Pitch Deck: Creating Pitch Decks for Investors

By Ian Richardson, Pricipal Consultant, Fox & Crow

Inspired by Thursday Process with guest Zach Eikenberry, Hook Security

Pitch Deck

When you’re launching and building a company, you have two strategies with regards to growth.

You can keep 100% control and ownership and “bootstrap” the organization. You’ll be financing all operations out of your own wallet and funds.

Or, you can seek outside investment. That means raising operational in exchange for equity in your organization.

If you’ve chosen the second path, you’ll need to find those investors. Part of that is attracting them to the potential your company brings to their portfolio. Investors think return on investment above all other metrics.

If you’re going to get their attention, you’ll need a good presentation of ROI. That means a pitch deck.

A good pitch deck can be the difference between successful fund raise and, well, not. You need to have your differentiation defined. You need to understand and present your value proposition. Succinct communication is best here. If you mess it up, feelings like frustration, defeat, and confusion will become normal.

Not to mention you’ll have burned cash on the effort. Whoops.

Zach Eikenberry from Hook Security, shared some knowledge on fund raising. Hook’s strategy is to raise outside funding.

Zach shared quite a bit of knowledge around pitch decks. He focused on how to craft the right narrative to attract investors. I had a lot of learnings around the topic from our discussion and wanted to share some key points below.

Creating Pitch Decks

Some of the key considerations on creating a pitch deck include:

• Be clear on the problem you solve.
• Recognize that the problem statement needed might not be yur first instinct.
• Don’t get bogged down in details and specifics. Balance vision against details.
• Remember that investors do not know your market, space, or niche. You are the expert in the space – present yourself as such.
• Map out potential outcomes from your pitch deck. Not every investor you present to will be a “good fit” for your organization – That’s ok.
• Educate investors first. Even if they’re not a good fit. They can introduce you to someone who WOULD be a good fit for your organization.
• Be succinct and clear in your messaging – fluff does not belong in your pitch deck.
•  The deck should tell the story you want it to tell.
• Make sure your deck instills confidence in you and your team.
• If you have proven success and/or metrics – include them. Make sure to also include how an investor should view that data.
• When presented with raw data, an investor will draw their own conclusions. Make sure that doesn’t happen. Lead them to the conclusion you want them to make.

Final Thoughts on Pitch Decks

Your pitch deck is your narrative. It tells the story of your organization and how you are going to impact the world. It needs to include:

1. A path for success.
2. Information on your organization will generate profits.
3. Create a clear understanding of the problems experienced by your target market.
4. How your team and products are uniquely qualified to solve them.

If you’re lost on where to start – I help with this.

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