A pitch deck isn’t a summary of your company. It’s an argument, made in about ten steps, that ends with the investor wanting the next meeting. Each slide answers one question they’re already asking.
The ten slides
| Slide | The question it answers |
|---|---|
| 1. Cover | Who are you, in one line? |
| 2. Problem | What’s broken, for whom, and how badly? |
| 3. Solution | What do you do about it? |
| 4. Product | What does it actually look like? |
| 5. Traction | Is anyone using it — and is that growing? |
| 6. Market | How big can this get? |
| 7. Business model | How do you make money? |
| 8. Competition | Why you, and not the alternatives? |
| 9. Team | Why are you the people to build this? |
| 10. The ask | How much, and what will it get done? |
Order is an argument
Lead with the problem, not the product. If the investor doesn’t feel the problem first, the solution is just a feature list. And if you have strong traction, move it earlier — right after the solution. Your best evidence should come before attention fades.
What to leave out
- Company history. Nobody funds a timeline.
- Every feature. Show the one moment where the product earns its keep.
- Vanity numbers. Sign-ups without usage, or downloads without retention, raise more questions than they answer.
- A market slide built from one giant number. Show how you get from the whole market to the slice you can actually reach.
The ask
Say the amount and what it buys: the milestones the money reaches, and roughly how long it lasts. “$2M to reach 1,000 paying teams over 18 months” is an ask. “Raising a seed round” is not.
Try this prompt
A 10-slide seed pitch for Fieldnote, an app that turns site visits into inspection reports. Problem, solution, product, traction, market, business model, competition, team and the ask ($2M for 18 months). Confident, plain language.
