
First impressions matter. The way you shake the hand of a potential employer or introduce yourself to a prospective partner sets the tone for the interaction; possibly even the relationship.
Pitching is the art of the good impression. In business, that means telling the story of your customers, the problem they’re facing, and how your business solves it for them. But the story is only part of the equation—visual storytelling in your presentations is crucial to getting your message across. Enter the pitch deck: giving your story a visual boost that leaves an impression that sticks around when it’s time for customers or investors to make a decision.
There’s a delicate balancing act in the perfect pitch deck. Not including the right information could lose you potential investors, essential venture capital, and future customers. Including too much information can overwhelm your audience, making your pitch fall flat.
If you’re new to pitch deck building, this article will show you what to include in your deck and how to build one. You’ll see examples of pitch decks that hit the mark for customers and investors.
If you’re a seasoned veteran of pitch deck building, you’ll learn how to create more polished decks. You’ll pick up valuable tips on how to build a better deck that impresses investors, customers, or promotes buy-in for your products and services.
Let's Dive in
7 Things You Can’t Afford to Leave Out of Your Pitch Deck
Do’s and Don’ts of Pitch Decks
Pitch Deck Templates Prepare You For Success
What Is A Pitch Deck?
A pitch deck is a presentation made to convince someone to invest in your business, become a partner, or purchase your services. More substantial than an “elevator pitch”, pitch decks are used to show who you are, what problem you’re solving, and who you’re solving it for. If you’re using a pitch deck to gain investments, you’ll also include financial information like your budget, revenue projections and profit margins.
Pitch decks for investment frequently outline the risks and rewards of investing in your company. If you're selling your services or attempting to win another company's business, a pitch deck can also include your service or product and the previous work you’ve done with similar clients.
The best pitch decks speak for themselves. You might not be there to guide a potential investor or client through your pitch, so your deck should be able tell your story as well as you can in your absence.
7 Things You Can’t Afford to Leave Out of Your Pitch Deck
Great pitch decks are defined by their design. They’re visual storytelling devices, and they can make or break a pitch. It doesn’t matter if you’re using PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Apple Keynote—strong designers can use those blank slides to create a pitch deck that is concise, easy to follow and compelling.
Here are 7 must-haves for an effective pitch deck. Each pitch will be different, so consider your audience, goals and allotted time as you build your own.
1. Who You Are and What You Do
The “why” behind your business is as important as the business itself. Briefly include key details about yourself, your team, and why you do what you do. This might seem like a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised how many decks begin with bare statistics. Start your pitch deck with a concise story of what your product, business, or solution does and why you care about the problem in the first place.
Starting with this essential information is informative and humanizing. It shows investors what you’re all about, and gives them a sense of the person/people they’ll be working with.
2. Who Has The Problem You’re Solving
Whether you’re pitching to investors or customers, a pitch deck is built around the customer’s perspective. Can your pitch audience see themselves in that group? Do they have that same problem? Your pitch deck needs to convince viewers that A) the problem is real, and B) there are customers willing to pay to have that problem solved.
3. Benefits of Working With or Investing In You
When creating a pitch deck, always remember, WIIFM–or What’s In It For Me? In business, the “me” is potential investors and customers. Viewers need to see your business as a golden opportunity, and one that demands action. What are the benefits of working with or investing in you? Is your product or service going to save them time or money? Is it going to make their lives easier or better in some way?
Each slide or statement in your presentation should make clear the benefits to the person sitting in front of you.
4. Success Stories and Proof Points
One of the best ways to showcase your product or service is through success stories and proof points. If you’re a startup, do you have beta or early customers who can validate your product or service? Having customers say your product works and they will continue to pay for it is one of the best ways to show investors your business has potential for growth.
Case studies and testimonials give your audience a real-world example of how you can help them. If you are looking for potential investors, include examples of those already invested in your company.
5. Future State of Your Business and Industry
Your product might be amazing—but what will your industry and customer base look like one year, five years, or even a decade from now? Great pitch decks provide your audience with a data-backed view of what your market looks like in the future. Your deck should answer these questions:
- What industry challenges are you planning for?
- How many competitors are in your space? What are their strengths and weaknesses?
- Are there partnerships that you want to build to drive sales, product development, or distribution?
This is your chance to show investors that you have a clear vision for where your business is headed in the years to come. Include data like growth metrics, capital and sales estimates to support your claims. Investors or potential clients want to feel safe in your hands and sure of the benefits of working with you in the long term.
6. Audience Involvement
How can your pitch deck’s audience be involved in growing your business? If your pitch deck is for investors, tell them how their investment will help you grow, scale, and succeed. If you’re pitching to potential customers, show them the benefits of working with you.
While every slide or statement in your deck should imply benefits to your audience, this is your opportunity to call them out directly.
7. Moving from Pitch to Partnership
What steps will you take, and what steps should your audience take to continue your relationship? As you wrap up your pitch, include the following:
- Thank your audience for their time and attention.
- Follow up with any promised materials or information.
- Ask for feedback, either via survey or in-person.
Post-pitch, take note of what went well and what could be improved next time. Connect with any new contacts you made during the presentation, and follow up where appropriate.
Do’s and Don’ts of Pitch Decks
Now that you’ve got your deck’s structure down, here are 6 Do’s and Don’ts for connecting with your audience.
Do: Keep It Clean And Simple
In showbiz, the goal is to have your audience always wanting more. Business isn’t much different: You want to provide your audience with enough information to make them want to continue the conversation, but not overload them. Whether that’s getting investment or closing a sale, say more with less. Stick to the essential information and use visuals that support and propel your statements.
Don’t: Include Unnecessary Slides
In the spirit of the suggestion above, look for anything that can be cut. Anything that’s obvious, has been said already or doesn’t support your main points should be saved for another conversation. Focus on the most critical aspects of your business, and avoid getting bogged down in the details. Ask yourself whether you’d need to know this to consider another person’s business.
Do: Hire Professionals to Build Your Deck
Unless you are a presentation wizard, it’s best to leave the design and development of the deck to professionals. This could be a team of designers within your organization, or a dedicated design partner. Develop the actual content and information yourself, but leave “making it pop” to the professionals.
Don’t: Use Default Templates
Tools like PowerPoint and Google Docs come with built-in templates. They’re great for school presentations, but when you’re putting together a pitch deck for investors or customers, your pitch deck must represent your brand and vision alone. Dedicated design teams are best at imbuing brand identity and voice into your pitch deck.
Do: Practice Your Presentation
Though you may know your company inside and out, practicing your presentation ahead of an important meeting is essential to mastering the flow and tempo of your story. Practicing can also help you find holes or gaps in your storytelling, and prepare you for any questions you might get.
Make a list of the questions you don’t want to be asked and have answers for them. It helps take the stress out of pitching.
Don’t: Linger Between Slides
Good presentations are as much about energy as the material itself. Don’t dilly dally between slides—silence or awkwardness can make people feel uncomfortable, and it hurts the flow of the presentation.
Even if something goes wrong, keep the story moving.
Pitch Deck Templates Prepare You For Success
Finding a pitch deck template that suits your presentation can save you time, effort, and frustration. Fortunately, a quick internet search will show thousands of great pitch deck examples. Have a look at a few examples of incredible pitch decks, and check out some of these sources for unique templates to help you get started.
Building a perfect pitch deck can be as time-consuming as it is necessary for success. If you’re an ambitious company, your focus should be on growth. Professional designers are unparalleled when it comes to building pitch decks—let them build your presentation while you build your business.
Sofie is an SEO and content specialist. From being a journalist at your daily news television broadcast, to producing films and writing travel blogs; she has ended up at the more technical side of content and has a nose for sniffing out the creative pieces that will make your competitors look like digital noobs.
When not busy operationalising Content, she is happily cooking up a storm, hiking through the mountains or searching for the best flight tickets to her next travel destination.
You may also like these

25 best sales deck examples from top brands in 2025
Forget everything you know about corporate sales decks. Today, the best presentations are dynamic, story-driven and designed to win attention from the very first slide.A sales deck (or sales presentation, pitch or pitch deck) is more than a visual tool. It’s a strategic narrative that clarifies value, addresses pain points and builds trust.For ambitious enterprises, a superb sales deck isn’t optional. It’s essential.But how do brands create sales decks that stand out, even when their in-house teams are stretched to the limit? They turn to sales presentation design experts (that’s us) for persuasive decks and look to industry leaders for inspiration.To help, we’ve curated 25 of the best sales deck examples, unpacked what makes them effective, and included a few insider tips to help you craft presentations that truly sell.
35 enterprise creative presentation ideas for inspiration in 2025
Good presentations are permanently crucial in the corporate world. They improve communication and decision-making, engage audiences and simplify complex information, which helps influence stakeholders and achieve key business goals.Unfortunately, many corporate slide decks fail to engage or inspire their audiences. In fact, 79% of people say most presentations are boring, making it too easy for listeners to tune out.This is hardly surprising when you consider that 78% of creatives feel overwhelmed by routine tasks, leaving little time for them to conjure up captivating presentation ideas. Fortunately, many enterprises are starting to outsource creative services such as brand redesign and presentation design to reliable design partners that can make them at scale and with the consistency and creative excellence that just the top brands know.Whether you’re looking for presentation design ideas, the best presentation design partner or a skilled pitch deck agency, you’ll find what you need on this page. If you prefer a DIY approach, we also show you here the top AI presentation makers and free business PowerPoint templates to set you off on the right track.
12 best presentation design agencies to use in 2025 (update)
It doesn’t matter how great your pitch is: If you can’t communicate your ideas clearly, they won’t get the attention they deserve.But creating an impactful presentation takes more than throwing a few bullet points in the direction of your favorite presentation design app. Designing effective presentations is an art form that requires excellent visual storytelling, graphic design and (most often) motion graphic skills. Additionally, slide decks almost always have to be produced under a deadline.Need someone to assist? Many presentation design companies specialize in creating customized, on-brand slide decks and templates you can use across business divisions. But there’s an even better solution: A partner who can attend to your ongoing presentation and other design needs around the clock.Read on to find out how a presentation design agency can help you, why you should choose a good creative partner, and which top presentation design agencies to opt for in 2025.