Investment deck: what to include and how to make your case clear

Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time helping founders develop investment decks. One thing comes up repeatedly: deciding what goes on the slides is often easier than answering the questions behind them.

Who needs what you’re building? What evidence shows they will pay for it? Why is this the right team to build the business? And what would investment allow you to achieve?

Your deck needs to help an investor understand those answers. Good design makes the story easier to follow, but it cannot fill gaps in your thinking.

Here’s how I would approach it.

Start with why you’re raising investment

Before opening a presentation template, be clear about why you want to raise money.

What will the investment make possible? Will it help you test an important assumption, build the product or expand something that is already working? What should be different in the business once you have spent it?

There is a difference between needing money to keep going and having a clear case for how investment will help the business progress. You need to understand which situation you are in and explain it honestly.

Also consider whether the funding route fits the business you want to build. Raising venture capital brings expectations about growth and returns, alongside changes to ownership and decision-making.

Fundraising takes founder time too. Think about who will keep customers, the team and day-to-day decisions moving while you focus on the raise.

Know how your deck will be used

A deck you present and a deck someone reads without you have different jobs.

For a live pitch, use clear headlines, useful visuals and enough information to support what you are saying. Avoid making the audience choose between reading a dense slide and listening to you.

For a deck sent ahead, provide enough explanation for the investment case to make sense on its own. The reader should not need you to translate every chart or fill in missing context.

You can use an appendix for supporting detail, rather than squeezing everything into the main presentation.

There is no special slide count that makes a business investable. Keep the main story focused and follow any guidance the investor has given you.

What should an investment deck include?

The order will depend on your business and stage. Use these questions to build the story rather than treating the list as a set of boxes to tick.

1. What does the business do?

Start with your company name and a clear explanation of what you do, who you serve and the value you provide.

Someone unfamiliar with your sector should be able to understand the basic proposition. A broad mission statement rarely does that job on its own.

2. What customer problem are you solving?

Explain who experiences the problem, when it happens and why it matters enough for them to act.

Show how customers deal with it today. That might involve a competitor, a spreadsheet, manual work or simply putting up with it.

Use evidence from customer conversations and behaviour wherever possible.

3. How does your solution help?

Show how the product or service changes the customer’s situation.

A simple example, screenshot or short demonstration can make this clearer than a long feature list.

Focus on the outcome the customer values and explain what you have actually built.

4. Why is this an opportunity now?

What has changed to make this possible or more relevant?

That could be customer behaviour, technology, regulation or a shift in how an industry operates.

Explain the connection to your business rather than listing trends because they sound impressive.

5. What evidence do you have so far?

Show what you have learned and achieved at your current stage.

That might include paying customers, repeat purchases, retention, product usage or the results of a pilot. Explain what the figures mean and over what period.

Keep important distinctions clear. An interested prospect is not a signed customer. A free trial is not revenue. A successful pilot does not automatically demonstrate repeatable demand.

6. Which market are you targeting?

Be specific about the customers you intend to reach first.

A large industry figure gives context, but it does not explain how your business will win customers.

Show the size of your initial opportunity, how you estimated it and where expansion could come from.

Make the assumptions visible.

7. What alternatives exist and why would customers choose you?

Include direct competitors and other ways customers solve the problem.

Explain the differences that matter to buyers. “Better service” or “easy to use” needs evidence to mean much.

You should also be able to discuss what could make your advantage difficult to copy as the business develops.

8. How will you make money and reach customers?

Explain who pays, what they pay for and how pricing works.

Then show how you find and win customers. What have you tested? Which routes are producing results? What remains unproven?

If sales depend heavily on your personal network, acknowledge that and explain how you intend to develop beyond it.

9. Why is this the right team?

Show the experience and capabilities that matter for the business you are building.

Relevant customer knowledge, technical ability and experience delivering results are more useful than a slide full of job titles.

Be clear about gaps too. Explain which roles you need to add and why they matter for the next stage.

10. What do the finances show?

Present the figures that help an investor understand the business: current performance, cash needs and the assumptions behind your forecast.

Separate historical results from projections. Make sure the numbers in your deck agree with your financial model.

The useful question is not just how quickly revenue rises. It is what needs to happen for that growth to be achievable and what happens if progress is slower.

11. How much are you raising and what will it achieve?

Connect the amount you are raising to a plan.

Explain where the money will go, how long you expect it to support the business and which milestones you aim to reach.

“Hiring and marketing” describes spending. Investors also need to understand the progress that spending is intended to produce.

Finish with clear contact details so the reader knows how to continue the conversation.

Be confident about the evidence and honest about the gaps

You do not need to pretend you have removed all uncertainty. You are building a business, so there will be things you do not yet know.

What matters is distinguishing between:

• What has already happened.

• What the evidence suggests.

• What you still need to test.

For example, “Customers love our product” says very little. A clear account of who uses it, whether they return and what they pay is much more useful.

Where you use external research, include the source and date. Where you make a forecast, explain the assumptions.

Confidence comes from understanding your business well enough to discuss both its potential and its risks.

Make the deck easy to follow

Give each slide a clear purpose. Use readable text, labelled charts and language your audience can understand.

Keep important terms and figures consistent throughout. If you describe customers one way in the deck and another way in the financial model, you create avoidable questions.

A designer can help communicate your story once the substance is clear. Before that, polished slides can make it harder to notice that the underlying argument still needs work.

If you want another reference, Sequoia’s guide to writing a business plan offers a useful set of questions for an investor presentation. Use examples and templates to challenge your thinking, then build a deck that fits your business.

Test what people understand

Send the deck to someone who can give you useful, candid feedback.

Ask them to explain back:

• What the business does and who needs it.

• Why customers would choose it.

• What evidence supports the opportunity.

• What the investment will enable.

• Which questions remain unanswered.

If their explanation differs from what you intended, you have something useful to improve.

Founders who have raised from similar investors can also help you understand the questions to prepare for. Their experience is a reference point, although your business and circumstances will be different.

Give yourself space to think before you pitch

Developing an investment deck can expose decisions you have been putting off: which customers to prioritise, how quickly to grow or what kind of company you want to lead.

Those questions deserve attention before they become slides.

If you would value space to work through your growth plans, investment decisions and what the next stage will demand of you, explore working with me through founder coaching and mentoring.

Cheers,

Duncan