Selling your own idea is never as easy as it should be. You need an attention grabbing pitch deck, a snapshot of key information that starts a bigger conversation. But this is your amazing new idea, and there’s so much to tell, it’s hard to know where the story begins and ends. 

‍

At Smith & Devil, pitch decks for the hospitality, retail, and leisure sectors are our daily bread. And we can tell you there’s no one size fits all approach, but there are a few tips that for any pitch that will help raise an investors eyebrow.

‍

1. Short & Sweet

Remember this is a summary for a new audience, not a dossier for keenly interested party - YET. 15ish pages should be enough room to whet the whistle without losing the room.

‍

2. First impressions count

Make that title page stand out. Logo, project title, proposition statement. A visually arresting document sat on someone’s desk(top) with a compelling opening gambit is the equivalent of an inviting shop front on the high street. 

‍

3. Identify the problem you are solving

Sounds obvious, but all too often conspicuous by its absence. Let the reader know what problem your concept is there to resolve. The Air BnB start up pitch deck is a great example of this: “No easy way exists to book a room with a local or become a host”. Simple. But you might say, “The people of Kent have to travel to London for premium night venues with activities in them”.

‍

4. So what’s the solution

How does your idea fix the problem at hand? For example, “An immersive mini golf design, with augmented reality, and premium f&b in Maidstone, Kent”. 

• Unique proposition in locality.
• Brings desired product closer to audience. 
• Easy to reach location in wide catchment area.

‍

5. Outline your business vision

This in a nutshell, is your ambition. Tell us what you want to achieve. To be the best loved multi activity brand in the world? To turn cricket into bite sized fun for everyone? To bring social gaming back into the real world? It doesn’t even have to be a lofty goal, it could simply be the most popular bowling concept in the locality.

‍

6. What your concept will stand for

This is stepping over into creative development territory, but if you already know what your idea/project/restaurant should stand for then you’re on the right path so include you brand pillars. (Even if they sound more strategic than fully explored).

‍

7. The market for your product

Identifying a well researched market (alongside solid financials) is the belt and braces of any pitch. If you can illustrate the key numbers graphically, all the better. Big engaging numbers with pictures trumps a spreadsheet every day of the week.

‍

8. Illustrative product mood board

Bring it to life. You know what this thing is going to look like, but this is your chance to inspire investors. What you can do depends on your design skills, but a mood board is essential, a concept illustration even better, a concept render and you’re in elysium. However this is 2023(or 24 depending when this finds you) and AI is taking over the world. Don’t be afraid to see if it can help you.  

‍

9. The Team

Experience matters. Investors need confidence. Even if you have multiple operations up and running, they want to see that you have the right people on the team. If you’re lacking experience, on board some proven talent as NEDs.

‍

10. Competition

Hopefully no one is as innovative as you are. But you’ll still have competitors, even if all you have in common is opening hours and beer. Get to know them and show that you understand their strengths and weaknesses. This allows you to further illustrate the space for your idea.

‍

11. Your advantage

Take things one step further with a graphic illustration of how you stand out. Driving home your really advantage completes the picture.

‍

12. Financials, Investment and ROI

At the end of the day this is about the numbers. An indepth P&L shows you understand the costs of the project in detail, allowing you to set monthly budgets, forecast revenue genration and know the Return on Investment (ROI). We recommend a deep deep deep dive into the calculations and possibilities in order to define the concept before you get this far, but for this deck, just highlight the topline numbers. You can talk minutiae once you get a bite.

‍

NB. Document Format

The document should be in a PDF format, and less than 25mb in size so it can be sent via email. If you have the design skills then you might also host it on something like pitch.com so you can simply send a link, but realistically if you can’t someone to let you send the PDF by email then you’re probably banging the wrong drum.

‍

So there we go, a few top tips to help you on your way. Get in touch if you have any questions, and if you’d like help creating an investor mesmerising bit of storytelling, just say the word.

‍

hello@smithanddevil.com