PowerPoint pitch deck or Word written document?

[Kerwin]

I have a whole bunch of notes stored in OneNote which I've been using while building my business idea but I'm at the stage where I want to make an "official" business plan that I can use to send to people for possible funding.

A lot of the startup culture on the web talk about making a pitch deck using PowerPoint but I also have this book:

https://amzn.eu/d/1zA6S5H

which talks about a long in-depth business plan and I'm confused which is considered best when aiming for investment?

From my perspective a PowerPoint presentation would be easier to produce and get my idea across to the reader but an in-depth business plan might be more trustworthy.

What are your thoughts?

 

[fisicx]

One page pdf to promote the concept.

Then a multi page pdf with all the detail.

If you really want to put a slide deck together you can but the pdf should be sufficient.

 

[WaveJumper]

Send to who, what sort of audience, for me yes have BP but personally I would want to be getting in front of investors in person perhaps something to think about maybe

 

[Mark T Jones]

Pitchdeck to create interest, business plan to add substance.

It starts with how you are choosing your investors. They might guide you as to their own preference

Remember, it's all about how you are going to run and grow a business for them, not the brilliance of your idea.

 

[WaveJumper]

Pitchdeck to create interest, business plan to add substance.

It starts with how you are choosing your investors. They might guide you as to their own preference

Remember, it's all about how you are going to run and grow a business for them, not the brilliance of your idea.

And possibly how much your going to stump up yourself ?

 

[Mark T Jones]

And possibly how much your going to stump up yourself ?

'Skin in the game'

In fairness needn't be cash, could be IP, contracts or whatever

 

[fisicx]

Looking at all the above posts the answer seems to be ‘it depends…’

The pitch should be tailored to the investor. It’s quite likely you will need a range of different media. And even then, different presentations. It’s like a CV. You have the core material but some of the content is tweaked to align with the expectations of the recipient.

 

[Kerwin]

Thank you all.

I'm aiming for funding of some sort. I'm not sure a bank would be interested so it would have to be some other form of investment. Ideally I'd be able to get my pitch deck in front of some VCs.

My thinking is having a 15 slide PowerPoint which takes 10 minutes to read would be more targeted than a long rambling business plan.

I mean I can still have a "proper" business plan but the pitch deck would take the business plan and compress it right down.

 

[fisicx]

Why does is need to be 15?

Why can’t you summarise on a single pdf page?

Maybe you need both?

I received a pitch last week. It was a pdf with an intro, bullet points, financial breakdown and contact details. Took me about a minute to scan on my phone and we are now negotiating a deal.

 

[Kerwin]

Why does is need to be 15?

Why can’t you summarise on a single pdf page?

Maybe you need both?

I received a pitch last week. It was a pdf with an intro, bullet points, financial breakdown and contact details. Took me about a minute to scan on my phone and we are now negotiating a deal.

Sorry. That was my fault. I just said 15 as a random number. What I should have said was short rather than an actual number.

I'll do a PDF as well in that case. It can't hurt to have more information available.

 

[fisicx]

Two pdfs.

One page summary (to pitch the idea)

Full business plan.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Getting investment is a job in itself, it takes time, research and ablitbof commitment

Slapping a pitch around the market is just a waste of time

Do you projection make clear how much you need, what it will he used for and how investors will fet a (healthy) return?

Have you researched what type of investor you need, and what their criteria are?

I have put articles in the topic on UKBF - TBH I haven't time to dig them out but @Ozzy might point you to them

 

[Kerwin]

Getting investment is a job in itself, it takes time, research and ablitbof commitment

Slapping a pitch around the market is just a waste of time

Do you projection make clear how much you need, what it will he used for and how investors will fet a (healthy) return?

Have you researched what type of investor you need, and what their criteria are?

I have put articles in the topic on UKBF - TBH I haven't time to dig them out but @Ozzy might point you to them

I'm certainly trying to add as much useful information as I can and I think my numbers should stack up.

As for type of investor, I admit I don't know how to pick out a type of investor other than one that is already interested in my niche unless you by type you mean something like a VC? In which case I've read a reasonable amount on the subject.

As always though I'm open to suggestions. I'll hunt around and see if I can find your articles.

 

[fisicx]

As for type of investor, I admit I don't know how to pick out a type of investor other than one that is already interested in my niche unless you by type you mean something like a VC? In which case I've read a reasonable amount on the subject.

Until you have identified suitable investors it's not worth putting any effort into creating your pitch documents. Find a suitable investor and then see how they want the pitch communicated.

 

[Kerwin]

Until you have identified suitable investors it's not worth putting any effort into creating your pitch documents. Find a suitable investor and then see how they want the pitch communicated.

I was thinking of Crowd Cube or Seedrs. From what I have read they sound pretty interesting.

 

[fisicx]

I was thinking of Crowd Cube or Seedrs. From what I have read they sound pretty interesting.

How much do you want and for what do you want it for?

Is it something investors are going to get excited about? I invest in project that get my attention or something that interests me. Games development is my thing - I get a decent return on my money.

 

[Kerwin]

How much do you want and for what do you want it for?

Is it something investors are going to get excited about? I invest in project that get my attention or something that interests me. Games development is my thing - I get a decent return on my money.

I'm still building my Excel spreadsheet with expenses but it is a music site which I think will get people interested. There is somewhat of a problem in that the expenses rise and fall substantially based on the number who have signed up which is why I have built a landing page and will be doing some market research to see what numbers I get. I just need to finish off building a little analytics project so I can keep informed. I won't start that for a month or so though. I'll pay for that myself.

 

[Mark T Jones]

I was thinking of Crowd Cube or Seedrs. From what I have read they sound pretty interesting.

Interesting in what sense?

They are crowdfunding platforms. (From memory now one and the same)

The critical factor in crowdfunding is that you need to build a crowd.

If you dump your proposal on a platform it will be lost on the noise.

Seriously, you are nowhere near ready for funding.

 

[Kerwin]

Seriously, you are nowhere near ready for funding.

Oh, I know. I wasn't going to apply for funding any time soon. I have a lot of work to do on the website but what I can do now is to find out as much as I can about the process (so this thread for example).

Thanks to everyone in this thread for their feedback.

 

[pentel]

Marks pinned post in "startup space" is invaluable for people looking for funding.

You won't get investment because...

Aimed at all those posters who come here looking for investment. Investment is a serious business; investors are busy people. Very busy indeed. They also place great value on their time. They are literally inundated with random propositions (I'm not an investor, and even I get my fair share) -...

www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk

 

[Nick@Daydot]

I'm still building my Excel spreadsheet with expenses but it is a music site which I think will get people interested. There is somewhat of a problem in that the expenses rise and fall substantially based on the number who have signed up which is why I have built a landing page and will be doing some market research to see what numbers I get. I just need to finish off building a little analytics project so I can keep informed. I won't start that for a month or so though. I'll pay for that myself.

That's a good thing to do (getting feedback on the idea). Bear in mind that when it comes to actual implementation success or failure will depend not only on the proposition but also the user experience. Unless you have experience of UX/UI and user research you can't be confident of building something that will work well enough to get the numbers you want.

Ideally you'd want to budget for some expertise in those areas, and also for providing effective feedback mechanisms.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Oh, I know. I wasn't going to apply for funding any time soon. I have a lot of work to do on the website but what I can do now is to find out as much as I can about the process (so this thread for example).

Thanks to everyone in this thread for their feedback.

OK

I'm slightly confused by the question, but what I would suggest is that you watch a few episodes of Dragons' Den

Ignore the banter and presentation. Play close attention to the bit where they ask about the figures and the business - that's the real life aspect

 

[Kerwin]

Marks pinned post in "startup space" is invaluable for people looking for funding.

You won't get investment because...

Aimed at all those posters who come here looking for investment. Investment is a serious business; investors are busy people. Very busy indeed. They also place great value on their time. They are literally inundated with random propositions (I'm not an investor, and even I get my fair share) -...

www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk

Thank you. I'll look into that.

That's a good thing to do (getting feedback on the idea). Bear in mind that when it comes to actual implementation success or failure will depend not only on the proposition but also the user experience. Unless you have experience of UX/UI and user research you can't be confident of building something that will work well enough to get the numbers you want.

Ideally you'd want to budget for some expertise in those areas, and also for providing effective feedback mechanisms.

This is important for me as I'm terrible at art / design. I can make websites but making them look good is a completely different skill set.

OK

I'm slightly confused by the question, but what I would suggest is that you watch a few episodes of Dragons' Den

Ignore the banter and presentation. Play close attention to the bit where they ask about the figures and the business - that's the real life aspect

I'll be sure to do that. Thank you.

 

[fisicx]

This is important for me as I'm terrible at art / design. I can make websites but making them look good is a completely different skill set.

Same here. Which is why I pay people to do the design stuff.

Your idea of a sign up page isn’t going to work. You need a MVP to show potential investors, musicians and users. It just needs to be a working demo. The investment is to get all the tricky bits working and pay for the massive amount of marketing needed. There are some big well funded competitors out there.

 

[Kerwin]

Same here. Which is why I pay people to do the design stuff.

Your idea of a sign up page isn’t going to work. You need a MVP to show potential investors, musicians and users. It just needs to be a working demo. The investment is to get all the tricky bits working and pay for the massive amount of marketing needed. There are some big well funded competitors out there.

Thank you. I guess I have a lot to learn. Still I can carry on building the website even if it doesn't work out as it'll improve my programming skills which is not a bad thing.