There are several hundred blog posts on how to create the perfect pitchdeck for almost every conceivable context imaginable, so we thought we’d write another one. Tada!

Kidding! Kind of.

This isn’t a how-to of a perfect pitchdeck (which incidentally doesn’t really exist as each company is different, each investor has different preferences, yada yada yada). This isn’t even advice on what to say in your pitchdeck to really impress us. It’s more of an overview of the building blocks that we think make up a good pitchdeck and really just gives you some insight into our expectations of what kind of information you’ll send to us when we say: ‘Pitch Us’ and you say: ‘Alright, we will.’

And just so you know we’re giving you the same information we share internally in all our training with all our teams, this is the slide we use:

Those building blocks for those of you viewing this on a screen too small to read the slide image are as follows with elaborations + we’ve bolded some bits we think are particularly important and you should evidence your knowledge and understanding of throughout the deck:

1. What is your vision? Why did you start this company?
2. Clearly explain the problem you’re trying to solve, what the impacts of that problem are and for whom (customer), show the size of the problem and why it’s big enough and important enough to make it worth going after.
3. What makes your solution different and better than any other solution already out there? Can you back this up with validation from experiments you’ve run to date?
4. We love a demo! Give us a walkthrough. What does the customer/user experience when they use your product? Tell us how functional your MVP/product currently is. Provide links to working prototypes/private betas if you have them.
5. Who are you? And why are you the best people for the job?
6. How have you measured growth to date? What have you done so far? What story are the numbers telling?
7. Business model. What’s your pricing model? Where does cash flow in and out of the business? Why have you made these decisions?
8. What are the existing alternatives? Do you truly understand the market you’re in?
9. How big is the market? To what extent could your startup scale and grow? Have you thought about how you might exit?
10. The big one! How much are you asking for? What will you do with the money (market entry strategy, product roadmap, team building, etc.)? How much runway will that buy you? Where will you be at the end of this runway? And if you’ve thought about it, where’s your head at regarding a valuation?

People will argue about the order these slides are in, but to be honest we’re not going to filter you out based on whether your team slide is the first, 5^th or last slide. We can scroll. Just try and achieve a logical flow that tells the story of your startup.

Also bear in mind that the aim of this pitchdeck is to put across an overview of your startup and get you to a first meeting with one of our Student VCs. They’ll ask you to deep-dive into certain elements of your deck they have questions about so please don’t take a 30 page business plan, turn it into a PPT and give us all the information at once. The pitchdeck allows us to see at first look whether this is the kind of company we could invest in, if it’s within our remit and whether we get excited about working with you.