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A long time ago I was talking to the owner of a huge automotive dealership chain about how he manages so many dealerships at once. I assumed there was some sort of interesting management scheme he was applying, but what he told me shocked me.

"I drive to every dealership throughout the week, walk around, and look for little things. Cars that aren't fully detailed, salespeople in back taking a smoke break when they should be on the floor, or a lower amount of foot traffic in the showroom."

He went on to say "Where there's smoke, there's fire. Every little detail that's missed means someone isn't on the job, and that's how I find out where I'm needed." In a world of OKRs, KPIs, and endless operational meetings, this guy ran a billion-dollar c...

Welcome to Phase Three of a four-part Funding Series — The Pitch:

Phase One - Structuring a Fundraise

Phase Two - Investor Selection

Phase Three - The Pitch

• Part 1 - Anatomy of a Pitch (←YOU ARE HERE 😀)

• Part 2 - Market Size

• Part 3 - Revenue Model

• Part 4 - Operating Model

• Part 5 - Customer Definition

• Part 6 - Customer Acquisition

• Part 7 - Funding

• Part 8 - Key Pitch Assets

• Part 9 - Traction

Phase Four - Investor Outreach

Any startup interested in raising money will need a pitch presentation to share with potential investors, and successful startups all have one thing in common (most likely) a solid business idea backed by a convincing presentation deck.

In this article, we will talk about the 10 sections of a pitch and what they include.

Let’s dive in...

Leadership is a popular topic these days. To become a true leader, you need a combination of skills and attributes. Some of these are inborn, to be sure. However, you can develop your leadership abilities as well.

Entrepreneurial success stories often tip a hat to the literature that supports busy business owners through the thick of the business building experience so, of course, we wanted to share books with actionable advice that aspiring entrepreneurs will find helpful on their journey to building a successful business.

Business books that have already helped millions of entrepreneurs can guide you along the way to obtaining a sustainable business, and being the best leader you can be. After all, being a great leader takes effort — and a ...

The Funding Slide in our investor pitch deck summarizes our investment opportunity, including our use of funds, investment amount, and what we want to accomplish in our next stage. Potential investors, from angel investors, to venture capitalists, will zero in on this part of the slide deck to determine their initial investment.

Typically this is the final slide of an investor pitch deck, where we transition from pitching investors to making the big ask.

What do Potential Investors want to know?

Our investor deck should cover three critical factors when we get our "ask slide":

"How much capital? What Round of capital?"

Many investors, from venture capitalists to angel investors, align their investments based on the amount of capital a startup co...

The Pitch Deck Traction Slide helps showcase early traction when we pitch investors. But what kind of traction metrics matter to investors? Let's walk through some common pitch deck traction slide examples showcasing user growth, growing revenue, and scaling active users.

Also, if you're concerned about showing traction in your pitch deck, don't sweat it. We'll show you how to position your traction slides even if you're pre-revenue.

Traction Slide Pitch Deck Formula

The perfect traction slide pitch deck formula incorporates three investor questions into a single slide:

Product Progress + Customer Acquisition + Visible Growth = Traction

The most stunning pitch deck examples incorporate all of these factors into their traction slides. Let's look ...

Of all the slides in a pitch deck, the Market Size slide is what potential investors use as a make-or-break decision. Our "Total Addressable Market" (which is often referred to as the "TAM Slide") is how we calculate the market size of our opportunity. Yet how we present the market size slide and how we do market sizing takes a special approach.

Why do Investors Care about Market Size Slides?

The one rate-limiting factor for a startup is the total addressable market. A startup cannot scale to a size that exceeds the number of potential customers it has in an overall market. Therefore, if an investor can easily see that the total market size for our business is $50 million, then they know even if we had zero competition, we could be no more th...

I often picture this Marty McFly moment where I'm sitting across from my 18-year-old self, this skinny pimply-faced kid who thought he could start an Internet company, and trying so hard to impart the wisdom that cost me decades to share.

It makes me wonder whether there could have been a directional shift if only someone was helpful enough to provide just the right advice at just the right time. It's what I've dedicated my whole life to in helping my fellow Founders, but still, I wonder if I could have helped myself.

If I only had three things I could tell this young fool — what would I say, and how do I think he would have taken it?

Lesson 1: "You have 50 Years"

I never realized how much time you really have to make an impact. When I was ...

The Problem Slide is the single most important slide in our entire Pitch Deck. If we can’t convince an investor to care about our Problem Statement Slide then our Solution Slide isn't going to matter to potential investors.

Everything Hinges on the Problem Slide.

Our pitch deck Problem Slide is the North Star for a winning pitch deck. Our Problem Slide will be what we map every aspect of our investor pitch deck too, from our Competition slide to our Revenue Traction, to our Marketing Plan. The best pitch deck examples absolutely nail the problem slides every time.

How do Most Investors think about the Problem Slide?

Before we begin building the Problem Slide for our pitch deck, let’s think about this slide from the investor’s perspective. This ...

Congratulations! You've made it to the end of our four-part Funding Series:

Phase One - Structuring a Fundraise

Phase Two - Investor Selection

Phase Three - The Pitch

Phase Four - Investor Outreach

• Part 1 - Investor Outreach

• Part 2 - Investor Introductions: How to Get Them

• Part 3 - The Investor Email Pitch

• Part 4 - How to Contact Investors ( ←YOU ARE HERE 😀)

Let’s dive in!

So you've got your list of angel investors, venture capitalists, random private investors, and even your rich Aunt and you're ready to blast all of them with your email pitch...

Please don't! Step.. away.. from.. the.. keyboard!

Most Founders (and we help thousands) wind up tanking their entire fundraising process the moment they hit the "send" button to potential investors. That'...

Funding a startup isn't easy, and anyone that has launched a startup knows this to be painfully true. You need money (like yesterday) and raising funds is "a process" — to state it simply. There are so many details to know and questions to ask before a round can even begin, and once the startup funding round is ready to rock, there are additional questions every founder needs to know the answer to before they take the plunge.

One of the most common questions asked — and arguably most important details to know is how much equity do you give away in seed round? With the help from members of our community, we are going to get into this question in further detail to demystify the information about raising seed capital and the amount of equity ea...