Is it me or does the word “Angel Investor“ sounds very peaceful? Whenever I created a pitch deck for an angel investor, I always thought that VCs, PEs, Accelerators, sound quite evil compared to angel investors. How could an angel be evil?
I‘m sure there are tons of entrepreneurs out there with stories in regards to how angel investors screwed them over. So I‘ll just stop this intro at this stage.
Angel investors, if found, could be your business-saving pill. They‘re usually just interested in having a return over the long term. They shouldn‘t be studying your business as much as a VC. A VC would be more focused on your operations and financials. Angels would be more interested in your cause and future growth. That‘s an oversimplification. At the end of the day, there are easy going VCs and “deliberate“ angel investors.
Yet, one thing is certain, they do not take a big chunk of your company‘s equity, which makes their offer rather lucrative, especially if at a startup‘s early days.
So, if you‘re looking to create a pitch deck for angel investors, this is for you.
The Perfect Angel Investor Pitch Deck Structure
Here‘s what we‘ll do. We‘ll start by addressing which slides should be in your angel investor pitch deck, explaining why. Then, at the end of this article, you‘ll find a suitable google slides template to use. It‘s one that I created a while back. It‘s a good design, you‘ll have to shift it according to the article‘s content and your startup‘s information of course.
First, we have to think of who‘s reading this deck—the angel investor. The typical angel investor has something you want and doesn‘t have something you need.
- They have money.
- They do not have time.
Keeping that in mind, here are some famous angel investors you probably know.
- Marc Benioff — The founder of Salesforce
- Reid Hoffman — The founder of Netflix
- Gary Vaynerchuk
- Mark Cuban
- Ashton Kutcher
So the good news is, they‘re everywhere (Like real angels, but those you can actually see.)
For that, when Kutcher is shooting a movie, he won‘t have time for a 20 minute pitch deck. But he‘s not a VC that would understand your business in a few seconds. Now that this is established. Let‘s write the perfect structure.
Pitch Deck Slide 1 — Elevator
How many people are speaking to Mark Cuban when they see him? How many are pitching? Hundreds. So, you definitely don‘t have time to chat about the problem you are solving in details.
Instead of pitching a problem, then a solution, I recommend you pitch a perfect elevator pitch where Cuban would go like, “Wait, does this solve X? Because this is a big problem in the market.“
You‘ll have to let the angel investors relate, which could be challenging if your target segment is not very known. Yet, they‘re angel investors. They‘ve been doing this for a while. So we‘ll assume they know many target segments and market problems.
So the focus here is a simple one liner that intrigues and builds an assumption. Let‘s throw an example.
Albusi is a Swiss-based freelance marketplace focused on business documents operates on simplicity in our age of complexity (Optional addition: with a 50% CAGR)
If Cuban was having troubles building a business document recently, then this ought to catch his attention. Everything written was there for a purpose. For example, adding the Swiss aspect was meant to show that Albusi targets Switzerland as it‘s quite famous for the banking and business industry.
Pitch Deck Slide 2 — Traction, show the angel investor your progress.
Benioff is managing Salesforce. So there‘s no time to chit chat. Instead of pitching the product, we need to show him that this is worth his time. How fast are you growing? How much money are you making? For pre-revenue startups, you need to show your best card now.
- 100 record artists signed.
- 1000 truck drivers as partners.
- Annual growth of 80%.
Show the growth stick at this phase. If it‘s shaped like a hockey stick, great. If not, it does not matter. The idea is to show the best to make-it-or-break-it.
Pitch Deck Slide 3 — Product, demonstrate it to the angel.
If they‘re still listening, then they want to know more. This is where you show the product in action. The best way to do this is with a demo. If you don‘t have that, show what you do have.
I‘m pitching Albusi as simple, so it can‘t really be complex. I need to convey that.
Pitch Deck Slide 4 — Projected Growth
At this moment, we need to answer the question of how much Mark Cuban would be making on your investment. Remember, this pitch deck is only designed to catch the attention. The actual investment would be after you had multiple talks with the angel.
Therefore, show a few charts of how much you‘ll growth in terms of revenue. Power this by showcasing how much the market is growing.
Pitch Deck Slide 5 — Competitors
Just to reassure the investor that this market is worth it, you need to showcase the current competitors and how they‘re doing. Hence, showcase how you‘re different and better than them. I‘ve written an entire article about how the competition slides could be vital to your deck.
Pitch Deck Slide 6 — Contact
You don‘t want the angel to not be able to reach you, do you?
Extra Pitch Deck Slides — Business Model & Go-To-Market
I deliberately did not add the business model and the go to market slide. I don‘t believe their vital for an angel pitch to the people above as an example. Some business models are quite straight forward and would not be a deal breaker. If the investor asks for it, then it could be in the appendix.
Similarly, the GTM ought to be only addressed if the person you‘re talking to is very skeptical or aware of the market. If I‘m pitching a new streaming service to Hoffman, I ought to showcase how I intend to get into the market.
Angel Investor Pitch Deck (Suitable Google Slides Template)
That‘s a wrap. Wishing you the best with your all your angels!
Meet The Author Of This Article
I’m Al Anany, a ten year business consultant in Zurich, Switzerland.
I‘ve worked with startups who raised over $120m and others who were pre-seed.
Angel investment is quite demanded and when achieved, is usually much more comfortable compared to VCs.