GUIDE TO PITCH DECKS
A Note About Pitching at Redemptive Labs
You will deliver your 4-minute pitch to the founders, the Labs Team, and mentors on day two of the Redemptive Lab. We suggest you treat your pitch as if a major donor/investor has asked you to present for 4 minutes to their board, including both opportunities and real challenges that you face in your venture.
For those of you who already have a well-oiled pitch, we are not asking you to create a new version just for the Lab, but to be prepared to sharpen a 4-minute version of your existing deck.
Remember that everyone in this community cares about what the gospel has to do with your venture. Whether or not you are explicit about faith in your venture’s external messaging, there is theological significance to what you do, why you do it, and how you do it. We encourage you to ensure that your pitch reflects and articulates the redemptive opportunity and impact for your venture.
Lastly, please note the following specifications for your pitch:
Presentations should be designed in 16x9 widescreen format and submitted as a PDF or PPT.
Make sure to export as a PDF or PPT so that you do not send us wide print margins, and also to export to include any "builds" / slide animation that you need. Do a trial run of the PDF as a slideshow before you send it to us, so that you know exactly how it will look when you are presenting on the big screen.
Talks should be 4 minutes max (you will be timed/presentation ended right at 4 minutes!).
We do not allow video with audio to be included in pitch decks, nor do we allow any handouts.
We also strongly discourage use of any notes while you're presenting (i.e., practice and memorize in advance).
Key Elements of a Strong Pitch Deck
We suggest that you prepare a 6-12 page pitch deck that collectively covers most of the following elements (displayed in the slides or voiced over as you present). This outline is adapted from Praxis Mentors Evan Loomis & Evan Baehr's book Get Backed (Harvard Business Review, 2015). You won’t be able to cover all these angles in a four-minute pitch, so treat this list as a menu of possible slides, and build a deck of the ones that best help you tell your venture’s story.
Cover Page: Your logo and a one liner. This should be clean and inviting.
An Overview of Your Business: An opening page with a brief 15-second "elevator pitch" version of your deck. Be able to show or talk about what exactly your company does, what industry you are in, and whether you've got a novel idea.
Opportunity You're Pursuing: What's happening in the market? Why are you doing what you're doing now? Be able to describe the trends in your industry, the size of your market, and the growth potential of your venture.
Problem You're Solving: What are you trying to solve? Why is that problem painful? Who is currently addressing it? Describe the problem at a high level and through the specific story of a customer. Aim to get your audience to start nodding their heads in agreement and empathy with the people you're serving.
Your Solution: What are you doing about the problem? Will it solve the customer's problem like magic? Will the customer crave your solution? How will you pull it off? Demonstrate beauty, surprise, replicability, scalability, significance, and team excellence.
Traction: What evidence do you have that shows your solution will be successful? Demonstrate fast-growing momentum, clarity around what you're measuring and why it matters, and a clear sales process.
Your Customer or Market: Who are your customers and how many of them are out there? How will you reach them? What is the acquisition cost per customer? What is your customer's willingness to pay?
The Competition: Who or what will steal your customers? How will you disrupt the current competitive landscape? Are you faster, cheaper, better?
Your Business model: How will you make money? What is your monthly burn rate? Are your revenue projections reasonable? Are costs legitimate? Demonstrate consistency, financial literacy, and level headedness here.
Your Team: Who is going to pull this off? Provide a very brief background on key team members. Why are you the right people for the job? Who else needs to be hired?
Redemptive Impact: In the terms of the Redemptive Frame, how does your Strategic Vision (product, service, program, brand, narrative, experience) renew culture and reflect God’s character? How does your Operating Model (team culture, funding model, partnerships, processes) bless your people and partners?
Ways that Mentors Can Support You: What do you need and why? If you're raising capital, do not extend a direct invitation to Mentors during your pitch to invest. But do include a slide that explains the key ways that they can help you, which could include advice on raising funds which you'll use for X or Y specific purpose.
Presentation Decks vs. Reading Decks
There are two ways to prepare a deck that covers the elements above. For the Redemptive Business Lab, you'll want the first type, a presentation deck:
Presentation deck. A visual to assist your oral presentation in an investor meeting or on stage at a demo day. Limited, large-font text that doesn't compete with what you're saying. No appendix.
Reading deck. A more thorough and detailed deck that can be read and understood without you being there to fill in the gaps.