The Guy Kawasaki Pitch Deck Method

What’s the recipe for the perfectly executed pitch deck presentation?

According to pitch deck guru Guy Kawasaki, it all comes down to the 10/20/30 rule.  

A good startup pitch deck shouldn’t have more than 10 slides. Sounds difficult? We will drill down the format below, and don’t forget a Serie A pitch often has as much as three times the statistics than usual, which may extend it to as many as 24 slides.

Make sure your pitch is short and to the point. In essence, it shouldn’t take longer than 20 minutes to present. Leave the rest of the time for discussions and Q&A. Lastly, a seamless pitch deck should be engaging and interest-provoking to all your potential investors. 

Also, make sure you don’t use too much text. That’s what 30 stands for: keep your text in 30 point font or bigger.

So how do you create a perfect pitch according to Guy Kawasaki? The answer lies in a mere ten slides outlining your business.

Slide 1: Title

When introducing yourself to investors, it is important to make your pitch deck title simple and to the point. In addition, a proper pitch deck title should include your company name, address, email, and contact number.  

Slide 2: Introducing the Problem, Offering a Solution

Ideally, you’d want to present a problem that personally speaks to your investors.

Follow this up by proposing a solution for it i.e. your company and/or product. The offered solution should be precise, clear and scalable, which is what investors are ultimately looking for. 

For clarity, you can create a separate problem and solution slides. Still, you will likely get a little over 2 minutes to present each slide, so avoid suffocating your pitch with excessive information.

Lastly, understand that while you may not be the inventor of this solution, you are creating a new way to approach a certain problem.  

Slide 3: Market/Value Position   

A successful pitch deck entails recognising the market value and comparing its current and potential growth. Most big-league investors won’t invest in a market with a value lower than $1 billion, because they are usually aiming at pitches to earn them 10 times their investment within the next 5-7 years.

Moreover, most investors are interested in ideas that can essentially reshape the way consumers respond to the market. In other words think market disruption in the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Uber and IKEA.

Slide 4: Underlying Magic/The Secret Ingredient

How will your product/service help the market, your investors and your community?

The best way to present a product or a service is by highlighting its advantages and nuances in a practical manner. Instead of boosting content, introduce viable product/service demographics, charts — or better yet — prototypes.

Slide 5: Business Model

How does your business create, deliver, and capture value, in economic, social, cultural or other contexts? This is the engine of your business and essentially tells the investor how you will make your revenues, so make sure this slide explains your business rationale and logic to your audience.

Slide 6: Go-to-market plan

How will you popularize your product among potential customers?

In essence, a well thought out go-to-market strategy should include all steps in which you will present your product or service to your determined target audience. The goal of composing this strategy is to ensure both maximum exposure and profitability in the market.

During the initial stages, you likely won’t be able to afford to create a sales team, which is why you will have to form partnerships of interest and find related sources to help you reach out to potential customers. Social media and organic growth is a big part of this, so make sure you demonstrate a digital marketing savvy plan. 

Slide 7: Competitive Analysis

A precise diagram of your business competition will paint your investors a detailed picture of the market they are funding.

Therefore, it is best to prepare a list of values that make your company unique (see value proposition), especially when compared to the rest.  

Slide 8: Team

Whilst your technology might be state of the art, and your business model disruptive, you cannot do it without a skilled team. This is where you sell yourself as founder(s) and the people around you.

Prepare a list of all team members, including the board of directors, advisors, confounders and key investors. To do that, use bullet points and list all members’ major achievements.

Slide 9: Financial Projections & Key Metrics 

Create a three-year financial projection plan, where you will list all fund sources, money raised, and other relevant metrics, such as conversion rates, customer count, etc.

Likely, you will be expected to deliver a fresh progress report every three months. To keep things organised, prepare a summary spreadsheet, including all relevant information.

Slide 10: Current Status, Accomplishments, and Usage of Funds

For this slide, consider doing an elevator pitch, thus promptly and precisely explaining the present status of your product/service, your professional accomplishments, and methods used to raise funds.

Et voilà! You did it!