A pitch deck is not a brochure. It is a decision tool.
Whether the audience is an investor, a grant assessor, a bank, a sponsor, or a partner, the job of the deck is the same = make it easy to say yes. The most common mistake is building slides around what the presenter wants to say, instead of what the decision maker needs to believe.
Scott Perry’s ACE Speaking and Pitching approach is built for real life pitching in conversations, networking, presentations and on stage, with a strong focus on audience, confidence, engagement, structure and performance techniques. It also includes practical “never do this” rules, like never positioning yourself poorly and never starting with the solution.
ACE the DECK system:
A Audience
C Confidence
E Engagement
D Direction
E Evidence
C Clarity
K Keep it real
Think of it as two layers.
ACE is how you show up.
DECK is what you show.
Audience
Start with who is deciding and what they care about. Investors scan for return and risk. Grant panels scan for alignment, outcomes and value. Banks scan for serviceability and certainty. Game publishers scan for market fit, differentiation, production readiness and team capability.
A practical check – if the deck could be presented to any audience with no changes, it is not specific enough.
Confidence
Confidence is certainty without ego. It shows up in clean structure, decisive language, and no self-deprecating set ups. One of the fastest ways to lose the room is to apologise for presenting, or to lower expectations before you begin. Scott’s rule holds – never “deposition” yourself.
Confidence is earned in preparation. Practice out loud, not in your head. Speaking speed and thinking speed are not the same, and the gap is where people ramble, backtrack, or over-explain.
Engagement
Do not start with the solution. Pre-frame the pain and the cost of inaction first. Scott teaches this as the Uber versus Taxi principle: get the audience “in the car” before announcing the destination.
In deck terms, your first minutes should answer – What is happening right now, and why does it matter?
Direction
State the ask early and clearly.
How much is being requested.
What it will be used for.
What success looks like in 6, 12 and 24 months.
Grant assessors and investors do not want to hunt for the ask. Make it obvious and measurable.
Evidence
Evidence beats enthusiasm.
Include proof that reduces perceived risk – traction, pilots, letters of support, partnerships, credibility, customers, IP, procurement progress, testimonials, industry references. Scott’s pitching materials place testimonials in a practical workflow from purpose and objections through to filming, practice, editing and rollout, because social proof is not a nice-to-have, it is a conversion tool.
For grant and funding decks, link evidence directly to criteria and outcomes.
Clarity
One idea per slide. Fewer slides, stronger story.
A strong structure many investors recognise is summarised in Square Peg Capital’s guidance on what slides to include, framed as the questions investors are trying to answer.
Also, if you are building decks in Canva, their pitch deck guide is a handy reference for core sections and examples.
Keep it real
This is where decks win.
Acknowledge risks before the audience does, then show mitigation.
Keep numbers simple and believable.
Show a practical delivery pathway, not just a vision.
In grants, “real” means outcomes, milestones, governance and value for money. In investment, “real” means assumptions that hold up under scrutiny. In game development, “real” means production plan, budget, team credits, platform strategy, and a clear go-to-market.
Award-winning, proven pitch deck examples to study
If you want to understand what “winning” looks like, study decks that have actually unlocked capital, grants or commercial backing. The following examples are widely referenced because they are clear, disciplined and credible, not flashy.
Australia – investment
The Canva seed pitch deck is one of the most referenced Australian startup decks, credited with helping raise a reported US$6.6 million in early funding. It is a strong example of a simple problem statement, a clear product narrative and a compelling market story without unnecessary complexity.
View the breakdown and slides here:
https://www.alexanderjarvis.com/canva-pitch-deck-to-raise-series-a-round-capital-investment/
USA – investment
The Airbnb early pitch deck is a classic benchmark used globally. It is still taught because of its clarity, short slide count and disciplined structure, showing exactly how much story is required to get investor buy-in.
View the original deck here:
https://sites.ced.ncsu.edu/design-and-pitch/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2020/05/Pitch-Example-Air-BnB-PDF.pdf
Australia – public market style investor deck
The OFX investor presentation is a strong example of how more mature businesses present strategy, risk, growth drivers and financial logic. While aimed at listed-market investors, it is a useful reference for grant and funding pitches that require a higher standard of governance and risk articulation.
View the presentation here:
https://www.ofx.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/1911895-2019.pdf
Game development – investment or publishing
The One Lonely Outpost game pitch deck is a rare publicly shared example from the games sector. It has been described as helping secure both equity investment and a publishing deal. For anyone pitching games funding, it shows what “investable” looks like: clear genre definition, audience, art direction, production plan, budget logic and team credibility.
View the deck here:
https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/one-lonely-outpost-game-pitch-deck/254528158
Game development – grants and funding pathways
If you are building a game in South Australia, the South Australian Film Corporation Digital Games Fund is a concrete example of where pitch decks directly influence grant outcomes. Successful applications clearly articulate milestones, budget, team capability, IP ownership and market pathway.
Digital Games Fund information:
https://www.safilm.com.au/funding-programs/
At a national level, Screen Australia publishes Games Production Fund approvals, which is valuable context for understanding the scale, structure and expectations of funded projects.
Current approvals and program details:
https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/funding-and-support/online/funding-approvals
Remember ACE = show up for the audience with confidence and engagement; and DECK = give them direction, evidence, clarity, and keep it real. That is how pitches stop being slides and start becoming approvals.