As with all fundraising, every pitch deck tells a story. VCs look at hundreds of presentations every year, hoping to find that mythical unicorn with million-dollar potential. You have mere minutes to grab their attention. Here's what you absolutely have to include in a winning pitch.

💀 The problem. Demonstrate the scale and urgency of the problem you’re solving. Articulate the pain point by associating it with a large number of customers and describing the significant losses in terms of productivity, time or money. Cite recent, credible data to support these statements, and you’re ready to make the case for your solution. 

💎 Product & value proposition. Investors aren’t interested in a long explanation of your product. So don’t spend too much time on that. Instead, simply outline how your solution will solve the problem. Specifically, describe its core functionality and how it creates compelling benefits to customers. State it succinctly and connect it clearly to the problem you have already described.

⚜️Traction and validation. Show, don’t just tell. Demonstrate your progress with concrete evidence:

• Developed MVP

• Market validation

• Completed beta testing

• Customer feedback

Focus on your successes and obscure your less impressive details. This will boost your efforts to win trust from readers and persuade them that you really are making the progress you describe. 

🃏 Market size and potential. Growth is highly coveted by investors. What is your market, what is its size, what are the current forces increasing demand, what do you know about the market, and what relevance do you see for your growth? Investors wish to see that you understand the market structure and potential for growth. There is lots of buzz and facts about market size.

🔊 Competition. Never say you do not have any competition. There are always alternatives to an idea in the market. Use this to your advantage. Sell the differences. Spell out your competitive advantages, unfair advantages and moats. Go on about how you are different from the rest. 

🎢 Go-to-market (GTM). Your GTM plan matters. VCs want to see how you’re going to bring a product to market and scale it efficiently. While there may be space for some ‘growth at any cost’ approaches in 2024, it will be contingent on clear, strategy-oriented GTM plans with evidence of competitive moats. 

🏦 Business model. Your business model slide is foundational. Describe your revenue streams in detail, but don't get bogged down in the details here. Start by explaining how your startup is going to make money in general. Include all your revenue streams & the value that you create. What is your general strategy for making money & where do you plan to monetise your income streams? While your monetisation strategy may evolve as you learn more about the market, this slide should give a high-level view of your revenue plan.