What is a pitch deck?
A pitch deck makes the case for a concept, slide by slide: the problem, the users, the market, the competition, the product, the business model and the ask.
Also called: Investor pitch deck, Startup pitch deck.
Why it matters
Investors and sponsors judge the reasoning behind the slides, not the slides. This deck is distilled from six analyses (the personas, the market sizing, the competitive map, the product definition, the business plan and the delivery plan), so every claim has a source or a stated assumption.
The story, in order
The deck answers the questions in the order an investor asks them.
- Why this matters. The problem, and why now.
- What it is. The solution, who it's for, and why it wins.
- Where it plays. The market, the landscape, the business model and the go-to-market.
- How it gets there. The measures of success, the plan and the team.
- What it asks. The ask, and the vision it serves.
What's inside
- The problem
- Why now
- The solution
- Who it's for
- Why it wins
- The market
- The landscape
- Business model
- Go-to-market
- How we'll know
- The plan
- The team
- The ask
- The vision
Where it fits
It is distilled from six analyses: the personas, the market sizing, the competitive map, the product definition, the business plan and the delivery plan.
It comes after Idea One-Pager, and leads to Product Requirements Document (PRD).
Questions
How many slides should a pitch deck have?
Enough for the argument and no more. Ainna's has 16, one for each question an investor asks.
Pitch deck or product requirements deck?
The pitch deck argues why to invest. The product requirements deck aligns a team on what to build.
Where do the market figures come from?
From the market sizing analysis, with its method stated. Figures that are estimates are labelled as estimates.
Do the work in Ainna.
Ainna is where you frame a problem, explore ideas and test them against the evidence. When the work is done, this is how it is packaged: a pitch deck, written from your own analysis, about your own idea.
Which documents you can create depends on your plan.
Read next
- Guide: How Do You Create a Pitch Deck That Wins Investor Meetings?
- Where VentureForce began: number 0032 on Problem Radar
- All twelve: the document examples, together