Research has shown that on average a potential investor/viewer will look at your pitch deck for 4 minutes. For this reason, a killer deck is essential to your possible success! Have a look at info we have found on creating a seed round pitch deck that packs the punch!

So, you’re a startup, with a brilliant business idea. Hard work, sweat, tears, and your own funding have gone into your business. You are basically bootstrapping. Until now, you’ve diligently followed your business model, worked hard to develop your product, and your business is steadily growing. As your business grows, your customer base steadily increases. Presently, your business has really good traction and shows strong growth potential, however, you’ve got one big block – capital. In short, the only way for you to continue your growth and break through to the next level, is getting an investor (or more clients)! 

Outside investment for your seed round

Most successful startup companies have gone through various rounds of funding to raise the capital they needed to grow their brands and reach their goals. These funding rounds are called Seed, Series A, Series B and Series C funding rounds. They facilitate an opportunity for entrepreneurs to present their product to investors. If successful, investors will invest cash into growing a company, usually in exchange for partial ownership of that company, or for equity in that company.

Seed funding

Seed funding usually applies to startups and is the first step to acquire capital in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. Obtaining seed capital is the first of four funding stages, and can come from sources close to the business founders (such as family or friends) or from private investors, also known as angel investors and crowd funding. Pitch decks for seed funding are different from other presentations. Keep in mind, this presentation will give potential investors a first look at your start up. Therefore, your presentation needs to be striking, clean and clear. Make sure the information is researched and fact based.

You want your investors to be connected to your story, so research your potential investors and speak to their passion (if it connects to your startup). Most importantly, keep your presentation focussed on the core of your business. In other words, keep it simple and clear. Your slides need to be clean and to the point. Don’t put too much information on each slide – investors may lose interest. Keep your investors engaged and make sure they understand your startup.

Consistency is key. Make sure your theme and design has a consistent look. If you don’t have your brand identity yet, keep in mind what you are wanting your brand to look like and try to adjust your pitch deck design to that. Studies have shown that the average potential investor will look at a deck for no more than 3 minutes and 44 Seconds. In other words keep your seed round pitch deck clean and clear.

Seed round pitch decks that pack a punch

1. Introduction slide

Keep in mind, this is the first ever look potential investors will have of your startup! Make sure you include the following on your introduction slide
• Your logo & tagline
• Your contact details

2. Problem slide

This slide tells potential investors about the ‘Why’. This is arguably the most important slide of your whole Pitch Deck! Being the foundation of your startup, you need to make sure that the info on this slide is
• Accurate,
• Powerful and
• Clear

3. Solution slide for your seed round

Here is where you are going to present your big idea! How are you going to solve the problem? Your slide needs to be
• Specific about your solution
• Why your solution is different from competitors.

4. Demo or product slide

This slide will explain your product in detail or a working prototype. This is almost certainly the slide where you want to shine!
• At least 50% Visual vs Text
• Up to 3 bullet points, that layout important details about the product

5. Market slide

Here is where you get to show off your numbers. Telling your potential investors how big your market is, is it growing, and what is the growth potential? Your slide needs to have
• A strong visual or diagram
• Showcase the size of the Market
• Showcase your anticipated slice of market
• Explain channels being used to reach the market including distributors or vendors

6. Business or traction slide

In this slide you want to prove to potential investors that you are on track to reach your mile stones, as well as what mile stones you have been able to hit up to this point. This slide needs to include
• How much progress has your startup made?
• What milestones have you checked off?
• How fast are you growing (customer base/sales) Your Growth Rate is an extremely important point, and one that all investors look for. (They are looking for the “Hockey stick” chart 😉 )
• A roadmap and path to profitability

7. Competitor analysis for your seed round pitch deck

In this slide you need to reveal your biggest competitors and why you are better than them, in other words – Use your competition to your advantage. A visual diagram best displays this. Accurate presentation of this information is essential to Seed Round Pitch Decks. Your slide should include
• Competition for market share
• Your startup’s  competitive advantage
• Why is your product/idea different from your competitor’s?

8. Financials slide

Being in the Seed round you probably won’t have too much to show in terms of Historical Financials and revenues. However, you can use this slide to focus on short term and long term forecasts. Keep it simple, and do your research (ie. don’t just say number you dream number, be realistic) This slide needs to be
• Simple
• Realistic (Not distracting)

9. The ask

This is the slide that brings your whole presentation together. Make sure you don’t over, or under shoot with your ask. Do your homework, know your product/idea/niche. Keep in mind where you are at with your business, and above all be realistic when asking for investors. Be clear on what you will be using the funds on. Your Funding slide needs the following
• Up to three bullet points explaining what their capital will be put towards.

10. Contact information slide

To close your presentation, this slide needs to include
• Contact information
• e-mail address
• Website URL

Last word about presenting your Seed Round Pitch Deck

According to 500 Startups, you need to pitch 100 investors for every 500K you want to raise.  In other words, If you’re turned down, keep on going. When emailing potential investors, share a link to your pitch deck, rather than sending them a PDF copy. That way you can edit, or remove the pitch deck if needed.
Sending random emails to investors (ie. Cold e-mails) should be your last resort. In short – Do your research and look for contact points to potential investors. For instance, expand your linked in network, and ask your network for a warm introduction.

Seeing that you might be contacting 100’s of potential investors, keep a detailed spreadsheet of your interaction with potential Investors, including conversations and emails.

Lastly, do you need a Seed Round Pitch Deck?

We can help! Send us a quote request and we’ll be in touch.

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