Personalizing your pitch deck is a critical step in creating an effective presentation for potential investors or partners on LinkedIn. A one-size-fits-all deck will not make the same impact as one tailored to your specific audience. There are several key elements in a pitch deck that you should consider personalizing.
Know Your Audience
The first step is to understand who will be viewing your deck. LinkedIn allows you to target your pitch to specific groups or individuals based on their profile information. Do some research on their LinkedIn profiles as well as any outside sources to get insight into their background, interests, goals, and pain points. This will allow you to customize the messaging in your pitch accordingly.
For example, if you know a potential investor tends to fund B2B enterprise SaaS companies, make sure to highlight those aspects of your business. Or if you know they focus on social impact, emphasize the societal benefits and mission behind your company. Tailoring details like this will demonstrate that you did your homework on who you’re pitching to.
The Problem
A strong pitch deck starts by introducing the problem you’re solving. When personalizing this section, emphasize the specific pain points that resonate most with your target audience. Are you solving a challenge commonly faced in their industry? Does your product address frustrations they likely experience?
Describe the problem in a way that makes them think “Yes, this is an issue we’re facing!” right from the start. Back up your claims with statistics and evidence tailored to their field or company if possible. Diving deep into how your solution addresses their specific needs will grab their attention.
Your Solution
Now move into an overview of your product or service. Explain how it solves the problem just outlined in a way no other solution does. Focus on the most relevant features and capabilities based on who you’re pitching to.
For example, if you know a potential investor is looking to fund apps with innovative machine learning capabilities, provide more technical details and metrics around your AI/ML components. Or if your audience lives in a certain geography, emphasize capabilities localized for that region.
Customer Traction
At this point, you want to showcase traction and target customer success metrics. Curate the most impressive stats and growth numbers from accounts similar to who you’re pitching. For a VC focused on mid-market SaaS, highlight strong adoption among other mid-market B2B clients. For a strategic investor in a certain vertical, emphasize big name customers from that industry vertical.
If possible, include logos and testimonials from relevant companies and roles. For example, if pitching to healthcare investors, quotes from Hospital CIOs or other healthcare decision makers will resonate much more than general consumer reviews.
Team
Your team page is an opportunity to highlight experience and expertise that aligns with your audience. Tailor the team profiles included to showcase relevant backgrounds for who you’re pitching. Emphasize CVs from similar companies or roles in the industry. The goal is to quickly establish your credibility in their eyes based on prior work.
Funding Use Case
If raising investment capital, outline how additional funding will accelerate goals relevant to their mandates. Do they invest in AI? Explain how funding will fuel more R&D into expanded capabilities. Are they focused on market expansion? Share plans to scale into additional geographies or segments with their capital infusion.
The more you can tailor this section around priorities that align with their typical investment thesis, the better. Demonstrate how their money will be put to work on outcomes they care about most.
Financial Projections
Back up the funding use case with matching financial projections. Model out scenarios that map to the objectives discussed. If pitching international expansion plans, incorporate projections around TAM and revenue growth in new target markets. Or if pursuing M&A, factor in estimates for increased market share post-acquisition.
Citing realistic models that map to the personalized use of funds proposal strengthens your argument. It quantifies outcomes specific to their areas of interest.
Competitive Landscape
When profiling your competition, call out advantages and differentiation versus alternatives your specific audience is most likely familiar with. For example, if you know a potential investor has funded a prominent competitor, explain how your solution is superior or complementary.
You can also highlight weaknesses or gaps in competitors’ offerings that your product fills within their market or use cases. Demonstrate your deep understanding of the competitive space for their specific business or investment profile.
Milestones
The milestones slide can reinforce how your opportunity aligns with their interests. Are they focused on technical validation? Feature key technical milestones. Targeting market expansion? Highlight commercialization milestones in priority geographies.does your product serve a niche industry? Include relevant launches at major industry events.
This shows you have a plan to systematically achieve goals relevant to their mandates on an aggressive timeline.
Call to Action
Close your pitch by driving to a specific call to action aligned with the next steps you want the audience to take. If you want them to provide an intro to potential customers, ask for that explicitly. Seeking investor outreach to their network? Request introductions to specific investor contacts at the close.
Personalize the CTA around the most logical and desirable next actions you want them to take to support your opportunity.
Visual Design Choices
Beyond content, visual design choices like color scheme, fonts, icons, and imagery should also align with your audience. Maintain a professional design aesthetic but incorporate visual styling that resonates with them.
For example, if pitching an enterprise IT security company, a technical aesthetic with bold angular font choices could reinforce perception of innovation and authority. Or for a social impact startup, friendlier rounded fonts on a bright palette may better suit the positioning.
Leverage visuals to complement the personalized messaging and positioning throughout the deck.
Example Personalization Table
Here is an example showing how pitch deck sections can be personalized across different target investor types:
Pitch Deck Section | Consumer VC | B2B SaaS VC | Life Sciences VC |
---|---|---|---|
Problem | Everyday consumer pain points | Enterprise workflows and challenges | Unmet clinical needs |
Solution | Mobile/social features | Productivity features | Clinical trial data |
Traction | Downloads, ratings, retention | Logo slide, testimonials | Trial data results |
Team | Consumer marketing backgrounds | Enterprise software experience | Clinical expertise |
Funding Use | Growth, marketing | Expand TAM | R&D, trials |
Projections | Revenue, DAU | ARR, CAC, LTV | Clinical pipeline |
Competition | Consumer apps | Incumbent B2B | Pharma alternatives |
Milestones | Consumer launches | Enterprise releases | Trial progress |
As shown, the content and messaging emphasis varies significantly for different audience profiles even though the pitch deck structure stays consistent. Whole sections like Traction, Projections, and Competition change based on investor mandates.
So in summary, to create an effective investor pitch on LinkedIn, you need to intimately understand your target audience in order to tailor the content, visual design, and messaging to resonate with their specific interests, pain points, and background. Personalizing with their perspective in mind will demonstrate that you understand what they need to see in order to get excited to engage further.