A good business deck is a must for any founder looking to make a good business case amid their stakeholders. It helps you streamline your thoughts by starting with a clear message, using visuals to tell your story, focusing on the problem you’re solving, keeping it short and sweet, and ending with a strong call to action, which helps in creating a compelling and engaging business case that captures investors’ attention and generates interest in your business.
That said, creating a good business deck in just 5 minutes is a misnomer. It’s a marketing gimmick for social media campaigns, rather than actually possible. Creating a successful and engaging business deck requires a significant amount of time and effort, as it’s an essential tool for communicating your ideas and gaining investor interest. A good business deck is holistic, and provides a 360 degree view of all the aspects that a business requires and will possibly achieve during its operations. A good plan also captures the risks that a business runs and deviations from the key milestones as some of the important variables and their effect on the business.
However, there are a few tips and tricks that can help you streamline the process of creating a business deck and make it more effective.
In this article, we’ll explore some of these techniques to help you create a compelling and effective business deck in a relatively short amount of time.
- Start with a clear and concise message:
The first step in creating an effective business deck is to determine your core message. What is the main idea that you want to communicate to your audience? This message should be clear, concise, and easy to understand.
To help clarify your message, consider creating a one-sentence summary of your business or idea. This summary should capture the essence of your idea in a single sentence, and it should be easy for anyone to understand.
For example, if you were pitching a new social media platform, your one-sentence summary might be: “We’re building a social media platform that connects people based on shared interests, rather than just social connections.”
By starting with a clear and concise message, you’ll be able to focus your business deck on the most important points and avoid getting bogged down in unnecessary details.
- Use visuals to tell your story:
Visuals are an essential tool for creating an engaging and effective business deck. Rather than relying solely on text to convey your message, use images, graphs, and charts to help tell your story.
Visuals can help break up the text and make your deck more visually appealing. Additionally, they can help to illustrate complex ideas and data in a way that’s easy for your audience to understand.
When creating your visuals, be sure to keep them simple and easy to read. Avoid using too much text or cluttering your slides with too many images or graphics. Instead, focus on using visuals that support your core message and help to convey your key ideas.
- Focus on the problem you’re solving:
Investors are always looking for businesses that solve real-world problems. When creating your business deck, be sure to focus on the problem you’re solving and how your solution is different from existing solutions in the market.
To effectively communicate the problem you’re solving, consider using customer quotes or testimonials to illustrate the pain points your customers are experiencing. Additionally, use data and statistics to support your claims and show that there is a real need for your solution.
By focusing on the problem you’re solving, you’ll be able to demonstrate the value of your solution and show investors why your business is a worthwhile investment.
- Keep it short and sweet:
When creating your business deck, it’s important to keep it short and to the point. While you may be tempted to include every detail and piece of information about your business, it’s important to remember that investors have limited attention spans.
To keep your deck short and sweet, consider using a template or pre-made design to help you organize your content. Additionally, try to limit the number of slides in your deck to 10-12, and aim to keep each slide simple and easy to understand.
When presenting your deck, be sure to practice your pitch so that you can deliver your message clearly and concisely. By keeping your deck short and to the point, you’ll be able to capture investors’ attention and keep them engaged throughout your presentation.
- End with a strong call to action:
Finally, it’s important to end your business deck with a strong call to action. This call to action should clearly communicate what you want investors to do next, whether that’s scheduling a follow-up meeting or investing in your business.
To create a strong call to action, consider using a slide at the end of your deck that summarizes your key points and invites investors to take action. This slide should include your contact information and any relevant next steps, such as scheduling a meeting or providing more information.
Additionally, be sure to follow up with investors after your presentation to keep the conversation going. Send a thank you email and provide any additional information or data that investors may have requested. By staying in touch with investors, you’ll be able to build relationships and keep them engaged in your business.
Remember to practice your pitch and follow up with investors after your presentation to keep the conversation going and build relationships that can help your business succeed
