11 critical elements of a business plan pitch

Your business plan pitch deck should cover the following topics. In some cases, you can change the order around, and /or use more than one slide for each element, but make sure to cover them all. I’ll go through each of these in much more detail in posts to come, and in my upcoming book.

1. Strong team. (You’ve got the right people for the challenge.)
2. Attractive market. (The market has the right size, growth and trends.)
3. Customer needs. (Customers have proven, critical, and unmet needs.)
4. Positioning. (A tight synopsis of your company’s reason for being.)
5. Product/service. (Overview of your offering.)
6. Marketing approach. (How you will attract customers.)
7. Business model. (How you will make money, and unit economics.)
8. Competition and risk. (Top obstacles / threats, and how you’ll preempt / react to them.)
9. Implementation plan. (What you’ve done so far, and what you’ll do next by phase.)
10. Financial projections. (How, when, and to what extent money will flow out and in.)
11. Financing round. (How much money you need, when, for what, where it will get you, and how investors will benefit.)

You should also create backup slides, which I’ll cover in another post.