Building a Pitch Deck? Here's the software you should use.

Pitch decks are the lifeblood of a startup’s pitch in today’s world of fundraising. So, how do you make a professional pitch deck as a startup with no designer, no team, and no experience? Fortunately, a series of new companies have made a living providing pitch deck software to startups.

Here are the 5 best pitch deck presentation software to use while building your pitch deck:‍

1) Beautiful.ai

Beautiful is one of the best options when it comes to building presentations. This is due to the simplicity in navigating the application and the extensive design features that come loaded behind the scenes. Something as simple as building a timeline has been historically extremely difficult but Beautiful.ai makes it easy with templated slides built to support unique designs like this. Beautiful.ai also has templates for data like flow charts, funnels, pie charts, and almost every graph in existence. Beyond Beautiful's long list of features, they also offers analytics on presentations links informing you on who viewed a presentation for how long. In terms of full-stack presentation software, Beautiful.ai is about as close as it gets.

Website: https://www.beautiful.ai/presentations/startup-pitch-deck

Pros

• Easy to use & design
• Extensive data tables & graphs
• Video embed options
• Great sharing options
• Presentation Analytics
• Affordable
  

Cons

• There really aren't any

2) Visme

‍Visme is an easy to use web based presentation software with thousands of incredibly well designed templates. Software with lots of features can be difficult to use in general but Visme has done a great job of providing an extensive feature set while maintaining an easy to use interface. Visme also offers free graphics and icons which will save you from spending thousands of hours on the web searching for the perfect icon. Even data tables are easy to use. Instead of building out a graph in excel and copying it over, you can simply paste the data into a Visme data table and instantly animate a beautiful graph. As far as pitch deck presentation software goes, Visme is among the best.

Website: https://www.visme.co/search-templates/?search=Pitch+Deck

Pros

• Easy to use
• Video embed options
• Great sharing options
• Animated data tables
• Multiple sharing options
  

Cons

• There really aren't any

3) SlideBean‍

SlideBean's software allows you to build a simple pitch deck quickly, easily, and with little design skills. The SlideBean software comes with proven templates from Uber, AirBnB, and others that guides you through the steps of building your pitch deck. SlideBean also offers design and writing services if you’re willing to pay a little extra.

Website: https://slidebean.com/‍

Pros

• Presentation Analytics
• AI Slide Organization
• Easy to Use
• Great Templates
• Offers consulting to help you along the way (additional cost)

Cons

• Difficult to Customize
• Design Limitations‍
• Annual subscription only

4) Canva

By now, you’re probably very aware of Canva and how it has completely revolutionized and simplified design. Although Canva is most commonly used for resumes, flyers, and brochures, Canva can also be used to design and build pitch decks. In fact, Canva has some of the best looking design templates of anyone on this list. If you’re looking for a great design and easy to use solution, Canva is likely the best service for you. 

Website: https://www.canva.com/templates/search/pitch-deck-presentations/

Pros

• Professional templates
• Easy to use
  

Cons

• Limitations with complicated designs
• Lacks analytics

5) Google Slides + Creative market‍

Everyone knows that Google Slides is a great resource but it also lacks creative freedom. If your team has a light background in design, building off a pitch deck template from Creative Market is a great way to add professional design aesthetics to a pitch deck without having to hire a professional designer. ‍

Website: https://www.google.com/slides/‍

Pros

• Easy to use
• Great sharing options
• Integrated directly into G-Suite
• Free to use
  

Cons

• Difficult to customize
• Requires designer
• Requires advanced implementation for analytics
  

Wrapping up

If your team isn't comprised of world class designers, go with the software that's fast, efficient, and easiest to use. This will save you from falling into the trap of spending hundreds of hours building a pitch deck. Traction is what is most important to investors so stay focused on what matters when raising capital.