How to Build a Pitch Deck

This post first appeared in Alana's newsletter.

A pitch deck can be a work of art.

Yes, really.

Just like great art, there are certain ingredients, styles, and techniques to building decks that can be learned and practiced. When applied, they can vastly improve the output.

In my view, there are approximately six ingredients to a good deck:

1. What is your project and what problem is it solving? 

2. What tailwinds exist?

3. How does this project uniquely benefit from those tailwinds?

4. Where you are now & where you go from here

5. Team

6. Fundraise details

Everything else can go in the appendix.

This should be succinct; ideally 1-2 sentences. The goal is to quickly but clearly convey to the audience what you’re building and why they should pay attention to the rest of the pitch. 

How will the state of the world be different in 12 months? What are the factors that get us there, and why do you believe those drivers to be true?

This section provides the macro view. It has to be broad enough to demonstrate that you’ve thought deeply about how the world works, but at the same time the tailwinds shouldn’t feel overly obvious or actioned upon. 

One powerful way to do this is to synthesize multiple tailwinds. There might be several trends that each, standalone, feel consensus. That’s ok! However, looking at them holistically or anticipating their convergence may result in a novel insight – and that’s what’s most impressive. This type of insight helps build your credibility, both for the idea itself and in your ability to think critically about how the market opportunity may evolve.

This is the transition for zooming back in: if we believe these things to be true about what the world will look like, why is your project important? How is it capitalizing on this unique moment in time? 

These slides are an opportunity to highlight your project’s strategic advantages. Are there infrastructure buildouts or regulatory licenses required such that companies starting now will be well positioned once the trend becomes obvious? Have costs declined to a point where prior attempts at similar ideas may have failed, but the unit economics now make sense? Why does what you’re building expand the adjacent possible? Or solve a problem that will become more pronounced in the coming year? Etc.

Good founders will describe how their project benefits from certain things they believe to be true about the world. Great founders will recognize that it’s impossible to predict the future, acknowledge that the tailwinds are at best directional, and explain why their project will succeed even if certain elements of the world play out differently. 

The earlier a project is in its development, the more important it is to understand how the founder thinks about the future state of the world. The bet at pre-seed or seed is about the north-star goal (i.e. the opportunity created by the tailwinds) and the team. Ideas and implementations are almost certain to change. Yet if a founder has identified a tailwind that they believe is both real and important, there’s a higher chance that project evolutions will remain within the same idea space – and, as such, they’ll continue working on solving the same important problem, just from a different angle.  

This is an opportunity to highlight what you’ve built so far. The later the stage of the project, the more metrics / traction you should show. Case studies are also great. They help validate the market demand and demonstrate that you can execute.

“Where you go from here” can be communicated in a few different ways. You can showcase various growth vectors, creating specificity around tailwinds discussed earlier. Demos, product betas, and/or relevant research can also help. Roadmaps fit in this category, too – they’re great visuals for highlighting what you see as the near-term, tactical future for the company.

Most decks get the team slide wrong. The goal is not just to tell the audience who you are; it should be to explain why your team is the best suited to handle the risks inherent in building this project or solving this problem. What earned secret do you all have that others lack?

Pretty straightforward: what round is this (seed, Series A, etc) and how much are you raising? Some people also include funding history (if applicable); that’s a nice-to-have but I’d be surprised if it moves the needle for investors.

These are what I see as the six core ingredients to a good pitch. They’re laid out in an order that I think makes sense and flows cohesively. 

Importantly, this post provides only high-level advice on the structure of a deck. Building a deck involves many tactical questions not covered here. For instance, is the expectation that the deck will be read, verbally presented, or both? The answer may determine how much text to put on the slides. Relatedly, how long is the presentation window? How much time does the entrepreneur want to spend on each slide? Thinking through these time constraints may help sharpen the focus and differentiate the appendix from the core. And the age old: how much context should be provided vs. should an audience be expected to know already? The only way to really figure these out is to practice a variety of scenarios. 

Many of the things not explicitly covered above – like competitive landscapes, market maps, market sizes, and more – can and should go in the appendix. The appendix is an underrated tool: it enables you to come prepared for audience questions without compromising on valuable pitch time. The core of the deck should cover the minimum set of key points needed to persuade the audience; the appendix should include answers to everything you think they may ask about as follow-ups.

Finally, my sense is that many founders believe their fundraising decks are useful only for fundraising. After the process is over, the decks get forgotten or tossed aside. It should be different. Fundraises are opportunities to define, practice, and refine the story of your startup. Pitching to investors provides productive pressure tests of what you believe to be true. 

If the fundraise is successful, it means someone bought into you and your vision of the future. That vision is worth repeating and reiterating. The deck can and should be reused, both literally and in spirit. Literally, leverage the slides in future talks or presentations. Figuratively, use the feedback you received throughout the process to continue honing the story you tell about why your startup matters.  

+++

This post is for general information purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation or solicitation to buy or sell any investment and should not be used in the evaluation of the merits of making any investment decision. It should not be relied upon for accounting, legal or tax advice or investment recommendations. You should consult your own advisers as to legal, business, tax, and other related matters concerning any investment. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by Variant. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, Variant has not independently verified such information. Variant makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. This post reflects the current opinions of the authors and is not made on behalf of Variant or its Clients and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Variant, its General Partners, its affiliates, advisors or individuals associated with Variant. The opinions reflected herein are subject to change without being updated.