10 Best AI Tools That Create PowerPoint Slides (Ranked & Examples)
A pitch deck is a brief presentation that gives potential investors or clients an overview of your business plan, products, services and growth traction.
As an entrepreneur, you probably know this: your company or idea needs financing.
Oftentimes, this financing will come from external sources—i.e. people who aren’t friends or family. This means that you’ll need to communicate your ideas to potential financiers in a way that gets them excited about investing in your business.
In other words, you’ll need a pitch deck. I'll give you a crash course on pitch decks and answer all of your questions about this topic.
I'll also show you how to create winning pitch decks with real-life examples, do's and don'ts and how to create your own in less than 3 minutes.
And if you’re a visual learner like me, I’ve got you covered. This video will show you how to create a high-converting pitch deck that gets you funding fast.
Here’s a short selection of 8 easy-to-edit pitch deck templates you can edit, share and download with Visme. View more templates below:
A pitch deck is a concise, visually engaging presentation designed to showcase a business, product, or idea to stakeholders. It typically includes 10–15 slides focusing on the problem, solution, market opportunity, business model, financials and team.
Effective decks use compelling visuals, clear narratives, and data to align audiences and encourage action.
It's also known as a start-up or investor slides, and it's a presentation that helps potential investors learn more about your business.
As strange as it sounds, it's primary goal is not to secure funding—it’s to make it to the next meeting.
Surprised? Wait, let me explain!
Securing funding is a multi-step process. A good, informative pitch deck is the first rung on the ladder. You’ll want to present investors with an idea that intrigues them and gets them to engage with you.
A pitch deck presentation usually consists of several slides that help you tell a compelling story about your business. You can put one together using a generic software like PowerPoint or use a modern tool like Visme to create an out-of-the-box presentation.
An investor deck is a presentation entrepreneurs prepare when seeking financing rounds from investors. It presents valuable information about the business, which is critical when seeking financing or looking to convince the best investors.
When faced with busy executives who won't sit through a presentation, opt for a startup one pager as an alternative. It'll help you grab their interest faster and secure a meeting where you can share your pitch.
Interested in learning more about creating compelling investor decks? Read this article and take advantage of our professional design templates to get started.
It’s tempting to dump information onto investors. As a founder, every part of your business is important to you. But the best pitch decks are ones that are short and easy to follow.
A good rule of thumb is to keep your presentation to 19 slides or fewer. While there are different opinions on what to include, we recommend sticking to 10–12 slides to keep your pitch deck concise and impactful.
This will be your “read-only” pitch deck, and you can create a more condensed pitch deck for a take-home deck for investors.
When analyzing successful startup decks, we found that most include 10 key slides
You’re pitch deck should always include the following:
Below we’ll dive into why they matter and how to fully build them out in your deck.
The first slide is also the most important one. It’s your chance to make a great first impression, so make sure you don’t let this opportunity go.
Keep the introduction slide short and sweet—tell people who you are and why you’re here.
You can also use this slide to communicate the value proposition of your business. Try to articulate it in a single phrase or sentence, like:
“We make video games for doctors.”
“We make Happy Meals for adults.”
Or
“We’re Sephora for pets.”
You get the point.
A good value proposition will make your audience sit up straight and want to listen to the rest of your presentation.
If your business idea doesn’t solve an actual problem, what are you doing?
You should identify a problem your target audience faces, a gap that the market is currently not addressing.
Wondering how to explain your startup’s pain point effectively?
A good problem slide will identify two or three problems your product will tackle without being long-winding. Keep the text focused so that investors will have an easy time following.
Airbnb’s ‘problem slide’ from their original pitch desk is a great example.
In this slide, identify a concise and clear solution that investors can easily follow. This is an important slide that makes your product deck captivating.
Airbnb’s solution slide highlights how they aim to solve each of the three problems they pointed out earlier in big and bold letters.
In this slide, identify a concise and clear solution that investors can easily follow.
Airbnb’s solution slide highlights how they aim to solve each of three problems they pointed out earlier in big and bold letters.
Avoid making grand statements like “we are the only ones doing this.” Most people in the room will probably know multiple companies trying to address the problem you’ve identified.
Not sure how to show your product without sounding like a sales pitch?
Another good strategy is to offer multiple possible solutions to the problem presented and then move on to the one you have chosen and why. This shows investors your dedication and research.
Instead of uniqueness, focus your presentation on your research, drive, commitment and capability in solving the problem.
But make sure you don’t put all of that on your slide. Keep it simple and to the point, and let these guidelines shape your entire presentation.
Here's a pitch deck template inspired by Airbnb that you can customize for your own startup.
Visme's AI Writer is a game-changer for crafting pitch decks. It provides clear, concise information, making sure your deck impresses every audience. Just explain the tool about what you want to write and it will take care of the rest.
When creating a sales pitch structure, be sure to include a summary of your market research.
The market will determine if you get your funding or not. If you are operating in a small market, investors might find that the potential ROI is too small or too risky to fund you.
Using sources from your research, a solid market slide will graph out past market growth and future potential market growth so that investors can easily see what the potential of your product is.
A good example of a market size slide is from Lunchbox’s pitch slides.
:source: Image Source
Notice how the slide clearly shows the market size and identifies the opportunity in measurable numbers.
This is the part where you show off the actual product or service your business is selling.
If it’s a physical product, add professional photos of your product from different angles. You can also include exploded or cutaway views that highlight the materials and features of your product.
If your product is an app, online tool or service, consider adding screenshots that show off its most unique features.
Dandelion Energy's product slide includes a comprehensive explanation of their product in a concise and easy-to-understand manner with an illustrated graphic.
:source: Image Source
To take things further, you can also do a physical demo of your product in the middle of your presentation. Or embed a video or link into your slide to do a virtual demo.
Here's a template inspired by TouristEye that you can customize for your own startup.
This slide should be all about the growth of your business—the numbers of sales you’ve made, the major goals you’ve achieved till now and the next steps.
Most startups include a hockey stick growth chart in the traction slide in one of their pitch slides.
This slide in Buffer’s pitch deck is a great example of how you can show off your current achievements to investors.
The traction slide plays a crucial role in crafting a compelling narrative for investors as it reduces risk in their eyes. They want to see proof that your business idea or solution has what it takes to be profitable.
Here's a template inspired by Buffer that you can customize for your own startup.
Your pitch deck outline will include your core team members. The investor is interested in the drive of these people and what makes them unique enough to see this project to its success.
Under each core team member, consider including bullets, descriptions or titles that show why they are central to your mission.
Here’s an example of a team slide from Teton AI's pitch deck.
Keep the members here limited to your core team. Advisors need not be included.
Utilize the competition slide to visually illustrate your competitors and communicate the factors that make your startup special.
Airbnb has a great slide in this regard.
Notice how they use affordability and ease of access as the driving force setting their business apart from other travel or listing companies.
Buzzfeed also does great by showing how they offer more than what their competition can. They use their plan to reach across the aisle and offer the services of multiple competitors as their selling point.
Here's a template inspired by Buzzfeed that you can customize for your own startup.
The financial slide in your deck is one that investors spend the most time looking over.
Your presentation outline should contain your company’s projected growth over the next three to five years, along with details about your business model and finances.
Enlive’s pitch deck does a good job at showcasing their income statement projection in this slide.
The use of colors and a bar chart makes the financials easier to understand and definitely look more interesting than a boring spreadsheet full of numbers.
A lot of this information is not set in stone. No one can accurately predict where you’ll be in the next three years, but investors expect to see you outline your plan and show that you have the financial knowledge to reach it.
You can also explain your economic plan here. This includes your operating structure and distribution channels as well as your plan to make money.
Upload an Excel file or sync with live data from Google sheets
Choose from 16+ types of charts, from bar and line graphs to pyramid and Mekko charts
Customize anything, from backgrounds and placement of labels to font style and color
Before you wrap up, don’t forget to tell investors what you need from them.
But instead of just asking for a certain amount of funding, also let them know what you plan to do with the money.
When you justify your ask, it helps build trust and lets investors take you seriously.
Here’s a no-nonsense investment slide from Intercom’s original pitch deck as an example.
Remember to be strategic here. Let your investors know the amount you are asking for, but keep it real. You don’t want to lose out on a big investment simply by aiming too high. Cover your bases.
Here's a template inspired by Intercom that you can customize for your own startup.
While there’s no universal structure for creating pitch decks, make sure your deck outline contains the slides we’ve highlighted.
When it comes to choosing deck dimensions, you can either use the 4:3 aspect ratio or 16:9 aspect ratio. When emailing your pitch, ensure the file size isn’t larger than 10MB.
Learning from real examples is like getting advice from experts. By looking at what has worked for other businesses, you can better understand how you should design your own pitch slides.
So, here are some good pitch decks and examples that real-life companies have used recently to secure funding.
Finix's deck presents a tailored solution for businesses to manage payments, emphasizing their platform's efficiency and scalability. It effectively visualizes their unique value proposition, revenue model and market opportunity with a sleek and professional design that reflects their purpose well.
Softr's deck uses aesthetic consistency with clear visuals to highlight their no-code platform's functionalities. Their compelling narrative includes discussion on market trends, competitive differentiation and growth plans, capturing the essence of their vision.
Lunchbox is a restaurant technology platform that enhances the customer experience by offering online ordering, loyalty programs, and other digital solutions to streamline operations.
They've cleverly included lots of additional visual elements like icons, illustrations, charts and data visuals in their presentation. Everything in their deck shows how they mix food and technology together.
If you want to elevate your deck's visual appeal using unique and high-quality graphics, like this example, Visme's AI image generator is there to help.
It can help you generate any graphic in different formats, like icons, illustrations, drawings, abstracts and more. Use the tool to generate a high-quality graphic to emphasize your deck's content.
With its sleek, minimalist design, Plum's investor deck establishes its mission to automate wealth management effectively. Their slides are rich with data on target markets, growth strategies and financial projections, reflecting their drive to democratize personal finance. Also, they limited their slides to 9 and still managed to cover enough.
Teton's deck features a clean and professional design, aligning with its focus on cutting-edge AI technology in healthcare. They've used Venn diagrams, charts, shapes and high-quality, relevant images to emphasize their deep learning and computer vision products.
Vue Storefront's deck smartly incorporates its brand color – a refreshing green scheme. This not only aligns with their brand identity but also infuses vibrancy and a distinctive sense of innovation into the design.
They used boxes for text organization to convey clarity and structure, making information easily digestible.
Party Round, with a recent funding of $7 million, is dedicated to simplifying the fundraising process for founders.
This deck is smartly designed with a balanced layout that quietly hints at automation and user-friendliness. The use of big letters boldly captures attention, while adding 3D design elements adds a layer of dynamism, creating a visually engaging presentation that stands out.
The color choice of Dandelion Energy's pitch presentation aligns with the company's focus on sustainable energy, evoking warmth and eco-friendliness. The deck incorporates visual elements such as bar graphs, images, and an illustration to vividly explain how their geothermal product works.
Now that you’re clear on what a pitch deck is and what a good one contains, let’s take a look at some common dos and don’ts for creating and giving powerful pitch presentations.
But before that, make sure you watch the video below on the top pitch deck design tips for creating the perfect startup pitch.
Remember that this is a presentation with a short time span. Make your sales pitch deck brief and to the point.
Don’t overwhelm your audience with a lot of text. Explain the things you want to explain in detail but don’t cram them onto your slides.
As you can see from the examples above, it’s best to have bullets, not paragraphs, on slides.
Furthermore, use large font sizes, lots of visuals and a readable color scheme. This will help you put together an engaging and informative presentation.
Make sure you include your contact information at the end of your presentation to let your audience know who to reach out to for queries.
Here is the contact slide from Facebook’s 2004 investor deck.
This slide also allows your business to have a ‘face’ and encourages investors to look this person up.
In your Team slide, stick to core members. Too many executives can overwhelm; your investors want to know who is piloting the ship.
People remember stories 22x more than facts alone (according to cognitive psychologist Jerome Bruner). Why? Because stories make people feel something—and emotions stick.
A great pitch isn’t just about what your business does; it’s about why it matters. Your audience needs to feel the problem you’re solving, not just hear about it. In fact, a Stanford study found that 63% of people remember stories, but only 5% remember stats.
So, how do you make your pitch more engaging? Try this simple storytelling framework:
One of the best ways to structure your pitch? Use the three-act storytelling method:
Act 1: Setup – Define the Problem
Act 2: Conflict – Introduce Your Solution
Act 3: Resolution – Show the Impact
Investors and decision-makers don’t just invest in ideas—they invest in stories that stick. So ditch the data dump and focus on a narrative that makes them care.
Without a cohesive narrative and a bigger picture dealing with the why of your business and what it will bring to your customers, all your stats sound dry and boring.
Make sure a purposeful narrative runs throughout your presentation, not just at the beginning. The stats are important, especially financial stats, but they aren’t the only important thing.
What is on the slides is important, but so is how you present it.
As you’re speaking, gauge your audience, their interests in the particulars of your business, and what they most care about. Then, tailor your company pitch presentation to their needs.
Tailor your presentation to keep your audience engaged and never just recite what is written on your slides.
Remember, investors can read. The reason this is a presentation and not an email is so you can engage with them.
Creating a startup deck doesn’t need to be difficult. If you’re short on time, you can use a design tool like Visme to put one together in literally just a few minutes.
No more starting from scratch and creating slides one by one. You can simply use ready-made templates and replace the placeholder content with your own.
Here’s how it works.
To get started, sign in to your Visme dashboard and choose a template that fits well with your content and type of business.
There are hundreds of presentation templates in Visme’s library, and they’re all fully customizable.
You can also mix and match slides of a similar style using our presentation themes.
When you find a template you like, click on Edit to start customizing it inside the Visme editor.
You can change anything and everything to fit your content needs. The editor is easy-to-use with drag-and-drop functionality. You can use it even without any prior design experience.
Change colors, fonts and images. Swap icons for relevant ones using our free icon library. Add and customize data visualizations to make boring numbers more interesting. Insert animations and links, embed videos, and more.
You can also add, remove or rearrange slides as you see fit. Use Dynamic Fields to keep your personal, company and other key information accurate and consistent throughout your presentation.
The entire customization process will barely take you an hour if you just replace the placeholder content with your own.
When you’re done customizing your perfect deck, you have the option to either download it to your computer, or share it online using a lin
You can download your deck in image or PDF format, or as a PowerPoint file.
Generate a link to share it privately with specific people, like in an email. You can also publish your presentation on the web so it can show up in search results on Google.
You can also embed the pitch presentation on your company website using a responsive code. Once you’ve shared your deck, you can start tracking analytics to see how many people viewed it or have taken action.
Running out of time? You can generate a complete and captivating startup deck in minutes using Visme's AI presentation maker.
Just describe the type of presentation you want the tool to create and Visme's Chatbot will suggest different template styles. Once you've chosen the most relevant template for your presentation, you can wait for the tool to create the design.
After that, you can preview, regenerate, or open your project in the Visme editor. Once you're sold on the template design, you can further customize it using the wide range of design tools and assets available in Visme.
Here are some frequently asked questions that will help you clear any doubts about creating your pitch deck.
When developing a pitch deck, you should take care of several pitfalls to deliver an effective and impactful presentation:
The ideal pitch deck should be about 10 to 15 slides long. Each slide should discuss critical business aspects, like problem statement, market size, solution, business model, etc. However, the number of slides may change based on your business complexity and target audience.
A pitch deck is a brief presentation to give your audience (typically potential investors, partners, or customers) a quick overview of your business plan. It’s generally used during face-to-face or online meetings and should be engaging, concise and to the point.
While a business plan, on the other hand, is a formal document that details the tactics and strategies you intend to employ to start and grow your business. It covers minute aspects such as your business model, detailed market analysis, organizational structure, cash flow projections, etc.
It depends on your business, but you’ll generally want to choose software that blends the ease of use with cutting-edge functionalities. In that case, Visme is the best software for creating a pitch deck with advanced features like data visualization tools, presenter notes, presenter studio, animated graphics and more.
The cost of making a professional pitch deck can vary depending on whether you hire a designer or do it yourself. Hiring a designer to create a custom deck from scratch could cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.
However, tools like Visme allow you to easily create high-quality decks without design experience or costs. Visme offers free online presentation software with hundreds of professionally designed templates for pitch presentations and other types of decks.
There is no universally accepted classification of investment pitch decks into specific types, but they vary based on the nature of the business or the purpose of the pitch.
However, there are a few common types or themes that companies often use:
A pitch deck is a type of presentation designed specifically to propose an idea, product, solution or opportunity to potential clients, investors or partners. A presentation, on the other hand, is a content format composed of slides, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be used for pitching purposes.
A pitch deck should not include irrelevant information, unrealistic financial projections, unverified claims, technical jargon and overly complex data or slides. You should also steer clear of presenting negative information like potential risks or challenges without offering mitigation strategies or solutions.
A powerful pitch deck can help you secure the funding you need to make your business idea a reality. This article will give you the confidence you need to design and present a killer investor pitch deck.
If you want to learn more about pitch decks and giving great presentations, check out some of the resources below.
If you're looking for an easy-to-use, professional presentation software to help your own, Visme can be just what you're looking for.
Each template is customizable, so you can easily plug in your own content, graphics and brand assets, and download it in PowerPoint or PDF format, or publish it online.
Sign up on Visme for a free account and take it for a test drive!
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