Building your pitch deck can be a right pain, especially when there are a million different versions out there that you could copy. Before you dive into the mess, remember this; your pitch deck has a job to do. Don’t get in the way of it delivering the right message to your potential investors – stick to these 4 important tips when building your pitch deck.

1. Your first pitch deck is always going to be terrible

Well, perhaps not terrible, just really…mediocre in hindsight. But that’s a good thing. We always look back and groan, but nothing is ever designed to be static. What you’re currently doing right now is one step in a thousand steps to get your start-up off the ground. It shouldn’t be the finished polished best-ever pitch deck of your life. Instead, it’s got to be good enough to get the job done.

2. Don’t spend a fortune on designers

Don’t try to counteract your shoddy numbers and shortcomings by getting some clever creative to add a splash of colour and some transitions. Keep the look clean and easy to consume. Save your pennies and pounds and focus on making sure your numbers stand out above all.

3. Keep it short and sweet

Your pitch deck is not a 100-page word-dump of all your ideas. It’s your vision in a sentence and it’s the bottom line of your business; you’re here to secure funding because you’ve got an idea that’s going to work. Use your pitch deck to deliver the most important bits. Forget the frills.

4. Social proof it

The power of social proof is one that was harnessed by multiple mega corps in their early pitch decks. Show off that you’ve got an experienced CFO or product manager on your management team.

Struggling to get started? You can throw together the basics in as little as 20 minutes with Numberslides. Don’t put your pitch deck off.