Creating the ideal pitch deck, whether it’s for closing a massive enterprise sale or raising your first investor dollars, is equal parts art and science. As a former founder at WeVue, I raised money from angels and venture capitalists, and I created countless iterations of pitch decks there as a young, early-stage founder. Likewise, we sold B2B software, so I was also constantly creating and pitching our story to potential investors and customers. 

As a venture capitalist, I’ve had the chance to sit on the other side of the table and review thousands of decks. While there are some great guides out there to building pitch decks, like those from Guy Kawasaki (we used this when I pitched investors), Ycombinator, and Venngage, I think some miss what actual VCs want to see. So, I sat down and put together a deck that outlines what I think a pitch deck for entrepreneurs pitching VCs needs to look like. 

The deck I put together outlines both the slides I believe are the most powerful and useful and the order that usually tells the best story. Make sure to always follow the Big 3: Tell Stories, K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid), and use visuals. If you do these three things, I can’t promise an investment, but I can promise you will deliver a kick-ass pitch. Good luck and remember a no from one investor doesn’t mean anything, it just means you need to keep on pitching!

I am going to start creating more of this entrepreneur and investor-based content so if you have any thoughts on what else I should write about hit me up on Twitter @saxonbaum.