Pitch Deck Best Practices
WRITTEN BY: SEQUOIA CAPITAL
ELABORATED ON BY UPSIDE PARTNERSHIP
Below are some good general guidelines for an effective, streamlined pitch deck, originally put together by Sequoia Capital.
Overall, keep pitch decks to 10-14 slides. The body of the deck should be direct. Any additional information is best kept in the Appendix.
VCs don’t want storytelling drama and flourishes- they want to get to the point. A good outline to reference is as follows:
Mission
State what your company does in a really direct, clear way. 1 sentence.
Problem
The problem you solve, who you solve it for, and why the current status quo isn’t working.
Product
How you solve the problem and the benefits of your solution.
Why Now?
Why hasn’t this been solved before? Why you vs. the others out there?
Market Potential
Who is your customer and market? What do those look like?
Traction
This is a good opportunity to showcase some logos.
Competition
Your competitors (direct and indirect) and why your company wins.
Business Model
How will you attract and retain customers? Scale? Reach profitability?
Team
Founders and key members. Sometimes having the team and vision slides earlier in the deck is a benefit (ex: you want to highlight a particularly strong team background).
Financials
If you have data to show, add it here. Also, state how much additional funding you’re looking for (use a range), and what you will do with it.
Vision
What does the path forward look like?
Appendix
If you have anything extra that might help tell your story, inform investors, etc, add it here. Examples include detailed models, customer info, etc.
The best slides are concise. Keep them clean, direct, and to the point. Remember that your deck may be shared within a partnership.. Make it easy for your sponsoring partner to share your story effectively and directly with his or her partners. Don’t rely on voiceover to tell your story.
Originally Published: May 14, 2019, Writing a Business Plan, Sequoia Capital