Art of Pitching

Pitch deck is the building block of the start-up DNA. 

The pitch deck is not only required by the investors for investment purpose but to understand the vision and the strategy of the entrepreneur and for the business.

Pitch deck is the building block of the start-up DNA.

A comprehensive Pitch deck provides

• Direction to the business and the team
• Enables decision-making
• Help reduce/ignore the surrounding noise

Pitch deck thus is an external as well as internal tool for business management and evaluation.

Elements of a comprehensive Pitch deck

A comprehensive pitch deck should cover all the functional areas of business and must cover them in past, present and future. Generally, the functional areas of business management involve

Structuring the Pitch deck

The functional heads provide a broad perspective, the pitch deck should be structured in a manner wherein all the functions covered are in sync.

Further it is important to understand what is the selective critical information that enables decision making from an investors’ perspective as it is crucial to maintain a balance between holistic information without information overload.

The pitch deck must flow top down, wherein the first few slides should  get  the investor’s attention  and wanting them to know more. The flow of the pitch deck should be as:

1. Introduction
   1. Company Logo, Typeface, Tag line
   2. Associations (Logos) – Government, Private, Institutional, Mentor, Investors
2. Executive Summary
   1. Vision & Business Overview ( What is the problem the business is solving and how the solution is the optimum solution)
   2.  Market Overview
   3. Journey so far (Timeline & Highlights of achievements) (Graphical/Infographics)
   4. Values – The core values the business model would be built
   5. Financial Highlights
   6. Ask
3. Company
   1. Structure & Ownership
   2. Location
   3. Management Team – Educational background, Experience, Passion, Leisure activities
4. Product/Service
   1. Description & Price
   2. Intellectual Property Created
5. Opportunity Analysis
   1. Industry Overview
   2. Market Analysis
      1.  Target Market – Total Addressable Market (TAM), Serviceable Available Market (SAM), Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM)
      2.  Growth
      3.  Gap
      4.  Red ocean/Blue ocean
6.  Problem & Solution
7.  Customer Analysis
   1.  Segmentation
   2.  Targeting
   3.  Positioning
   4.  Purchasing Power
   5.  Buying Behaviour
   6.  Acquisition Strategy
8. Strategy
   1. Competitive Edge – Functional, Emotional, Economical
   2.  Sustainable competitive advantage .Treat from disruptive innovation
   3.  Firm specific source of advantage
   4.  Marketing Plan
   5.  Milestones – 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years
   6.  Risks and Mitigants
9.  Competitor Analysis
   1.  Direct, Indirect, Broad
   2.  Entry Barriers
10.  Value Proposition
    1.  How we deliver
    2.  How are we different in delivering them
    3.  How efficiently can we deliver in short and long term
11. Operating Model Flowchart/ Value chain analysis
12. Revenue Model Flowchart
13. Growth Action Plan
    1. Product/Service
    2. Geography
    3. Target Audience
    4. Revenue
    5. Cost centres
    6. Associations
    7. Personnel Plan
    8. Key Assets
    9. IP
14. Financials
    1. Past – Funds Acquired, Deployment tactics used, Outcome achieved, Financial Data
    2. Present – Revenue, Burn/EBITDA, Cash at bank
    3. Future .
    4. Sales Forecast
       1.  Cost Structure
       2. Projected Profit & Loss
       3. Projected Cash Flow
       4. Projected Balance Sheet
       5. Funds required
       6. Deployment Plan
       7. Deployment Timeline
15. Compliances
    1. Income Tax Act Compliances
    2. GST Act Compliances
    3. Companies Act Compliances
    4. Licencing & Trade Regulatory Compliances
    5. MOU/Contracts/Agreements
    6. DST/Startup India/MSME
16. Appendix
    1. SWOT Analysis
    2. Porter 5 force
    3. PESTLE (Political, Economical, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental)
    4. Ansoff Matrix

Most commonly, entrepreneurs come across the notion of cap on the number of slides, but the same was used to ensure that the slides are not text heavy which is today interpreted completely differently.
Comprehensive information about the company, team, business and industry should be presented in the pitch deck using infographics and the entrepreneurs should focus on igniting the enthusiasm but should not complete the story. This would build the curiosity amongst the investor to reach out to the entrepreneur to learn more, and that is the time to present the complete story in depth focused towards onboarding the investor.