SeedLegals Pitch Deck - The pitch deck template investors want you to use

@ovi_suciu How do I access the template?

@jenny_wordsworth the pitch deck template is accessible via the "Visit" button at the top but I will add it here as well: https://seedlegals.com/us/resources/pitch-deck-template-us-startups/?ref=producthunt

@matthew_flores1 super important question. That's a big topic on its own, we didn't cover that in the pitch deck template.

There are many different views on financial plans in pitch decks - some people say they're useless because the numbers are all made up. Others insist on a 5 year business plan or they'll decide you haven't thought about your business plan, you don't have a proper business, and come back later.

My take is that, yes, everyone knows the business model is completely made up... but the very existence of it shows your thinking and your ambition, so it's super important to have.

For example, if your financial model shows that in 5 years your revenue is $300M ARR, I mean, sure, it's possible but also extremely unlikely... much more likely those are nonsense numbers and the investor will challenge all your assumptions.

On the other hand, if you're showing $5M revenue after 5 years, that's a hobby business (as investors call it) - nice for you, but not an investible business.

So I'd say that if you aim for around $20M to $40M revenue prediction at 5 years out, that would be a sensible number, and then work things around that.

And, lastly, we partnered with Blox to help you build good financial models quickly and easily:
https://seedlegals.com/raise/finance-for-fundraising/

@william_rivera3 great question. The big problem with most pitch decks is they drown in the details of what the company is doing ("We're using AI and blockchain to revolutionise logistics"), rather than telling a story of why anyone would want it, and what problem it's solving for the customer.

I did a webinar on exactly this - the art of storytelling to win customers, and win investors:
https://seedlegals.com/resources/storytelling-for-startups/

@tyler_wright1 really good point - if you're raising $300K pre-seed, the focus of your deck is going to be very different to raising $3M seed or Series A.

What will be different is not the imagery or branding but the change in focus:

Right at the beginning of your journey you have no traction, so you can't talk about customers, acquisition cost, churn, revenue, etc... because there isn't any. So a pre-seed deck is going to be all about selling the story, selling the future potential.

But when you get to Series A, that's all about throwing lots of money at a proven product and business model to scale it faster... and so there the investors will be looking for slides showing your year on year increase in revenue, P&L, and churn rates, CAC, LTV, etc.

So I'd say it's not about a different slide deck for an angel vs. a VC, it's about a different focus and set of slides based on the stage of your fundraising journey. And, related, it will be the case that at pre-seed you'll be largely talking to angels, and at Series A largely to VCs.

@matthew_phillips4 that's a great point. We designed our pitch deck template with a brand scheme that can easily be changed, and also with space on most pages to insert big lifestyle graphics, pictures of your app, etc.

So, yes, we very much want founders to customize the branding, images and colours to make it uniquely their own.

Interestingly, there's a bit of a fashion for creating a Notion page as a slide deck alternative - with the idea that the page will be pretty basic so just the mission, product, metrics, etc., can be seen at a glance by the investor. Actually I don't like that approach - it strips your slide deck of all personality - and since investment decisions are really made by the heart, not just the head, that means all pitches look boringly similar... so you want to do the opposite - big bold delightful imagery and story.

@sophia_watson3 great point. I'd say that a slide deck is a way for you to tell the story of your product, mission, team, goals. As such, it doesn't matter if it's pizza or quantum computing... there's a story to be told, and that story is still about the problem, solution, team, etc.

Of course if your product is a vaccine that isn't going to have sales for 5 years or a SaaS model, you wouldn't have slides for that, and instead you'd have slides on the IP and patents, etc.

So each deck is different, but I think the overall flow follows a similar story arc, and our template should be adaptable to a wide set of companies.

@olivia_johnston1 I'd love to have the answer on that.

I'd start by saying that investors come in all shapes and flavours - some are fixated on the valuation and profits, others want to save the planet, others want to hang out with the cool kids - I wrote an article on this:
https://seedlegals.com/resources/the-5-investor-personality-types/

So my suggestion is think about what drives each investor that you're talking to. You obviously can't change the pitch deck (well, maybe one day when AI builds a custom pitch deck for each investor)... until then you'll focus on an emphasise those parts of the presentation that you think will most appeal to that investor.

@samuel_morris the template itself offers tips and suggestions for each slide.

Beyond that, this video is great at helping create an overall compelling story, that you build the pitch deck to tell:
https://seedlegals.com/resources/storytelling-for-startups/

@noah_ortiz Thanks! We just saw too many founders get side-tracked by pitch deck templates that "helped Airbnb raise squillions"... which are totally unsuited to startups in other sectors, to founders who don't have a track record of prior exits, or companies at an earlier stage of their business.

@grace_phillips1 by default you will get it in PPT format, but it's super easy to import it and use it in Google Slides, the slides look identical and ready to use in both formats.

Thank you,@adrian_massey! If you enjoyed the flavor, here are two other resources that you might find helpful:

About Storytelling in pitch decks:

https://seedlegals.com/raise/finance-for-fundraising/

Anthony’s Pitch Deck Clinic - various pitch decks analysed

https://youtu.be/RleN9WHY1o0?si=nJsA4n6JQz0DoKwH

@varrr_al thank you very much for your support, Olena! Happy to help!