Having a brilliant mobile app idea but lacking finances? Unfortunately, the money needed to set a startup afloat often goes beyond most founders' ability to finance. Thus, almost every startup should go through the process of fundraising in order to survive. And it includes mobile app producers as well.
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Share
This leads us to the main statement of this article - learning how to pitch and build a deck itself are the two most essential skills of any startup founder.
If you're looking for a list of components for the victorious pitch deck, tips & tricks, and a FREE mobile app pitch deck template - you're in the right place. Read on or hop over to a specific section using the menu on the left.
What is a pitch deck for mobile apps?
To keep it short, a mobile app pitch deck is a captivating and informative presentation of your app business idea. Since it's the investment you are looking for, it should clearly show and prove the product, market, and development components to the potential investors - they want to be confident in the success of the product they'll potentially be spending lots of money on.
It doesn't mean you need to prepare a whole book explaining your product - fantastic mobile app presentations we've seen start at just 10 to-the-point slides. But what should they contain?
Here's an ideal example of an app pitch deck that includes just 12 slides:
Slide 1: Problem
Slide 2: Solution
Slide 3: Product
Slide 4: Innovation
Slide 5: Testimonials
Slide 6: Market Validation
Slide 7: Main competition
Slide 8: Go-to-market strategy
Slide 9: Business model
Slide 10: Milestones
Slide 11: Team
Slide 12: Investment.
To ensure you bring up the meaningful aspects of your future venture, impress the investors, and, most importantly, spark their trust in your idea - keep up with this guide and use our free mobile app pitch deck example. In the following paragraphs, we'll uncover the "Why?" behind all of these pitch deck components.
The key to delivering information effectively - be it eBooks, presentations, or slide decks - is storytelling. Also, it's the easiest way to trigger emotions.
And by creating an emotional link to your presentation, you're guaranteed to captivate the listeners' attention and make it memorable.
Not sure where to start? Take one of these scripts to base your back story on:
1. The Customer Perspective - a perfect chance to demonstrate your understanding of the target audience and want to appeal to its needs.
Describe a customer background and the problem they faced
Mention the possible option the customer considered on the way to finding the solution
Specify how the customer wound find your mobile app and how it would help them
Show the results your app brought for the customer
2. The Industry Perspective - an ideal opportunity to prove that you understand the target industry and its trends.
Show the current tendencies of your target industry that were established some time ago but aren't viable anymore
Demonstrate how particular tech, economic, or social changes prove that those tendencies don't work for this industry anymore
Explain how this gap creates a perfect opportunity for your app to enter the market and take advantage of the changes
Demonstrate the understanding of the future impact your product is going to have when filling out the gap
3. The Founder perspective - is my favorite. It's a subtle way of adding a personal touch which is the most emotion-triggering way of telling the story of your mobile app.
Describe yourself living carelessly before you faced a certain problem
Bring up the problem you encountered with an inability to solve it with existing methods
Show the process of forming your unique solution for this very problem
Emphasize your expertise with the topic and devotion to resolving the problem with your mobile app
Choose the perspective that you feel mirrors your true motivation. Whichever one you'll go with, use the right components and enough personalization, and you're destined to succeed!
So what are those fundamental must-to-mention pitch deck components? Find out in the next section.
The Necessary Mobile App Pitch Deck Components
The Problem, or the Pain
This is one of the most important slides in your pitch deck presentation. Use the rule of three C's: be concise, confident, and clear when describing the problem you're trying to solve and the target audience.
Most importantly, convince the investors that whatever your mobile app addresses are a universal problem worth caring about. How? Back it up with facts and accurate data. And, preferably, collect unbiased feedback about your idea to show off.
The Solution, or the Cure
What does your mobile app do to solve the problem? On this slide, make sure to explain it in a simple way so that everyone can see the value without additional questions. And no need to explain how the mobile works yet - you will do this on the upcoming slides. The Solution slide shouldn't be about your product; this one will go next.
Let's use an example: you need to get from point A to point B. However, you don't have a car, and public transport or a taxi is not an option. That's a problem. The solution, however, would be a car rental service. The product is an app for renting cars online.
Try to recreate the same structure with your own mobile app, and you'll see what the 'Solution' is in your case right away. As easy as it is!
Product
The third slide in the perfect 'how to pitch an idea for an app' deck is the product showtime! And it's also high time to unveil the prototypes (for simpler apps) or even demonstrate a full proof-of-concept (if your app is a more technically advanced product). You can even use motion design or a catchy video for the WOW effect for product demonstration.
Mobile app prototype is a basic visual model that looks like a real future app and demonstrates its fundamental design/functions but doesn't contain working code.
In its turn, proof of concept is a practical demonstration of whether the app is technically feasible.
Don't have the time or resources to develop those? You can still go with minimal mobile app mockups or any other way of showing what kind of product you have in mind.
Just remember that it's always better to show rather than tell!
Innovation - what hasn't the world seen before?
Here you need to show how your mobile app works (in detail) and what's new about it.
It doesn't necessarily have to be a scientific breakthrough (though it would be awesome if your idea was one!), but it should be different from the others, and you must back it up with actual data - with prior market research and competition comparison, at least.
Testimonials
As mentioned above, it's worth collecting testimonials from the test audience. At least to validate your product and overall idea. It's important to ensure that your mobile app will work in real life, not only on paper.
If you already have a functional application and are just looking for further funding rounds, your app should probably also have some achievements or press mentions. If it does, include them in this slide without hesitation.
Remember: social proof is crucial for decision-making!
Market size
Your next task would be to show an understanding of the market you're trying to enter. The bigger it is, and the bigger your company can potentially become, the better.
But if you're shooting a niche, worry not. You can still prove your app's potential on the Problem/Solution slides. And, on this one as well! Just follow these steps:
State where and how similar mobile apps are sold
Mention what is the value of sales for you in this market
Emphasize why right now is the best moment for your app to enter the market
If you answer these questions concisely and again, backing them up with some accurate data, you're likely to succeed.
Competition
We already mentioned your main rivals in previous sections, however, it's never too much you can know about your competitors.
Keep in mind that you need to prove a point with this slide. Having the 'Competitors' slide in your app pitch deck just to show the competitors makes no sense.
Instead, make a graph/comparison of your main competitors, comparing the most business-crucial metrics like price, quality, safety, speed, customer service, and so on. You can always point out competitors' weaknesses and put them up against your own benefits. And show your mobile app advantages - both noticeable and not so much.
Go-to-market strategy
Do you have a plan for your mobile app promotion/a marketing plan? You better have it on the time of creating this slide, mainly because this is one of the must-have ways of showing how you'll spend the future investment.
Maybe you already have some ongoing marketing campaigns or a small group ready to adopt the app as soon as it's developed? Perhaps you plan to implement an unusual marketing technique that, in your opinion, will be perfect for your niche?
Show them off in your mobile app pitch deck, too!
Business model
Your app pitch deck should definitely include the business model slides, which will basically be an answer to the question: 'How are you going to earn money?'.
To help you convincingly answer this question, we collected some of the clarifying points:
Demonstrate your proposed revenue stream, and its potential
Mention the subscription model of your mobile application
Display the expected revenue goals
Milestones
A perfect solution for this pitch deck slide would be a graph demonstrating the step-by-step development process of your mobile application.
The visual aspect will assist in clearly demonstrating each turning point of your app and convincing the audience that you know exactly what to do to make your product a big hit.
Now is the time to showcase your best talents: introduce your outstanding team members.
Add faces, positions, and previous experience/achievements of developers, designers, marketers, salespeople, and other crucial team members to prove your readiness to implement the goals above in the nearest future!
Investment
Last but not least - how much money you'll need exactly? Yes, it can be a little less comfortable to present than the previous slides of your mobile app pitch deck. But that's actually the goal of your whole presentation! So, treat it as a proposal for further negotiations.
Make sure to answer the following questions:
What's the specific sum you need for your app to succeed?
Why do you need this specific amount? For what?
How much equity are you ready to give in exchange?
We're sure you already had the investment in mind, but as always, make it stand out with the precise calculation, research, and cost utilization plan.
Tips for pitch deck design
One last key mobile pitch deck component - make it pretty!
Of course, the data-driven approach and your pitch itself are the most important aspects of app pitch deck preparation. But design is what can make it more memorable, let alone show your familiarity with the branding concepts. You can use our free mobile pitch deck template or follow these guidelines to create a mesmerizing design for your mobile app deck:
Ensure your slides are easy-to-read and clear
Use high-quality images
Be consistent with fonts, icons, and color palette
You have your app pitch deck fully prepared for presentation - what's next? When can you start looking for investors and setting up meetings with them?
It's hard to give a specific answer - for some startups, the back story and nice reputation are enough. But most likely, apart from your brilliant mobile app idea, you'll also need a ready-made product and some traction.
Our final say is: as soon as you have enough data and materials to cover everything mentioned in this guide, you can reach out to potential investors and set up the date to present your pitch!
Worry not, as following our mobile app pitch deck guidelines, you're sure to create a beautiful and convincing pitch that will get you the necessary funding!
Apptension can help with your pitch deck - and in your further journey!
Our specialists - creative, sales, marketing, and project management teams - are willing to provide objective feedback and support you in the further app development stages!
We can consult you on your pitch deck creation, just ping us here, or click the 'get in touch button' in the top right corner.