How to Create a Pitch Deck: 10 Essential Rules

A pitch deck is an essential tool for entrepreneurs looking to impress investors and secure funding. Through a concise and visually appealing presentation, you can highlight your business’ potential and key competitive advantages. In this article, we’ll explore ten crucial rules for creating an effective pitch deck that not only captures the essence of your business but also keeps investors engaged and interested.

Key Points

• Clearly define your main objective to keep the presentation focused.
• Use slide design tools like PowerPoint, Canva, or Prezi to ensure an attractive, professional design.
• Practice your presentation repeatedly for fluency and confidence.
• Avoid common mistakes like overloading slides with text or neglecting visual design.
• Follow Guy Kawasaki's '10 Slide Rule' to keep your presentation lean and to the point.

1. Define Your Main Objective

Before you start creating your Pitch Deck, it is crucial that you clearly define your main objective. Be as objective as possible when presenting your business idea. Avoid distracting yourself with unnecessary information that does not add value to your presentation.

Focus on explaining succinctly and directly what your business offers and why it is a valuable opportunity for investors.

Remember that clarity and directness are essential to keep your audience's attention and convey your message effectively. Use relevant indicators for your industry and highlight the main advantages of your product or service. By doing this, you will not only be informing, but also persuading potential investors about the value of your business.

2. Take Care with the Slides

When creating a pitch deck, the visual presentation of your slides is crucial. Use tools like Powerpoint, Canva, Prezi, Keynote, or Cloudways to ensure an attractive and professional design. No need to hire a designer, but it is essential to pay attention to some details to maximize the impact of your presentation.

Here are some tips to improve your slides:

• Make a concise presentation, with around 10 slides.
• Address each topic on a different slide to maintain focus.
• Avoid long texts; use short sentences and large fonts (minimum 30).

Remember: simplicity and clarity are the keys to an effective pitch deck. Keep your slides clean and to the point, focusing on what’s most important to capture your audience’s attention.

3. Practice and Dedicate Yourself

Practice is essential to perfecting any skill, and presenting a pitch is no different. Practice repeatedly is the key to gaining confidence and fluency in your presentation. Start by thoroughly understanding the content of your pitch. Then, practice in front of a mirror, record yourself to self-assess, or ask friends and family for feedback. Each practice session should be seen as an opportunity to improve and fine-tune your message.

Remember that practice makes perfect. The more you dedicate yourself, the better your performance will be.

Here are some tips to maximize your practice sessions:

1. Understand each slide: Make sure you know what each slide means and how it connects to the others.
2. Feedback It's crucial: Don't hesitate to ask for feedback and adjust your pitch based on the suggestions you receive.
3. Simulate different scenarios: Practice how you would answer difficult or unexpected questions so you are not caught off guard.

Taking the time to practice not only improves your presentation, but also solidifies your understanding of what is being proposed. This is an investment that will certainly pay off during the actual presentation.

4. Avoid Common Mistakes

When preparing your pitch deck, it is crucial to avoid certain mistakes that can compromise the effectiveness of your presentation. Know the topic well is essential to convey trust and credibility. Don't fall into the trap of improvising on subjects you don't fully understand.

• Prepare yourself properly: Study and master the content you will present.
• Maintain eye contact: This demonstrates confidence and connects you with your audience.
• Simplicity in slides: Avoid overloading your slides with too much information. Opt for a clean, uncluttered design.

Remember that an effective pitch deck is one that communicates your message clearly and directly, without unnecessary distractions.

5. Design Tips

When creating a pitch deck, design is not just a matter of aesthetics, but a crucial tool for communicating your message effectively. Here are some essential tips:

• Storytelling through design: Create your design to tell a visual story that complements your content. This can captivate your audience and make your presentation more engaging.
• Information hierarchy: Use design elements such as font size, color, and placement to highlight the most important points.
• Font and color options: Choose legible fonts and a color scheme that harmonizes with your brand identity. A well-chosen color palette can evoke emotions and reinforce your message.
• Rules of simplicity: Keep slides organized and simple to improve comprehension and avoid distractions.
• Blank: Use white space generously to increase the aesthetics and readability of your presentation.
• Visual consistency: Ensure all visual elements maintain a consistent style throughout the deck to reinforce your brand identity.

Remember, how you present information is just as important as the information you present. Simplify the visual experience to capture and hold your audience’s attention.

6. 10 Slide Rule

A 10 Slides Rule is an effective technique for keeping your presentation clear and to the point. According to Guy Kawasaki, 10 is the ideal number of slides to include in a presentation. This approach helps you focus on the essential points, avoiding overwhelming your audience with unnecessary information.

Why 10 Slides?

• Conciseness: Limiting the presentation to 10 slides forces you to summarize the information.
• Public attention: A reduced number of slides keeps the audience more engaged and attentive.
• Time efficient: With fewer slides, the presentation is faster and more effective, respecting the audience's time.

Remember, simplicity is the key to a successful presentation. Keep your slides clean and focused by using clear, direct sentences and avoiding excessive detail.

7. Use Slide Creation Tools

When creating a pitch deck, it is essential to choose the right tool to create your slides. Tools like Power point, Canva, Prezi, and Google Slides are widely used due to their ease of use and the variety of templates available. No need to hire a designer; you can create professional presentations yourself with these tools.

Here are some tips to maximize the use of these tools:

• Choose a template that aligns with your company's visual identity.
• Use visual aids such as graphs and images to make your presentation more appealing.
• Keep slides clean and organized, avoiding overloading them with text.

Remember: good use of slide creation tools can make the difference between a pitch deck that goes unnoticed and one that captures your audience’s attention.

8. Make a Lean Presentation

When creating a pitch deck, it is crucial to maintain the presentation lean and direct. Here are some tips to ensure your presentation is effective without being overwhelming:

• Limit the number of slides: Ideally, do not exceed 10 slides. Each slide should be able to communicate a key point clearly and concisely.
• Avoid long texts: Use short, direct sentences. Choose large fonts, with a minimum size of 30, to ensure readability.
• Focus on the essential points: Make sure each slide addresses a single topic while maintaining clarity and organization of the content.

By following these guidelines, you will maximize the impact of your presentation by keeping your audience's attention focused on the most important points.

9. Address Each Topic on a Different Slide

When creating a pitch deck, it’s crucial that each slide addresses a single topic. This approach helps keep the presentation organized and makes it easier for your audience to understand the key points. Avoid overloading slides with multiple ideas; this can confuse and distract your listeners.

• Slide Objective: Each slide should have a clear and defined objective.
• Focus: Keep the focus on a single idea per slide.
• Clarity: Use clear, direct titles for each slide.

By following this strategy, you ensure that each part of your message is delivered effectively and that your audience can easily follow and absorb the information presented.

10. Avoid Text on Slides

When creating a pitch deck, it is crucial to minimize the amount of text on each slide. Keep content direct and to the point, using short, clear sentences. The 10-20-30 rule, popularized by Guy Kawasaki, suggests that an effective pitch deck should be no longer than 10 slides, with each slide containing a few words in large font, ideally no smaller than 30 points. This format helps ensure that your message is easily absorbed by your audience.

• Use bullet points to highlight key ideas.
• Avoid long paragraphs that can tire or confuse your audience.
• Choose impactful keywords and phrases that capture the essence of what you want to communicate.

Remember: the goal is to facilitate understanding and maintain the audience's attention, not to overload them with information.

Takeway

Throughout this article, we’ve explored the 10 essential rules for creating an effective pitch deck. From the importance of clearly defining your objective to the need to put a lot of effort into your slides, each element is crucial to ensuring that your presentation stands out and captures the interest of investors. Remember that, in addition to good structure and design, passion and a sparkle in your eyes are equally important in conveying the essence of your business. Practice, dedicate yourself, and use the tools available to you to create a pitch deck that not only informs, but also inspires. Good luck on your entrepreneurial journey!