When it comes to raising money for your Startup, seed funding is usually the very first investment that is made into your business and is what you absolutely need to begin your operations. Typically you do not yet have a product to demo or sales to show, so the pitch deck presenting the idea is the most tangible thing you have. While this is not an ideal situation, having a very strong pitch deck formulated in a way that helps investors understand what you do is imperative to passing the ‘screening round’ and entering serious discussions with investors. This article provides insight on how to structure a pitch deck for seed funding.

When it comes to a seed funding pitch deck, you are essentially persuading investors that you are solving some problem in the market that either nobody else has addressed, or you are solving it in a more efficient way than anyone else. At a later stage you will have sales and performance metrics to back-up your claims, but for now you must use anything close to empirical information such as Google Polls, customer discovery, market surveys, and other things that will help you to communicate your success and profitability. In general, there are three main parts of a pitch deck for seed funding.

This is perhaps the most important section and if it is not compelling enough – you risk being disregarded entirely by investors relatively quickly. Investors want to understand that the problem you are solving in the market is both substantial enough for people to pay you and effective enough for them to continue using you. Chances are, there is already someone attempting to address this problem and in this instance, you must communicate how you are better than them and why they cannot replicate you. If you fail to do this, investors will ask how you are different from ‘X’ solution or ‘Y’ company and you risk them proceeding to even read the rest of your pitch deck.

Related: Avoid these 7 Pitch Deck Mistakes

The business model for a seed round company should be simple as possible. Some Startups try to enter the market by simply ‘adding more features’ than another company. Investors realize that unless these companies cannot add these features that are both proven to be in-demand by the customers and will sacrifice the main business model of your competitors, they have probably already considered adding them or are planning to add them soon. Hence, your business model must be unique and competitive and generate profit for your business. This is how you will implement the solution to the problem so investors can assess how feasible it is for you to generate a profit by providing such a solution.

The financial forecasts for a seed round pitch deck are based on speculation. However, some investors do try to understand the projections and assumptions you used to gauge the profitability. It is possible to identify inconsistencies with the business model and financial projections that will indeed sink you. For instance, if you have free memberships that cost a lot of money to manage and you need to convert 20% of these free members to paid members, which is different than the 2 – 5% average for freemium companies, then you have a bit of a problem. Rather than trying to see how much money they can make, investors are usually trying to identify flaws with your business model through the financial projections – so be aware and make them conservative rather than wildly optimistic..

Related: Approaching Investors for Capital

Just because you have competition doesn't imply you shouldn't enter the market; instead, you must have a clear grasp of and plan on what your strength is. Existing firms and successful companies in the industry can confirm that there is a demand, but for the fundraising process, venture capitalists will want to know why you are the superior option. State clearly if your solution is tackling a worldwide issue or catering to a multibillion-dollar sector. Your startup's total potential annual profit can play an important role in whether venture capital firms deem it worth their investments and weather you will be able to raise money or not. The main goal is to persuade investors that there are – or will be – enough consumers willing to spend cash for your goods. Because practically, you would only acquire a percentage of the total addressable market. Add a team slide in order to give the potential investors a better idea of the talent company possesses.