You are getting ready to pitch at demo day. Congratulations on making this far in your business where
you are ready to start fundraising. At demo day you really want to make sure you leave a lasting
impression on the investors who are present. It is important to remember that on demo day you are not
likely to receive a check in your hand from an investor. What you want to do during demo day is to leave
a lasting impression so they will want to follow up with you. Unfortunately, you are going to have
distressingly short time to do this which is about 5-10 minutes. So, you need to use every minute of your
pitch wisely. To help you to do that, I am going to share with you the most crucial elements you need to
include in your demo day pitch.
Your Story
Just like any other presentation, your demo day presentation is a story. Your pitch should tell the story
of your company by stating the problem, solution, market opportunity, and the product you are
building. The very best demo day presentations have 4 core qualities:
Clarity-the presentation is clearly and simply presented
Excitement-the opportunity is compelling; it demands listeners pay attention
Informative-it teaches listeners something they did not know
Memorable-you story stays with the audience; later they can recall who you are and what you
do
Important Points in Your Pitch
These are the main points you want your pitch to answer. Answering these questions will pique the
interest of investors.
What are we building and for whom?
Why hasn’t this been done before?
Why is it hard to do what we are doing?
Why is this an opportunity not to be missed?
Organization of Your Pitch
Demo day pitches usually follow a consistent structure. Here are the slides you want to make sure you
include in your pitch deck.
Slide 1: Cover This slide is also the opening or title slide. On this slide you want to make sure you include
company name, company tagline, inviting picture that showcases your company’s brand, name, contact
information.
Slide 2: Summary/Value Proposition This slide is your company’s overview which is also the “elevator
pitch” version of your deck. This slide should contain your value proposition. The value proposition is
one sentence that states your problem, solution, client, and product. You want to mention the industry
you are in and the trends in your industry that your company will be riding. If your company has had
great traction, you can mention your traction. Mentioning traction early on can be an excellent way to
standout and pique the interest of investors.
Slide 3: The Problem Great way to introduce the problem you are solving is to lead with a story. It can
be a story about how you came up with the idea or a customer’s story. To this effectively make sure you
have clearly defined who your target audience is for your product/service. List what problems you will
be solving for this audience on the slide.
Slide 4: The Solution Identify the solution you will be solving for customers. After showing your solution,
you can do a product demo.
Slide 5: The Product Do a product demo. Show how your product or service works. Remember do not
give a complete tutorial on your product. The purpose to let the audience know what your product or
service is.
Slide 6: Business Model On this slide show who your customers are, the size of your target market, and
how your company will make money.
Slide 7: Market Size Show and tell the size of you target market.
Slide 8: Competition/Your Unique Advantage Show who are your competitors are. Compare and
contrast yourself with your competitors.
Slide 9: Go to Market Strategy Show how you reach your customers and which customers you will be
targeting first.
Slide 10: The Team List your executive team members. Include their titles and a short description of any
valuable experience.
Hope you found this article helpful in preparing for your next pitch. If you need help with constructing
these slides listed above and designing your pitch, we would be happy to help. We will walk you through
the details of your pitch and write your content for you. Schedule a free consultation to learn more
about how we help make sure you are prepared for pitch day to raise the funding your company
deserves.
If you are preparing a pitch deck for an investor meeting, click here to view our blog “What Core Slides to Include in My Pitch Deck?”