5 Tips to Create Effective Pitch Deck Presentations
It's estimated that only 1% of pitch decks attract investors and secure investment money. Creating a successful pitch deck requires attention to both the writing and the design, avoiding errors and adopting effective practices.
If you're dedicated to mastering the art of pitch decks, then first, let’s take a look at the following 5 tips.
1. Make your pitch deck design look good
Adding visuals and graphics that resonate with your message isn't just important–it's personal. Crafting stunning pitch decks means weaving a visual narrative that speaks to your audience and target market on a deeper level. The impact of design on your pitch deck's success is profound, backed by these telling statistics:
- A study by Pennsylvania State University found that the design of presentation slides significantly influences audience comprehension. Our goal is for investors to swiftly grasp, analyze and interpret the pitch deck's content, making a powerful, customized and impactful design the initial key to success.
- Crafting pitch decks is a time-consuming task. Among presenters with ample design knowledge, 47% spend more than 8 hours designing a presentation, underscoring the substantial effort involved in creating presentations independently.
- On average, 47.2% of presentation designers don't feel entirely proud of their designs. Limited creativity and tools often lead to poorly designed slides that struggle to capture the audience's attention.
2. Write your pitch deck like a pro
Clarity and conciseness are your best friends when it comes to writing your pitch deck. Investors are inundated with pitch decks, making your time to make a lasting impression limited and their attention scarce.
- Keep your pitch straightforward: Aim for simplicity, attractiveness and clarity in every slide. Trim down bullet points and include written text only if it adds value.
- Share success stories: Remember, pitch decks aren't just about facts, key metrics and figures. Investors are drawn in when they hear a fascinating story, so integrate storytelling elements into your pitch deck to make it more engaging.
- Stick to the most important financial facts: Include only the crucial financial information and numbers in your presentation. Avoid delving into unnecessary details that don't contribute to the overall goal of the pitch deck.
3. Dos of pitch decks
Pitch decks are all about connecting with your audience in a engaging way, but business owners often forget to follow standard practices that can lead to success:
- Tailor the pitch to your audience: Customize the pitch deck based on your target audience and tailor the message to address their specific needs and concerns. Understand the behavior of clients, partners or potential investors before starting your presentation to gain a clear advantage.
- Focus on visual appeal: Charts, graphics, images, and custom design are your best friends when ensuring the effectiveness of your pitch deck.
- Simplicity is king: Y Combinator says that businesses presenting their pitch deck with simplicity and clear messages can yield better results than 99% of startups–I'd listen to them if I were you!
4. Don’ts of pitch decks
Striking the right balance between providing enough information, engaging your audience and making your presentation visually appealing can be challenging. However, this task becomes easier if you avoid the following three factors:
- Don’t use default designs: Your pitch deck represents your company's voice, vision, soul, customer base, passion and ambition. Using a default template instead of a custom design might show a lack of commitment and may result in audience disengagement.
- Don't rush through the pitch: Pitching can be tough, with around 74% of people experiencing public speaking anxiety. However, this is your chance to highlight your value. Resist the urge to rush through the pitch–take the time you need to convey your message and focus on showcasing your potential.
- Avoid overwhelming with information: Steer clear of unnecessary slides and resist overwhelming your audience with too much information. Remember, simplicity is key–if one slide of your own content is not working to generate interest, it’s best to get rid of it.
5. Practice and refine
Achieving success with your pitch deck isn't easy, but it's definitely doable. Take inspiration from Pandora, who pitched over 300 VC firms and nearly went bankrupt before securing investment.
The lesson is clear: crafting a winning pitch deck is an iterative journey. Practice extensively, test your pitch in realistic settings and be open to making changes and improvements.
Superside's Design Capabilities
Explore Superside's full range of design capabilities with creative examples of our work for clients, like Amazon, Salesforce and Puma.
What Makes a Killer Pitch Deck Presentation?
All the slides in an original pitch deck should effectively communicate the essence of your business and make it something worth investing in. But what exactly defines a good pitch deck? If you're considering creating your own pitch deck, concentrate on these four key factors.
Deliver Impactful Pitches With Superside's Pitch Deck Design Services
If you feel like you need a professional touch from the best pitch deck design service around, our project managers are available 24/7 to help you out whenever you need to.
Our subscription service helps businesses with an innovative approach to creating pitch decks with motion or static graphics that are on-brand and capture attention.
A great example of our team expertise around pitch decks is the work we did for SALT, where we created a pitch deck presentation that helped our customer secure funding and form partnerships.
Superside's professional pitch deck design services alleviate all the bottlenecks and challenges associated with pitch deck design:
- Customizable pitch deck designs tailored to your business voice.
- Quick turnaround times.
- High-quality slide designs that resonate with your brand vision.
About Y Combinator and 500 Startups
We know a thing or two about investor presentation processes– just a few years back, we had to present our own (and successful) pitch deck for Superside’s funding round at YC Winter 2016.
So, if you believe your business has a brilliant idea and want to go through a startup accelerator or raise funding through a seed round, it’s important to know what venture firms expect from successful startups, with examples from 500 Startups and YC pitch decks.
Founded by entrepreneur and angel investor Dave McClure, 500 Startups is a venture capital firm and global community of investors, founders and mentors who are committed to helping new businesses thrive. Up until now, they have changed the trajectory of over 2,000 companies in over 60 countries all over the world. They invest in all kinds of businesses, from blockchain and online video to food tech, consumer commerce, education and many more.
Y Combinator are also venture capitalists (How Venture Capitalists Really Assess a Pitch) who not only help companies pay their expenses while getting started by supplying seed funding, but they do much more than that. They work with startups on their ideas and help them deal with investors by teaching founders how to pitch their startups. The goal behind Y Combinator is to create an environment where founders can focus exclusively on building their products and talking to their users.
5 Best Pitch Deck AI Generators
We are in a new era of AI-powered design, and this revolution extends to pitch decks. Superside’s AI-enhanced capabilities are crucial for scaling design requests, improving turnaround times and distinguishing your pitch deck from competitors. However, if you wish to explore some innovative pitch deck AI generators on your own, here are a few worth considering.
1. PitchBob.io
PitchBob is a multitool for early-stage startup founders that has assisted over 35,000 entrepreneurs with innovative ideas and pitch deck designs powered by AI. Their dedicated AI pitch deck generator, called Bob, can produce over 10 unique design templates with just a few clicks. What I love about PitchBob is its user-friendly interface that allows for the generation of unique pitch decks tailored to your business. On the downside, the basic plans and free versions of this pitch deck AI generator do not permit editing of the final result, as it provides it in a non-editable PDF format.
2. StoryDoc
StoryDoc is an AI pitch deck creator that aids startups in securing funding and winning more deals, making it the ideal solution for agencies, startup sales teams and small businesses seeking to engage investors with a killer pitch deck. What I appreciate most about StoryDoc is that it generates pitch decks that look perfect on mobile devices and provides real-time analytics on everything that occurs after your pitch is delivered, all powered by AI.
3. Pitch.com
Pitch.com's presentation maker also generates AI-powered pitch decks in seconds. The tool operates through prompting and allows users to select the color palette, font and completely edit the final pitch deck generated by the AI tool. Initially, Pitch's AI generator is free to use, which is one of its biggest advantages, but to access the tool's full features, a subscription fee is required.
4. Beemer
Beemer's AI-powered pitch deck tool claims that it can generate pitch decks in only 2 minutes, enabling everyone to create great pitch decks with templates designed to match the best YC pitch deck examples out there. Beemer includes a Pitch Booster service that starts at $10, allowing entrepreneurs to elevate the pitch deck designs with AI within a few clicks.
5. Pitches.ai
Pitches AI enables founders and sales leads to create pitch deck presentations in minutes by using the right prompts. Recently, the platform released version 4, allowing for updated designs and the integration of AI-generated images into the pitch decks. Users can upload a draft of what they have in mind, which will be used for the pitch deck design with the capabilities of AI, making it a hassle-free process for everyone.
I'd like to mention that even though AI is a powerful ally in pitch deck creation, nailing the tone and voice of your brand is essential. That's why we at Superside leverage AI and human-powered creativity to create the presentations and sales decks your company needs.
AI Powered Pitch Deck Design by Superside
At Superside, we know that creating compelling pitch decks and presentations are never a one-and-done process. This is why we’ll work with you—getting to know your needs and how we can best help you get the results you need every time.
55 Best Startup Pitch Decks Examples
Whether you are seeking a pitch deck template inspired by your favorite companies or aiming to tailor your presentation to your intended audience with an original design, allow me to showcase over 50 of the best pitch decks that have captivated Y Combinator and other venture firm investors in the past.
1) Front
Front delivers a shared inbox solution for teams by creating one collaborative workspace where you will find all your apps, emails and teammates.
What we love about the Front pitch deck template is how clean and visual it is. The structure is easy to follow, as it starts by presenting their value proposition, shares customer data and growth through graphics and statistics, and is very transparent about its financials, which helps investors better visualize their business plan. The Front investor pitch deck is one of the most talked about lately, and it was featured on Inc. and Business Insider, as it managed to raise $66 million in VC funding.
2) Copper Cow Coffee
Download Copper Cow Coffee Pitch Deck
Copper Cow Coffee uses innovative, 100% biodegradable pour over technology to bring specialty Vietnamese coffee to your office, home and adventure.
What we love about this 500 Startups pitch deck is that even without being too text heavy, they manage to convey a lot of relevant information that will help angel investors create an opinion on the potential of the business, as well as the expansion opportunities.
3) Lexop
Lexop is a company that has developed a Certified Email solution to replace traditional paper notices with emails. Their solution uses real-time tracking and instant legal proof of delivery.
What we love about their presentation template for 500 Startups demo day is how it captures the essential information and ends with a slide presenting the managing team and advisors, which offers authority and a slide repeating the most relevant numbers, so this information sticks in the investors’ minds.
4) Reflect
Reflect is a mental health startup aiming to transform in-person therapy to be more accessible and effective. They use data-driven matching to increase engagement and outcomes.
What we love about this pitch deck is how clean and clear it is, presenting relevant information in an easy-to-follow manner.
5) Purple Go
Purple Go is a mobile app for better customer experience. It supplies in-store mobile technology, enabling traditional retailers to modernize and connect online.
What we love about this pitch deck is how, from a visual point of view, it keeps the same line with their website. Their main promise is to help traditional retailers and offer 10x the retail experience. This piece of information is mentioned several times throughout the deck, and on the last slide, so the audience stays once the presentation is over.
6) Salusive Health
Download Salusive Health Pitch Deck
Salusive Health is a solution that helps physicians improve patient outcomes by offering streamlined documentation, health data aggregation, and an intelligent dashboard.
What we love about the presentation is that it is not text-heavy and presents the essential numbers in an eye-catching manner. Since the slides are not too crowded, investors can focus on the founders and their oral presentation, while having the possibility to look at the numbers.
7) Yaydoo
Yaydoo is an easy solution that enables users to buy everything for their office, saving them both money and time.
What we love about the Yaydoo presentation is how it presents its work from the very first slide. It clearly explains what it does, how it does it, who its clients are and who its current investors are.
8) Backstartup
Download Backstartup Pitch Deck
Backstartup is a new accounting, legal and payroll solution.
What we love about their slide deck is how easy they make it for others to understand what their purpose is, how they do it, and what makes them different from the traditional services on the market.
9) Lexyom
Lexyom is an online platform that uses artificial intelligence to provide users with smart, automated legal services.
What we love about their 500 Startups pitch deck is how complete it is; it presents an overview of the legal marketplace, the online marketplace, their business model and more, all in just nine slides.
10) Harmonica
Harmonica is a mobile dating application for conservative cultures, like Egypt. It helps users find the right life partner in a safe environment, by using a scientific approach.
What we love about this presentation is how it emphasizes how they are different and how their solution is a trustworthy one, suitable for conservative millennials.
11) Orchard
Orchard is a solution that helps enterprises improve security in personal smartphones used for work.
What we love about their pitch deck is how it clearly presents the problem, their solution and how this can be a huge opportunity. The presentation holds lots of essential information, without being too text-heavy.
12) Contentools
Download Contentools Pitch Deck
Contentools is an all-in-one platform that lets users keep track of all their content marketing operations.
What we love about their pitch deck is that it goes straight to the point, presents the current problem it aims to solve, how it approaches it and also presents a growth and customer overview and the team.
13) Home61
Home61 is an online real estate company that makes rentals and sales much easier. Some of its best features include a dedicated personal assistant, advanced filtering options and a dedicated agent, as soon as one decides to see a home.
What we love about this pitch deck is that in 18 slides it manages to take the audience beyond the numbers, and offers an overview of the market, its flaws, and how they do things differently. The last two slides are meant to build trust, by listing earlier investors, but also show that the founders have done their homework and already have a plan for future investments.
14) Finova Financial
Download Finova Financial Pitch Deck
Finova Financial is a socially-responsible online lender transforming the FinTech industry.
What we love about their 500 Startups pitch deck is how it manages to gain credibility and build trust right from the beginning, as it starts with mentions of Finova Financial in the press.
15) Worthix
Worthix is a tech company that analyzes customers’ decisions and measures the “why” behind buying decisions, with the help of AI.
What we love about this pitch deck is how it catches the audience’s attention from the beginning, as it starts by saying the solution they offer. It then lists their customers, helping build credibility and trust. The presentation also offers financial data, which is essential in any successful pitch deck.
16) We Are Onyx
Download We Are Onyx Pitch Deck
This startup pitch deck showcases a company that is the first all-in-one beauty destination dedicated to Black Women.
What we love about their presentation was the upfront statistic of 43% month-over-month growth; it was a definite attention grabber. A clear market potential ($17.5 billion) also potentially excited investors.
17) Crema
Crema delivers roasted-to-order high-quality coffee for caffeine enthusiasts.
What we love about their startup pitch presentation was the use of “Social Proof” by putting logos of well-known brands right at the start, which increased their credibility and trustworthiness.
18) Park Evergreen
Download Park Evergreen Pitch Deck
Park Evergreen is a parking management software that runs entire parking facilities without relying on humans or hardware.
What we love was their showcase of experienced experts in their startup pitch deck. Presenting a dedicated team with cumulative years of experience will increase the willingness of investors to get involved.
19) Sickweather
Download Sickweather Pitch Deck
Sickweather has created a program that helps to forecast sicknesses that revolutionize the healthcare industry. This startup by far has one of the best pitch decks.
What we love is their real-life successful case studies, among many other important things. Many startups did not show any results even after a prototype had been launched. These guys stood out.
20) IDWall
Another great startup pitch deck is from IDWall, which supplies business security through reliable and automated document validation, identity verification and background checks.
What we love is when they share their tangible growth target ($400,000 by the end of April 2017). Many startups avoid sharing ambitious financial targets. When you present your company’s vision, it instills confidence in the investors which IDwall did successfully.
21) Almabase
Almabase helps schools to engage with all their alumni.
What we love was their impressive start to getting 1 million users onboard within 8 months which was clearly displayed in the pitch deck. This shows the immense potential that can be achieved with this software just by impressions or engaging their big pool of users.
22) Baloonr
Baloonr helps big companies such as Disney and Microsoft to remove bias from group work and perform optimized decision-making.
What we love about the startup pitch deck was really the smooth delivery of information. Remember, less is more. What made this pitch deck example a delight was the sole use of visuals and metaphors at the beginning to engage the audience, and effective storytelling to share their solution.
23) Fingertip Labs
Download Fingertip Labs Pitch Deck
Fingertip Labs aims to create an eyes-free controller for your Music & Apps that can be used while you are driving.
What we love is their introduction using stats that highlight the market’s problem before sharing how their product is the solution. Supplying context to your audience is important; a good start is half the battle won.
24) Open Door
Open Door revolutionizes co-living spaces for millennials in cities using a cost-efficient layout that provides communal spaces, but also privacy.
What we loved inside their pitch deck was the slide that explained the traditional model vs their new model. Having a side-by-side comparison is very visually compelling.
25) Pluto AI
This company supplies analytics for smart water management.
What we loved was that Pluto AI’s startup pitch presentation began with the main problem and went “full circle” by reminding the audience of the same information at the end, making it memorable and capturing attention.
26) iControl
iControl replaces paper with an iPad for efficient documentation during construction projects.
What we love was the interactivity of this startup pitch deck. The slide that shared the problem of too many documents all over the place was shown with many paper images populating all over the slide... brilliant!
27) Claim Compass
Download Claim Compass Pitch Deck
Claim Compass helps users get compensation from airlines seamlessly.
What we love from this pitch deck example is their first slide. They said their value proposition in very few words and used the word “you,” to at once involve the audience.
28) Owlr
Owlr supplies software that companies can integrate to make their cameras smarter, simpler, and more secure.
What we love is the slide that presented the tremendous improvement in consumer ratings after their clients have used Owlr. Without a doubt, this was one of the best pitch decks.
29) EventXtra
EventXtra is a one-stop event management platform for companies.
What we love the most about their pitch deck is that they asked the audience to guess their impact. That pause created excitement and made the results feel even more compelling by cutting down 15 minutes of waiting time to 15 seconds. We’re sold.
30) Card Life
Card Life’s mission is to help teams take control of their subscriptions so they can kick ass at work.
What we love was the achievement they shared, “Top 5 SaaS Product” as listed by Product Hunt in their amazing startup pitch deck. In short, a validation from a trusted third-party name will make your startup’s worth more than if you were to shout it out by yourself.
Superside: The New Way to Get Creative Done
Plug a fully-stacked design team into your business to create unforgettable branding
31) Kompyte
Kompyte helps companies track their competitors in real-time.
What we love about this startup pitch presentation was the smooth delivery from the start to the finish. Their demo about ‘how the product works’ was extremely easy to understand!
32) ChangeJar
ChangeJar is a secure mobile cash terminal that cuts transaction fees for retail merchants.
What we love from this pitch deck was when the CEO said, “No other payment app can make that claim” because that meant that the company had done its research thoroughly, and had a clear value proposition for their customers. Amazing!
33) DataTron
This superb startup found a way to increase data transfer speed by 100x more than the typical enterprise solution in the market.
What we love was exactly that slide that presented their ground-breaking solution, making this one of the best pitch decks to follow. To be honest, VC’s just need that 1 slide that hits the nail on the head!
34) StreamLoan
Download StreamLoan Pitch Deck
This startup helps consumers get home mortgages easily.
What we love was the delivery of the information. The speaker used his startup pitch presentation to support his verbal communication, rather than just repeating or reading off the slides. As simple as it sounds, few speakers can do this, so Kudos to him!
35) Codec
Codec helps brands know what content their consumers want before they spend time and resources building them.
What we love was the use of icons and minimal text in their pitch deck example. Text-heavy startup pitch presentations tend to look cluttered and confusing, so using visuals promotes audiences’ quick comprehension.
36) Trym
Trym is a micro business insurance company that offers its services to SMEs.
What we love was the step-by-step overview demo they used that was easy to understand despite having a complex product (underwriting services), making this one of the best pitch decks.
37) Usetrace
What we love is that the startup seems funny... but they are serious. The use of hand-drawn comical illustration and style is refreshing when everyone else is using a professional look-and-feel. You do need to think out of the box to stand out!
38) BigControls
Download BigControls Pitch Deck
This startup helps companies minimize their compliance risk exposure and stop wasting millions of dollars.
What we love about this wonderful startup pitch deck is the use of consistent, professional illustrations across every slide. Audiences know when you have invested in design (and when have not).
39) Voxeet
Voxeet helps companies experience free high-quality audio conference calling across devices.
What we love: Interactivity. They started off with a video! Interactivity is the in thing this year (2017) because it captures attention unlike anything else, just like how Voxeet’s startup pitch presentation did.
40) Melodics
Melodics is an app that adapts to consumers’ abilities and musical tastes to help them get better at pad drumming, faster.
What we love: the use of familiar associations. Melodics’ use of popular celebrities was basically a way for them to speak in a voice and use examples that their audience could relate to.
41) Unicorn
Unicorn sells skincare for men (like a kick-ass butt mask) and is booming all over Asia.
There are two things we love. Firstly, when they showed their amazing growth in their first year, and secondly when they showed their main product. Showing how your product can be used is a neat trick in a startup pitch presentation.
42) Kiband
Kiband helps parents track their children so that they can explore but not get lost.
What we love was how the CEO made the audience experience (or imagine) why someone would need their product. This technique increases relevance, making it a great pitch deck example.
43) Mojilala
Mojilala is an enabler for artists to distribute their emojis to a global audience.
What we love was the insane amount of growth they had and how they have multiplied their user base with a $0 marketing spend. Investors love to see the ROI, and this startup pitch deck did just that.
44) Pawprint
Pawprint helps pet-owners know information about vets for their pet’s care.
What we love was the visual in their pitch deck to show how 15% vets in the US trusted them. Although the number is not huge, it presents the potential and how their brand has a nationwide presence.
45) Lighthouse
Download Lighthouse Pitch Deck
Lighthouse helps Managers become better Managers.
What we love in this startup pitch deck was the success story of a manager they shared that was relatable and effective. Sharing a real testimony will get your investors to listen.
46) BeaconsInSpace
Download BeaconsInSpace Pitch Deck
BeaconsInSpace helps brands to add a revenue stream from their mobile users without affecting user experience.
What we love about the CEO’s startup pitch presentation was when he shared what they have achieved (how many apps installed, what kind of customers have used them etc.) to show that they are onto something great.
47) Printify
This startup helps entrepreneurs and brands create custom products to sell in their store.
What we loved was how effortless it felt for us to understand their business model. Their use of flowcharts and icons makes it one of the best pitch decks available.
48) TRACEAIR
TRACE AIR is a drone data software that helps to verify construction site work.
What we love is the sharing of epic fail real-life photographs that the speaker shared. Humor is effective in making startup pitch presentations memorable, which makes this a delightful pitch deck example!
49) Cladwell
Cladwell helps millennials keep track of the clothing they have and helps them to buy less.
What we love is that they embraced a new market trend. While other startup pitch decks try to penetrate existing market with newer solutions, Cladwell is not intimidated by emerging changes but provides a new app with great MoM growth.
50) StudySoup
StudySoup helps students get high-quality study materials.
What we love from this fantastic startup pitch deck is really their clear strategy and plan to achieve their ‘$90 million’ goal. Many startups have dreams, but no concrete plans as to how they will achieve them.
51) Facebook
Facebook’s pitch deck should be studied in the annals of marketing history for days to come. What we love about the Facebook pitch deck is their approach to data visualization, which allows them to present their ideas better and with great results.
52) Uber
We all know Uber now, but did you know they managed to raise over $1.5 million in seed funding in 2010 with this pitch deck example? What we love about Uber’s pitch deck is the highlighting of the key pain point, which is the inefficiency of traditional taxis, allowing the audience to understand the company's main goal.
53) WeWork
WeWork raised almost $7 million in seed funding with this pitch deck. What we love about WeWork's pitch deck is that it's considered one of the best software pitch decks out there, allowing investors to understand the problem solved by the business, which was valued at $5 billion back then.
54) Airbnb
What we love about this Airbnb pitch deck is the impressive rate of traction it had to show as a fast-growing company, allowing it to demonstrate the business plan of the company in a very straightforward way.
55) MatterMark
Download MatterMark Pitch Deck
What we love about Mattermark's pitch deck is the use of screenshots to illustrate the problem solved by the business, which allowed them to showcase how disorganized SaaS reporting was and present a great solution right in front of the audience's eyes.
What We Learned From the Best Y Combinator Pitch Deck Examples
There are many tips and tricks we can learn from this list of amazing 500 Startups and Y Combinator pitch deck examples. We can always learn something from the best presentations, and this includes pitch decks as well. To summarize, this is what I’ve learned from each 500 Startups and YC pitch deck example:
- Nail your financials: ROI, MoM growth and potential market size.
- Do not be afraid to share your vision: But with a clear business plan behind it.
- Share success stories: Show prototypes and compelling testimonials to propel user engagement.
- Inject humor: Make them remember you.
- Use visual aids: Flowcharts, icons and infographics help investors to digest data faster
- Create a story: Share the problem and tell them why your startup is the solution
- Build credibility: Showcase your team of experts in a dedicated team slide, your experience and background
- Give yourself an edge: Add a little flavor that makes the brand, product or service “Uniquely Yours,” which will vary depending on your goals.
Pitching With Precision for Pitch Deck Success With Superside
While some argue that a perfect pitch deck is a myth, you're just a step away from success in the ever-changing world of business funding.
Effort, clear information, a defined path and impressive design can make all the difference. Let Superside's expert presentation design team set your pitch deck apart.
Entrust the design to professionals and deliver a presentation that aligns with your company, engages your audience and achieves your goals.
Creative-as-a-Service: The New Way to Get Design Done
Get a dedicated design team that scales with your vision. Want to learn more?