The Do and Do Not's of Pitch Decks

We’ve seen too many early-stage founders treat their pitch deck like it’s their product.

They obsess over colour palettes, swap slide order every few days, and tweak their “why now” slide like it’s a Super Bowl ad.

Meanwhile:

• No investor conversations.

• No warm intros.

• No timeline.

• Just a prettier deck getting cold in a Google Drive folder.

Investors don’t fund decks. They fund momentum.

The best possible example of this is the famous Air BNB pitch deck.

While it looks like it was made in the 1980’s with boring text and image patterns, it birthed one of the most successful YC and Silicon Valley startups in the last 15 years.

I’m not trying to say that building a good deck isn’t important, it just shouldn’t be the #1 thing on your priority list when it comes to raising your round (in my opinion).

I always like to think of it as your sales collateral, not your sales engine.

It should be clear, direct, and fast to consume.

Not fancy. Not bloated. Not built to impress your design friends on Twitter.

At a minimum, it needs to answer seven things:

1. What’s the problem?
   Why now, and why is this pain point urgent?

2. What’s your solution?
   Show the product simply. Bonus points for visuals.

3. Who’s it for?
   Outline your target customer and how they’re solving the problem today.

4. Why you?
   What’s your edge? Unique insight, unfair advantage, or team background.

5. How big is the opportunity?
   TAM, wedge, or vertical expansion plan. Doesn’t need to be over the top, just believable.

6. What traction do you have?
   Early signs of adoption. Revenue, users, waitlist, pilots, LOIs - anything that proves movement.

7. What’s the ask?
   How much you’re raising, what it unlocks, and where the company goes from here.

If you can answer those seven questions in a tight, 10–12 slide format - with clean language, not buzzwords - you’re 90% of the way there.

Don’t overcomplicate your deck because it likely isn’t what is going to win you a deal.

What closes rounds is what you do after you send the deck.

Hope this helps,

Ryan

If you’re an early-stage founder in tech / AI and you want help connecting with the right investors to raise your round, check out Breakout

If you’re an early-stage founder in healthcare and you want help connecting with the right investors to raise your round, check out Apex