Founder Guide

How to Make a Pitch Deck for Investors

A pitch deck has one job: earn the next meeting. It's not meant to answer every question — it's meant to make an investor lean in and want to talk. Here's exactly what goes on each slide, in order.

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Step-by-step

1

Title

Company name, a one-line description of what you do and for whom, and your contact info. If a stranger can't tell what you do from this line, rewrite it.

2

Problem

The painful, specific problem you solve. Make the investor feel it. Vague problems get vague interest.

3

Solution

How you solve it, simply. Show the outcome for the customer, not a feature list.

4

Product

A few screenshots or a short demo flow. Show, don't tell — let them see it working.

5

Market size

How big this can get. Be honest and bottom-up: number of customers × what they'd pay, not a giant top-down number nobody believes.

6

Business model

How you make money — pricing, and who pays. Investors need to see a path to real revenue.

7

Traction

Your strongest evidence: users, revenue, growth, waitlist, pilots. Even early signal beats a great-sounding plan with none.

8

Competition

Who else solves this, and why you win. Never claim you have no competitors — show why you're clearly better on what buyers care about.

9

Go-to-market

How you'll reach customers repeatably. Distribution is where most startups actually die, so investors look hard here.

10

Team

Why you're the right people to build this. Relevant experience and unfair advantages matter more than headcount.

11

The ask

How much you're raising, and what it gets you — the milestones this round funds. End with a clear next step.

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Frequently asked questions

How many slides should a pitch deck have?

Aim for 10 to 12 slides for a first investor meeting. The goal is to earn the next conversation, not to answer every question in the deck.

What should be on the first slide of a pitch deck?

A title slide with your company name, a one-line description of what you do, and your contact details.

What is the most important slide in a pitch deck?

The problem and the traction slides. Investors back founders solving a painful, real problem who can show early evidence the solution is working.