The Perfect Guide to Building SaaS Pitch Decks to Win More Investors

Professional investors, like venture capitalists and angel investors, can unlock the doors to exponential growth for your SaaS business. 

With the potential for huge investment, ideas to optimize your product and connections to influential networks, investors can be a determining factor in the success of your business. 

If you’re a SaaS company looking to raise capital or secure another round of funding, a well-made SaaS pitch can make or break a deal in this industry. 

As a SaaS SEO agency, we’ll help you build the perfect pitch deck and showcase real-life examples of how great SaaS companies have done it. 

What We'll Cover:

What is a SaaS Pitch Deck? 

A SaaS pitch deck is a brief presentation that gives an overview of your business plan, products, services, market opportunity, and growth trajectory. Its primary function is to convince potential investors or clients to invest in your business. It is a crucial tool for startups or established SaaS companies to seek funding or attract potential stakeholders. 

Your pitch presents investors with an idea that captivates them and leaves them eager to engage further. While securing funding is not a one-step process, a good pitch deck can help you quickly advance to the next stage.

10 Essential Elements to Include in Your SaaS Pitch Deck 

The main goal of a pitch deck is to show the investor what your company is doing now and how successful it will be a few years down the line. While pitch decks have a basic structure, the items covered would look different depending on the funding round. 

But here are ten elements that you must include. 

#1 Introduction 

The first slide of your pitch deck should introduce your SaaS brand or company. Instead of going for a lengthy description, keep it short and simple. 

You can even ask a question to get your audience to engage with the pitch deck. Here’s an example to introduce a productivity tool. 

Can you guess how many hours you lose because of inefficient processes?  

Then, introduce the statistic, followed by the solution – your SaaS tool. 

The most popular approach followed by SaaS companies is to introduce their tool in one line. For example, “We help manage your team’s projects” or “We help make videos in 30 seconds.” 

Here’s a real-life example from Front. 

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#2 The Problem 

Once you have introduced your SaaS company, tell them what problem it’s solving. In this slide, you can highlight real-life scenarios that resonate with the target audience and gently guide them toward the problem. . 

You can answer the following questions: 

• What is the problem?
• How big is it (i.e., how many people/demographics does it affect?
  
  
• What kind of people are affected by this problem?
• How big is the opportunity in the niche?

Instead of being too descriptive, keep the text focused and brief. Here’s how DropBox did it for its first-ever pitch deck. 

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You can even use statistics that further point out that the problem you’re solving is large/important. 

#3 The Solution 

The next slide introduces how your SaaS product solves the identified problem, emphasizing its unique selling points. 

After observing many pitch decks, one unique approach we love is this: Introduce the different solutions to the current problem and explain why yours is the best. Doing this shows the investors that you have adequately researched your market and demonstrates your thought process behind the SaaS tool. 

While doing this, ensure you don’t overwhelm the audience with large paragraphs of text. 

Here’s how Heyday did it. They talk about two existing solutions and how their tool brings the pros of both of them together. 

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#4 Market Insights 

Including market insights shows an awareness of where your company will likely be in some time and the kind of strategies you will need to take up. Investors want to see the potential of your product – so show them!

Include data on market size, market growth, total addressable market (TAM), and how they have grown or are projected to grow in the coming years. 

It’s best to use visual elements such as charts and graphs to present insights in an engaging and visually appealing manner.

A good example of this slide comes from Moz, who shows how much they have captured and what they plan to capture in the future. 

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#5 Competitive Landscape 

This slide is an excellent opportunity for you to showcase how you’re different from your competitors and why investing in your company would be a safe bet. 

Here are some questions you can answer with this slide: 

• Who are our direct and indirect competitors?
• Where do we place ourselves within the competitive landscape?
• What makes us different? Or why would people choose us over others?
• What are some factors/features/functionalities that are there in our SaaS tool but missing in others?

Instead of just telling you’re the best, this slide can do a great job of showing why you’re the best. 

Here’s how Aircall showcased its competitive landscape. 

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#6 Product Showcase 

This slide is the main part of your pitch deck. You introduce your product and demonstrate why it’s important. 

Here’s what you can show with this slide: 

• How does it solve the user’s problem?
• The main features/benefits
• The areas you focus on
• Your product’s ease of use or UI with a short demo or screenshots

Instead of being too technical, portray some real-life use cases that are easy to understand and explain everything your product can do. 

Here’s how Cedar starts showcasing its product in a simple, visual style. 

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#7 Revenue Model 

The revenue model gives a quick insight into your SaaS business’s pricing strategy. For the initial rounds, it gives investors an idea of what customers would be willing to pay to reap the benefits of the software. 

You can also showcase any additional services you’re providing that are important to the revenue model. 

If you’re preparing a pitch deck for the later rounds of funding, use historical pricing and revenue data to explain any price increase or the impact your product or feature upgrades have brought to your financials or enterprise customers. 

Here’s how Zestful does it. 

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#8 Team Introduction and Contact Information 

One reason your SaaS company is incredible could be the people working on it. This slide is a great way for you to showcase the important members of your team and their qualifications in the form of some stellar companies they worked for, achievements in their field and awards. 

This slide is significant for SaaS companies trying to secure Seed and Series A funding rounds. Investors most often make a bet on your product idea and your team.

Here’s a fun and engaging introduction by Dropbox. 

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#9 Traction and Milestones 

This slide should showcase all the milestones you have achieved and how your company has grown over the years. It's vital to show investors that investing in your company is not too much of a risk and that you will remain profitable or become profitable in the coming years. 

It could show the number of sales you’ve made, the revenue growth you have achieved, any major goals you have achieved, the growing number of users/subscribers, the number of feature updates or UI updates you have made, the growth in margins, etc. 

Here’s how Mixpanel shows their MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) growing over time. 

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#10 Funding Ask 

Before you finish your presentation, don’t forget to tell investors what amount you’re looking to raise and what you’d be using that amount for. 

Link that amount to specific needs such as new product features, marketing, or expansion. 

Be clear and transparent here about how the funds will be utilized. Some companies also give a detailed breakdown of how they plan to invest the entire amount in different areas, which builds trust and lets the investor take your ask seriously. 

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Top 5 Samples of Winning SaaS Pitch Deck 

Learning from real-life examples of successful pitch decks can get you as inspired as talking to a successful SaaS entrepreneur.  

Here are five examples that you can learn from. 

#1 Mattermark 

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Mattermark provides a search engine like Google that keeps SaaS companies, and investors informed about other companies.  

Details of the company: 

Industry: Analytics, Big Data, Machine Learning, IT, Software 

Customer: B2B 

Details of the pitch deck: 

Year: 2014 

Round: Series A funding

Amount raised: $6.5M 

What can you learn from this pitch deck? 

• Make the correct use of data graphs and provide information in an easy-to-digest manner.
• Use numbers to make your case strong.
• If it’s your initial round of funding, demonstrate your team expertise to build trust in your SaaS company.

#2 Launchrock 

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Launchrock helps you build a custom launch site in minutes to capture early users and supercharge your marketing efforts. 

Details of the company: 

Industry: Advertising, Marketing, Analytics, Software 

Customer: B2B 

Details of the pitch deck: 

Year: 2011 

Round: Seed funding

Amount raised: $800K 

What can you learn from this pitch deck? 

• Get the first few slides to be interactive/engaging. You can either build suspense, ask questions, or tell a real-life story.
• Don’t make your slides too content-heavy. Keep it simple and brief. Use bullet points and visuals wherever you can.
• Attach screenshots to show instead of tell.

#3 Intercom 

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Intercom offers an AI customer service solution that combines an AI chatbot, help desk, and proactive support to keep costs low and provide better customer satisfaction. 

Details of the company: 

Industry: Marketing, Customer Service, Productivity, AI, Software 

Customer: B2B 

Details of the pitch deck: 

Year: 2012 

Round: Seed funding

Amount raised: $600K 

What can you learn from this pitch deck? 

• Keep your pitch deck as short as possible. Don’t overstuff information when you can portray everything in a few slides.
• Showcase customer testimonials or reviews of famous CEOs or influencers in your niche.
• Be as genuine as possible with the numbers and your funding ask.

#4 Buffer 

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Buffer is a social media management tool that helps you increase engagement and grow your brand’s profiles on different social media platforms. 

Details of the company: 

Industry: Marketing, Social Media, Productivity, Analytics, Software 

Customer: B2B 

Details of the pitch deck: 

Year: 2011 

Round: Seed funding

Amount raised: $500K 

What can you learn from this pitch deck? 

• Use quotes from famous personalities and then build your case.
• Use statistics about how your tool has benefited your audience.
• Share details about milestones, competitive landscape, and your niche in one slide each. Compress the information instead of stretching it. 

#5 Moz 

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Moz is an SEO tool that helps businesses increase traffic, rankings, and visibility in search results. It offers multiple SEO products under its platform. 

Details of the company: 

Industry: SEO, Marketing, Productivity, Analytics, Software 

Customer: B2B 

Details of the pitch deck: 

Year: 2012 

Round: Series B funding

Amount raised: $18M 

What can you learn from this pitch deck? 

• If you’re going for later funding rounds, showcase your history and milestones till now in a visually appealing format.
• Showcase economic trends that benefit your business.
• Show how you have used your funds till now to build transparency and trust.

Seal That SaaS Deal 

A powerful pitch deck can put your SaaS business on the right path to achieve more success and growth. 

While there are a lot of elements to include in your SaaS pitch, ensure it is honest, transparent, and true to your brand. Once you keep these in mind and combine them with all the elements discussed in this guide, you can supercharge your way to the next funding round. 

If you require help with SaaS SEO or marketing before you prepare for your funding round, look at our services and get in touch with our experts.