Having a project and great ideas in your head is good. Having the money to finance their implementation is better. When you start to prepare a fundraising, the question of the pitch arises quite quickly. There is bunch of examples on the Internet, but it is not always easy to distinguish between them when you are new to this exercise. So what is the difference between a pitch and teaser deck ?

The startup pitch is a very coded exercise. In a context of increasing number of startup and DemoDays where dozens of startups pitch in a few minutes in large rooms, the startup pitch has become a structured discipline, with its research literature and experts.

When we hear the term “pitch deck” it can be considered a general presentation or principale deck, a presentation used for investors. However, there are variations in pitch deck, depending on where you display them, how you share them, and how you use them, like the “Teaser Deck”.

Is it necessary to create different pitch deck versions?

We believe the answer is yes. The reason for creating teaser decks is that each one should serve a different purpose. What is meant to attract attention briefly and very publicly is not necessarily applicable to what finalizes a funding round.

1. Teaser Deck

We’ll start with the shorter version, the teaser pitch deck. In it, you can share your startup’s basics with pretty much anyone you want: from impressing it with your young nephew to posting it on social media.

A teaser deck is a standalone document that’s consumed by itself without a presenter. In most cases, it’s read in one or two minutes, and the goal is to create enough interest for a follow up. It is not a sales pitch.

The image shows a computer with a sample slide

Teaser slides include quicker definitions of your problem, solution, and slide to market. It also includes a quick rundown of your team, as well as your startup’s trajectory to date. In other words, a teaser does not fit into your detailed financial data or confidential information. It is simply a very quick overview of your business.

Remember that teaser decks are meant to be read by themselves. Anyone who watches your teaser should be able to fully grasp it without you showing it to them, and they should be able to cover it within a minute or two of browsing.

1. Lead with the opportunity resulting of the actual problem

2. Share your target market and market size precisely with relevant data

3. keep financial details out of your teaser

4. Get the core team in context

Keep your teaser deck short with a maximum of 4 content slides. Remember that your audience won’t spend more than a couple of minutes on it.

2. Pitch deck

Other scenarios, like investor demand, require you to have the main pitch deck ready. They usually want to know a little more about your business than what’s on a teaser.

However, this request is not limited to this. Investors will actually try to get a picture of your business based on the major deck documents you send. There is so much information about pitching the way you do business that the main thing is more deck than what we tend to accept.

This is where adherence to known ideals for creating a paid pitch deck system. If you do your homework, you’ll find plenty of ideas for the sections that an effective pitch deck includes.

The reason you need to have the main deck separate from other pitch deck formats is precisely to show on these occasions that you are professional and serious about a great business opportunity. Think of it as a committed business card for venture capitalists, to some extent; a deck card that will start conversations about fundraising.

3. Corporate deck

There will be a time when more and more information about your business will naturally need to be shared, and this more comprehensive format of a pitch deck should help you achieve that goal as the discussions about your fundraising cycle begin to turn. more and more serious.

Prepare them by making a fuller pitch deck version, including business model details, before entering the fundraising cycle scene. This will save you considerable and much needed hours of sleep.

image contains team slide of company presentation

Fully share your pitch decks

We recommend that you share the only pitch decks with investors who are serious about doing business with you. Be careful not to give too much information about your private business to someone who is just playing games and wasting your time. There are unfortunately many people who serve as RCs, but they just don’t have the means or the experience to do so.

Differentiating between a reputable investor and one who is not can be difficult, but let interest in your business be manifested in the frequency of email exchanges and meeting needs.

Ultimately, being able to do this difference will be part of your business knowledge, but the advice we can give you now is to keep an eye out for those who waste your time and never really complete an investment cycle. Some of these so-called “entrepreneurs” sometimes try to get into an apprenticeship.

On the other hand, for investors with a good reputation (and we hope you will do as much research on people interested in your business as any serious entrepreneur), sharing your experience as you go along. Funding discussions progress should not be a problem.

Slidebean has interesting sharing and collaboration functions for your presentations, which will allow you to follow their performance.