How to Write a Winning Crypto Pitch Deck

Fitting the story of your project into a concise presentation

5 min readApr 18, 2022

— You are addressed the way you are dressed —

After labouring to create a great product and strong business model, entrepreneurs must face another major hurdle — pitching their startup to investors. This could be an offline or physical meet up event, usually about 10-minute presentation where you decide if you have it good or need to go back to the drawing board!

Luckily, you don’t have to go into pitch meetings empty-handed. Facing investors with a great pitch deck in your arsenal can make all the difference — but getting the deck right can be a challenge.

At Adaverse, we understand the struggles that crypto entrepreneurs face when building their businesses and pitching to investors. Through our accelerator program for Cardano projects in Africa, we help entrepreneurs succeed. This article will guide you on how to create a winning pitch deck to help you pitch to investors with confidence.

✨Getting started

Before starting your pitch deck, it is key to understand a few general rules on how to pitch your business successfully.

What is a Pitch?

A pitch is a short presentation with a specific goal — to convince your audience that your business is worth investing in. For this reason, it cannot simply be descriptive; it must also answer the specific questions that investors invariably ask themselves.
- What problem does it solve?
- Is there a real need for it?
- How achievable is this goal?
- What is the edge over competitors

To write a compelling pitch deck, it is also necessary to understand and adapt to the audience and the format of the pitch session. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ deck that you can prepare, and you should always evaluate what strategy works best. Would the investors be more compelled by your journey? Or are they more interested in the technical details? Researching your investors beforehand will allow you to present your idea in the most precise and compelling manner!

✨Keep it short

A great pitch deck will support your business pitch by giving you quick, ordered access to the information you need to make your idea convincing. As a rule, a pitch deck should have between 7 and 14 slides — any longer and you risk rambling.

The important thing is to be concise with each slide — only include one or, at maximum, two pieces of information, and stick to using two or three sentences at most. Each slide should be an idea, so make sure it has space to do its work!

Condensing information into such a visual and compact format is somewhat of an art. Don’t be afraid to ask for help!

✨Hit the most important points

Understanding what your audience wants to hear is a great way to focus your presentation and keep your deck short. However, there are a few things that almost every deck contains as a rule.

Remember, your potential investors will likely keep a copy of your deck for their consideration. Make sure they can understand it without you having to explain it!

1. A fiery opening (Title and 1 slide)

The first seconds of your presentation is crucial to capture the interest of your audience. Your brand, logo and tagline need to be as catchy as possible. Include a brief description of your project (one or two sentences) so that investors can quickly refer to it if they need it.

2. A defined problem and a clear solution (3–4 slides)

It’s fine to say a problem exists, but in your pitch deck, you need to prove it. Include stats, research, interview quotes, or anything else that supports the idea that there is a big problem out there just waiting for you to solve it. To keep things concise, just include the important data on the slides.

The same goes for your solution. Boil down your product or service to a few key points, and tightly link your solutions with the problems you just defined. Again, leverage the pitch deck as support for your presentation and keep the information on the slides to a minimum.

In the domain of blockchain and crypto businesses, it is important not to overwhelm the audience with technical terms at the beginning of the presentation, but rather show how something that might seem abstract to VCs can have a concrete and practical application in the real world. If you’re building a product that can change lives, focus on that, rather than the code behind it.

3. Your market research (2 slides)

Realistically defining your market is essential to prove why your business is worth investing in. In this part of your presentation, your goal is to show your understanding of market dynamics, targeted demographics and potential growth opportunities. In doing so, you will be able to convey to the investors not only why your business can thrive in the market, but also how your strategy will bring the highest ROI. Use data and charts to make this information easily digestible.

4. A strong and diverse team (1 slide)

Your business would not exist if it weren’t for the people behind it. For this reason, your pitch should highlight how your team brings different skills and approaches to the table. In your deck, include a photo and the titles of the core team making your idea a reality.

5. A clear plan (1 slide)

Demonstrate that you have a realistic plan by outlining your goals and setting realistic timeframes for achieving them. Stick to the big picture and focus on the most important milestones over the next 24 to 48 months. Longer-term plans are alright as well but try to keep them concrete and to a minimum.

6. Contact information (1 slide)

A great pitch means nothing if they can’t get in touch with you! Make it easy for investors to get in contact with you by providing information like your website and a business email. You might also want to include other social handles, including the project’s Twitter handle or any channels you might have (for example on Telegram or Discord).

✨Take a leap

A simple way to ensure your startup will win investors with an amazing pitch deck is by joining Adaverse. We are a Cardano ecosystem accelerator providing funding and mentorship support to impact-driven crypto startups with game-changing projects across Africa.

We help startups establish and grow sustainable businesses on the continent and overcome historical obstacles, ultimately fostering a dynamic and innovative ecosystem to cater to the global market at large.

If you’ve got a brilliant idea, or have even started growing your business, get in touch with us today. Adaverse Accelerator Program is open to applications from founders all-year round. Apply Here

Helpful Links:

Email — official@adaverse.co