Key elements of an investor pitch deck

Convincing an investor to give you money is never easy, especially for an early-stage startup with little experience. Too often, founders erroneously think that they need to show a “better” product than the other products on the market. Worse, they assume that it’s all about the “quality” of a presentation and not the content (it’s both).

Still, new founders and “wannapreneurs” can create compelling investor pitches when they know the critical information investors want and how to provide that information. If you are preparing to raise funding, there are several key elements of an investor pitch deck that you should understand. These apply whether you raise your first convertible note or your next Series A round of capital.

But first, a caveat: this list is by no means exhaustive, nor will all investors agree on every item. Some investors might want to see a “startup exit slide” (typical at later funding stages). At the same time, other funds might give an automatic “no” to any pre-seed startup founder talking about exiting.

At the Campus Founders Venture Studio, our team has a combined 100+ years of experience reviewing startup pitches for investors. The below list represents some of the key elements of an investor pitch deck that we look for when founders apply for our pre-seed investment fund.

• Problem
• Solution
• Market
• Competitive Analysis
• Competitive Advantage
• Revenue Model
• Team
• Traction
• Pitch
• Projections
• Startup Comparibles
• Opportunity

While these elements might seem simple on the surface, getting them right requires months of research, business planning, and a deep understanding of your customer and market forces. The key elements of an investor pitch deck show that you’ve done your homework and understand what it will take to launch and scale your startup.

For startups applying to our Venture Studio, having these in your pitch deck will go a long way toward attracting our attention. And, how you present these components gives us insight into how we can best help you (we don’t expect perfection). If you’d like to have a template that highlights all of these components, fill out the form below to have it emailed to you!

Finally, if you found this article interesting and would like to learn more, reach out to our team or join us at one of our upcoming startup events!