The Ultimate Guide to Outstanding Investor Presentations

A strong investor presentation helps you win confidence, explain your opportunity and move discussions forward. Whether you’re raising capital, updating existing investors or preparing for a fund presentation, you need a clear story and to show a team that investors like & trust.

Meet the Author: Benjamin Ball

Ben is the founder of Benjamin Ball Associates and leads the presentation coaching and pitch deck creation teams. Formerly a corporate financier in the City of London, for 20+ years he’s helped businesses win with better pitches and presentations, particularly investor pitches. He is a regular speaker and a guest lecturer at Columbia Business School and UCL London.  Follow Ben on LinkedIn or visit the contact page. 

This guide to investor presentations brings together practical advice from Benjamin Ball Associates. Our team of expert coaches and advisers has spent 15 years working with some of the world’s most successful businesses helping them create compelling investor presentations.

You’ll find steps you can apply straight away, examples to improve your message and links to further reading across every stage of presenting to investors.

1. What Investors Want From Your Investor Presentations

Whatever you are pitching, investors judge three things above everything else:

• whether your opportunity is attractive
• whether you and your team sound credible
• whether the risks feel manageable

Your aim is to make these answers easy to judge.

For a deeper look, read:

• What investors look for in a pitch deck
• Secrets of a compelling pitch for investors

If you’re still early in the fundraising journey, start with How to get investors interested in your business.

2. Build a Clear Investor Story

A strong investor presentation starts with a simple narrative. The hardest part of creating a compelling pitch deck is identifying and writing that story. This is where many pitch decks fail. They are a collection of facts rather then a compelling investment narrative.

When you build your story first, your deck almost writes itself.

Your story should answer:

• What problem do you solve?
• Why now?
• Why you?
• What’s the scale of the return?

Useful resources to sharpen your message:

• Create persuasive investor pitches
• Better investor messaging
• Messaging Cracker process
• How to tailor your pitch for different investors
• How to prepare an investor pitch (video)

If you are writing an initial teaser, start here:
How to write an investment teaser.

If you want help creating you investor teaser or pitch, then get in touch. We’ll make the whole process much easier for you.

Speak to an expert. Get a free consultation

3. Create a Pitch Deck That Works

Your deck should be simple to follow, visually clean and built around your core messages. Investors spend very little time reviewing slides, so clarity matters more than design.

Useful guides:

• Best pitch deck for investors
• How to write an investor pitch deck
• Investment banking pitch deck
• Investor presentation pitch deck mistakes
• Create your pitch deck
• Pitch deck consultant
• Investor pitch deck audit
• How to create a killer investor pitch deck (video)

For a preview document, use an investment teaser to open doors before the full deck. We can help you write both your investment teaser and your full pitch deck.

Speak to an expert. Get a free consultation

4. Run a Convincing Investor Meeting

Investors pay as much attention to how you speak as to what you say. You want a meeting that feels like a meeting of minds and a delivery style that feels confident, natural and well prepared. That means preparing the whole team that will speak to investors.

Recommended reading and videos:

• Winning investor presentation: top 10 tips
• Speak to investors with impact
• How to rehearse an investor pitch (video)
• How to create a stand-out investor pitch (video)
• How to prepare an investor meeting
• Investor speed networking tips

5. Tackle Questions and Objections

Investors use questions to test your thinking. A calm, direct answer shows you know your business inside out.

Helpful guides:

• Answer tough investor questions
• How to handle investor objections
• Investor pitch training

If you want help rehearsing and coaching your team, we can help with our expert coaching.

Speak to an expert. Get a free consultation

6. Adapt Your Pitch for Different Investor Types

Different investors look for different things. If you are pitching to an establish mid-market PE firm, a trade investor or an institution, they will all be looking for subtly different things. That means you need to tailor your content and examples so they see what matters most to them.

Investment committees and institutional investors

• Master your investment committee presentation
• Prepare your team for an IPO

Private equity and venture capital

• How to run an investor fireside chat
• Private equity investor pitch training
• Private equity and VC fundraising guide
• Pitching at a private equity fund event
• Prepare a management team for a trade sale meeting
• Preparing for GP-LP Due Diligence Meetings
• The Little Green Book for private equity fund managers

Hedge funds

• Hedge fund investor presentation
• Saemor Capital case study

Charities and non-profits

• Charity fundraising presentations
• Charity fundraising case study

Professional and financial services

• Support for professional services firms
• Support for financial PR firms
• Coaching in financial services

7. Improve Recurring Investor Communications

If you already have investors, your regular communication needs to be as sharp as your initial pitch. That means constantly improving your investor meetings, earnings announcements as well as your annual investor days and capital market days.

Guides worth reading:

• Improve your annual investor days
• Improve your investor earnings call
• Improve your AGM and Capital Markets Day
• Coaching for Annual Results Presentations

8. Tools, Training and Real Examples

If you want structured support, these resources help you build strong messages, powerful investor presentations and perform with confidence in front of investors:

• Your investor pitch readiness guide
• The magic formula for winning investor pitches
• Roadshow training and coaching
• Financial sales training

Real examples:

• Blast Films: award-winning investor meetings
• Venture Scotland: remote coaching case study

9. Common Mistakes to Avoid in Investor Presentations

Even experienced presenters fall into traps. From our experience writing, re-writing and editing investor presentations, the most common mistakes we see in investor presentations include:

• trying to teach investors too much
• packing slides with detail
• skipping storytelling
• being vague about challenges
• weak rehearsal

To avoid these, read:
How to avoid mistakes in investor pitches (video)
Fundraising presentations
Investor presentation pitch deck mistakes

10. Investor Presentation FAQs

Speak to an expert. Get a free consultation

11. Next Steps to Better Investor Presentations

We can help with polishing your messaging, editing your pitch book and coaching the team.

Contact our customer services director, Louise Angus today on +44 20 7018 0922 to discuss how we can help pitch your business. Or click on the link below.

Start here:
Investor pitch training

The benefits of investor pitch coaching

or here:

Speak to an expert. Get a free consultation

Why Choose Us:
Transform your pitches and presentations with tailored coaching

We can help you present brilliantly. Thousands of people have benefitted from our tailored in-house coaching and advice – and we can help you too.

“I honestly thought it was the most valuable 3 hours I’ve spent with anyone in a long time.”

Mick May, CEO, Blue Sky

For 15+ years we’ve been the trusted choice for leading businesses and executives throughout the UK, Europe and the Middle East. We’ll help you improve corporate presentations through presentation coaching, public speaking training and expert advice on pitching to investors.

Some recent clients

Unlock your full potential and take your presentations to the next level.

Speak to Louise on +44 20 7018 0922 or email info@benjaminball.com to transform your speeches, pitches and presentations.

Speak to an expert. Get a free consultation