In short
To make a pitch deck, write a one-sentence summary of your company, then build 10 to 16 slides in this order: title, problem, solution, how it works, why now, market size, competition and advantage, traction, business model, go-to-market, team, financials, the ask and a closing slide. Put one idea on each slide, back every claim with a number, make the ask specific, and send a PDF that reads well without you in the room.
A pitch deck is a short slide presentation that explains your startup to investors: what problem you solve, for whom, how big the opportunity is, the progress you have made, who is building it and how much money you are raising. Its job is not to close a round. Its job is to earn the next meeting.
Most investors spend only a few minutes on a deck the first time they open it, so the order, the headlines and the numbers matter more than the design. The ten steps below take you from a blank page to a deck you can send.
Step 1: Write your one-sentence summary
Before opening any slide software, write one sentence that says what you do, for whom and why it matters: ‘We help [customer] [do something] by [how], which matters because [result].’
If you cannot write this sentence, the deck will wander. Every slide that follows should support it, and it becomes the tagline on your title slide.
Step 2: Know who you are pitching to
Angel investors, accelerators, seed funds, venture capital firms, corporate investors and government schemes all look for different things. Read what each investor has funded before, the stage and cheque size they usually write and the sectors they avoid.
Tailor the emphasis, not the facts: an angel may care most about the founders, a Series A fund about repeatable growth.
Step 3: Choose your slide order
Investors expect a familiar structure because it lets them compare companies quickly. A reliable order is: title, problem, solution, how it works, why now, market size, competition and unique advantage, traction, business model, go-to-market or target customer, roadmap, team, financial projections, the ask and use of funds, and a closing slide.
Move traction or team to the front if they are your strongest point. Drop any slide you have nothing real to put on.
Step 4: Make the problem felt
Describe the problem from the customer’s side, with one concrete example and one number that shows how big or painful it is. Say what customers do today instead and why that falls short.
A problem that only you believe exists is the fastest way to lose an investor.
Step 5: Show the solution and how it works
Show the product, not a description of it: a screenshot, a short flow or a photo. Explain in two to four steps what the customer does and what they get.
Avoid listing every feature. Pick the two or three that solve the problem on the previous slide.
Step 6: Size the market honestly
Give your total addressable market (TAM), serviceable addressable market (SAM) and serviceable obtainable market (SOM), and show how you calculated them. A bottom-up estimate (number of customers × what each pays per year) is more convincing than a top-down figure from an industry report.
Investors trust a smaller number they can check more than a huge number they cannot.
Step 7: Prove progress with traction
Traction is evidence that people want what you are building: revenue, paying customers, active users, growth rate, retention, pilots, letters of intent or a waitlist. Lead with your single best number and show it over time on a chart.
Label every number clearly: monthly or annual, gross or net, users or paying customers.
Step 8: Explain the business model and competition
Say who pays, how much, how often and what it costs you to win and serve each customer. Then show the alternatives customers have, including doing nothing, and the one or two reasons you win.
Never claim you have no competition; it suggests you have not looked or there is no market.
Step 9: Introduce the team and make the ask
Show the founders and key people with the one fact about each that makes them right for this business. Then state exactly how much you are raising, the instrument if you know it, how long the money will last and the milestones it will reach.
A clear ask, such as ‘Raising ₹4 crore ($500,000) to reach 1,000 paying customers in 18 months’, is far stronger than ‘seeking investment’.
Step 10: Design, test and send
Use one idea and one headline per slide, large type, consistent colours and real images. Make the headline a full sentence that states the takeaway, so the deck reads as a story from the headlines alone.
Test it on someone who does not know your business, fix whatever confused them, then export a PDF under about 10 MB with a clear file name. Keep a longer appendix for questions in the meeting.
How many slides should a pitch deck have?
Most investor decks have 10 to 20 slides. A widely quoted rule of thumb is 10 slides, 20 minutes and no font smaller than 30 points for a presented pitch. A deck sent by email can carry a little more detail because you will not be there to explain it, but if it passes 20 slides, move the extra material to an appendix.
Send deck versus presentation deck
| Send deck | Presentation deck | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Read alone, often before any meeting | Backs up you speaking |
| Text | Full-sentence headlines and short supporting text | Very little text; you say the rest |
| Length | 12 to 20 slides plus an appendix | 10 to 15 slides |
| Format | PDF with a clear file name | PowerPoint, Keynote or Google Slides, full screen |
Common pitch deck mistakes
- Too many words on each slide, so nothing stands out.
- A market size taken from a report with no link to your actual customers.
- Traction numbers without labels or time periods.
- Claiming there is no competition.
- A vague ask with no amount, runway or milestones.
- Projections that grow faster than any comparable company without explanation.
- Hiding the team at the very end when the founders are the strongest part of the story.
- Sending an editable file or a link that needs a login or expires.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to make a pitch deck?
A first draft takes most founders one to two days if they already know their numbers. Expect several more rounds of edits after feedback from mentors and early investor conversations.
Should I use a pitch deck template?
Yes, a template saves time and keeps you to the order investors expect. What matters is the content: a clear problem, real traction and a specific ask. Change the template to suit your story rather than filling every slide for the sake of it.
What is the most important slide in a pitch deck?
It depends on your stage. At pre-seed the team and problem matter most; from seed onwards traction usually decides whether an investor keeps reading. Put your strongest slide early.
Written by Gachi Foundation, a non-profit in Jharkhand, India. All pitch deck resources.