Creator Pitch Decks 101

How to Make a Creator Pitch Deck.

First of all, you absolutely have to read Approaching Fundraising before reading this.

In the off chance you don’t, here’s the recap on how to Approach Fundraising for VC money as a Creator.

If you’ve decided to start fundraising, you should now prioritize your focus as a Founder in the following order:

Insight
Distribution
Storytelling

Our north star here is that content allows for Creators to have access to insights on humans that can lead to new product creation unlike traditional businesses and brands. Not just funnels for distribution.

Why Pitch Decks Matter

A founder’s deck is the first piece of content a potential investor will experience. That’s a daunting thing for someone who might have spent the last few years of their life creating so many things in an effort to express their vision. All to be not be boxed in within a few seconds. Traditional tech founders share this frustration.

The good news is that the narrative writes itself if you’re ready for venture money. The same way it writes itself for traditional founders.

Taking Advantage of the Creator Advantage

The good news is that Creators have already started their first crack at a pitch deck and they don’t even know it yet. Your digital footprint leaves tons of room for investors to better understand you as a Founder. featured video is your introduction to what you do, who you are, and where you’re going. Creators have an option in choosing their featured video. That option is either:

Their most popular piece of work
Their favorite piece of work
The piece of work that shares actually… what they do, who they are, and where they’re going.

As an investor, I’ve seen very few creators take the opportunity to explain publicly what they want to do with fundraising of any kind in their content. This feels like a missed opportunity. Naturally, Creator’s don’t need to scream I’m worth millions of dollars and making millions of dollars and I’m trying to get more millions of dollars because the modern sentiment is more difficult, especially for Creators that have been around for more than five years. Creator Capitalism is a raw cut subject for most audiences and it will take years to get to that level. (We’ll be diving deeper into that… somewhere else.) Rather than sharing about the fundraising, sharing the plan (assuming you don’t raise any money at all) and having your audiences reaction/feedback live time in your own safe space is really the safest place to start.

Formatting

A good creator decks focuses on new insight and what to do with that new insight. This is an honest, mature and credited position to take. Let this be the guide for the story you’re about to tell.

Slide Formatting Best Practices

There are a lot of deck styles out there. What’s important to remember is that you’re trying to make the point you’re making as quickly and clearly as possible. Here are some points to keep in mind:

Attention is limited.The average investor in traditional venture capital takes around 2.5 minutes on a deck at a time. The good thing is that you’re probably more equipped to takle this than the average traditional tech founder.

Don’t reinvent the wheel, just yet. Creator investing, as we know, is new. With that being said, we want to present information in a way that doesn’t create mental barriers for anyone. I’d highly recommend keeping your deck as clean and formatted as possible for your first round of funding.
Put a contact you’re, personally, actually going to check. Fundraising is a time window for you and for a perspective investor.

Line by Line

Slide 1: Title

This is pretty self explanatory. As a Creator, you have an option to make this Your Name LLC or your Media Name LLC. Regardless,

Slide 2: One-Liner

This is your one-liner slide. YC doesn’t really do this, but I do. If you have a hard time doing this, that’s the point. Yes, you can do two or three lines instead of one, but no more than that. You can include things like (TOTALLY making this up, l so don’t come after me, Jimmy): MrBeast Industries is a media-driven (if you’re not creator-first; say venture-driven) Creator company redefining content as a product.

Slide 3: Your Observation/Insight

As a Creator, you’ve had access to customers unlike any brand has been able to. This is the slide to showcase what you’ve been observing while being in the Creator seat.

Slide 4: Solution, so far.

This is a contested slide. This is the start to product(s) you’ve started to work on to alleviate this consumer pain. That can be a Software product or a Content product.

One thing’s for sure, it really helps if you can make an argument as to why rather than just quitting being a Creator and starting a product without content makes no sense. There are some problems that should be solved with Content and others that should be solved with Software. This is the slide to argue Content-first, if you can.

Slide 5: Market Slide

Ahh - Content TAM time. You’re going to want to show that what you talk about is becoming either 1) more interesting 2) more of an issue for consumers. Show how you’ve been growing and what you think are the tailwinds for your success. Focusing on market tailwinds you’re riding makes this sound more sustainable for investors.

Slide 6: Creator Landscape

Most Creators hesitate on this slide, but it’s actually very common. Traditional founders, too, have a hard time bucketing themselves with their competitors. When they do; however, it comes off self-aware of where they are mentally and literally in relation to other individuals (or brands) with online persona. There is a world where, if the person is early enough, this slide can be more difficult. For Creators, I’d recommend one of the axis showing where they sit themselves as “Entertainment-focused” vs. Education-focused individuals.

Slide 7: Current Structure

This is where you’ll show what you’re currently doing. Set it up visually just like this. Yes, make it prettier if you have to, but this is typical company structure chart that makes it easier to see what you have so far. Also, I know it can get

Slide 8: Fundraising Amount

Just do it. I know a lot of people hate doing this, but be upfront with the money you really want.

Slide 9: Future Structure

Show what you’re going to build out (assuming you have the funds regardless). This can include new channels, new companies, new investments, new acquisitions, new deals, etc.

Slide 10: Team Slide

This one’s easy. Current team. Titles aren’t too important. Know that any C-level implies they have equity. Doesn’t always mean that, but that’s how an investor might interpret it.

Slide 11: Contact

Pretty straightforward. You have to put what you’re really going to check.

[Optional] Slide 12: Appendix Title Slide

This is a pro-level move. Separating your main slides from Appendix slides means that you aren’t wasting time and space.

[Optional] Slide 13: Appendix Slides

After this slide, you can include:

Charts you like
More audience insights
More audience screenshots
Prototype examples
Literally whatever you want

FAQ

As a creator investor, here are some good points that have yet to be cleared up yet:

Does my Media Kit count?

What do I pitch first?

Can I just pitch it like an individual company?

Does my Media Kit count?

What do I pitch first?

Can I just pitch it like an individual company?

These are some good questions. Here’s my stab at how to approach each of them.

On Media Kits

No, you can’t just send your media kit. Media kits display a Creator’s Distribution, not their ability to be a founder. Simply put, there’s a difference audience with different expectations.

On What You’re Pitching

You’re pitching either a Holding Company or a Subsidiary Investment. As a reminder, the Holding Company is the “umbrella” that covers all of your Creator Work/Founder Work. This includes channels, companies, studio deals, and any other form of revenue. The Subsidiary is financing for one of those companies under the umbrella.

Can I just pitch it like an individual company?

To do proper Creator Investing, you should to Holding Company fundraising and you can do Subsidiary investing. Meaning, if you’re cash positive and don’t want to raise for any of the smaller companies at this moment you’re reading this blog - you can wait. Holding Company raises give you space to breathe to test out what you want to do.

As always, if you have any particular questions, feel feel to reach out to em@pre-founder.com. If you are an existing Creator that loves their pitch deck and wants to volunteer theirs as an example, I’ll be releasing a few May 2025.

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