What Are Pitch Decks? (And Why They are Very Different to Business Plans)

 TLDR;

Pitch Decks are concise, visually stunning, business presentations that are designed to convince potential investors, customers or partners to take action. This can include giving you money for a fundraising round or buying your product or service. The best pitch decks go beyond business facts and tell a story that resonates with and captivates your audience. If you want to know how to do this (and when to use a pitch deck vs. a business plan) you'll find the answers below.

PS: Have a business presentation that needs designing but don’t know where to start? If you want a professional to do it for you, then book a free consultation with me now.

What’s in this article:

• What Are Pitch Decks?

• How are Pitch Decks different from Business Plans?

• The Three Types of Pitch Decks Every Business Founder Should Know About

• How to Structure Your Pitch Decks For Success

What Are Pitch Decks?

A Pitch Deck is a succinct visual set of slides (usually created in PowerPoint, Keynote or Google Slides) that presents a business and aims to persuade potential investors, customers or partners to invest or support the company in some way.

I first came across the term when I was working at an advertising agency. As a creative, we would regularly “pitch” clients with ideas in a short “slide deck” presentation format...

***

It was 2:59pm. The meeting was at 3 and I had just finished the final slide in our pitch deck. I walked into a packed meeting room full of suits. This was an ad for the Super Bowl. Millions of dollars were going to be spent on a 30 second commercial. The stakes were high.

I started the presentation. With each slide in the deck, I built up the tension. Then I made a joke. Everyone laughed. It was time to reveal the big idea. I showed how we were perfectly aligned with the client's goals and brand. I demonstrated how together, we could influence culture and resonate deeply with those watching. I got our client to feel desire for this idea and the impact it could have on their business.

The signed contract arrived two days later. 

That is the power of "The Pitch". Your deck (or set of slides) supports and brings to life the story you are telling. A good pitcher will create a story that takes their audience on an emotional journey - even when they send their slide deck via email! A seasoned pitcher can hook their audience in less than 4 minutes and get them to take a desired action. 

It's an art form, and I love it.

But it's not the only thing that will get your audience to sign on the bottom line. Pitch decks are wonderful openers - they get people excited and wanting more. But it is contracts and business plans that can often seal the deal.

As a founder, it is important to know the difference between a pitch deck and a business plan (and when to use both to your advantage).

How Are Pitch Decks Different From Business Plans

Both Pitch Decks and Business Plans are important tools for entrepreneurs, but they serve different purposes and have different audiences. Here are the key differences (and when you should use one vs. the other).

Seven Key Differences Between a Pitch Deck and A Business Plan:

1. Pitch decks are shorter than business plans.
2. Business plans are more comprehensive and contain more details than a pitch deck, particularly around financial projections, mitigating risks and the competitive landscape.
3. Pitch decks are designed to quickly excite people so that they want to talk to you more. Sometimes you might also hear the term “teaser deck”. This is a pitch presentation that leaves the audience wanting more.
4. Business plans are designed to give the reader all the facts and information so that they can make an informed decision. They are often more dry and wordy than a pitch deck.
5. Pitch decks are a sales tool that are great for opening the conversation. Detailed business plans are invaluable for closing the deal and showing that you have a solid, well thought out strategy.
6. Pitch decks are visually enticing and contain one main idea per slide (e.g., “your team” or “the market opportunity”).
7. Business plans are more likely to be a text-heavy word document, with integrated charts and financial projection tables or spreadsheets.

When Should You Use A Pitch Deck Over A Business Plan? Four practical examples and answers.

You want to get a seasoned angel investor or VC firm to take a meeting with you:

• If you’re looking to raise money from a professional angel (someone who invests in many businesses) or a venture capital firm, use a pitch deck. In this situation, a business plan contains too many details. Pitch decks use storytelling techniques to get people excited and wanting to connect!

You want to raise money from family and friends:

• Use both a pitch deck and a business plan! Create a short deck that introduces your business concept and let them know that if they want more that you can send them (or walk them through) a more detailed business plan. 
• Reasoning: family and friends often have never heard of a “pitch deck” and are more comfortable with a more traditional business plan.

You are convincing a company/customer to buy your product or service:

• For partnership and sales conversations, use a version of a pitch deck called a “sales pitch deck” to excite your prospect and get them on the phone. (See details further down in this blog post)
• You might also like to experiment with a “video pitch” using a tool like Loom or similar.
• Business plans are too wordy and contain too much information about your actual business to be useful in this situation.

You are pitching a lender, bank or other financial institution:

• If you are looking for money from an institution outside of venture capital, then use a business plan instead of a pitch deck. This is what is expected in this situation.

Expert mode: The three types of pitch decks (and when you should use them)

It's important to note that a pitch deck is not only for fundraising, it can also be used for different purposes like:

• Introducing a new product or service
• Presenting a new business idea
• Building a partnership or collaboration with another company
• Pitching a new project or initiative to stakeholders or team members

In general, however, if you’re building a startup and raising money, then you’ll use the following three types of pitch decks over and over again. These are: 

1. A fundraising pitch deck
2. A sales pitch deck
3. A pitch competition/demo-day deck

Each of these pitch presentations has a different purpose and story-arc. 

How to Structure Your Pitch Decks For Success

Pitch Deck Type 1: The Startup Fundraising Pitch Deck

Looking to raise money? I have a full deep dive on Creating the Perfect Pitch Deck for Investors, including the correct format to use, what goes on each slide, how to stand out and loads of visual examples here. 

Or keep reading for a succinct overview:

• Fundraising pitch decks are used when raising a round of funding from angel investors or venture capitalists. They are not used when seeking money from banks, lenders or other institutions (a business plan is more appropriate in these instances.
• Fundraising pitch decks are roughly 10-14 slides long
• Fundraising pitch decks contain “just enough information” to get the investor excited.
• A rookie mistake with fundraising pitch decks is to put too much information on each slide or not make your slides visually appealing.
• Fundraising pitch decks contain the following slides:
• Title Slide
• Problem 
• Solution 
• Business Model
• Market Opportunity / Dynamics
• Traction
• Team
• Projections
• The Ask

Pitch Deck Type 2: The Sales Pitch Deck

A Sales Pitch Deck contains much less information about your business and much more information about the problem your potential customer or partner is facing and how you are going to uniquely solve it. 

All of the language in a sales pitch deck should be oriented towards the person you are selling to.

For example: instead of saying “we make microchips” you might say “we make microchips so you can improve your company’s performance and grow your profit margin.”

Remember that in sales, people usually care about one of three things:

1. Making more money
2. Saving money
3. Saving time (which equals more money).

A typical format or structure for a sales pitch deck is:

• Title Slide

• Problem (written for the person you are selling to)

• Solution (how you take the pain away)

• How It Works

• Secret Sauce (why you’re better than the competition)

• The evidence (stats that backup your claims)

• The love (testimonials from happy customers/partners)

• Company overview

• Next steps

Pitch Deck Type 3: The Pitch Competition / Demo-Day Deck

If you’re in the world of startups it is likely that you’ll enter a few pitch competitions or take part in an accelerator or incubator program that requires you to showcase your startup as part of a demonstration day or “demo-day”. 

Often these pitch competitions and demo-days are held online, though at conferences you will also find in-person pitching taking place.

How Pitch Competitions and Demo-Days work:

Each company takes turns pitching their business. Typically, you will get between 3-5 minutes to tell your business story and why you are the company to bet on. This is followed by a question and answer session where judges or investors can ask some additional clarifying questions. In the case of a pitch competition, after all companies have taken their turn pitching, the judges will decide a winner. Most often, you will be judged on the potential for your company to become a billion dollar company (a.k.a. A “unicorn”).

Your job in either a pitch competition or a demo day is to excite people enough that they want to contact you after the event. The problem is, you only have a few minutes to do so! 

As such, I always start with creating a script, not the slides. Once you have a script that is the exact length you need for the presentation, you can finish creating your deck - tailoring imagery and words to the story you are telling. 

The key here is to not put many or any words on your slides. The audience should be listening to your voice, not trying to read the words on a slide.

The script format for an investor demo-day or pitch competition can vary and founders can get creative with how they want to tell their story.

One of the most successful pitch competition pitches I ever created broke the mold of a standard investor presentation. I structured it as follows: 

• The problem
• The solution
• 10 reasons to invest:
• Reason 1
• Reason 2
• Reason 3
• Reason 4
• Etc.
• My phone number to text me directly

This was successful because it was memorable and the “10 reasons” built trust. Compared with the more 'traditional' storytelling formats I had experimented with for previous pitch competitions, I received almost double the amount of investor outreach. It pays to stand out!

Summary for “What Are Pitch Decks”

The term “pitch deck” comes from startup and venture capital circles and is a fancy way of saying “business presentation”. Pitch decks are more succinct than business plans and are designed to give a quick overview of the business and opportunity.  The key to a successful pitch deck is to clearly communicate the key elements of the business and to persuade the audience to take action. 

Have a deck that needs designing but don’t know where to start? If you want a professional to do it for you, book a free consultation with me now.