10 Tips for Creating a Winning Business Plan in PowerPoint

In their book Write Your Business Plan , the staff of
Entrepreneur Media offer an in-depth understanding of
what’s essential to any business plan, what’s appropriate
for your venture, and what it takes to ensure success. In
this edited excerpt, the authors offer some quick-hitting tips
that can help you create an effective PowerPoint
presentation for your business plan.
Creating a PowerPoint presentation, or deck, for your
business plan is a quick, to-the-point means of revealing
your best selling points to those reviewing it, while still
sending over your more detailed plan.
The question is, how do you organize and minimize the
breadth of a business plan into a short PowerPoint
presentation? First, it’s recommended that you use the
10–20–30 rule: 10 slides, 20 minutes and a minimum
30-point font.
Follow these additional tips to create a winning deck:
1. Your first slide is your title slide, which provides the
name of the business, your name, title and contact
information, plus a slogan if you have one. During the
presentation, you can read the slide and add in a
sentence that describes what it is you do.
2. The next slide should introduce a problem that
persists and is relatable to your target market. Statistics
can help you support your comments, but cite only a
couple at best. You want the audience to relate to the
problem or at least understand how it affects others.
3. The third slide should get to your solution. Briefly
describe in simple terms how your business has figured
out how to alleviate the problem you mentioned in slide
2. Make sure the audience understands that you have a
unique approach. You might also add a few words to
support your overall value proposition.
4. Next, you want to explain how you'll make money.
What are your revenue sources? Who are your
customers? What is your pricing structure? Then talk
briefly about how you expect to profit.
5. Now present a little more detail on your operating
plan. How does it all work? Self -service? Kiosks?
Personal service? From buying the goods to marketing
them to sales and shipping, give your audience a short
summary of how it all works. Include a little technology
—remember, “a little!” This is where you may need a
second, visual slide to show how it all works.
6. Now it’s time to present your marketing plan in a few
short words. After all, if you’re going to create dynamic
advertising and promotional campaigns, what better way
to start than briefly explaining how you plan to market
the business? Give some specifics, rather than saying
“on the Internet” or “on TV.” Let your audience know you
have a plan for marketing and can keep it within a
reasonable budget.
7. Mention your key competitors—but be nice. Then
explain what gives you the competitive edge.
8. Talk about your team. Remember, people invest in
other people. This is where you introduce your team,
with a few very brief highlights (one line) of each
member’s background that relates to the business at
hand.
9. This next slide should show a clear financial
projection with a three-to-five-year forecast. Explain the
method you used to arrive at your numbers.
10. Finally, show them where you are at present. What
have you done thus far, and how are you looking to
move forward sooner rather than later? Present a
positive call to action based on what you've
accomplished to date and what you'll accomplish in the
future.
There are many ways to go about putting together your
deck. And yes, if you need to go to 12 slides, do so, but
try not to go longer.
A few additional tips:
Don’t use jargon. Not everyone is deeply embedded
in your industry.
Don’t post slides, then read them word for word.
Your audience can read. Show something that's
easy for them to digest, and use your comments to
provide a little deeper explanation. This way, you
present more information, some printed and some
verbally.
Take a breath between slides so you don’t start
motoring along.
Don't focus on technology, technology and more
technology even if you're a technology company.
Don’t overload slides with too much material—
people can only read and digest so much.
Remember, less is more. Don’t try to pack too much
into a PowerPoint presentation—your listeners can
always read the full plan for more details.