Every startup founder has a Hollywood-style fantasy that they’ll wind up in an elevator with a rockstar investor. As the fantasy goes, over the course of that 30 second elevator ride they successfully pitch themselves millions of dollars of investment and set their startup on the fast path to billion-dollar success.

What drives you as a startup founder? It’s probably that you’ve seen a problem in the market that you believe you can attack more effectively than the incumbents. That means that by its very nature your business is going to be different to your competitors.

Having a great idea will only take you so far on your startup journey. At the very earliest stages you’re also going to need to have some way to articulate the vision and galvanize investors and partners behind your idea. This is where the pre-seed pitch deck comes in, as a way of visualizing the idea behind the startup and focus people’s attention on why it is important.