This article was taken from the November 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
A good pitch-deck is vital if you're trying to persuade investors to back your startup. Just ask payment-network Dwolla, which raised $16.5 million (£10 million) in a Series C round this April with the help of an 18-slide PowerPoint. Cofounder Ben Milne, who admits his first pitch-deck had around 80 slides and hundreds of bullet points, shares what he's learned about making a winning presentation. You can see the pitch here.
Get graphic
Dwolla's pitch includes a simple flow-chart of "How credit cards work", followed by one showing "How Dwolla works". Milne explains that diagrams demonstrate a technical process to investors who may not have specialised knowledge: "You want to talk about the things you do differently, at a level that somebody can look at it for a few seconds and say, 'OK, I understand that.'"
Show off the product
If you have a physical product, Milne advises demonstrating it as soon as you've covered the basics -- about ten minutes into the pitch. "Just close the damn deck and show the product," he says. "The product is more valuable than any words." A slide titled "Product demo" is a useful reminder to cut to the chase. Don't besurprised if you never get back to re-opening the PowerPoint.
Keep your details brief
"I'm a college dropout from a small school in Iowa," says Milne.
He argues that your background isn't as important as your product, and will likely come up later in conversation anyway. Include a brief description of your company's leadership, but don't lead with your CV. Keep the focus on the product, "because that's what you're going to be building for the next five or ten years."
Make sure it's simple
Rather than trying to compare Dwolla to PayPal, Milne's pitch deck describes it simply as a payment network. "Pitches need to be as simple as possible," he says. "Stop trying to make things sound more complicated or glorious. Just say what it is." You want to define your product, say how it's different from existing offerings, how big the market is and who's going to build it.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
