Presentations have long been a convenient means of showing various projects. And they range from entertaining ones to serious business analyses. There are many unique and high-quality presentation designs on the Internet that you may easily put into practice. Such products are flexible and have an attractive visual appearance. It allows you to make customizations in minutes and present your offerings and services most engagingly. Today, we are going to focus on creating a pitch deck presentation in Apple Keynote.
This program differs from PowerPoint and other tools in its simplicity, clear features, and easy-to-use interface. In Keynote, you can get to any function in fewer clicks. Most users with basic knowledge will be able to master this program quickly. The lack of unnecessary functionality and tabs makes Keynote a serious alternative for creating professional presentations on MacOs.
Using keynote for professional pitch deck presentations
There are hundreds of projects being introduced to investors all the time, and the typical format for presenting a startup today is pitch and pitch deck. Pitch is an oral presentation for a few minutes. The pitch deck accompanies it and sometimes works independently. This is the visual part of your presentation, slides with a brief overview of everything you have to say.
Getting funding is a long process, the pitches are its first stages when the main task is not to get lost against the background of other projects, to interest investors, and move to the next stage of familiarity and a more detailed discussion.
To take the pitch deck too frivolously and just write the keywords on a grey background is one of the biggest mistakes, which can spoil the whole impression. To start with, the slides should be understandable and have a sufficiently short explanation that should not always have to be accompanied by comments.
If you are looking for a quick and easy way to create a great project, then Keynote is the best solution. There really is nothing superfluous in it. Everything here is simple, concise, and intuitive. You can easily find the tools and features you need.
The most successful pitch deck presentation structure
Now it is time to figure out what the perfect structure for creating a professional presentation should be.
The intro
This is where everything should be concise and understated. Choose literally one sentence and tell the story of what project you are presenting.
The problem
As we know, the basis of a startup idea is to solve a certain problem. The main thing here is to focus on the most urgent questions and define the usefulness of your product.
The solution
Here it is necessary to understand that your product is the main solution to the problem. You need to present it clearly and say: why is it the best, how can it solve the problem, what makes it better?
The business model
Here it is important to state clearly that you know how you can monetize your startup. By showing your knowledge of the fundamentals of customer acquisition and sales channels, you can assure investors that you have thought through the startup’s full development down to the smallest detail.
The competitors
This should include a brief description or the name of your competitors. It is not worth claiming that there are none, even if you do not observe the direct competition. Here you need to assess your strengths and tell why it is better to choose you.
The team
It would seem to be the simplest slide in the presentation, which, however, greatly affects the result. How you present your team can lead an investor to different conclusions. If you have 10 or more people on your team, you do not need to talk about everyone. Include the total number and describe the professional background of main employees, especially those of interest to the investor.
The dynamics of development
By this point, you have already talked about the project and how you want to bring it to life, so now is the time to prove that it is more than a dream. This slide depends on what stage of development your business is at. If you already have some achievements, describe them, and be very concrete about them.
What is the search for?
You should go into the presentation with a clear understanding of how much and what you need it for. Explain exactly where the investment will go.
The final
Your entire pitch deck was aimed at not just getting the potential investors interested in your idea, but also encouraging them to invest in your project. To do this, you must use a call to action in the final part. It should be simple, short, and dynamic.
Top 5 rules for pitch deck presentations
Eye-catching design
A boring presentation design is unlikely to attract investors. A pleasant appearance will help to attract the audience to your project. For this purpose, you can use ready-made web solutions that often have unique visuals and flexibility of customization.
Fewer letters and larger font
A text-only slide is old-fashioned, difficult to read, and detrimental to the visual impression. A beautiful template, high-quality pictures, graphs, and a minimum amount of text is the best way to present memorable information.
Easy-to-understand data
Graphs, tables, and charts are one of the best ways to provide information concisely. In this way, you have all the chances to explain more details about your project.
Contact
Do not forget to include the contacts on the last slide, so that interested investors may easily find you if needed.
Your style
If your startup already has a corporate identity, you should design the presentation according to its color scheme. Firstly, it will look harmonious, and secondly, it will show you as a person with a responsible approach to business.
Time tracking
When giving public speeches, it is a good idea to set up a timer during your speech. On average, investors spend 2.30 minutes on a presentation. And the most time they spend on studying the slides that tell them about the team, competitors, and the financial indicators.
You need to understand that there are up to 20 minutes in the oral startup presentation. About 15 goes for the presentation and 5 for the question and answer. There are even certain rules for the startup presentation process:
- 10 slides
- 20 minutes
And it is very important to keep the time and not to prolong the presentation for an hour. Also, remember that you have to interest the investor in the first 10 seconds.
Major mistakes in preparing pitch deck presentations
Trends in pitch deck content change frequently. In the past few years, startups have been shown on the “Why now” style where the team tells why the project is relevant right now.
At the same time, trends also affect design. For example, because of the transition to remote work startups have begun to use even larger fonts, because it is hard to see small inscriptions in Zoom, and in general small graphics are badly readable. Companies have also started to favor calmer colors. Some are making more inclusive content, taking into account different nuances of color and visual perception. Pay attention to trends in presentation design. An increasing number of businesses are opting for pastel and natural hues, classic fonts, minimalism, and concise infographics.
Knowing all these subtleties you should create a perfect presentation. But sometimes, even knowing seemingly obvious mistakes, you can fail where you do not even expect.
The first and main mistake is the lack of “pain” that the product solves. It is important not just to show that your development simplifies someone’s life, but to reflect the scale of the problem. You need to show that there is a problem that can be solved by this particular startup. It is best to use simple and clear wording in large print on a contrasting background. You may also accompany it with an infographic. Try to use short sentences and not overload the slide with visual elements, because the main “pain” should be read at a glance.
The second mistake is a poor valuation of the market. Investors are concerned with markets that are potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Too niche products and services do not have enough potential. However, you can offer niche services, but they must fit into the global paradigm.
Another mistake is to focus too much on uniqueness. Do not say you have no competitors. That would directly mean that you have studied the market too superficially and have not understood the specifics of the industry. Lack of competitors may also indicate an undemanded product. If no one develops anything like that, then there is no need for it.
Pitch deck presentation is quite an important project that can lead to success or complete failure. To protect yourself from the last one, you need a responsible approach to design and content filling. We advise you to rehearse the speech, think through the questions in advance, and use the method of storytelling. It is also important at all stages of the presentation to believe in your project and do everything you can to make investors believe in it, too.
A beautiful and well-organized pitch deck is a huge plus in your investment case, which gives you extra points. Yes, a startup with a bad product will not be saved by beautiful slides, but a startup with a good idea among dozens of competitors can stand out just because of the design, aesthetics, and meanings embedded in the presentation. Using all our tips you are sure to achieve the desired result.