Why is your story so important to investors?
When you're looking for startup funding, remember, stories are easier to recall than facts and figures.
A great story will create an emotional link between your business and your investors, highlight the effectiveness of your solution and shows them how well you know your audience.
Your narrative should explain each of your slides, linking them together to tell the story of your venture.
You can use characters or elements from your story to answer investors' questions or add personality to a reading deck (we'll discuss these in more detail in the next chapter).
There are 3 approved ways how you can use storytelling in your pitch deck
A pitch deck story should have the same elements as a good book – action, excitement, success, and failure. You should include as many details as you can and work hard to get the audience on your side. By the end of your pitch, investors should care about your venture.
A pitch deck story should have the same elements as a good book – action, excitement, success, and failure. - Julian from BaseTemplates
We've provided three examples of a pitch deck story. Each highlights different features of the enterprise and can be tailored to meet the needs of particular investors
1. The Hero's Journey
This is a classic story that follows a proven and tested 4-step format:
This is the tale of why you decided to launch your startup.
It is personal; it explains where you have come from and what is motivating you. It is the best format for innovative concept pitches, new products and charities, since it creates a bond between you and your audience, highlighting your experience and showcasing your passion for the project.
BaseTemplates: A Hero's Journey
The BaseTemplates story begins with a student named Vasyl. Touring industry conferences, watching hundreds of presentations, Vasyl noticed two things; ugly slide decks are everywhere, and even the best speeches are ruined by poor presentations. So he set to work fixing it.
As a freelance Presentation Designer, Vasyl solved the problem one deck at a time. He turned boring slides full of bullet-points into entertaining presentations. He helped startups deliver clear messages, and made great looking pitches for industry leaders. But one man can only do so much, and ugly pitch decks were still everywhere he looked.
Then he had an idea. What if he could create a smart template, specific to every business and able to meet the needs of individuals? A template that worked perfectly on both PowerPoint and Keynote, with great slide design and helpful visual assets? Today he is launching BaseTemplates, the all-in-one solution that's set to put an end to ugly presentations everywhere.
2. The Customer's Tale
This story focuses on your product from your customer's perspective. It is an excellent way to secure startup funding since it shows investors that you know your market and highlights the value of your product to real people. The basic format of the customer's tale:
Another excellent choice for concept decks, the customer's tale also works very well for those pitching consumer goods and tech startups. It demonstrates your advantage over competitors.
BaseTemplates: The Customer's Tale
Hans and Katie spent two years developing Legion - a plugin that accurately translates email content into three languages. They funded the beta tests themselves and developed a working prototype to take to investors.
They developed an excellent network during their testing phase and secured meetings with three angel investors quickly. But explaining their concept and capturing the attention of investors was difficult, and they struggled to secure funding - until a contact introduced them to BaseTemplates.
Within a day, they had completely re-designed their presentation. The advanced visual effects, icons, images and layouts meant that their deck now accurately showcased their startup. This was the deck investors expected from them, and it was this deck that helped them close their seeding round five weeks later having secured the $150,000 they needed.
3. The Industry's Point of View
This is the tale of your industry and why it needs you. This story shows investors that your startup has a role to play and demonstrates how well you know your market and current industry trends. The industry point of view:
This format works especially well for data pitches and ground-breaking startups. It demonstrates your competitive edge, how your business will fit into the wider industry, and the size of your potential customer base.
BaseTemplates: An Industry Point of View
Today, there are over 1000 online stores selling presentation templates. Each store sells hundreds of templates, and they all look the same; fancy slide designs, fonts, and animations. But how many are really useful? Most founders don't know which template is best suited to their business. Some templates don't work properly on Mac; others require customers to buy additional design elements. In short, building engaging, professional presentations with them is hard.
That's where BaseTemplates comes in. An all-in-one template that meets the needs of every business or presentation, with great design and visual assets at no extra cost, and easy customization in both PowerPoint or Keynote. Now, presentation creators don't need to download additional resources and can start work on their deck the moment they purchase it. The Content Direction feature provides step-by-step advice to create an engaging deck, whatever your goal, and the company provides support and assistance, as well as regular updates, so every customer knows they're getting the best value for money.
Figures collected by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) suggest that 150 million businesses are currently seeking funding. BaseTemplates not only provides these founders with the only all-in-one template to create professional pitch decks, but it also supplies presentation creators – academics, industry leaders and business executives – all over the world with a comprehensive solution to create the best presentations.
Summary
Turning your pitch deck into a story is a great way to demonstrate your solution and create an emotional connection between investors and your venture. There are many different ways to tell a story, so chose the one that makes sense to you and highlights the most important aspects of your venture.
