Mastering Pitch Deck Creation for Web3 and Cryptocurrency Startups

For those with ambitions of starting their own crypto startups, having the right set of tools to navigate the initial stages of development and secure necessary funding is of the utmost importance. 

Among these tools, Pitch Decks stand out as a crucial element. Pitch decks involve the art of storytelling and skillfully presenting the most compelling aspects of your project to secure funding from investors. Let’s explore the factors of a successful pitch deck and examine some successful pitch decks from the past.

What is a pitch deck?

A pitch deck is a communication tool that helps tell the narrative of your company and its goals through the use of digital slides (using tools like Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint.)  A Pitch Deck primarily aims to outline your company’s core concepts and demonstrate why your project will win in the market. 

Among its many uses, one of the most prominent is during fundraising endeavors, to secure support from angel investors, venture capitalists, or crowdfunding platforms. In such cases, the pitch deck is the central document for conveying the business’s potential and captivating potential investors.

Other uses for a pitch deck

Although the main goal of Pitch Decks is to secure funding, the neat arrangement of information in a pitch deck –encompassing your company and its objectives– holds significance for a range of other uses, including:

• Sales and Business Development: Sales teams often utilize pitch decks during meetings with potential clients or customers to present their products or services. It helps illustrate the product’s features, benefits, and competitive advantages, convincing prospects to purchase.

• Partnerships and Collaborations: When exploring partnerships or collaborations with other businesses, a pitch deck effectively highlights the synergies, mutual benefits, and potential growth opportunities from joining forces.

• Internal Presentations: Pitch decks are also employed for internal purposes, such as pitching new ideas to company stakeholders, seeking approval for projects or budgets, or providing updates on progress and achievements.

When should you create a pitch deck?

The perfect time to start your pitch deck is at the inception of your project. During the process of developing your project, you’ll encounter various pieces of information at different stages, such as your market analysis, competitors, and more. Maintaining your pitch deck as an ongoing document is highly recommended, enabling you to seamlessly incorporate information as you come across it. 

Moreover, having a pitch deck becomes really helpful when you’re at the point of having a beta version or minimum viable product (MVP). This lets you effectively explain ideas connected to a working product.

Key slides in a pitch deck

It’s common practice to keep your pitch deck between 10-15 slides, but you can have more or fewer slides depending on your project’s needs, and the wants of investors. Let’s take a look at the key slides included in a pitch deck:

• Clear and Engaging Cover Slide: The cover slide is the first impression of a pitch deck, setting the tone for what’s to come. It should be visually captivating and include the company’s logo, name, and tagline.
  • Also make sure to Include:
    • Large Text
    • Images
    • Contact Info 

• Company Introduction (Elevator pitch): The company introduction provides a brief background of your project, and its mission. The point of an elevator pitch is to explain the what how and when of your project in a concise way. 

• Problem Statement:  What is the value proposition of your company? What’s the problem it aims to solve? Clearly articulating the problem and who you’re intending to help, aids investors in understanding the pain points the company addresses, making them more receptive to the proposed solution. 

• Unique Value Proposition and Market Opportunity: This section covers the unique value proposition of your product and the market opportunity it addresses. This must encompass the market’s scope using industry data. In situations where there aren’t any projected market sizes available, research and surveys are required to formulate a precise estimation.

• Product/Service Showcase and Demonstrations: This section showcases the core product or service, highlighting its features and functionality. Including product demonstrations, screenshots, or visuals can effectively illustrate how the offering works. Product showcases are more important, the earlier you are in your journey, as you won’t have all the metrics to make the story complete. 

• Business Model and Revenue Strategy: The business model explains how the company plans to generate revenue and sustain profitability. This includes the pricing strategy, revenue streams, and any unique monetization methods employed. You should differentiate your current revenue streams and the revenue streams you planning to work into your offerings in the future. 

• Competitive Analysis and Market Positioning: A comprehensive competitive analysis is crucial to understanding the market landscape and positioning the company strategically. This section outlines the company’s key competitors, strengths, and weaknesses. It’s essential to effectively communicate the company’s edge over competitors, setting it apart from current solutions, and illustrating the reasons behind its strong position for success in the market.

• Go-to-Market Strategy: A go-to-market strategy is your blueprint for introducing a new product into an established market. There are two primary types of GTM strategies:
  • The sales-led GTM strategy relies on marketing efforts to generate excitement about a product, capturing this interest through content and demonstration presentations.
  • On the other hand, the product-led GTM strategy leverages the product itself to attract and keep users engaged.

• Market Traction and Growth Metrics: Presenting market traction and growth metrics demonstrates the company’s progress and success in the market. Metrics such as user acquisition rates, customer retention, revenue growth, and market share help validate the company’s potential and attract investor interest.

• Management Team and Expertise: The management team slide highlights the key members of the team, their qualifications, and relevant expertise. Demonstrating a strong and experienced team boosts investor confidence in the company’s ability to execute its plans effectively, and is a key factor that investors look at. Investors are known to invest in people more than the idea itself, sometimes. 

• Financial Projections and Funding Ask: Financial projections provide a glimpse into the company’s financial future, including revenue forecasts, profit margins, and growth projections. The funding ask specifies the amount of capital the company is seeking and how it will be utilized to drive growth. When asking for funding, it’s common to provide a breakdown of what the funds will be used for whether it’s hires or the cost to run the company. 

These slides can be merged or arranged in various sequences to suit your project’s requirements, which can change depending on your company’s development stage. As you successfully secure additional rounds of funding, you have the opportunity to refine and enhance your pitch deck, ensuring its relevancy for obtaining increased funding. 

Let’s explore some successful pitch decks, and how they helped teams secure funding:

Winning Pitch Decks

Reserve Protocol

• In June 2018, the “Reserve Protocol” aimed to create a stable cryptocurrency that works like regular money. This project received support from influential figures such as Peter Thiel, Coinbase, and others. The project’s main goal is to develop a decentralized cryptocurrency that uses smart contracts to stabilize its value by locking up other crypto assets. The project raised $5 million in a seed round, focusing on building partnerships rather than accumulating capital. The Reserve protocol’s unique approach involves using external crypto assets to maintain a stable value, which sets it apart from other stablecoin projects. This stability is seen as a solution for countries facing unstable fiat currencies and high inflation rates.

Streamflow Finance

• At Streamflow we successfully raised $3.1 million in a seed funding round. The funding was led by Jump Crypto, and other participants include Solana Ventures, GBV Capital, Hypersphere Ventures, and more. The funds will be used to expand the team and develop a real-time token distribution suite for teams and treasuries on the Solana network. Streamflow’s suite of tools includes features like token vesting, payroll, batch payments, and a secure multi-signature wallet. The project aims to provide efficient and flexible value-streaming solutions that enable canceling or transferring streamed transactions. This approach aims to address the challenge of creating a consistent stream of money in an ever-changing crypto landscape.

Conclusion

Creating the perfect pitch deck may consume a significant amount of time, especially if you’re inexperienced. You’ll probably revise it multiple times based on advice and suggestions from your mentors and peers. While it might feel overwhelming at first, the real strength of refining your pitch deck lies in the continuous cycle of improvement.

Revisions aren’t just something to expect – they’re necessary. They offer you the chance to carefully tweak your message and how you present it, all based on valuable insights from mentors and peers. This collaborative approach, where you seek advice and integrate suggestions, is a key part of sharpening your pitch deck into a tool that’s both captivating and impactful. As you navigate through this journey, don’t hesitate to embrace the gradual process of enhancement. With each revision, you edge closer to a pitch deck that captures the essence of your inventive concepts and deeply resonates with potential investors.