GUIDANCE NOTES SLIDE LENGTH The slides in this
Description: GUIDANCE NOTES SLIDE LENGTH The slides in this template include the minimum information usually required when established businesses are pitching to investors. However, you may find you need to add or delete slides The general
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slide1. GUIDANCE NOTES SLIDE LENGTH
The slides in this template include the minimum information usually required when established businesses are pitching to investors. However, you may find you need to add or delete slides
The general recommendation is that your deck should be concise (10-15 slides) as this forces you to prioritise what truly matters.
A popular framework is Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule (10 slides, 20 minutes, 30-point font).
However, slide length can depend on funding round, business model, and sector.
Pre-seed/early-stage start-ups may only need 8-12 slides, focusing on the core idea, problem-solution fit, market opportunity, team, and initial traction.
Established businesses may find 10-15 slides a good range to show key achievements, growth plans, and investment opportunities.
Certain sectors (e.g., BioTech, deep tech, MedTech, and regulated FinTech) may require more slides (15-20 slides) to cover additional information, such as regulatory approvals, intellectual property, and development timelines (etc).
If you need extra slides, make sure you justify each and every one of them. Each slide should add value. If any slide feels like filler, delete it.<br>
slide2. USING THE TEMPLATE
The template includes prompts, examples, and questions to help guide your planning.
Text in orange is for guidance only. You should delete this text after you’ve completed the slide.
Text in red is for prompts, examples and placeholders. You should edit this text and then change the colour to match your preferred colour scheme.
Graphics can be adjusted or deleted, as required.
There are boxes for suggested photos/graphics/charts. Feel free to ignore and delete if required.
Feel free to rename the title slides to something more catchy. For example, the product slide could be “Introducing [business name/product name]” or, if you have excellent testimonials, you could have the title of your traction slide be “Users love [company name/product name]”.
DON’T FORGET!
Make sure you delete the guidance slides before showing your deck to stakeholders.<br>
slide3. PITCH DECK +123-456-7890 Telephone 123 Anywhere St., Any City, hyperlink Address Website BUSINESS NAME YOUR LOGO<br>
slide4. HIGHLIGHTS WHY YOU SHOULD INVEST Provide 5-6 bullets summarising your market, product, traction, team, near-term financial goals, and funding ask. Make it easy for investors to want to keep reading your deck. Think about:
Why should they invest? /Is your problem/market big enough? /Is your product and team good enough? / Are you a good a fit for the industry and investment stage?
See examples below<br>
slide5. THE PROBLEMS OUR CUSTOMERS ARE FACING PAIN POINT PAIN POINT PAIN POINT How is this impacting the customer? Is the problem getting worse? How is the problem solved today without your business? Why is that solution lacking? How is this impacting the customer? Is the problem getting worse? How is the problem solved today without your business? Why is that solution lacking? How is this impacting the customer? Is the problem getting worse? How is the problem solved today without your business? Why is that solution lacking? PLACE HERE AN IMAGE OF THE PROBLEM YOUR CUSTOMER IS FACING<br>
slide6. SOLUTION & PRODUCT SOLUTION What are the benefits of your solution?
(Match your solution benefits to the limitations of current solutions listed in your Problem slide.)
Why is now the right time for your solution? SOLUTION How does your product work or each stakeholder?
Where does your product fit in your customer’s workd?
What is the user experience? PLACE HERE AN IMAGE/SCREENSHOT/MOCK-UP/DEMO OF YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE What’s your solution to the problem?
Is it an app, software, a device, or service?<br>
slide7. TRACTION & VALIDATION Think about your key numbers, milestones and growth such as:
Revenue metrics (e.g., ARR, MRR, ARPU)
User growth
Partnerships or signed contracts (make sure to include the logos of any companies)
Customer or stakeholder testimonials
Patents, trademarks, and other IP you have secured “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore” Jane Doe £2,200,000
gross profit in 2025 350,000
app downloads £30k
MRR 2
patents granted 30%
user growth<br>
slide8. Think about: Who are your main competitors? How will you beat them? How sustainable are your advantages? Advantage 1 (e.g., price, speed, features, usability) Advantage 2 Advantage 3 Advantage 4 COMPETITION WE BEAT COMPETITORS ON X,Y,Z TOP TIP: don’t claim you have “no competition” - This is naive and wiill cause invcestors to switch off. It’s better to acknowledge your competitors’ strengths but make it clear why your solution is better for your specific target market.<br>
slide9. On this slide you should explain how you make money / who is paying for this and how much?
What is your pricing model (subscription, transaction fees, enterprise sales, etc.)
List all revenue streams if you have more than one.
Whst is your customer acquisition strategy? Be as specific as possible
For example, if you mention trade shows, list the top 2-3 that you’ll attend) PLACE HERE AN IMAGE OR CHART/GRAPH THAT DESCRIBES YOUR BUSINESS MODEL TOP TIP: Keep it simple. A simple pricing structure (e.g., “£40/month per user”) is far better than a complicated multi-tier model. You should be able to explain your pricing model within 30s . BUSINESS MODEL<br>
slide10. MARKET
OPPORTUNITY The largest possible market size. This is the total revenue opportunity if your company captured 100% market share for your product/service.
Remember: investors prefer a bottom-up approach to calculating TAM. This is the portion of the market that your product/servce can serve given your business model and scope - i.e. the segment of TAM that sits within your target geography, customer demographic, or product/service category. This is the share of the SAM that you can realistically capture - your target market. TOP TIP: validate your market with third-party research or competitor benchmarks.<br>
slide11. CUSTOMER ACQUISITION RETENTION How will you keep the customers you have? HOW WE ACQUIRE AND RETAIN CUSTOMERS GROWTH STRATEGY What channels will you use to reach and acquire these customers?
Be as specific as possible
For example, if you mention trade shows, list the top 2-3 that you’ll attend)
How much will it cost to acquire each customer, and how does this compare to their lifetime value (LTV)? Who is your target customer, and how do you define them?<br>
slide12. NAME NAME NAME MANAGEMENT TEAM PLACE HERE A PHOTO OF YOUR TEAM MEMBER THINK ABOUT:
Why is your team the best team for this opportunity?
What experience do you have solving similar problems?
What experience do you have building similar solutions?
What experience/success have you had with similar startups?
Have team members worked well together in prior companies? PLACE HERE A PHOTO OF YOUR TEAM MEMBER PLACE HERE A PHOTO OF YOUR TEAM MEMBER ADJUST THE PLACEMENT FOR THE NUMBER OF TEAM MEMBERS YOUI HAVE TOP TIP: do not overwhelm the investors with your job history - this is not a CV. Use concise taglines to emphasise relevant experience, and incliude logos f previous employers (if relevant) .<br>
slide13. £XX ROADMAP HOW WE’LL MAINTAIN AND GROW OUR ADVANTAGE Date
Lorem ipsum Date
Lorem ipsum Date
Lorem ipsum Date
Lorem ipsum Date
Lorem ipsum Think about the key milestones you plan to achieve in the next 6-12 months. Make sure that these milestones tie in with your funding needs / investment goals TOP TIP: avoid generic phraises (like “grow revenue” and instead use specific milestones. E.g., “Sept 2025 - £4m series A round”, “Jan 2026 - partner intergration (MyFitnessPal, Apple Health, Samsung Health).”<br>
slide14. FINANCIALS Investors want to know how fast can you grow and how big you can get over the next 2-3 years.
How much revenue will the business generate, and over what timeline?
What are your largest expenses, and how do they impact profitability?
How much cash are you burning, and how long will your runway last?
What assumptions underpin your projections, and are they realistic? SUSTAINABLE GROWTH WITH A XX% GROSS MARGIN x%
Churn rate x:x
LTV/CAC x%
Burn rate x months
Runway<br>
slide15. WE ARE RAISING £XXXX FOR X% THE ASK £XX How will you spend the money? What will this achieve? How will you spend the money? What will this achieve? How will you spend the money? What will this achieve? E.g. 50% to launch the beta and hit £25k monthly recurring revenue. REMEMBER: make sure to mention any committed capital to build momentum, and include your funding timeline. TOP TIP: avoid vague phrases like “scale the team” or “grow the product”<br>
slide16. THE TAKEAWAY WHY YOU SHOULD INVEST Duplicate the bullets from your ‘highlights’ slide earlier in the pitch.
This is the slide that you stay on as you do Q&A so investors will see these key reasons to invest for the longest period of time. +123-456-7890 Telephone 123 Anywhere St., Any City, hyperlink Address Website YOUR LOGO<br>
The slides in this template include the minimum information usually required when established businesses are pitching to investors. However, you may find you need to add or delete slides
The general recommendation is that your deck should be concise (10-15 slides) as this forces you to prioritise what truly matters.
A popular framework is Kawasaki’s 10/20/30 rule (10 slides, 20 minutes, 30-point font).
However, slide length can depend on funding round, business model, and sector.
Pre-seed/early-stage start-ups may only need 8-12 slides, focusing on the core idea, problem-solution fit, market opportunity, team, and initial traction.
Established businesses may find 10-15 slides a good range to show key achievements, growth plans, and investment opportunities.
Certain sectors (e.g., BioTech, deep tech, MedTech, and regulated FinTech) may require more slides (15-20 slides) to cover additional information, such as regulatory approvals, intellectual property, and development timelines (etc).
If you need extra slides, make sure you justify each and every one of them. Each slide should add value. If any slide feels like filler, delete it.<br>
slide2. USING THE TEMPLATE
The template includes prompts, examples, and questions to help guide your planning.
Text in orange is for guidance only. You should delete this text after you’ve completed the slide.
Text in red is for prompts, examples and placeholders. You should edit this text and then change the colour to match your preferred colour scheme.
Graphics can be adjusted or deleted, as required.
There are boxes for suggested photos/graphics/charts. Feel free to ignore and delete if required.
Feel free to rename the title slides to something more catchy. For example, the product slide could be “Introducing [business name/product name]” or, if you have excellent testimonials, you could have the title of your traction slide be “Users love [company name/product name]”.
DON’T FORGET!
Make sure you delete the guidance slides before showing your deck to stakeholders.<br>
slide3. PITCH DECK +123-456-7890 Telephone 123 Anywhere St., Any City, hyperlink Address Website BUSINESS NAME YOUR LOGO<br>
slide4. HIGHLIGHTS WHY YOU SHOULD INVEST Provide 5-6 bullets summarising your market, product, traction, team, near-term financial goals, and funding ask. Make it easy for investors to want to keep reading your deck. Think about:
Why should they invest? /Is your problem/market big enough? /Is your product and team good enough? / Are you a good a fit for the industry and investment stage?
See examples below<br>
slide5. THE PROBLEMS OUR CUSTOMERS ARE FACING PAIN POINT PAIN POINT PAIN POINT How is this impacting the customer? Is the problem getting worse? How is the problem solved today without your business? Why is that solution lacking? How is this impacting the customer? Is the problem getting worse? How is the problem solved today without your business? Why is that solution lacking? How is this impacting the customer? Is the problem getting worse? How is the problem solved today without your business? Why is that solution lacking? PLACE HERE AN IMAGE OF THE PROBLEM YOUR CUSTOMER IS FACING<br>
slide6. SOLUTION & PRODUCT SOLUTION What are the benefits of your solution?
(Match your solution benefits to the limitations of current solutions listed in your Problem slide.)
Why is now the right time for your solution? SOLUTION How does your product work or each stakeholder?
Where does your product fit in your customer’s workd?
What is the user experience? PLACE HERE AN IMAGE/SCREENSHOT/MOCK-UP/DEMO OF YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE What’s your solution to the problem?
Is it an app, software, a device, or service?<br>
slide7. TRACTION & VALIDATION Think about your key numbers, milestones and growth such as:
Revenue metrics (e.g., ARR, MRR, ARPU)
User growth
Partnerships or signed contracts (make sure to include the logos of any companies)
Customer or stakeholder testimonials
Patents, trademarks, and other IP you have secured “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore” Jane Doe £2,200,000
gross profit in 2025 350,000
app downloads £30k
MRR 2
patents granted 30%
user growth<br>
slide8. Think about: Who are your main competitors? How will you beat them? How sustainable are your advantages? Advantage 1 (e.g., price, speed, features, usability) Advantage 2 Advantage 3 Advantage 4 COMPETITION WE BEAT COMPETITORS ON X,Y,Z TOP TIP: don’t claim you have “no competition” - This is naive and wiill cause invcestors to switch off. It’s better to acknowledge your competitors’ strengths but make it clear why your solution is better for your specific target market.<br>
slide9. On this slide you should explain how you make money / who is paying for this and how much?
What is your pricing model (subscription, transaction fees, enterprise sales, etc.)
List all revenue streams if you have more than one.
Whst is your customer acquisition strategy? Be as specific as possible
For example, if you mention trade shows, list the top 2-3 that you’ll attend) PLACE HERE AN IMAGE OR CHART/GRAPH THAT DESCRIBES YOUR BUSINESS MODEL TOP TIP: Keep it simple. A simple pricing structure (e.g., “£40/month per user”) is far better than a complicated multi-tier model. You should be able to explain your pricing model within 30s . BUSINESS MODEL<br>
slide10. MARKET
OPPORTUNITY The largest possible market size. This is the total revenue opportunity if your company captured 100% market share for your product/service.
Remember: investors prefer a bottom-up approach to calculating TAM. This is the portion of the market that your product/servce can serve given your business model and scope - i.e. the segment of TAM that sits within your target geography, customer demographic, or product/service category. This is the share of the SAM that you can realistically capture - your target market. TOP TIP: validate your market with third-party research or competitor benchmarks.<br>
slide11. CUSTOMER ACQUISITION RETENTION How will you keep the customers you have? HOW WE ACQUIRE AND RETAIN CUSTOMERS GROWTH STRATEGY What channels will you use to reach and acquire these customers?
Be as specific as possible
For example, if you mention trade shows, list the top 2-3 that you’ll attend)
How much will it cost to acquire each customer, and how does this compare to their lifetime value (LTV)? Who is your target customer, and how do you define them?<br>
slide12. NAME NAME NAME MANAGEMENT TEAM PLACE HERE A PHOTO OF YOUR TEAM MEMBER THINK ABOUT:
Why is your team the best team for this opportunity?
What experience do you have solving similar problems?
What experience do you have building similar solutions?
What experience/success have you had with similar startups?
Have team members worked well together in prior companies? PLACE HERE A PHOTO OF YOUR TEAM MEMBER PLACE HERE A PHOTO OF YOUR TEAM MEMBER ADJUST THE PLACEMENT FOR THE NUMBER OF TEAM MEMBERS YOUI HAVE TOP TIP: do not overwhelm the investors with your job history - this is not a CV. Use concise taglines to emphasise relevant experience, and incliude logos f previous employers (if relevant) .<br>
slide13. £XX ROADMAP HOW WE’LL MAINTAIN AND GROW OUR ADVANTAGE Date
Lorem ipsum Date
Lorem ipsum Date
Lorem ipsum Date
Lorem ipsum Date
Lorem ipsum Think about the key milestones you plan to achieve in the next 6-12 months. Make sure that these milestones tie in with your funding needs / investment goals TOP TIP: avoid generic phraises (like “grow revenue” and instead use specific milestones. E.g., “Sept 2025 - £4m series A round”, “Jan 2026 - partner intergration (MyFitnessPal, Apple Health, Samsung Health).”<br>
slide14. FINANCIALS Investors want to know how fast can you grow and how big you can get over the next 2-3 years.
How much revenue will the business generate, and over what timeline?
What are your largest expenses, and how do they impact profitability?
How much cash are you burning, and how long will your runway last?
What assumptions underpin your projections, and are they realistic? SUSTAINABLE GROWTH WITH A XX% GROSS MARGIN x%
Churn rate x:x
LTV/CAC x%
Burn rate x months
Runway<br>
slide15. WE ARE RAISING £XXXX FOR X% THE ASK £XX How will you spend the money? What will this achieve? How will you spend the money? What will this achieve? How will you spend the money? What will this achieve? E.g. 50% to launch the beta and hit £25k monthly recurring revenue. REMEMBER: make sure to mention any committed capital to build momentum, and include your funding timeline. TOP TIP: avoid vague phrases like “scale the team” or “grow the product”<br>
slide16. THE TAKEAWAY WHY YOU SHOULD INVEST Duplicate the bullets from your ‘highlights’ slide earlier in the pitch.
This is the slide that you stay on as you do Q&A so investors will see these key reasons to invest for the longest period of time. +123-456-7890 Telephone 123 Anywhere St., Any City, hyperlink Address Website YOUR LOGO<br>