A compelling pitch deck can make all the difference between attracting investors and partners or missing out on crucial opportunities. It can be stressful to create a pitch deck, but Google Slides is a free and user-friendly tool that makes this easier.

Let's walk through the step-by-step process of using Google Slides to create an impressive pitch deck.

Step 1: Plan an Outline for Your Pitch Deck

The foundation of any effective pitch deck lies in a well-thought-out structure. Consider the following points to ensure you address key investor questions and concerns:

1. One-liner summary: Capture what your business does and its unique value proposition in a single line.
2. Problem: Investors want to understand your problem and its significance. How big and urgent is it? Are there any statistics to support your claim?
3. Market size: Define the specific segment you're addressing and the potential for scalability—Include data on the total addressable market (TAM), serviceable available market (SAM), and share of market (SOM).
4. Solution: Explain how your product or service solves the problem. Consider using images, graphics, or demos for clarity.
5. Business model: Describe how you'll make money—your revenue streams, pricing strategies, and other monetization methods.
6. Marketing strategy: Explain how you'll get your product to customers. Discuss your sales channels, partnerships, or affiliate strategies.
7. Competition: Identify your main competitors and their strengths, then highlight what sets you apart.
8. Traction: Provide sales figures, positive customer feedback, or other metrics that indicate success.
9. Team: Highlight key team members, their roles, experience, and why they're the right fit for the job. If you have any advisors or board members, mention them too.
10. Financial projections: Investors want to see the numbers. Share your current finances and forecast revenues and profits for three to five years.
11. Budget: How much money do you need, and how will you spend it?

The structure and order of your outline may vary slightly depending on your presentation flow and the preferences of your investors. The key is to maintain a logical and engaging narrative throughout your pitch.

Step 2: Find a Suitable Google Slides Pitch Deck Template

Creating a pitch deck involves two main parts: design and content. Starting from scratch will likely lead you to spend more time on design and have less time refining your content.

To have more time for your content and still create business pitch decks that wow your audience, start with a template. There are many sites with a variety of pitch deck templates to choose from. Let's check out a few.

1. Slides Carnival

• Google Slides library: 200+ pitch deck templates
• Example used above: Geometric Pitch Deck Video template
• Price: Free

2. Slidesgo

• Google Slides library: 400+ pitch deck templates
• Example used above: Sleep Cycle App Pitch Deck template
• Price (unlimited downloads): Premium plan starts at about $3.20/month per user, and Education plan starts at about $1.87/month per user

  Create an account to download up to 5 free templates every month.

3. SlideModel

• Google Slides library: 200+ pitch deck templates
• Example used above: Ultimate Business Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template
• Price: Individual plans start at $24.90 for five downloads in 24 hours, and Business plans start at $199.90 for one user license and unlimited downloads

4. Envato Elements

• Google Slides library: 8,000+ pitch deck templates
• Example used above: Pitch Deck Google Slides Presentation by Kreate Tribe
• Price (unlimited downloads): Individual plan starts at $16.50/month, and the Teams plan starts at $10.75/month (for a minimum of two team members)

5. GraphicRiver

• Google Slides library: 5,000+ pitch deck templates
• Example used above: Business Pitch-Deck Google Slides Template by Generousart
• Price: Templates are sold separately and typically cost between $4 and $20.

Step 3: Import Your Pitch Deck Template Into Google Slides

Once you've selected a template that aligns with your vision, you can import it into Google Slides and start refining it. Sites like Slides Carnival and Slidesgo let you start editing in Google Slides with a single click.

For other sites, you have to download the template to your computer and import it into Google Slides to edit. Here's how:

1. Open Google Slides.
2. Click Blank to start an empty presentation.

3. Add a name for your presentation.

4. Click File and select Import slides.

5. Upload the file from your computer.

6. Select the specific slides you want to import, or Select all slides and click Import slides.

Step 4: Customize Your Pitch Deck Template

Now that you have a template to work with, your main focus is to customize it with relevant information and adjust its appearance to suit your brand style. Here's how to customize your Google Slides pitch deck:

1. Manage Slides

You can manage the slides in your pitch deck by simply right-clicking on the slide thumbnail. This brings up a menu of options, including New slide, Duplicate slide, and Delete.

You can also rearrange the order of the slides by simply clicking and dragging them to your desired location.

2. Edit and Style Text

Click inside the text area, hit Ctrl + A to select the text (as shown in the image below), and modify the text content.

To add new text, go to the Insert tab and select Text box. Click your desired location for the text and type the relevant information. You can customize the style by selecting the text and using the toolbar options below to adjust font type, size, color, and more.

You can access more styling options under the Format tab.

3. Insert Additional Elements

Under the Insert tab, you can add elements like images, shapes, tables, charts, and diagrams. You can even create a timeline in Google Slides to better represent your pitch.

4. Change Slide Theme

Changing your slide theme ensures a consistent format across your pitch deck without editing each slide separately. Here's how you can update your current theme:

Navigate to the Slide tab and click Edit theme.

Select Colors to open the Theme colors pane. Expand the Choose a theme color dropdown to reveal all the colors used in the slide.

To change a color, click on it and select a new color.

The new color will be applied to all slides in your pitch deck.

If you want to change, let's say, the font type and color in your slide deck, you have to decide whether you want to apply this to the THEME slide (which affects all the slides in your slide deck) or to specific LAYOUTS.

For this example, let's change the title style of the THEME slide.

Notice how the changes have been applied to all slides in the deck. When you're done making changes, click the cross icon in the top right corner of the theme editor to close it.

Create a Winning Pitch Deck in Google Slides

Creating a compelling pitch deck is vital to attracting potential investors and partners. This task becomes much more manageable with the tools and flexibility Google Slides offers.

Remember to keep your slides concise, use visuals to convey complex ideas, and maintain a consistent design. After each pitch, gather feedback and refine your deck to make it even more persuasive.

With the right materials and approach, you're on track to creating an impressive pitch deck that will leave a lasting impression on your audience. Good luck!