How to Make a Pitch Deck that Impresses Investors

Strong pitch decks are crucial when you are seeking funding. They can make or break your credibility and determine whether investors buy into your idea.

A poorly executed pitch deck can cause investors and VC firms to misread you, your business, or your place in the market. Even worse, they may lose interest before you finish. For startups, a pitch deck can be the difference between getting off the ground and staying stuck.

When building your deck, most people know the basics: keep slides simple, use a readable font, make them look good, and tell a story. But what if you could go beyond those rules? What if you could build a deck that wows your audience and makes your job as a presenter easier? Here are 10 ways to do exactly that.

1. Go with the Flow

When you need to describe a multi-step process, timeline, or sequenced plan, use a flow chart. It clears up confusion while keeping the slide simple and easy to follow.

Your flow chart does not need to be complicated. A basic chart built with PowerPoint text boxes and arrows works well.

2. Selling a Product? Images Go a Long Way

The most impactful slides sometimes have very few words. If you are selling a product, website, or app, include several slides with large photos of what you are pitching.

Even if you bring physical samples to your pitch, photos in your slides complete the story. Keep in mind that you will share your deck before and after the presentation. Add captions to your images so the deck explains itself when you are not in the room. The best pitch decks sell even without you there.

3. Include a Go-to-Market Strategy Slide

Your deck is not complete without a slide that explains how you will enter the market successfully. You can keep it to a single, simple slide — with the note that your full business plan has the details. Or you can spread your strategy across several slides if the topic needs more room.

How much detail you include depends on whether your strategy breaks down into clear steps without losing the audience.

4. Predict Your Growth

You may not know exactly how many staff you will hire, what space you will need, or what revenue year one will bring. But your audience wants to see those numbers. It shows you think ahead and have built a real plan for the future.

Putting your predicted revenue on a slide also does something for you personally. Stating your goals out loud, repeatedly, helps you believe them. Life coaches and speakers often tell you to write down goals and share them. The same logic applies here. Seeing your targets in your deck turns them into something real.

5. Brand Your Slides

Add your colour scheme and logo to every slide. Place the logo in a corner and keep the look consistent throughout. This gives your company a professional feel and keeps your brand front of mind during the whole presentation.

Not sure about your branding yet, or short on time? That is fine. Just pick a modern, professional template rather than a default one.

6. Consider Putting Your Pitch Deck in the Cloud

Attaching a deck to an email is easy. But what if the recipient needs to pass it to four more people? Uploading it to the cloud with a shareable link improves the chances it reaches the right decision-makers.

If you worry about the wrong people seeing it, consider this: email is no safer. Any recipient can forward your deck, copy your words, or screenshot your images.

To guard against content theft, add a one-liner to the bottom of each slide stating that the material belongs to your company and is confidential. You can also add copyright text such as ‘© Nocturnal Legal’.

Beyond that, the only real protection is a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). The downside is that pitching for funding requires sharing your best ideas openly. Every entrepreneur accepts that risk.

7. Invest in a Presenter Remote

Watching a presenter stand behind a laptop creates a barrier between them and the audience. It hurts connection. It also means relying on arrow keys — and for anyone who has not practised enough, moving back a slide instead of forward is easy to do.

Your deck should be the focus. Your body language and physical presence should support it. A remote lets you move freely around the room, which holds the audience’s attention. It also stops you from hovering nervously behind a screen.

8. Present to a Child

If you do not have children, you likely know someone who does. Pitching complex ideas to adults is hard. Pitching to a child is a different challenge entirely.

You have probably sent your deck to a colleague or friend for feedback. But you have likely never asked someone under 14 what they think. Presenting to a child keeps your content simple. When we work closely on something we care about, we often miss how complicated it looks to others. You are the expert. The deck may feel obvious to you. But if a child cannot follow it, rework it.

A pitch deck should give a broad overview: who you are, what your company does, and what you want to achieve. Even if you are pitching for funding in molecular research, keep the deck simple. Save the technical depth for a later conversation.

Build Three Decks

The smartest approach is to build three versions. The first is your pitch deck: the big-picture overview. The second goes one level deeper into complex ideas. For many audiences, this will be enough. For highly technical pitches, a third deck covers the detailed science.

Three decks let you match the presentation to the audience. Say you have three pitches this week: one with a VC that knows a little about your technical side, one with an economic development group that knows nothing technical, and one with a specialist group of PhDs. Use deck 1 or 2 for the VC, deck 1 for economic development, and deck 3 for the specialist group.

Does this mean three speeches? Yes — but deck 1 is the foundation and you build from it. Or, if the work is second nature, present off the cuff with the decks as visual aids.

9. Tell Them the Amount of Funding You Need

Groups will ask how much funding you need whether or not it appears in your deck. Some will ask again at the end even if you said it during your pitch. A dedicated slide speeds up the whole process.

When you share the deck in advance, groups can immediately see if your ask fits their range. This lets them decline early rather than letting you travel and present, only to find it is not a fit.

Including your funding needs also helps groups refer you elsewhere. Pitching is networking. If you do not say what you need, no one can help you find it.

Stating your number in the deck also works like the goal-setting in point 4. Writing it down makes it feel fixed — which signals to groups that you are not open to a much lower offer.

Why This Slide Also Protects You

When a group funds within a range and you sit at the top of it, they may hesitate to offer much less because your plan looks solid. That works in your favour.

Skipping this slide creates three risks. First, groups may react to the number with surprise when you say it out loud. Second, they may offer less on the assumption you are flexible. Third, you may look like you have not built a proper financial plan.

10. Make Your ‘Thank You’ Slide Actionable

A thank you slide can either quietly close your deck or make it effortless for people to reach you. Aim for the latter.

Consider using a screenshot of your LinkedIn profile banner. It shows your audience the photo tied to your account and makes it easy to find and connect with you in search results.

Make your email a clickable link. Hyperlink your website. Remove every step that stands between your audience and getting in touch.

Summary

Pitch decks are an extension of your personal brand. Starting a business and raising money at the same time is draining. It is easy to cut corners on the deck — but that is a costly mistake for anyone with a strong idea that the pitch fails to convey.

Every pitch deck should include: an introduction, your team, the problem you solve, your go-to-market strategy, the funding you need, and a one-month, six-month, and one-year timeline.

The time you put into your deck will pay off. Investors will understand your business faster, see your market position more clearly, and make a quicker decision on whether you are a fit.

More to Read:

10 Legal Documents Every New Business Must Have

Why Trademark Your Business Name? 

Need help with your pitch deck or your presentation? Nocturnal Legal offers one-on-one coaching to help you perfect your pitch and convince investors to back you. Get in touch today.