Glossary · Fundraising process · Updated
A pitch deck is the ten to fifteen slide presentation a founder sends or presents to earn the next meeting. Its purpose is not to explain everything, but to give enough for an investor to want to know more.
The most common mistake is treating the deck as an exhaustive document. It does not have to answer every question: it has to provoke the right ones. A deck that generates ten precise questions in a meeting worked better than one that leaves none, because the second left no room for a conversation.
Two formats exist and are routinely confused. The emailed deck has to stand alone without commentary, so it must be more explicit. The presented deck supports what you are saying, so it must be sparer. Using one document for both purposes short-changes one of them.
Order matters as much as content. Investors read few slides before deciding whether to continue, and they almost always start with team and traction. Burying traction on slide eleven bets that they will get that far.
Example: a twelve-slide seed deck structure
A structure that works for a European seed raise, in reading order.
| 1. Problem | Who suffers, how often, and what it costs them today |
|---|---|
| 2. Solution | What the product does, in one jargon-free sentence |
| 3. Product | Three screenshots beat any description |
| 4. Market | A bottom-up SOM, not an impressive TAM |
| 5. Business model | Who pays, how much, how often |
| 6. Traction | The curve, with readable axes and visible values |
| 7. Competition | Honest positioning, not a table where you tick everything |
| 8. Team | Why you specifically, on this problem specifically |
| 9. Financial plan | 3 years, consistent with the SOM on slide 4 |
| 10. The raise | Amount, months funded, and the 3 milestones targeted |
| 11. Use of funds | Split between product, sales and organisation |
| 12. Contact | An address and a link to the teaser data room |
Slides 6 and 8 decide whether you get the next meeting. If traction is weak, move the team up; if the team is not obviously right for this market, move traction up. Never leave both at the end.
The common mistake
The competitive table where your column ticks every box and everyone else's ticks almost none. Nobody believes it, and it mostly signals that you have not understood what your competitors do well.
Frequently asked questions
How many slides should a pitch deck have?+
Ten to fifteen for a seed deck. Below that, market or use of funds is usually missing. Above twenty it stops being a deck and becomes a memorandum, which nobody will read in full at this stage.
Should the valuation go in the pitch deck?+
No, unless explicitly asked. Naming a price before you have created interest locks you into a premature negotiation. State the amount sought and the runway it buys; valuation belongs in the term sheet conversation.
Related terms
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