Here are some instructions to build a world-class pitch deck for a venture capital fund. To start, if you have a bad Thesis, you will have a bad presentation. Start by refining your Thesis until 1 in 5 people that you pitch your Thesis to express interest in investing.
When you are ready to build your deck, keep your slide design clean with a simple and mostly white background. Use 1 or 2 word titles for each slide following the slide structure. Ensure that the content of every slide matches and supports your Thesis.
Below is a list of the different slides needed. We recommend that you follow the guidelines exactly to build the early versions of the deck, then refine the presentation with feedback from pitching LPs.
NECESSARY SLIDES:
- Title: Displays the name of the fund, date of last update, and contact information of key individuals.
- Thesis: Provides the one sentence investment Thesis.
- Team: Introduces Managing Partners with a picture and three short bullets on each.
- Team (Continued): Introduces Partners and Venture Partners with a picture and three short bullets on each.
- Value Add: Describes the unique value that the fund offers to portfolio companies to generate LP returns.
- Market: Demonstrates the market attractiveness through a simple chart, table, or statistic.
- Track Record: Showcases 1-3 relevant deals with logos, few word descriptions, value added, and markup achieved.
- Pipeline: Highlights 1-3 potential deals by sharing a general overview of the company without sharing specifics.
- Allocation: Tabulates the number of deals by stage along with estimated investment, valuation, and ownership details.
- Returns: Exhibits anticipated returns from hypothetical portfolio companies categorized by exit sizes.
- Liquidity: Illustrates up to three projected fund outcome scenarios using multiple or IRR, possibly through a pie chart.
- Economics: Provides a table outlining fund economic terms like Minimum Investment Amount, Management Fees, and Carried Interest.
- Thank You: Provides the fund's tagline, target closing date, and contact information for the General Partners.
- Disclaimer: Contains legal disclaimers to mitigate liability.
OPTIONAL SLIDES:
- Deal Warehouse: Highlights 1-5 completed deals that will be transferred into the fund with company logos, brief descriptions, relevance to thesis, and investment terms.
- Strategy: Describes how you will access the market for the best returns.
- Operations: Explains any unique operational processes or systems.
- Competition: Identifies relevant firms focused on the same markets with differentiation points.
- Partners: A list of partners, possible as a logo pile, to improve the credibility of the fund.
- Advantages: A list of items that help the fund to stand out.
- Appendix: Houses updated old slides or additional research and data pertinent to the market segment.