Advice for Startups: How to Nail Your Investor Presentations

A compelling presentation is vital to securing funding from venture capital firms and angel investors. However, if you don’t feel confident designing your presentation, hire a reputable presentation company to do it for you. Presentation design agencies have several years of experience in the role and will craft a presentation that fits your requirements and wows potential investors.

What is an Investor Presentation?

An investor presentation provides a clear but informative summary of what your business plans to achieve. It allows investors to learn more about your venture, including your overall vision, market opportunities, USPs, services, financial information and more. Sometimes called a pitch deck, an investor presentation should not be too long. Investors will receive dozens of pitch decks each week, and you will need to convey your message clearly and concisely if you want to pique their interest.

How to Create an Engaging Investor Presentation

Grab investor attention immediately

Investors are well-versed in sitting through business presentations. They will know whether they are likely to invest within the first few minutes of your presentation. So start your pitch by summarizing what you are going to say. Make sure to explain your market opportunity, the need for your product or service, and how your product or service will transform consumer needs into a lucrative business opportunity.

Be specific

You only have a short amount of time to present to investors. First, however, you must ensure that you provide them with substance. Describe why your business is essential, define and size the market, analyze your competition and explain why your business has the advantage. Then, describe how you would reach your business’s target market effectively. Investors will be intrigued by bold, vague statements, but they also need to hear how you’ll use their money to create real value.

Keep it short

Ideally, your presentation will be around five slides long. Too many slides with too much text may have a negative effect—investors may lose interest if there is too much information to digest at once. Don’t try to cover everything in your presentation. If investors are interested in your venture, they will request more details after your presentation. It is best to focus on the main points rather than drill down into specifics.

Prioritize design

A well-designed presentation will make your business appear professional and reputable. That is precisely why many businesses hire presentation designers to create compelling, aesthetically pleasing presentations that hold investors’ attention. Presentations are typically created using platforms such as Prezi, Keynote and PowerPoint, meaning they are customizable, which gives you the option to make changes later if necessary. A badly-designed presentation will make your business appear unprofessional and disorganized.

Practice your pitch

It is true what they say; practice does make perfect. Run through your presentation several times to make sure that you speak clearly and know what you are going to say. It is best to limit the amount of time you spend looking at your slides, as you need to be making eye contact with your audience. Nothing is worse than a presenter that does not make eye contact and instead stares at the screen behind them. In contrast, a presentation delivered in a natural and confident way will positively impact potential investors. It’s also wise to write down a list of questions ahead of time that you think you might be asked. Then, make sure to devise a meaningful, informative answer to each just in case you are asked those specific questions.

Include a call to action

End your investor presentation with a clear call to action, such as the amount of money you are seeking to raise. In the minutes before your final call to action, you will have explained how the money will be put to good use. Additionally, you could end the presentation with an invitation to a one-on-one phone call to discuss the matter in more detail.

Let your passion shine through

Venture capital firms and angel investors are looking to give their money to someone passionate about what they do. Therefore, a good presentation will showcase how passionate you are about your venture. If your pitch does not energize your audience, your business will unlikely receive any investment.

How to Nail Investor Presentations

Creating a compelling investor presentation is an intimidating task, but it is vital that you get it right. A clear and well-designed investor presentation will establish credibility, outline goals and challenges, showcase USPs and examine the market to demonstrate the value of your business’s product or service. An impressive presentation could be all that stands in the way of your startup receiving that all-important funding. That is why many companies work with a presentation design agency to create engaging and informative presentations that keep investors interested.