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Great businesses are built on making great deals; and creating the best pitch decks with a branded pitch deck design is an integral part of presenting your startup to the people and institutions that can make great deals happen.
Startups are fundamentally different than other types of businesses. Although they are relatively young in age and smaller than enterprise organizations, they hold the potential for explosive growth. Take a new pizza shop as an example – no matter how successful they are and how great their product is, it is not a startup because it is not designed for quick and rapid scale. As Paul Graham of Y-combinator emphasizes, a key to a startup is its ability to grow.
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Fundable startups sit in between the idea stage and the explosive growth – they have proven that there is a high potential for growth, but have not yet realized that growth. Usually, the thing preventing these startups from scaling widely is a lack of resources; they need all the help they can get to convince an investor audience that their growth potential is a real and likely possibility. While a strong presenter is necessary, nothing helps support an investor pitch like an awesome startup deck.
Great pitch deck slides can’t be tossed together in a rush. The best slide decks are a mix of science, persuasion, and art – using each slide as another stroke of paint on the canvas. It can be tough to create a winning pitch deck without some inspiration, so here are 20 of the best pitch decks that we’ve seen over the years and the reasons we love them!
1. Castle
Castle is an innovative real estate solution for rental property owners. This startup lives by the slogan, Put Your Properties On Autopilot! and exists to help owners manage their properties without the usual headache of being a landlord. Castle serves a niche target market so you may have never heard of them; but still, they have one of the strongest pitch decks and one that you can definitely learn from!
Here’s why we love it:
If you don’t know what a pitch deck is, Castle is a good representation of what a proper presentation looks like. Here’s what we like about it:
- The pitch deck has a modern and exciting design with visual aesthetics that draw in the audience.
- Starts off immediately by identifying the problem – “Rental property owners want to make money without the work of being a landlord.” This immediately gives investors an idea of why a solution needs to exist.
- Uses simple icons to explain each point, making it easy for the viewer to digest. Great pitch deck designers know how to give an incredible amount of information without cluttering the slide.
- Leads viewers into a strong and concise elevator pitch – “Automate landlording through software and on-demand labor.”
- Provides an easy-to-understand growth plan that showcases historical growth as well as projected future growth.
As of date, it is reported that Castle has raised around $3.3 million in investor funding.
2. Adpushup
Adpushup is a unique startup that has streamlined the process of optimizing ad placements. The solution allows publishers to optimize their ads by testing different ad placements, sizes, and types. While the design of this sample pitch deck is extremely minimal, the data they were able to display was critical to their funding success.
Here’s why we love it:
- Traction slide shows rapid growth using impressions as a metric. By focusing on this metric, they are able to show that while revenues may not yet be established, there is already a high demand within the market.
- Includes a case study that shows the effectiveness of the product. Case studies aren’t just gold for potential customers, they also help sell your pitch to potential investors!
- The Milestones slide shows how the Company quickly grew from a weekend project to 10 million impressions in only a one-year time span.
- Amazing pitch decks aren’t just well-designed, but they clearly state where the business started, where they are currently, and where they are going in the future.
It is estimated that Adpushup has raised approximately $632,000 to date.
3. LinkedIn
(Click image to view pitch deck)
LinkedIn’s Series B pitch deck is an oldie, but it is a must-read for anyone looking to build a strong pitch. Although this deck is quite long and thorough, it is a great example of how a seed funding round pitch deck may differ from a VC pitch deck for a Series B round of financing.
Here’s why we love it:
- Because they had to explain how the internet works and predict how users would use the internet in the future. Remember, this was 2004! There are many factors that played into this explanation from online search to online payment – and all of these trends needed to be explained to prove why LinkedIn was the right solution for the problem.
- It clearly detailed their first priority – establishing the network; and furthermore, explained exactly why this was important to their ability to scale rapidly. Winning pitch decks identify how the funds will be used to progress the business and push it to the next level.
- LinkedIn’s deck showed how their actual growth far out-scaled projected growth, proving to investors it’s enormous.
In total, LinkedIn has raised over $154.8 million in investor funding and was valued at $352.8 million when they went public in 2011. This pitch specifically led to a $10 million from Greylock Partners.
4. Canvas
Canvas is a business solution that allows corporations and organizations to digitize their paper assets. Their goal is to rid the world of paperwork by transitioning business processes into mobile apps. When it comes to the best startup decks, Canvas shows us how to use imagery and simplicity to get the point across.
Here’s why we love it:
- They start the pitch with simple visuals that show how all of our processes, from listening to music to reading, have become digitized over the years.
- They provide statistics to show how their application has helped high profile businesses like Pepsi and Healthtronics; giving them instant credibility.
- They use a clever strategy to compare competitors by showing that they focus on “why” while competitors focus on “what.”
Overall, the GoCanvas startup has raised approximately $24.1 million in investor financing.
5. SickWeather
Sickweather is an app that analyzes data to predict and forecast population health. The app claims to accurately predict illness outbreaks 91% of the time and 2 weeks before the CDC on average. This sample pitch deck shows how important credibility is – especially when your clients are some of the most respected brands in the world.
Here’s why we love it:
- It includes a pitch video. While this wouldn’t be included in a presentation deck, it works fantastic for pitch decks that are sent via e-mail or posted to online platforms for viewing by potential investors.
- Early on, they provide a list of previous clients. These clients are extremely well-known brands, which immediately gives the startup a high level of credibility and authority. Graphs showcase impressive growth in monthly recurring revenue, giving the startup a great argument for rapidly rising projections and forecasts.
To date, Sickweather has raised approximately $2.6 million in investor funding.
6. Match Box (Tinder)
Match Box was the original name for the globally recognized
dating app, Tinder. Although there were many dating apps in the market, Tinder was able to succeed by adding a gamification aspect – allowing individuals to swipe left or right to express interest or to pass on another user. Match Box’s startup deck shows how to balance creativity and simplicity to win investors over.
Here’s why we love it:
- Its extremely simple but it uses a real-world scenario to
explain the problem (fear of rejection) and the solution (Match Box). - It gives an under the hood look at what the app will offer.
- It shows a clear monetization model – and although it has changed significantly since this pitch deck was created, it at least let investors know that the founders had considered how they would create revenue.
In September 2016, Tinder received an investment of $1.4 million. Since then, the company has been acquired on three separate occasions.
7. Airbnb
If you’re an avid traveller, there’s no doubt that you are well aware of what Airbnb is. Founded in 2008, Airbnb is a web service that allows people visiting another city to book rooms from locals.
Airbnb offers a classic marketplace style application – for those traveling, it offers a streamlined process to book a room, which is often easier and cheaper than booking a hotel. For “hosts”, or those renting rooms, Airbnb makes it easy to find renters and generate income from their properties.
With an effective pitch deck, they were able to convey their advantages against the competition and express their unique market positioning.
Airbnb’s pitch deck, on the other hand, is the perfect representation of effective simplicity. They start by explaining the customer problem (the price of hotels, and etc.) and then use statistics to prove the market potential. Only after the problem is presented do they begin talking about the solution itself.
In this deck, very little attention is given to the actual software. There is only one slide that gives details about the software, putting the majority of the attention on the market and their plans to bring the solution to consumers. The solution itself only has seven words, “Search By City. Review Listings. Book It!” This is what makes it one of our favorite pitch decks. Many times, entrepreneurs spend too much time talking about the product itself, and not focusing on the things that are important to investors – the strategy and the potential to generate a high return on investment.
This pitch deck was one of the very first that founders Brian
Chesky and Joe Gebbia had ever created as new entrepreneurs. However, even with their inexperience, they were able to raise a $600,000 seed round, led by Sequoia
Capital. As of today, they have raised over $4.4 billion.
8. TeaLet
Tea is one of the world’s most popular commodities, reaching a
record production high of 5.95 million tons in 2016. However, the supply chain process that brings the product from the farmer to the individual consumer is extremely inefficient. This is mostly due to “middlemen” within the market that drive up prices for the final consumer. As a result, farmers have to deal with low-profit margins and consumers get stuck drinking lower-quality tea at higher costs.
TeaLet exists to change this scenario. By using blockchain
technology and a web-based app, they directly connect tea growers with wholesale buyers and retailers. As a result, they have been able to more than triple the profits of tea farmers
while making it cheaper and easier for consumers to purchase high-quality tea.
Furthermore, they have an amazing pitch deck that combines fine design with the perfect story.
Here’s why we love it:
TeaLet’s pitch deck doesn’t waste any time. Their pitch deck
starts off by displaying their strongest metric – We’ve sold 100,000 cups of tea in 20+ countries. A major traction statement like this grasps the audience’s attention from the beginning, and immediately gives them credibility, even as a
early-stage startup.
One of our favorite qualities of this pitch deck is the use of hard numbers. Sure, they give you the what, which is the TeaLet app; but they focus even heavier on the why, and use hard numbers to prove the market opportunity. By showcasing
certain market activities, like the purchasing of a similar competitor by Starbucks, TeaLet creates ‘fear of missing out’ (FOMO) amongst investors who are viewing their pitch.
Finally, there’s one thing that obviously stands out against many other startup pitch decks – the design. While it is quite design-heavy, their design choice greatly adds to the messaging of the pitch deck, as opposed to distracting from it.
As a result of their awesome pitch deck, TeaLet managed to
secure a $240k seed round from investors.
9. Moz (SEOmoz)
Moz, formally known as SEOmoz, is a SaaS company that provides a suite of inbound marketing and SEO tools. Moz was founded by Gillian Muessig and SEO influencer, Rand Fishkin in 2004 and transitioned officially into SEO SaaS software in
2008.
By the end of 2017, Moz was serving approximately 36,000 businesses from around the world. During this time, over 168 million URLs were crawled through the software with over 4.3
million keywords researched.
Building a leading software solution like Moz is no easy feat. To secure the investment they needed to survive, Moz put together a strong pitch deck that impressed investors.
Here’s why we love it:
Today, Rand Fishkin is like the Michael Jackson of SEO – if you’re a marketer, you’ve likely watched one of his hundreds of videos. However, Moz’s pitch deck shows where the business started and how Rand (and his mother) built up the company year over year without outside resources.
Moz was able to showcase how they built the business with free traffic through inbound marketing. By succeeding with these methods, Moz validates its abilities; since its software helps clients grow with the same methods.
This pitch deck is a bit longer than standard. However, at the time this pitch deck was developed, Moz had already raised initial seed funding and already had quite a bit of traction. In later rounds, additional slides are often needed to effectively showcase the growth of the business and to prove its potential.
With the help of a strong pitch deck and a rapidly growing
product, Moz was able to raise $29.1 million raised over 5 funding rounds.
10. Front
Front is the first inbox meant for teams. Through the software,
emails can be organized in a single place, routed to different individuals, and discussed through a chatbox for better collaboration.
Front launched in 2013 and quickly grew its dominance in the corporate e-mail space. Today, the Company serves over 5,000 businesses and has hired over 100 employees.
Here’s why we love it:
Pitch decks have come a long way over the years. Front
incorporates several elements that make the pitch deck easier to digest; elements that you likely won’t find in some of the older pitch decks (like Facebook or LinkedIn’s deck).
For example, Front uses a plot graph to showcase how each competitor fits into the landscape. This graphic element is easy on the eye and allows the slide to explain a complex concept with very little text.
This use of graphics continues on with charts and graphs used throughout the deck. Traction and growth are clearly showcased but each slide maintains a minimal and clean appearance.
Since its inception, Front has raised over $79 million in
venture funding.
11. Mixpanel
Mixpanel is an analytics provider that tracks and monitors
web and mobile apps. With it’s toolset, app owners can compare new campaigns with A/B tests, execute user surveys, and more.
Here’s why we love it:
We added Mixpanel as one of the best pitch decks because
of its simplicity. Compared to other pitch decks, it is rather minimal, using mostly text.
Mixpanel provides a great storyline that keeps readers interested. It begins by clearly stating what the problems are in a single sentence. Then provides the solution with a simple sentence.
With a dark non-distracting background and white font, the message stands out clearly. Instead of cluttering the slides with many ideas, each slide contains a single but extremely strong concept.
To date, Mixpanel has raised $77 million over 5 investment rounds.
12. Facebook
(Click image to view pitch deck)
If you are old enough to remember the launch of Facebook,
you may recall that it launched as “thefacebook” first. Assuming that you’ve lived under a rock under the last decade – Facebook is a social media platform that was launched by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004.
Today, Facebook is available everywhere around the world with over 360 million users. Furthermore, the Company has gone public and is now valued at an estimated $140 billion.
Here’s why we love it:
Facebook’s pitch deck is almost like a dinosaur now, as the startup landscape has changed so much since it was developed. Gone are the days when lines and lines of text were used on a slide.
However, Facebook’s pitch deck was successful in showcasing exactly what the platform is, how it was launched, and how it gained traction by spreading from one school to the next. Every few slides, they add in a media quote that further validated their impact and showcased their traction.
Facebook raised over $1.3 billion before going public in 2012.
13. Buzzfeed
(Click image to view pitch deck)
BuzzFeed is a popular internet media, news and entertainment company that has brought new trends to digital journalism.
Founded in New York by Jonah Peretti in 2006, BuzzFeed focuses on viral content including articles, lists, videos, quizzes and more.
BuzzFeed has exploded over several years and now hosts several brands including Nifty, Goodful, As/Is, and Tasty. As of 2018, BuzzFeed Video’s YouTube channel had generated more than 13.8 billion views and had over 17.2 million subscribers.
Here’s why we love it:
What we love most about BuzzFeed’s pitch deck is the way they used screenshots of the platform throughout the deck. Not only were the designs used to describe what the solution was, but they were also used to display other information, such as the revenue model.
Furthermore, the Competitive Analysis slide was well-designed. Instead of showing how it differed between competitors in both the advertising and media sectors, it showed how it was the perfect cross of both industries together.
The BuzzFeed company raised over $496 million and went through five acquisitions since its inception.
14. Ooomf (Crew)
Ooomf first launched in 2012 as an app discovery platform. Shortly after raising it’s first half a million, the Company decided to pivot to become a marketplace for freelancers doing work on
various web and mobile projects.
Now, Ooomf is Crew, the first marketplace where handpicked creators can work on the projects they love. Creators on the site have been hired for projects by some of the world’s largest companies including Apple, Google, Uber, Dropbox, and more.
Here’s why we love it:
Ooomf made our best pitch decks list due to its ability to tell a story in such a minimal way. Each slide is fantastically designed with little text. Graphics are used to show how easy it is to create a project on the platform and freelancer quotes were used to showcase the potential for those seeking freelance work.
Ooomf (Crew) raised $9.9 million from 14 investors before being acquired by Dribbble.
15. Task.ly
Task.ly is a task management tool that helps professionals organize and manage their work lives. With the app, users can track progress on projects, collaborate with team members, meet due dates and more. The software was created to replace
unorganized sticky notes, emails and tracking docs with one simple platform.
Here’s why we love it:
First, let’s start out with what we don’t love about it. It’s 28 slides, and that’s around double the recommended number of slides. However, even with so many slides, the pitch deck can be flicked through pretty fast since there is very little content on each slide.
Each slide uses graphics, but the graphics are well placed. Instead of just acting as decoration, graphics are used to better
explain concepts. The slides that use text do so sparingly – most slides have less than six words.
It is unknown whether Task.ly was able to raise funding, and if so, how much they were able to raise.
16. Pendo
Pendo is a company that allows businesses to learn how customers behave while on a website or mobile application without the need for coding. With the platform, users can monitor page loads, click, focus, form submits, and more. Once enough data is collected, insights are drawn to increase user engagement.
Here’s why we love it:
Series B pitch decks are often much longer than early-stage pitch decks. By this stage, the business has covered more ground and met more milestones. This means that more information must be represented.
When it comes to design, Pendo’s presentation was one of the best pitch decks we’ve come across. Effective pitch decks
aren’t always pretty, but Pendo managed to squeeze a great deal of information into their slides without compromising on
design.
Furthermore, Pendo used visuals wisely – inserting graphs and charts to quickly explain concepts with very little text.
$108.3 million over 7 funding rounds and 2 acquisitions.
17. Coinbase
Coinbase is a secure platform that makes it easy to exchange digital currency – more specifically, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others.
As one of the largest cryptocurrency trading platforms, Coinbase earned revenue of over a billion dollars in 2017. Since it’s launch in 2012, Coinbase has grown to offer cryptocurrency
transactions and storage in over 190 global countries.
Here’s why we love it:
Coinbase had a major hurdle in front of them when creating their pitch deck. Many investors didn’t know what cryptocurrency was at the time, and they definitely didn’t know what problems existed.
What makes this a great startup pitch deck is its ability to explain exactly what was wrong with other solutions (too difficult to use) while showcasing why it was the right solution to that challenge. Furthermore, it was able to prove demand by showcasing strong and rapid growth in user registrations and revenue.
Coinbase has raised over $547.3 million over 9 funding rounds and has gone through 12 acquisitions.
18. Contently
Contently is a solution that strives to address the three key elements of content marketing: strategy, platform, and storytellers. The platform combines expert content strategy, a content marketing platform, and a global talent network to make
content marketing easier than ever.
Today, Contently serves over 200 enterprise clients; has a
freelance community of over 140,000 writers, filmmakers, and designers; and has paid out over $40 million to its freelance community.
Here’s why we love it:
This Series B financing deck starts with strong statistics that showcase the market problem that exists – brands are unable to
meet their content marketing goals. Contently uses screenshots of the actual platform to showcase its effectiveness and uses logos of current clients to display traction.
With an effective pitch deck, Contently raised around $19.3 million in capital over seven funding rounds.
19. Yaydoo
Yaydoo is a procurement automation platform that allows companies to streamline their purchasing process. With Yaydoo,
businesses have the opportunity to negotiate with several vendors at one time, and with one click. Furthermore, the platform allows these companies to save in recurring purchases and reduce the effort of their team.
Here’s why we love it:
With only 9 slides, Yaydoo was able to get their point across and showcase the potential of their solution. The first slide is the most effective slide, which displays how much was achieved in sales over two years and showcases logos of clients they have
worked with. Showcasing this traction up front drives curiosity from viewers.
Yaydoo raised money during one single funding round, but it is
unknown how much they were able to secure.
20. Backstartup
Backstartup is an all-in-one platform that allows startups and SMEs to manage their legal, accounting and payroll.
Backstartup was launched in Columbia in 2014 and now
employs over 50 team members.
Here’s why we love it:
Backstartup’s investor pitch deck is another example of great design choices. Using pops of colors and visuals, this deck starts with the market size. Then, it goes right into the product and the amount of traction achieved to date.
This pitch deck is only 11 slides, but each slide effectively captures the details of the business with a design that is visually impressive and easy on the eye.
With an awesome pitch deck, Backstartup was able to raise $905k over three investment rounds.
Elements of a Fundable Pitch
Deck
Combined with an impressive presentation, a pitch deck is essential for successful fundraising. A great idea (or budding startup) with a sloppy presentation or pitch that leaves key questions unanswered has little to no chance of persuading investors to part with their dollars. An average idea with a great pitch deck will have greater potential. The sweet spot of a pitch, however, is when you have an awesome and proven idea, a confident pitch and a memorable startup pitch deck that sells.
When it comes to pitching, competition is thick. Startups use all the ammunition they have – number of users, monthly growth, revenue, feature concepts, prototypes, MVPs, usage feedback, and anything else that will help prove their case. The best pitch
decks provide an organized presentation that allows the founders to perfect the right arguments, in the right order, with the right visual tools to create the maximum effect.
Pitch decks can help you raise some serious capital if done right. Take a look at the infographic below to learn everything you need to know to create a successful pitch deck.
