the highlights of the investment pitch:

• A concise description of the company's offering, including its value proposition and distinguishing features.
• development potential and market opportunity are already apparent
• Knowledgeable about and empathic with the intended audience
• Good financial estimates and a well-defined revenue strategy.
• Team with a proven track record of achievement, backed by years of expertise
• in market distinctiveness and competitive advantage, were emphasized
• Proven success with a combination of measurable objectives and user feedback
• Excellent preparation, interesting delivery, and stimulating imagery.
• Direct appeal to the interest of possible backers.

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Home PowerPoint Templates Business PowerPoint Templates Investor Pitch PowerPoint Template

Investor Pitch PowerPoint Template

Investor Pitch PowerPoint Template (a.k.a. pitch deck, slide deck or pitch slide deck) is a professional presentation with the required sections of an effective Investor Pitch. It provides guidelines and examples on how to present your Entrepreneurship to an investor board, Venture Capital, fund, or even Angel Investor. The PowerPoint presentation provides high-quality visual appeal that will engage the audience during the Elevator Pitch.

Your pitch deck should fit in with your Business Model but is not a detailed description of the plan. Scope out the content of the slides rather than jumping right in with PowerPoint or Keynote. Make sure that the content flows well. You can follow several presentation methods to help you outline your investor’s pitch more effectively, for example, the 10/20/30 guidelines .

The ten most essential slides on this investment pitch deck PPT template are the ones that will  provide the core content for any pitch deck:

• Business Model
• Underlying Magic
• Competition
• Current Status

The goal of the first meeting using the pitch deck is to engage the investors sufficiently such that they take the next step with you.

The next step could involve doing further due diligence, referring you to another investor or introducing a strategic partner. If the investor is not willing to invest any further in the opportunity, do not expect any additional feedback.

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Pitching for Yes: How to Prepare for an Investor Meeting

If you're an entrepreneur preparing for your first investor meeting or about to begin fundraising, you may find pitching to investors a daunting task. So, what steps should you take to prepare for this critical stage in moving your venture towards a sustainable future?

Whether you’re an entrepreneur who’s landed your first investor meeting or you’re about to start fundraising, pitching to investors can indeed be a significant challenge. So, how should you prepare for this important milestone towards turning your venture’s future into a sustainable reality? 

Tailoring the Pitch 

Pitches come in a variety of forms but generally aim to speak to your venture’s value proposition. Depending on the venue, you will need to tailor your pitch to the time and resources provided. Harvard Business School distinguishes between three types of pitches : the one-minute elevator pitch, the short-form pitch, and the long-form pitch. In each, your pitch should introduce you and your team, your perceived problem and intended solution, the market opportunity, your competitive advantage, and your intended business model, including your financial ask and go-to-market plan. 

However, it’s important to understand the needs of potential investors beforehand to improve the chances of a successful meeting. Questions to consider include what industries or venture stage investors generally support and whether your personality or venture would align with their interests, given a previous track record of investments. Not all investors or competitions are a good match for your venture and recognizing as much early on can save time on both sides. “In years past, I used to apply to as many competitions as possible,” reflects Kaci Xie (YC ’24), Cimu Founder and 2023 TigerLaunch First Place Winner. “But I've realized over the years that some competitions will not give you the time of day to understand the company you’re building, so there's no point in wasting time trying to make them listen. That last point, I feel, is more relevant to startups like mine, which don’t necessarily fall into some neat, flashy category that most investors or judges are interested in.”

While questions of fit can sometimes be exclusionary for entrepreneurs, finding the right investor is far from a passive approach. Beyond selecting appropriate pitch venues, entrepreneurs and innovators can use the investor meeting as a chance to determine whether an investor can help further long-term goals such as sustainability or a diversified workforce. Jorge Torres , Entrepreneurship Fellow at Tsai CITY, venture capital investor, and instructor of Venture Fluent , sees investor pitches as the starting point for a crucial dialogue between partners that could continue long after the initial meeting. He notes, “If an entrepreneur has the choice of different investors, I think it's important to consider how much there is an alignment between their values and approach to building a startup and the investor’s values and approach to supporting an entrepreneur. These two examples—working style and values—are important to consider because it takes a long time for early-stage companies to mature. When you're pitching to a venture capitalist, you're proposing a partnership that will last longer than a lot of marriages, so you better know who you're partnering with before you sign on the dotted line.”

Making an Impression

Regardless of experience level or industry, the most effective entrepreneurs and innovators are able to convey a compelling story about themselves and their venture through their pitch presentation. Investors will chiefly want to know whether your venture can get big fast and, specifically, how your product, market, and team will contribute towards that goal. Entrepreneurs should focus their pitches on their product innovation and market intervention, emphasizing whether the product will disrupt the status quo or even create a new customer category. 

Investors are also interested in the story behind the entrepreneur as an indicator of the venture’s resilience. They need to trust that entrepreneurs are fully committed to their vision, which can be difficult for students to demonstrate while juggling academics alongside a new venture. Yet students can prove their commitment in a number of ways, such as relaying relevant professional experience or intending to focus on the venture full-time after graduation—in either case, the point is to affirm your credibility as an entrepreneur so that investors feel assured in their investment. “I think the storytelling piece of this for a young entrepreneur should center on what I call the distance traveled,” Jorge advises. “What has their journey been like from inception of the idea to this point in time where they're sitting across from a potential investor and pitching them? What failures have they encountered and what have they learned? What crucible moments have they been through that have forged them and their ability to carry out the things that they want to do?” 

With the right story, a young entrepreneur can create a lasting impression and gain the investor’s trust in their skills as a founder. And the fastest way to do so is by cultivating the sense that the venture would do well on its own regardless of outside involvement—a phenomenon which  Jorge terms inevitability. “The best thing you can convey in a pitch is a sense of inevitability, or the forward momentum that gives you the sense that these are people who know how to execute and keep pushing the business forward,” he describes. “Entrepreneurs who are really good at conveying a sense of inevitability can do it in the first meeting. They are able to communicate that, whether or not the investors partner with this entrepreneur, this business is going to be built and it's going to get really big. That, in my view, is the most compelling message an entrepreneur can leave an investor with after a meeting.”

Though creating momentum through a single pitch can be challenging, entrepreneurs can refine their storytelling impact with practice. "For me, pitches are like performances," says Kaci, reflecting on her years of pitching at competitions. "Years ago, while considering music school, I attended a masterclass by a music audition coach. One major takeaway was learning to start playing without overthinking. Skilled performers begin so instinctively that there's no room for doubt to seep in. The same principle applies when pitching to a large audience."

Key Takeaways

By following these guidelines, entrepreneurs should be able to make a strong impression and increase their chances of securing investment:

• Do practice your pitch until it becomes natural 
• Do keep the conversation on track during the meeting
• Do focus on the product innovation, market disruption, and venture/project team
• Don’t “info dump” – your pitch should tell a concise story about your journey and vision

And if an investor decides not to invest, that’s OK too—it can take multiple rounds of pitching before an entrepreneur receives a “yes.” The last piece of advice from Jorge: “Whether it's an explicit or tacit no, when you get that rejection, move on. Don’t spend a whole lot of time engaging with investors who are not going to get excited about your company. There's just too much to do to build your company and too many other investors out there to justify trying to convince an investor who didn’t invest.”

Want to see some pitches in action? 

Register for Startup Yale 2024 , Yale's biggest entrepreneurship event. The event will feature various activities, such as pitch competitions with over $160,000 in cash prizes, workshops, networking sessions, and panel discussions.

Startup Yale 2024

Yale's biggest entrepreneurship awards — and so much more.

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Inside a C.E.O.’s Bold Claims About Her Hot Fintech Start-Up

Amira Yahyaoui, a human rights activist, promoted the success of her student aid start-up, Mos. Some of her statements do not add up, according to internal data and people familiar with the company.

By Erin Griffith

Reporting from San Francisco

As a Tunisian human rights activist in the 2000s, Amira Yahyaoui staged protests and blogged about government corruption. In interviews , she described being beaten by the police. When she was 18, she said , she was kidnapped from the street, dropped off at the Algerian border and placed in exile for several years.

Ms. Yahyaoui’s compelling background helped her stand out among entrepreneurs when she moved in 2018 to San Francisco, where she founded a student aid start-up called Mos. The app hit the top of Apple’s App Store, and Ms. Yahyaoui raised $56 million from high-profile investors, including Sequoia Capital, John Doerr and Steph Curry, according to PitchBook, which tracks start-ups. Mos was valued at $400 million.

In podcasts, TV interviews and other media, Ms. Yahyaoui, 39, frequently discussed Mos’s success.

Among other things, she said the start-up had helped 400,000 students get financial aid. But internal company data viewed by The New York Times showed that as of early last year, only about 30,000 customers had paid for Mos’s student aid services. The rest of the 400,000 users included anyone who had signed up for a free account and may have gotten an email about applying for student aid, two people familiar with the situation said.

After Mos expanded into online banking in September 2021, Ms. Yahyaoui told publications such as TechCrunch that the company had more than 100,000 bank accounts. But those accounts had very small amounts of money in them, according to the internal data. Less than 10 percent of Mos’s roughly 153,000 bank users had put their own money into their accounts, the data showed.

Some employees tried to speak up about Ms. Yahyaoui’s claims, said Emi Tabb, who worked at Mos in operations and had roles such as head of financial aid before resigning in late 2022. But Ms. Yahyaoui dismissed and sometimes disparaged employees who tried pushing back against her public comments, five people who witnessed the incidents said.

“She created a culture of fear,” Mx. Tabb said.

Mos is among a class of tech start-ups that rose during the fast money era of the late 2010s and early in the pandemic, when young companies landed millions of dollars in funding with little more than promises. Now as the money has dried up and many tech start-ups grapple with a downturn , investors are pickier, customers are warier of bold claims and employees are more suspicious of founder pronouncements.

Last year, Mos laid off approximately half its staff of around 50 and shut down its banking service. The company reverted to its original business of helping students find financial aid and began emphasizing its use of artificial intelligence.

Ms. Yahyaoui referred questions to a Mos spokeswoman, who declined to comment. When Ms. Yahyaoui was asked last year about Mos’s number of users, she posted on social media that female founders were often presumed guilty while male founders were presumed innocent.

“Maybe today we should start applying presumption of innocence to also female founders,” she wrote.

This account of Mos was based on interviews with eight current and former employees, as well as internal communications, presentations and analytics. The internal documents go up to 2023.

Ms. Yahyaoui grew up in Tunisia and then lived in exile in France. After moving to San Francisco, she raised money for Mos from investors including Expa, the investment firm started by Garrett Camp, a founder of Uber. Mos provided a service to help students find sources of financial aid, charging $149 for each school year.

Deena Shakir, an investor at Lux Capital, which backed Mos in 2020, said she and the firm’s partners “deeply respect” Ms. Yahyaoui.

“We take pride in supporting companies and founders like Amira whose commitment to enabling access for students gives us hope for the future of higher education,” Ms. Shakir said.

Mos had a slow start, three people with knowledge of the company said. Some students who signed up learned about aid they already knew about, like a Cal Grant for California residents, they said.

An investor presentation viewed by The Times showed that Mos had monthly revenue of $340,000 in December 2019. The start-up allowed users to pay $1 upfront and the remaining $148 when they got their financial aid.

Mos ultimately did not collect most of that money. Seventy percent of users defaulted on their payments after the pandemic hit in 2020, Jess Lee, an investor at Sequoia who sits on Mos’s board, later said in an article about the company published on Sequoia’s website.

As of late 2022, roughly 6,500 of Mos’s paying customers, or 22 percent, got refunds for its financial aid service, according to internal data. The company had told customers that if they didn’t get five times the cost of Mos’s services in financial aid, they could get a refund.

Mos said it could help students access $160 billion in scholarships, but that amount included loans, three people familiar with the situation said. The company’s pitch was to help students avoid debt.

Ms. Yahyaoui also said students who used Mos “saved” an average of $16,000. That was the amount that the start-up determined they qualified for and not what the students received in aid, three people with knowledge of the company said.

Mos’s website includes a moving ticker of happy customers (“Jasmine got $12,237 for Cal Poly,” for example). Ms. Yahyaoui asked employees to use stock photos and to make up names, three people with knowledge of the company said.

By 2021, financial technology was hot with investors. Ms. Yahyaoui pushed Mos to become a bank, making its financial aid product free. That September, the start-up announced its move into banking with a promotion that gave people $5 to sign up and another $5 for every referral.

Sign-ups poured in. Mos turned off the $5 promotion on its first day. Two months later, it turned it back on for three days and signed up more than 100,000 accounts, spending around $1 million in the promotion and sending Mos to the top of the App Store.

The sign-ups piqued investor interest, including from the investment firm Tiger Global. Sequoia’s Ms. Lee wanted to see how many of the accounts that signed up during the promotion remained active before investing more, two people familiar with the situation said. Sequoia encouraged Ms. Yahyaoui to hire an outside firm to assess whether the accounts belonged to real people, the people said.

Some employees also had concerns that many accounts did not belong to real people, three people familiar with the situation said. As sign-ups continued, Mos analyzed the accounts for potentially fraudulent behavior in an internal working document. In November, Ms. Yahyaoui restricted Ms. Lee’s access to that document, two of the people said.

Soon after, in February 2022, Tiger Global announced it led a $40 million funding for Mos. Sequoia joined the deal. It is not clear what impact access to the document would have had on Sequoia’s decision to invest more in Mos. Two people familiar with the situation said Ms. Lee retained access to a broader data source regarding the accounts.

In a statement, Ms. Lee said: “The most successful founders are the ones who have grit and are willing to test new hypotheses and adapt. Amira is the embodiment of these qualities.”

Tiger Global declined to comment.

Alongside the funding announcement, Sequoia published an article on its website detailing Ms. Yahyaoui’s dramatic past and entrepreneurial vision. It said fewer than 1 percent of Mos’s bank accounts had been closed, “an unheard-of statistic for a money-based sign-up promotion.”

Few people used the bank accounts, according to internal data viewed by The Times. Of roughly 153,000 open accounts, 95 percent had less than $5 in them and a third had a balance of zero through 2022, the data showed. Just 9.5 percent of account holders deposited money into their accounts during that time.

Mos told its board that 74 percent of bank account holders were students, according to a presentation viewed by The Times. But only around 20 percent were 22 or younger, according to internal data, with about 45 percent over the age of 30. Mos’s revenue from transaction fees, which made up the vast majority of the company’s total income after it became a bank, was less than $70,000 for the first nine months of 2022, two people familiar with the finances said.

Ms. Yahyaoui sometimes berated her top managers and threatened to fire them if their performance didn’t improve, according to five people who witnessed such events.

Using expletives, she wrote in a January 2022 message to employees that the company’s mission was meaningless “because of how bad we are at getting” stuff done.

“I need people I can count on to beat my dreams not to lower them,” she wrote.

Ms. Yahyaoui’s treatment of employees — including workers hired in Tunisia and Algeria — ran counter to her image as an activist, Mx. Tabb said.

At an employee gathering in September 2022, a Mos employee asked Sequoia’s Ms. Lee about her biggest concern for the start-up, three people who attended said. Ms. Lee initially said she was surprised by how good morale was given the circumstances, then added that it wasn’t clear what Mos’s product would be.

The start-up was at more of a “seed stage,” or very early in its development, Ms. Lee said.

Erin Griffith covers tech companies, start-ups and the culture of Silicon Valley from San Francisco. More about Erin Griffith

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