What can you learn from Airbnb pitch deck? 4 great learnings to land investment

If you haven’t heard of Airbnb, you’re probably not from the world of hospitality. Once known as an apartment rental service or a place to stay with friends, Airbnb has become a leading hospitality startup in just a few years. But why is it so successful? What are the secrets to its growth? To find out, read on…

The company first launched in August 2008, but it didn’t take off until four years later when they started expanding their business model. Today, there are over 3 million listings worldwide across 191 countries, and they have been expanding at breakneck speed since then.

This article will detail the ins and outs of an Airbnb pitch deck so that you can learn from this industry leading company if you want to pitch own venture to investors.

Why Is a Pitch Deck Important for Investors?

Before attempting to raise investment for your firm, you must first create an excellent Investor Pitch deck. A pitch deck is critical to the funding process. It attracts potential investors and encourages them to participate in a discussion about your business, which leads to an attractive investment outcome.

An Investor Pitch Deck provides information about your enterprise in a clear and accessible fashion mainly via visuals. It demonstrates the firm’s objective and potential by summarizing the information in slides.

A series of slides are prepared and shown by the entrepreneur in a meeting plus an explanation per slide which creates a story line that can attract investors to consider investment in the startup.

So now that you know how a pitch deck roughly looks like, let’s talk about the key learnings from Airbnb pitch deck which is one of the most famous pitch decks in the world.

1. Start with describing the problem your startup aims to solve

One of the most important aspects of a pitch deck is the problem you are aiming to solve. Now, you might think that this is obvious, but you would be surprised how many startups do not do this right.

So right in the beginning of your presentation, you should present the problem your startup is solving. Your solution should be the focus of your pitch deck. This is exactly what Airbnb did in their second slide so right after their introduction, they immediately talk about the customer issue and job-to-be-done.

From the beginning stages of your company, you focus on the problem your company aims to solve and this should be properly reflected in the pitch deck.

When you write about the problem your startup is solving, you can explain an example of a real customer and their problem (without going to much into the details). This will help your investor understand your product better and get excited about your company.

You can also include a story from one of your customers to showcase the problem your product solves for them. This creates a more personal connection with your investors and makes it more likely that they will invest in your company.

2. Use facts and evidence to show market validation and market size

When you’re writing about your market validation and market size in the pitch deck, you want to make sure you balance it with evidence. You don’t want to only use words to convince your investors, you want to back everything up with data.

Airbnb built on facts and numbers heavily to convince the investor of the actual need. In slide 4, they talk about Couchsurfing which provided a much similar service but with a different revenue model, in fact non-profit approach and they also mention temporary housing in Craigslist which is a smart way to show the demand is there.

Similarly, when they present the market size for their startup (slide 5), they carefully select numbers and resources that are credible and very relevant to their business idea.

You can use statistics like the number of customers, revenue, and growth rate to show that your product has been validated and that people are using it. You can also include screenshots of the product or how it works to show that your growth is real.

3. Present screenshots of your prototype and how it works

Next, you want to present a prototype of your product in the pitch deck. You can include pictures or videos of your prototype, depending on what is most helpful for your investors.

Airbnb showed their service (or website) and how it works in three simple but powerful steps (search by city, review listings, book it). Investors really appreciate if you briefly explain the prototype or a Minimum Viable Product and are curious to learn whether to some extent you have validated it.

We have seen pitches that startups do not include such screenshots or links to their demo, perhaps because they think it is still a basic prototype and lacks several aspects they have in mind. This is not an optimal approach since you leave the investor in the darkness about your product or service.

Presentation of a prototype includes what key features do (briefly) and how it fits in with the rest of the product. You can also use this screenshot to show how your the prototype works in a step-by-step fashion.

4. Create a killer competition slide and explain your competitive advantage

You cannot ignore competition in your pitch deck. One of the best parts about a pitch deck for investors is that you can include a killer competition slide. Airbnb has used what is a called a “magic quadrant” to show their position and their competitors position in the market (slide 9).

A magic quadrant is illustrative but the main disadvantage is that what if competitors start to enter into your segment especially if they are large enough and they see an opportunity. I personally have asked this question from startups that presented such a quadrants and they had a hard time answering it.

Instead you can prepare a power grid like this where you present your company, your competitors and your offerings to the customer:

A power grid helps to highlight the benefits of your product compared to those of your competitors in one slide.

Your startup should go on the left column of the Power Grid, framing every comparison to other companies in the table. After your company, place your three biggest or most well-known competitors in the next three columns — the 3 companies investors will always want to know about.

Bonus: If you have won a grant, a competition or featured in the press, add them to the pitch deck

When you’re writing about the press, grants, or winning a competition, you can mention them in the pitch deck. While this was not exactly included in the Airbnb pitch deck at the time, it can make your investors more interested in investing in your company if they read about your winning award or grant. However, Airbnb pitch deck had another similar slide to show credibility through its “Press” slide (slide 12).

This slide is all about how you won a competition or grant that you’d like to include in your pitch deck. Choose the most prominent awards or recognitions in the startup community and proudly present them here because it can make a final positive impression. People always remember the last impression particularly if you end with a positive sentiment.

You can include the details of the competition or grant on the press slide to make it more helpful for your investors. You can also include a link to the competition or grant website if possible.

Conclusion: Airbnb pitch deck is a template for your pitch deck

Airbnb has been able to grow into such a successful company because they have found a problem to solve and they’ve validated the problem that their product or service solves. They also have a prototype of their product and have shown that it has reach and is being used by real customers.

Airbnb has also won a lot of awards, which can help investors show that they are a great company that is making an impact in the world.

With these tips in mind, you can improve your own pitch deck to find the key aspects that make Airbnb so successful.