Fundraising
Pitch Deck
A slide presentation used by founders to communicate their business to potential investors, typically 10-15 slides covering problem, solution, market, traction, and team.
A pitch deck is a startup's core fundraising document — a concise visual presentation that tells the company's story to investors. Standard structure (based on Sequoia's widely-used format): Cover, Problem, Solution, Why Now, Market Size, Business Model, Traction, Team, Competition, Financials, and The Ask. The deck should be readable in 3-5 minutes (investors read decks alone before deciding whether to take a meeting). Key rules: lead with your strongest slide (usually traction), be specific about metrics (actual numbers, not projections), and have a clear answer to 'why now?' The best decks leave investors with one vivid insight about why this could be a very large business. Decks evolve by stage — a seed deck emphasizes team and vision; a Series A deck emphasizes traction and growth.