How to Create a Pitch Deck

Create a Pitch Deck That Wins Over Investors and Lenders

Your job as a potential business owner is to also be a pitcher. But instead of baseballs, you’re pitching your business to potential investors and lenders in the hopes of securing funds. The way to do that? With a pitch deck. Keep reading to find out what a pitch deck is, the benefits of having one and how to create a pitch deck that knocks it out of the park.

Want an overview of what else you need to do to get your business up and running? Check out How to Start a Business in 12 Steps.

What Is a Pitch Deck?

Benefits of a Pitch Deck

What to Include in Your Pitch Deck

Considerations and Tips

What Is a Pitch Deck?

On a simple level, a pitch deck is a brief slide presentation you can use to “pitch” your business and try to win over potential lenders and investors. It’s a place to highlight your business and really hone in on your mission, intended path and marketing strategy.

Benefits of a Pitch Deck

Your pitch deck isn’t just to attract funding from investors and lenders—it can also help you in other ways:

Complements your business plan. Your business plan will be much longer and in-depth than your pitch deck. In a way, your pitch deck is an abbreviated version or summary of your business plan. Try the Business Plan Builder.
Showcase your business to potential investors. In just a few minutes and slides, you can use your pitch deck to show off your business and potentially get the funding you need.
Use it as a guide for your business to help you stay on track towards your goals. Revisit your pitch deck regularly to make sure you’re moving your business in the right direction.

What to Include in Your Pitch Deck

Your pitch deck should be brief, but robust. Think about it this way—if you were considering a business to invest in, what would you want to know? Dedicate a slide or two to answering each of these questions in your pitch deck:

What is your vision or business idea?
What problem are you solving?
What opportunities do you see in the market?
What product or service are you offering?
Who is your target market and customer?
What are your sales, marketing and pricing strategies?
Who is your team made up of?
What are your current financials, such as your sales forecast or projected revenue?
How will you outshine the market?
How are you using the money you already have and the funding you hope to receive?

Considerations and Tips

As you create your pitch deck, consider these tips to make it as strong as possible:

Make it engaging, easy to read and digestible. It should make sense even if you’re not there to present it.
Keep it to about ten minutes. You want it to be thorough, but brief.
Use your business plan to create your pitch deck. If you’ve already done the work of creating a business plan, borrow that same information to put your pitch deck together.
Have someone—or a few people—read it over. Proofreaders can help you spot any errors and provide feedback on what could be better.