A pitch deck is a short presentation used to communicate to potential investors your company’s story. Here, discover the best pitch deck examples to inspire your own presentations and business decks.
In this article, we’ll cover:
License the images used in this collage via KitohodkA and Roman Samborskyi.
10 Pitch Deck Examples and Why They Were Successful
Below, you’ll find some of the very best pitch deck examples, using stylish and functional colors, fonts, and graphics, an impactful use of layout principles, and a concise and efficient flow throughout the presentation.
Created by companies from pre-seed to fully-fledged corporate, these sample pitch deck examples demonstrate how a sales deck can be a supremely stylish artform!
So, how can you make a pitch deck stand out? You’ll notice in the startup pitch deck examples below how consistent branding, clear typography, and clever use of infographics all help to nudge a hopeful startup towards their company investment goals.
It really pays to look as slick and pulled-together as possible, even at the pre-seed startup level, which is why a branded, consistent look across your startup pitch deck is particularly important to establish.
You’ll notice that in some of the famous pitch decks below, such as those for Uber and Airbnb (originally AirBed&Breakfast), slick branding is yet to follow, as these companies were just getting off the ground.
Nonetheless, these successful sample pitch decks went on to win huge investments, in part due to the clarity of the pitch slides.
Many of these early famous pitch decks are notable for their use of white space, simple design, and high contrast type—things to keep in mind to avoid common pitch deck mistakes in your own presentations.
1. Launchrock
Offering marketing landing pages for new businesses, Launchrock‘s original pitch deck is simple and punchy, with a dramatic black background, high-contrast white text, and quirky graphics that mimic the feel of online search.
The main lesson we can take from this pitch deck example is the memorability of the slides, and how opting for simple statistics and facts over crowded layouts builds authenticity into the presentation.
2. Airbnb
Did you know that Airbnb was originally named AirBed&Breakfast? Perhaps a little less catchy than the homestay marketplace we know today, but Airbnb’s desire to bring radical change to the travel industry is still clear from its original pitch deck.
One of the most famous pitch decks, because this humble startup went on to be so successful, this sales deck puts industry disruption at the heart of the presentation.
The color palette may differ from the company’s current branding, but the whole pitch deck feels bright, breezy, and full of potential.
Every slide makes the startup’s proposition crystal clear, from presenting the current market to proposing a solution that, for the time, would have felt completely radical.
3. Uber
Another startup success story, Uber‘s original pitch deck focuses on the radical idea of allowing riders to use cabs that are driven by self-employed drivers. In many ways, the idea was super simple, and Uber could have been at risk of other app developers following the same route.
This inspiring pitch deck example shows how Uber was able to build investment from the get-go, placing the potential customer at the heart of the proposition and setting out an immediate solution for improved cab journeys.
One of the most iconic startup pitch deck examples, the Uber pitch deck also cleverly integrates app-inspired imagery into the presentation, with simple icons and infographics bringing a memorable and graphic flair to the slide designs.
4. Buffer
Social media management tool Buffer offers an efficient, if not so stylish, pitch deck example that prioritizes statistics, demonstrating traction and potential business growth through simple-to-understand facts and figures.
Managing to avoid overly complex flowcharts or graphs, the strength of this pitch deck example is in its simple and serious focus on all things revenue-related.
5. The Plate
A livestreaming platform that brought chefs, food experts, and culinary creators to fresh audiences online, The Plate is now unfortunately no longer in existence, since its co-founders closed the company in 2023.
However, the startup pitch deck for The Plate is a really fantastic pitch deck example, bringing a different and altogether much warmer mood to the usual corporate pitch deck presentation.
People were at the forefront of the business, so the pitch deck template for The Plate follows suit, putting a face to the statistics, and introducing investors to the creators and founders they would be investing in.
A great sample pitch deck for showing how photography can be used to powerful effect in presentations, this is a sales deck with soul.
6. Front
Some of the most famous pitch deck examples become almost infamous for their lack of branding and polish. After all, most startups begin on a shoestring budget, and branding and design often fall to the bottom of the to-do list.
Front, an online platform for customer service teams, takes a different approach, using a simple yet striking brand identity, consisting of logo, color palette, and type, to build consistency and professionalism across their pitch deck.
Note the clever touch of integrating the brand’s icon into otherwise nondescript charts and graphs, to give the slides a personal touch while boosting brand memorability.
7. Tinder
Tinder didn’t begin as the slick and stylish app romantic hopefuls use today.
The startup pitch deck for Tinder (originally called MatchBox) lacks style credentials but makes up for it with an immersive slideshow that immediately takes the viewer inside the app’s user experience, using casual photography and mocked-up screenshots.
Simple yet effective, this pitch deck example is a lesson in how to successfully immerse the viewer (the investor) in a world they might otherwise know nothing about.
8. Softr
Winning $13.5 million in investment in 2022, custom app builder Softr won the hearts (and wallets) of their investors with an aesthetically-minded pitch deck template that combines stylish branding with a straightforward proposition.
Tech startups can sometimes be difficult for investors to fully comprehend, especially those within the development sector, so an eye-catching brand identity can really help to cut through the tech jargon and present the idea as something accessible and comprehensible.
In this great pitch deck example, branding is the supporting act to every slide, bringing color, consistency, and interest to every layout.
9. clare&me
Among some of the more unusual startups featured in this article, clare&me offers the services of a virtual mental health coach named Clare, who happens to be an AI-powered mental health ‘ally’ that users can talk to via calls, WhatsApp, or SMS.
The proposition presented in this 2022 pitch deck example is unique, which in itself could be both exciting and off-putting to investors.
This business deck seeks to clarify the necessity of the proposition (citing an alarming rise in mental health issues amongst younger populations, in particular), through emotive photography, clear statistics (vital in a health-related industry), and a calming blue color scheme.
10. Perfeggt
A perfect pitch deck example for young startups to learn from, the business deck for foodtech company Perfeggt is super sleek and style-driven, but with functionality to match.
Winning $1.1 million investment as a pre-seed business, this Berlin-based startup used a pitch deck template that features consistent color, branded fonts, high-definition photography, and grid-based layouts that section data-heavy slides into manageable chunks.
Pitch Deck Mistakes to Avoid
With a great business idea and a bucketload of enthusiasm, you can’t get a business deck wrong, right?
Unfortunately, there are plenty of opportunities for tripping up when building a sales deck or business pitch template, and while we’re focusing more on the stylistic side of pitch decks in this article, it’s not only style that can let enthusiastic business pitchers down at the financing hurdle.
Stylistic pitch deck mistakes can include inclusion of too much content on a single slide, setting text at too small a size to be comfortably read, or using insufficient color contrast.
Throw into the mix too many flashing animations, fancy (yet distracting and pointless) slide transitions, and incomprehensible infographics, and you have a recipe for business deck disaster!
It doesn’t end there. Even carefully considered pitch decks can lack oomph, that special something that wins the hearts and minds of investors. To sidestep a lack of investor interest, focus on building a concise yet compelling narrative into your pitch deck.
Effective and famous pitch decks successfuly lead the viewer by the hand through a clear process of problem and problem-solving solution, all while convincing the investor that it’s well within their (financial) interests to see the company meet the problem head-on.
The pitch deck examples below don’t fail in every aspect, in fact, both of these companies went on to win investment! But these sample pitch decks all demonstrate occasional (and avoidable) slip-ups that could have jeopardized the sales pitch.
Look at and learn from these mistakes to avoid the same in your own presentation efforts . . .
1. Lunchbox ($50 million | Series B)
B2B catering and food ordering platform Lunchbox created a pitch deck to attract a $50 million investment in 2022, and the company’s offerings are condensed into a tight and slick 15-slide pitch deck.
Lunchbox went on to win the investment, bringing an impressive suite of investors on board.
That being the case, there are still a few slides in this pitch deck example that present one of the most common problems in pitch deck design—overcrowding your presentation slides.
The temptation to throw everything you have at a slide is often overwhelming (so much has been achieved in so short a time!), but keep in mind that an investor’s time is precious, and the pitcher can’t afford to dwindle on a slide for more than a couple of minutes.
If you can’t cover everything included on the slide in that short amount of time, there’s too much on it.
Avoid complicated flowcharts with teeny-tiny text boxes, pop-out keys (if you need this, there really is too much going on), and splicing what is effectively two slides of content together.
Brutal truth time: Most investors DON’T CARE about the extensive details of your company’s journey. What they really want to know is the facts, short and simple, and always (ALWAYS) what your company can do for them and their return investment.
2. Wilco ($7 million | Seed)
Technical training startup Wilco has a distinctive brand aesthetic that looks to the 1980s era of early gaming. This really fun stylistic approach gave Wilco a definite edge when they came to pitch for early investment, helping them to appear a little different to the usual tech teaching branding.
So, what can be said about Wilco’s 19-slide pitch deck example?
Overall, this business deck is near-faultless, leading the viewer through the existing problem, value proposition, traction, and contact call-to-action, all accompanied by slick retro graphics that bring an absorbing quality to the whole pitch presentation.
There are a few slides that demonstrate another common mistake that plagues even the most successful and famous pitch decks, which is that of the teeny tiny text.
Unless you are pitching using a cinema-sized projection screen, viewers will not be able to read text set to the size shown below, certainly not with ease.
Consider also that some individuals in your audience may be visually-impaired, making your presentation inaccessible to a potential large chunk of your investor audience.
Keeping the quantity of text on a single slide limited to a few sentences is a good rule of thumb for avoiding the mistake of small or illegible text, boost your text readability with impactful headline typography, and to give credit to Wilco, they have tried to maximize text visibility by opting for ultra high-contrast black and white.
License the image via KitohodkA.
Key Elements of a Pitch Deck
Now that you’ve looked at some of the best pitch deck examples out there, it’s time to start building your own investment-winning pitch deck template!
First, let’s cover some of the basics. . . .
How Long Should a Pitch Deck Be?
A pitch deck should ideally be around 10-15 slides in length, and certainly no longer than 20 slides. You want to be able to present the entire pitch in 10-15 minutes, or even 5 minutes if your investors are really time-pressed.
That gives you around 30 seconds to a minute to present each slide.
What Should a Pitch Deck Include?
The best pitch decks lead the viewer through a simple narrative, presenting the business, demonstrating a problem, offering a solution to the problem, demonstrating traction (future growth), and offering some information about the team and how the investor can get in touch.
You can bring consistency to the pitch deck using a brand identity (if you have one), or a cohesive color palette, fonts and/or graphics, such as icons, infographics, and photography.
While it’s important to include statistics and figures about the existing success of the business, and its potential for growth, these should be as concise and intelligible as possible.
What Is the Format of a Pitch Deck?
You can create a pitch deck using any presentation software, some of the most popular being PowerPoint, Google Slides, Canva, and Keynote.
While presentation slide dimensions will differ subtly between programs, generally you should create pitch deck slides as landscape-oriented layouts.
You can also integrate imagery, video, and animation into your sales deck, but be aware that incorporating anything interactive could impact on the seamless delivery of the presentation on pitch day.
Nobody likes sitting through the awkward moment when that embedded video JUST . . . WON’T . . . PLAY.
How to Create a Professional Pitch Deck
You can create a sample pitch deck using presentation software, but it’s always best to begin with pre-made slide designs that allow you to drop in your text and image content with ease.
Creating a fantastic business pitch deck is simple when you have a pitch deck template on hand. These business pitch templates and infographic designs will help you to make a confident start with designing your startup pitch deck.
1. Photography Pitch Deck Template
Use this pitch deck template to build subtle photography into your business presentation. Teamed with a rich black background, your white type will really pop from the page.
2. Blue Pitch Deck Template
Boost the professionalism of your sales deck with this stylish blue pitch deck template. Alternatively, swap in your own brand color palette for a different color psychology effect.
3. Geometric Pitch Deck Template
Bring interest to your pitch deck slides with tonal color and geometric shapes in this pitch deck template. Each slide design presents plenty of white space, allowing text-heavy layouts to breathe.
4. Testimonial Infographic Template
Quotes, testimonials, and reviews can really boost the authority of your business when pitching to investors. This testimonial infographic template offers a stylish way of setting quotes in your pitch deck slides.
5. Massive Infographics Bundle
Colorful infographics are a great way to keep your investor audience engaged throughout your pitch deck presentation.
This massive infographics bundle features hundreds of charts, graphs, and icons to help you put across statistics and figures in serious style.
Conclusion: Pitch Decks with Power!
Designing a successful pitch deck is a fusion of eye-catching, functional style with a clear business narrative. It also helps if you have a fantastic startup idea, too!
For more startup tips and new business advice, don’t miss these helpful articles and freebies:
License the images used in the cover collage via KitohodkA and Roman Samborskyi.
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