A world-class pitch deck design for your business idea that impresses your potential investors. A deck with engaging visuals and copy that help drive your point home.

Why do you need a pitch deck?

Since 2020, presentations and product marketing deck designs by Creatibly have helped raise upwards of $25 million in investments. The sales presentations I have designed have returned over $384,000 on average, with a $6,000 presentation. Presentations are some of the most potent marketing communications your business can build.

Download my personal Pitch and Presentation here (5mb).

As your pitch deck designer, designing a business-winning pitch deck is a fundamental goal of mine, whether you are presenting a business pitch, sales presentation, or to a venture capital and private equity firm to raise money. Potential investors are short on time, and your slide decks must be clear, concise, and written with the customers' problems at the forefront. Several factors contribute to a successful pitch, beginning with a solid pitch deck design.

Over the past twenty years, I have designed a wide range of business presentations for every industry, whether it was consumer packaged goods such as Nestlé's Nescafé product launch, which ushered in the multi-billion dollar Nespresso brand. Another great example is The Ticket Fairy's professional pitch deck and investor pitch deck design, which brought in millions of dollars in a funding round for an event business right in the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

I am the graphic designer you need for your pitch deck, whether you are showing off your big idea and business model to venture capitalists, or hitting your target market with an amazing sales pitch. My presentation designs help make your business strategy and communications stand out in the crowd.

What makes excellent corporate presentation decks?

Your slide deck also referred to as a sales presentation or pitch deck includes key metrics and technical information but should also get to the heart of why the customer needs your products or services and how you can fulfill that need as a seller.

Critical information is only one way of achieving this. Before I begin your pitch deck design, we have a discussion to determine who your audience is, what features they are looking for, how your product or service will benefit them, what are the key takeaways, and, more importantly, solve their problem.

Successful pitch decks always begin with the customers' problem, followed by the main feature of your product. If you are trying to sell something, you most likely have competition. The audience's attention comes at a premium, so you must tell a compelling story and explain what you are trying to accomplish.

This is especially important for a start-up, where you may be up against an established brand and looking to disrupt that existing market. With the constant need for innovation and customers looking for the latest version of something, you need to build a convincing narrative to legitimize your solution and provide an overview of your business plan.

A combination of a compelling story and metrics is what is essential for any great pitch deck. From a pitch deck presentation design perspective, this means leveraging those metrics to substantiate your story using detailed visuals and a comprehensive and conversion-oriented slide arrangement. An example of this would be using your last slide to include all your contact information since that is the one that will be left on the screen after your presentation is complete.

To learn more, read What is a Pitch Deck?

What slides should I include in my pitch deck if I want to raise money as a start-up?

Your investor pitch deck should contain these nine essential slides if your goal is to raise money:

The problem, Solution, Market, Product, Traction, Team, Competition, Financials, and Amount being raised.

Problem

Your first slide should cover the problem and explain what gap you are filling in the market. This should ideally be a prevalent issue with investors can relate to and understand.

Be focused. You are only solving one problem, so your deck should show that you are focused and motivated to resolve the issue.

An investor would only invest in your venture if they either experience the same problem or have a clear sense of ROI on the venture. Your investor's background will also play a key role. (Law, Medical, Real Estate, etc.)

Solution

The next slide is for the solution. A concise and clear explanation will be key. You may also need to show future scalability for some startup pitch decks.

Scalability can be an excellent motivator for an investor. It shows how a cash injection can catapult the growth of the venture and get them an ROI sooner. Uses cases are incredible important for demonstrating product-market fit to investors.

Outline why the solution makes sense in today's time. Timing can make or break your chance of securing an investment. Don't make bold statements like, no one has thought of this solution. In such a case, find the closest competitor with the lowest barrier to entry.

Market

The market and, specifically, the market size will let the investor know how and when they will start making returns on their investment. In a large market, the gains will be realized sooner compared to a smaller market size.

Markets over $1B dollars are generally very lucrative to investors as they usually intend to grow their investment 10-fold in 5 to 7 years. Investors in places such as Sequoia Capital usually don't seek trailblazers but entrepreneurs who reshape consumers' interactions in that market. Think of travel and price comparison sites for airline bookings compared to travel agents.

Make sure you are referencing articles and research papers. The best pitch decks include strong sources and exhaustive market research, often visualizing market growth in the form of a graph. With reputable pitch deck design services, you can create on-brand graphs to demonstrate market growth.

Product

The following slide in your pitch deck is the hero slide. All previous slides were a build-up to this. Ensure you use strong visuals, professional photography, and detailed screenshots of your product.

Highlight any unique features and some description of these features. You can also talk about product design and ergonomics. In addition to this, also include any testimonials for your product.

Traction

This slide should show how your business has grown monthly in terms of metrics like revenue and profits.

This is where hopefully, the revered "hockey stick" graph is, showing that there has been exponential adoption of your product and as soon as you were at a considerable scale. This graph will show that there's a demand for this product.

In a Private Equity pitch deck i.e. the one created to inflate the market cap, this is a pivotal slide. Private Equity is different from a venture investor like Sequoia capital, where investors don't want to help build the company but rather foresee a profitable exit in the near future. Traction is a great indicator that they will make their money back. 

Ensuring that you include use cases is a great thing when you are designing your pitch deck and presentation. Using different colors, white space, and a simple font to ensuring clarity and quick scanning will show a high level of respect for the reader's time.

Team

The team slide is equally important as the product slide, if not more. The investors need to know who is behind this product; how reputable and knowledgeable they are. It's a form of reassurance to an investor that you can execute the solution that you've proposed.

Ideally, the slide should have members of the leadership and management with some of their previous achievements. All great pitch decks will have professional headshots or on-brand images of the leadership. Mention 2-3 achievements of each member in a bulleted list just like the one you're reading right now!

Competition

This is a point of distinction within your pitch deck which helps your investor understand why you are different from your competition. Unless your product exists in a new category, you should probably have a sizeable list of direct and indirect competitors.

Investors are scarce on time, so this is a good point to use a graph to plot your competitors, comparing them to your business. They might not explore the nitty gritty but should be able to conclude that you are the best amongst the competition.

Using a two-axis graph comparing four merits in an industry is usually a good way to assert your solution with your brand, ideally with you being in the middle and the competition being fragmented across the graph. 

Financials

We've all seen Shark Tank or Dragon's Den and the exponential projections presented by some founders. Not being realistic with your numbers is the fastest way to alienate an investor. You must be realistic and conservative when providing 3 or 5-year financial estimates.

Unlike the shows above, the investors may contact you 3 months after you've presented your pitch deck and ask you about your growth since then. In such a case, you need to future-proof yourself in your initial pitch by making projections that you can meet. Remember, it's always better to underpromise and overdeliver.

You should also need to have an excel sheet with a detailed breakdown of your financials in an excel sheet which the investors may want to see. As for the pitch deck, a summary is fine.

Amount being raised

In the last slide, you need to be strategic. While your goal may be to raise a million dollars, always give a range for example $750k to $1m. Most VCs and sophisticated (HNI) investors have caps on how much money they can invest. With a range, you try to onboard as many investors as possible without losing any potential investors.

Always include your contact information on the cover slide of your pitch deck and list any social media handles with a large following. The investors may try to find you through social media, and see your engagement to further establish market proof.

For a serious pitch deck, it is vital that you find a pitch deck consultant like Creatibly with a rock-solid foundation in sales psychology. It is my job to help relate the technical information to the end user's needs while creating urgency. Your idea is an amazing one, and I want to make sure that your company or start-up gets its story across. A small tweak to your design and the copy can literally make a million-dollar difference.

But, my goal is to find customers for my product

You need a sales deck if your goal is to have a piece of marketing collateral for corporate events and meetings. A sales deck is created to convince customers to buy your product compared to an investor pitch deck which is created to raise money. There are some overlaps between the two, but the final design of a good pitch deck depends significantly on its purpose.

It is my job to help relate the technical information to the end user's needs while creating urgency. Your idea is an amazing one, and I want to make sure that your company or start-up gets its story across. A small tweak to your design and the copy can literally make a million-dollar difference.

Detailed below are the three key points to consider when creating a sales deck:

Build a storyline

Having a "story" has become a staple in sales today and that is what really adds life to otherwise simple products. The best pitch deck would have a storyline attached to the images and text. Stories have a higher recall value than text or images, which is why you hear elaborate stories before a presentation in most sales deck presentations.

How do you know what story to tell? This would depend on who you are presenting to. A C-level executive should hear the strategic and growth-based narrative, a buyer will need to see an ROI on the purchase of the product whereas a manager or practitioner will be given a demo with specific features and USPs.

What makes your products, services, or new technology better than the rest, and why should the reader care? A focused approach will help you accurately answer these questions and create the best pitch decks for their respective purposes.

Visualizing Content and content creation

Close to 70% of people learn visually, and statistically, visual presentations are more effective than ones with bullet points or large bodies of text. Strong visuals are at the heart of a good pitch deck.

Before customers buy anything, they need to understand it. Think about using striking visuals to gain attention at the beginning of your pitch deck presentation. This can be professional photographs, pop culture references, fun comparisons, or even memes. With the meaning of corporate being redefined on a daily basis, don't be risk averse. As long as your visual serves your goal (make the prospect buy), it's all in good stride. 

Visuals should aid your consumer in understanding your product. After all, they won't buy what they don't understand. Use visuals to aid text rather than aggressively replacing it. On product slides, begin with a user image or video, an action that they took, a product feature that aided that action, and then a screenshot of your product.

Branding across these slides is key. There may be other solutions in the market and your customer may cross-shop. That's why you should strive to create one of the best pitch decks your prospects will see. Strong and consistent branding in your pitch decks, graphs, visuals, and product will make yours look the most thought out and legitimate. 

Adaptability

With remote work and flat teams at startups, you are likely not presenting to the critical decision-maker. This means that you may be presented to a practitioner, who can then decide to escalate your proposition to a decision-maker. In such a case you should have an email version of your pitch deck ready to go which is comprehensive without your verbal explanation.

There will be many times when people say, "can you send me something to forward to my boss?" Often you will find pitch deck examples set for presentation but nothing to actually share with the right decision-maker. This is where adaptability comes in. 

This doesn't mean that you design two separate slide decks but one slide deck with two intents. One to present and the other to email. Highlight relevant information by adding comments under your images using arrows to flow through a single slide and highlight any metrics on those pages. This "pitch deck" can then also be used in cold outreach to clients where you can't secure meetings.

Lastly, a lot of your prospects may review the pitch deck on their phone. So designers must think about optimizing the key slides in the pitch deck for both desktop and mobile review.

Why should you hire Creatibly and Scott Luscombe for your pitch deck design?

Some customers look at my pitch deck services and think that they are expensive, "$6,000 for a startup pitch deck design?" The value proposition becomes apparent when viewed over one year. My own pitch deck design, which can be viewed below has a 5700% return on investment. This is the benefit of having Creatibly, your pitch deck design agency, as the right choice for your business.

Simply put, my pitch deck design for you will convert, and it will be one of the best pitch deck examples your target audience will see. I often get referred pitch deck design business because of a pitch deck a customer saw that I designed.

A pitch deck template is often bland and not made with your specific goal in mind. At Creatibly, I will make sure that your deck is entirely original, true to your goal, and a piece of collateral that you can own. A deck that simplifies your complex ideas. Without the use of cookie-cutter pitch deck templates, the goal is to separate your company and make your products and services stand out in the market. I can help you get the audience's attention and impress investors.

The value proposition of my pitch deck design will be apparent when you start pitching your company. You will easily convert new business with your presentation. Whether you need a pitch deck for marketing purposes or to present to an investor such as Sequioa Capital to raise funds, Creatibly would be an integral part of a successful business pitch.

What pitch deck format should you use?

I offer a wide range of formats for your pitch deck design. You can select from the list below the formats in which I create your pitch deck designs:

• PDF (Working file is in Adobe InDesign)
• Keynote
• Powerpoint
• Google Slides

But what if you don't know what to choose?

I want to make sure that you are comfortable with your pitch deck, it needs to remain completely reliable whenever and wherever you are presenting your company.

Like most pitch deck professionals, I prefer using a PDF for pitch decks because of several factors. It's what is used to create my pitch deck as well. I also keep a version of my pitch deck on Google Drive for easy access. PDFs also allow more customization which makes it easy to include graphics from your brand identity. There is also an added benefit if you set the permissions on Google Drive to restricted, anyone who wants to view it has to enter their email address which gives you one more point of contact to follow up with.

Keynote is a free piece of Apple software, and can also be exported to PDF. Keynote is great if you want to make adjustments without purchasing added software; however, the compression abilities of Keynote are limited, and PDFs are often difficult to email as they can be much larger than those made in Adobe InDesign

Powerpoint is a well-known piece of Microsoft software, and customers often complain about how clumsy it is to use, and I agree. It's not the best, but it is also a well-known standard in enterprise businesses. Beyond the usability aspect of Powerpoint, it requires the end viewer to have the Powerpoint software to view your slide decks.

Google Slides is also a great option, widely adopted, and easy to simply share the link and go.

Digital Formats Available

• PDF made in Adobe InDesign
  
• Keynote 
• Powerpoint
  
• Google Slides

What Is Included

• Design and Layout of each Page
• Grammar and Spell Checking
  
• Icons, Illustrations, or Photos on each Page
• Working and Output files for sending to prospects

What You Provide

• Overall Goal of Presentation
  
• Initial Copywriting and Structure of Presentation
  
• Icons, Illustrations, or Photos on each Page

FAQs

What is Pitch Deck design?

A pitch deck is a brief slide-based presentation that gives your target audience an overview of your business by leveraging relevant information like market size, metrics, traction, etc. This can be created for marketing purposes to acquire customers or raise potential investors' funds.

What should I avoid in a Pitch Deck?

A pitch deck needs to be clear, concise, and accurate. Avoid the common mistake of having form over function. Do not overestimate any key points, and stick to the point. When you create a pitch deck remove any redundancies.

Highlight the key elements, have a key takeaway and remove any extra slides. Make sure to dedicate one slide to the team slide so your prospects can learn about the people behind your product. Last but not least, make sure that the deck has a consistent design in line with your brand guidelines ideally by professional pitch deck designers.

What is the best pitch deck?

While there is no best pitch deck since they vary based on industry, purpose, and audience, if you are earlier in your process of designing a pitch deck, you can find early pitch deck examples from now successful companies.

The uber pitch deck can be a great pitch deck example for a tech-based transport and logistics business where the goal was to raise money. This would greatly differ from a stationery supplier's sales deck to sell stationery. Pitch deck consultants can help determine the right fit for you and you can then hire pitch deck freelancers to design it for you. 

What is pitch deck consulting services?

Pitch deck consulting services are provided by pitch deck consulting firms. Their goal is to plan and assemble the right kind of pitch deck for your targeted investors. They are like pitch deck mentors, who guide you on how to deliver the perfect pitch.

View the Portfolio for investor deck examples and pitch decks.