We tell presenters that it’s okay to feel scared during your upcoming sales pitch because investors will always be a pressing and intimidating bunch.
Great elevator pitches are similar to memorable stories. They intertwine visuals and narrative to keep the audience engaged. And it needs to be completed in the duration of an elevator ride.
In this guide, we share 10 business pitch examples you’ll want to use in your next investor or client meeting.
You don’t need design experience to create a business or sales pitch. Create an engaging presentation in just minutes with Venngage’s professionally designed pitch deck templates!
What is a business pitch?
A business pitch is a concise and compelling presentation that is delivered to potential investors, clients or partners to communicate the value proposition of a business idea, product or service.
The main goal of a business pitch is to persuade the audience to take a particular action, such as investing in the business, partnering with the company or purchasing the product or service.
Remember that a business pitch is different from a proposal. A pitch deck usually helps you start a conversation with potential investors and business partners. On the contrary, a proposal is a detailed, written plan that spells out scope, timelines, and costs so a decision-maker can sign off. Think of the pitch as the door-opener and the proposal as the contract preview.
In entrepreneurship, a pitch is a concise presentation that communicates your venture’s problem, solution, market, traction, and funding need — aimed at winning resources or support.
Choose a simple and short elevator pitch template
Your elevator pitch needs to address the biggest business concern: the sales funnel.
This simple pitch deck example gets to the heart of the business problem within just 12 slides. It’s short, sharp and to the point, enough to keep prospective clients interested.
This is a great sales pitch deck template to accompany a brief presentation. You can easily share your business model with investors or clients.
Customize this template by adding your branding and business information. Include data about your target audience and team members. This is information that potential investors need to know.
With a Venngage business account, you can access the My Brand Kit feature, including the Autobrand tool.
Add your website when prompted and the editor will import your logos, fonts and brand colors. You’ll be able to add your branding to all your designs with a single click.
Related: How to Create an Effective Pitch Deck Design [+Examples]
Guy Kawasaki elevator pitch examples for business
The Guy Kawasaki method for elevator pitch templates has been successful for numerous businesses. The minimal text keeps investors focused during the entire pitch.
Presenters can fully concentrate on sharing the key metrics and pain points of their target market. The pitch deck includes overviews that guide investors’ thoughts.
Venngage has two versions of the conventional Guy Kawasaki elevator pitch format. This gradient version is a bit more modern. It certainly draws the eye without overwhelming the design.
The template’s simple and minimalist-inspired design makes it easy to customize for any brand completely. You can swap out the gradient panels and add brand-relevant product images instead.
You can also use this non-gradient pitch deck template. This is an ideal way to highlight your brand colors.
Make the easily customizable pitch deck examples shared above your own by adding your text, data and graphs.
Creating a pitch deck just got easier. Venngage’s real-time collaboration allows multiple members to work on a design at once. Share instant feedback and design a winning sales pitch.
Modern pitch deck example
This unconventional pitch deck uses icons to tell a compelling narrative. Visuals can spice up presentation decks and give make them aesthetically pleasing.
This template works well for startups and small businesses demonstrating to investors their brand’s potential.
If the deck is too dark, you can switch out the panel colors and icons. Add your own research to make your sales pitch convincing.
Related: Everything You Need to Know About Picking and Using Brand Colors
Effective startup elevator pitch examples
Elevator pitch decks focus on quick, one-minute proposals to convince potential investors that you have something valuable.
This investor pitch deck example is excellent for a startup elevator pitch. With just five slides, this deck makes it easy to breeze through your business model.
The added charts make the proposal and presentation much more convincing. You can share the necessary details that investors will want to know about.
Import your data from Google sheets into the Venngage editor and easily create charts for your presentation.
Related: Everything You Need to Know About Pie Charts
Business idea pitch deck
How do you highlight your business model to a potential customer? You start with your value proposition.
The below pitch deck example opens with the business’ value proposition in the first slide. It also includes many elegant ways to showcase the brand. Plus, it provides essential business data to investors simultaneously.
You can use the business idea pitch deck template above as a guideline for a good sales pitch of your own or modify and adjust it to your branding needs.
Dark marketing pitch deck
The marketing pitch deck example below has a dark but unique personality. It works well in a product launch setting or as an elevator pitch deck for marketers.
The color combination is unusual but striking. Not to mention, on-trend. Bold colors are one of the resurgent graphic design trends of the past few years.
You can use the above marketing pitch deck example as inspiration for numerous business presentations.
Art and multimedia businesses can also use it as a template for client presentations.
Related: 20+ Business Pitch Deck Templates to Win New Clients and Investors
Classic Airbnb pitch deck
We all know what Airbnb is and how much the business has grown over the past few years.
One of the best pitch deck examples you’ll see is Venngage’s version of the Airbnb pitch deck.
It uses sample data, addresses the core customer problem and outlines the business plan to capture the audience’s attention.
The pitch deck example above is one of the standard elevator pitch decks but manages to be sophisticated. There’s a finesse to this pitch deck design. That’s why it was so successful.
Statement yellow elevator pitch example
The yellow motif of this artistic pitch deck will immediately hold the audience’s attention.
The color is bright and bold but isn’t overpowering. Instead, only two slides use the background color across the whole slide.
The majority of the slides only include hints of yellow or use it as a highlight.
This template works for companies that use one prominent color across their branding. It’s also a professional pitch deck for small businesses, startups, or software companies.
Related: How to Make Successful Financial Pitch Decks For Startups
Short franchise elevator pitch example
Pitch decks don’t depend on length to make a point. Instead, it uses fewer headers as overviews and depends on presenters to share pitch details with investors.
This is one of the best pitch deck examples for a short and classy presentation. It uses a small number of icons and bullet points to draw the eye and keep the presentation flowing.
As an elevator pitch, this is an effective method for maintaining the audience’s focus.
Related: A Complete Guide to Line Charts
Nonprofit pitch deck
This elevator pitch example for nonprofits uses minimalism and icons to keep potential investors engaged throughout the presentation.
The subtle use of color and icons asserts the brand’s personality. This template can work for businesses in the graphic design sector.
Alternatively, the nonprofit pitch deck example above can also work for digital marketing agencies that want a cutting-edge appeal to make themselves attractive to clients.
Pitching lessons from Shark Tank and experts
Here are some expert tips to pitch your business successfully.
1. Know your numbers
One of the strongest suits of any entrepreneur is fluency with numbers. You should have the market size, customer acquisitive cost (CAC), customer lifetime value (CLV), burn rate and other important numbers on the tip of your tongue. This shows business awareness and operational discipline — the two things that investors often seek in entrepreneurs
As Shark Robert Herjavec says, “If you don’t understand your basic numbers, you’re going to fail.”
Here are some basic numbers you must remember even in your sleep:
- Total addressable market (TAM): How big is the pie you’re chasing?
- Customer acquisition cost (CAC): The exact cost to win one paying customer.
- Customer lifetime value (CLV): How much revenue one customer brings in, start to finish.
- Gross margin: What’s left after direct costs for business growth.
- Burn rate & runway: Monthly cash outflow and how many months of oxygen you have.
- Payback period: The time it takes for gross profit to cover CAC.
- Month‑over‑month growth: Proof you’re speeding up, not stalling.
Key takeaway: Know basic business numbers.
2. Tell a memorable story
Building a solid product is great, but investors also look for passion. Start your pitch with a memorable story explaining why you built the product and tie it to the company’s vision and mission. This builds authenticity and assures the investors that you are motivated to grow the company.
For example, Bombas, an apparel company, started its pitch by explaining that they heard a Salvation Army Major say, “Socks are the #1 requested item in U.S. homeless shelters.” The founders built the brand to sell aesthetic socks and donate one pair of socks for each pair sold.
Key takeaway: Start with the moment the lightbulb went off, then show how that moment drives every decision you make today.
3. Give an impressive demo
Nothing beats seeing the product in action. A tight, high‑impact demo turns curiosity into conviction and increases the chances of getting an investment.
Here are a few tips to give a great demo:
- Lead with the pain: Spend five seconds setting up the problem, then solve it on the spot.
- Design one unforgettable “wow” moment: Shape the entire demo around a single visual proof—whether it’s a scratch‑free pan or a sponge that changes texture.
- Keep it under 30 seconds: Attention fades fast; deliver the benefit before anyone checks their notes.
- Invite investors to try it: Hands‑on interaction converts curiosity into conviction.
- Stress‑test everything. Rehearse under studio lights, use backup units, and eliminate every possible failure point.
- Plan a quick reset: If the first attempt misfires, pivot to a spare prop or secondary angle without breaking flow.
- Finish with a metric: Follow the “wow” with one hard number—time saved, money earned, waste reduced — to lock in the value.
Key takeaway: Give a live demonstration of which problem the product solves and how.
One of the best Shark Tank examples with an excellent demo is Doorbot (now Ring). The founder uses a prop door and doorbell setup to demonstrate how users can see and talk to their visitors without opening the door.
Pitch formats
You don’t need a 40-slide deck to catch an investor’s eye. They’re short on time, so keep a few pitch versions ready—an elevator intro, a phone pitch, and an email script. Having these in your back pocket lets you make the ask the moment the chance appears.
Below are the key pitch formats and sample pitches for each.
1-minute business pitch example
Start with a relevant statistic or pain point to grab the attention. The, propose your product as the solution and talk about the market size, business model and finally funding.
Sample script for an AI marketing tool
Last year, mid-market SaaS firms wasted $4 billion on customer churn.
<Name of the product> is an AI plug-in that predicts cancellations 30 days out and triggers automated save-playbooks — no code needed.We launched eight months ago and have 27 clients so far, cutting churn by 18% on average. The mid-market alone is a $2.3 B opportunity.
We charge $1 per active seat per month, hitting 75% gross margin.
I’m raising $1 M to scale sales and double integrations this year.
2-minute business pitch example
Here, you can share the business metrics, team edge, business traction and metrics, business roadmap and market size and competitors.
Sample script for a site migration tool
At 3 a.m. on Black Friday, our founder watched her e-commerce site crash and lose $40 K in ten minutes. Turns out 70% of mid-size stores still rely on fragile DIY hosting.
<Name of the product> offers one-click, auto-scaling infrastructure built for Shopify and WooCommerce. A store migrates in five minutes with no code, no downtime. (Show 20-sec screen capture)
The addressable market: 480 K mid-size stores spending $3.4 B a year on hosting and performance tools. Unlike AWS or Cloudflare, we bundle scaling, CDN, and checkout acceleration in one bill.
Beta launched six months ago; 110 stores average a 32% faster page load and 12% higher checkout conversion. MRR hit $82 K last month, growing 18% MoM.
Pricing is tiered at 0.5% of GMV, locking in 78% gross margin. Our plan in the near future is to focus on multi-currency caching and headless storefront SDK by Q4.
The team built edge networks at Akamai and product-led growth at Shopify. We’re seeking $3 M for sales expansion and Asia-Pacific PoPs. Let’s talk details after the demo.
Email pitch
Email pitches are the most common, especially for cold outreach. Add a compelling subject line to increase the chances of your email getting opened. Make sure to start with proper context or reference a recent development so the reader knows why you’re reaching out now. Then keep it lean—one pain point, one solution, one clear next step.
Sample email pitch for a mailer film
Subject: Cut plastic waste on every shipment—see how
Hi <prospect’s name>,
E-commerce brands will ship 200B parcels this year. Most arrive wrapped in single-use plastic film that sits in landfill for decades.
<Name of the product> is a fully compostable mailer film that drops into the same shrink-wrap lines you use now—no new equipment, no lost throughput.
Why brands switch:
- Breaks down in 180 days (home-compost certified)
- Same puncture resistance as LDPE at 80 micron
- Cost delta: +2.4 ¢ per medium mailer, offset by customer goodwill and ESG credits
- Pilot with Acme Apparel cut plastic tonnage 94 % and boosted repeat purchase 6 %
We’re scaling production to 50 M units/month and opening a $4 M Series A to add a U.S. extrusion facility.
Open to a call Thursday to walk through the pilot data?
Best,
<Your name>
<Designation>
<Phone> | <LinkedIn>
Phone sales pitch
Sample pitch for a customer retention tool
- Greetings
- “Hi <prospect’s name>, this is <your name> with <name of the product>. Do you have 30 seconds for why I’m calling?”
- Context + pain
- “You recently crossed 10k customers. Companies at that stage often see churn jump above 6%.”
- One-line solution & benefit
- “We flag likely cancellations a month early and trigger automated save-sequences — cutting churn about 18%.”
- Social proof question
- “Are you familiar with how <mention a competitor or a similar business> retained $1.2 M ARR using our playbooks?”
- Qualify
- “What’s your current churn rate goal for this quarter?”
- Hook to next step
- “If I could show your own risk hotspots in a 10-minute screen share, would that be worth a look?”
- Handle push-off politely
- “No worries. Can I email a one-pager and circle back next week?”
- Confirm & close
- “Great, Tuesday at 2 p.m. I’ll send the invite. Thanks, <name of the prospect>.”
Famous sales pitch decks to inspire your pitch
Minimalist Airbnb pitch deck
This minimalist design of the Airbnb elevator pitch example shared above is perfect for startups.
You can easily add product or location photos and adjust the colors to suit your branding, alongside your logo and fonts.
Buffer pitch deck
The real Buffer pitch deck was confusing for investors. You can read more about it in our round-up of the best pitch decks.
Venngage designed a cleaner version using icons and charts. This makes the information easier to understand. You aren’t bombarding your audience with too many details.
Facebook pitch deck
The winning Facebook pitch deck was text-heavy. But what made it stand out was how many popular schools had already signed up with it.
Plus, the deck was nothing short of ambitious, with a clear expansion plan. It is no surprise that Facebook is the behemoth it is today.
Quick teardown of Facebook’s pitch deck
Strengths:
- Solid early traction: The deck shows 70,000 total students with 65% logging in daily and “3 million page-views” a day. Those numbers make the product’s pull obvious without extra spin.
- Clear target and spending power: It quantifies the college audience (15 million students, $85 billion in annual purchasing power), framing why advertisers should care.
- Consistent, branded look: Every slide carries the same “the facebook” blue grid, which keeps the narrative tidy and professional.
Weaknesses:
- No revenue story: The deck doesn’t explains how Facebook will make money (ads, premium features, something else), so investors are left guessing about the path to profit.
- Limited competitive context: There’s no slide on rivals like Friendster or MySpace, nor on what prevents another campus network from copying the idea.
- Heavy text, sparse visuals: Many slides rely on paragraphs or simple tables; today’s investors expect more visual storytelling and sharper data design.
How to write a business pitch deck
Creating a compelling business pitch deck is essential for effectively conveying your business idea to potential investors or partners. Here is a step-by-step guide to help you write a business pitch deck:
- Cover slide: Include the name of your company and a visually appealing image that represents your business.
- Executive summary: Give a quick snapshot of problem statement, solution, your business’ value proposition, future plan and funding request.
- Problem statement: Clearly define the problem your product or service solves. Use statistics or real-life examples to emphasize the significance of the problem.
- Solution: Describe your product or service and how it addresses the identified problem. Use visuals, such as product images or diagrams, to help illustrate your solution.
- Market opportunity: Present market research data to showcase the size, growth potential and trends of the target market. Use graphs, charts, or infographics to make the information more engaging.
- Business model: Explain how your business will generate revenue. Describe your pricing strategy, sales and distribution channels and any key partnerships or collaborations that will contribute to your business model’s success.
- Traction and milestones: Highlight any significant achievements, milestones, or partnerships that demonstrate the progress and potential of your business. This can include user metrics, revenue growth, or notable endorsements.
- Competitive analysis: Analyze your competitors and illustrate how your product or service stands out in the market. Highlight your unique selling points and any barriers to entry that provide your business with a competitive advantage.
- Go-to-market strategy: Outline your marketing and sales plan. Describe how you will reach and acquire customers, including your marketing channels, customer acquisition strategy and sales approach.
- Financial projections: Present your financial forecasts, including revenue projections, cost structures and expected profitability. Use charts or graphs to display key financial data and assumptions.
- Team: Introduce your team members and highlight their relevant expertise and experience. Emphasize how the team’s skills and strengths contribute to the success of the business.
- Use of funds: Explain how you plan to use the funds you are seeking. Provide a breakdown of how the investment will be allocated across different aspects of the business.
- Conclusion and call-to-action: Summarize the key points of your pitch and clearly state what action you want the investors to take. Encourage questions and provide your contact information for further discussions.
Remember to keep your pitch deck concise, visually appealing and easy to understand. Use high-quality visuals and compelling storytelling to make your business pitch deck engaging and memorable for your audience.
Four tips for creating a great elevator pitch
Here are four easy ways to recreate the pitch deck examples above or build your own pitch from a template.
Adjust your pitch by funding stage
- Pre-seed: Highlight the founding team’s track record and the acute problem you’re tackling. At this point investors bet on people and pain-point clarity.
- Seed: Lead with proof—pilot users, revenue, or waitlists—then lay out a credible business model that shows the idea can make money.
- Series A: Present tight unit economics, 18- to 24-month financial projections, and a line-item use-of-funds plan that scales initial traction into market share.
Create a visual style for your sales pitches
A visual style or theme creates flow and sophistication in any presentation. These involve using recurring elements in a subtle and obvious manner.
For example, this Venngage template uses our color gradient along with elegant and bright icons.
Choose visual elements whose characteristics become the pitch deck’s focal point. Great pitch decks use the brand’s colors and visual motifs to keep the brand top of mind.
Give an overview of your business model
Pitch decks act as content anchors that guide your client toward your topic’s main points.
All the other information in your pitch deck or the explanations in your presentation will be aimed at supplementing that data. When targeting private equity investors, it’s helpful to consider how firms identify and evaluate potential opportunities. Understanding how do private equity firms source deals can help tailor your pitch to align with their interests and decision-making processes.
Like this Uber elevator pitch template that emphasizes customer pain points and how the business will solve them.
Examples of added data include situational examples, charts and graphs and case studies.
Focus on your unique proposition
Your pitch deck has a central idea that is its unique selling proposition. Pitch deck creators build their pitch ideas around this aspect.
As a result, they’ll have a solid, communicative and persuading pitch deck that convinces investors.
Simplify hard concepts in your sales pitch
Scientific knowledge is enriching to those who understand its meaning.
Hard concepts, long-running and poorly constructed sentences and jargon make reading challenging for investors who have a very short time to spare.
This deck ensures that information isn’t overwhelming, either in the overview or the traction slide.
Make sure to simplify hard concepts and use simple words. That’s what the best pitch decks do.
FAQs on business pitch decks
What are the key elements of a business pitch?
Every solid pitch covers five basics: the pain point, your solution, evidence it works (traction or proof of concept), the business model, and a clear ask. Hit each point in plain language so listeners know the problem you solve, why it matters, how you’ll make money, and exactly what you need next.
How long should my elevator pitch be?
Aim for 30–45 seconds—about 100–120 words. That’s enough time to spark interest without testing anyone’s attention span. If you can’t explain the value in under a minute, tighten the message.
What’s the difference between an elevator pitch and a full pitch deck?
Your elevator pitch is the teaser: a quick verbal snapshot meant to open a door. A pitch deck is the deep dive that follows—10–15 slides laying out market size, traction, finances, roadmap, and team. Think of the elevator pitch as the trailer and the deck as the full movie.
How do I tailor a pitch for investors vs. corporate clients?
Investors care about scale and returns, so spotlight market size, growth metrics, and margins. Corporate clients care about outcomes and risk, so focus on specific pain points, ROI, and implementation details. Same product, different angles.
How do I use storytelling in my pitch?
Open with a short, relatable scene that shows the pain point in action, then position your solution as the turning point. Keep the story factual—one character, one conflict, one resolution—so it reinforces rather than distracts from your numbers.
How do I pitch an idea to investors on Shark Tank?
Lead with a one-sentence hook, demo the product in under a minute, share concrete traction (sales or users), and state your ask clearly (amount and equity). Make it interactive—let the Sharks touch, taste, or test—so the value clicks before you start negotiating.
Use templates to create successful pitch decks and win over investors
Delivering a good elevator pitch can be overwhelming. The pressure to get the tone right and impress investors is huge.
We’ve shared 10 elevator pitch examples that you can use as inspiration.
And with Venngage’s pitch deck templates, you get a competitive advantage. With no design experience, you can create elevator pitches that win over investors.
