The 11-Slide Pitch Deck Investors Actually Want
A clear, proven framework to structure your pitch and land investor interest
If you are raising capital, your pitch deck is your first impression, but most decks fall flat. They are too long, too vague, or too complex.
As someone who reviews decks from early-stage founders weekly, I can tell you this: The best decks do not just inform. They tell a story that makes me want to know more.
The goal is simple: get to the next meeting. And to do that, your pitch needs to be tight, founder-focused, and investor-aligned.
Every slide in your pitch serves a purpose. Each one answers a critical question investors are asking in their minds:
Title Slide: Who are you and what do you do?
Problem: Why should we care?
Solution: How exactly are you solving this?
Market Opportunity: Is there a big enough market for this to matter?
Product: Can I clearly understand and visualize your product?
Business Model: How will you make money?
Traction: Is there real proof that people want this?
Go-To-Market Strategy: How will you reach customers and grow?
Team: Why are you the team to bet on?
Financials: How will the business scale financially and use capital wisely?
The Ask: How much are you raising, and what’s the vision beyond this round?
When you skip a key slide, you leave gaps. Gaps create doubt. Doubt kills momentum.
A complete, focused deck removes friction and builds confidence, fast.
Why 11 Slides?
The “10-slide rule” comes from Guy Kawasaki, a VC and early Apple evangelist. And while the content may shift slightly depending on your stage and sector, the spirit holds up:
“A pitch should contain no more than ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points.”
— Guy Kawasaki
In reality, modern investors often expect one more thing: a title slide.
Here’s a breakdown of what investors (like me) want to see.
Slide 1: Title Slide
What to include:
Company name, logo, tagline
Founder's name + contact info
Example:
Loom’s pitch deck opened with just a product screenshot, company name, and the line: “Async video for work.” Clear and direct.
Founder Tip:
If your company’s one-liner can not fit under your logo, it is too long. Test it with someone outside your sector.
Slide 2: The Problem
What to cover:
What’s broken in the current world?
Who feels this pain and how often?
Why does it matter now?
Example:
Airbnb highlighted 3 problems: high cost of hotels, lack of cultural connection, and limited availability during events.
Founder Tip:
Use real quotes or stories from your users to make the pain tangible.
Slide 3: The Solution
What to cover:
What’s your product or service?
How does it solve the problem?
Why is it better than current alternatives?
Example:
Calendly’s original pitch focused on one pain point: back-and-forth scheduling emails, and solved it with a one-click link.
Founder Tip:
Avoid the temptation to list every feature. Investors care more about clarity than complexity.
Slide 4: Market Opportunity
What to cover:
TAM / SAM / SOM (total vs. reachable markets)
Beachhead customer segment
Path to expansion
Example:
Uber framed its market as urban transport globally, but its first pitch narrowed the focus to black car service in SF, a beachhead with expansion logic.
Founder Tip:
Use bottom-up calculations. Show how many users you can reach, not what the global market is worth.
Slide 5: Product (How It Works)
What to cover:
Core user flow
Product mockups/screenshots
Unique value or tech
Example:
Dropbox showed a 4-minute demo video in its Y Combinator application instead of building a working prototype. It was enough to get funding.
Founder Tip:
Use GIFs, screen recordings, or visuals.
“If I cannot picture using your product, I won’t remember it.”
Slide 6: Business Model
What to cover:
How do you make money
Pricing and payment frequency
Early unit economics or assumptions
Example:
Buffer showed how they planned to reach profitability with transparent pricing tiers and customer acquisition logic. Their honesty built trust.
Founder Tip:
If you are pre-revenue, walk investors through the math.
"Here is how it will work, and here is why that is realistic."
Slide 7: Traction
What to cover:
KPIs like users, MRR, and retention
Pilot customers or partnerships
Evidence of product-market fit
Example:
Notion stayed quiet for years before launch, but when they raised, they had massive retention data and user love to back up their growth.
Founder Tip:
Even if you are early, share learning milestones.
“What have you validated through users or experiments?”
Slide 8: Go-To-Market Strategy
What to cover:
How do you get users
Distribution channels
Sales cycle or funnel (esp. B2B)
Example:
Duolingo leveraged gamification and social sharing to drive organic user growth. This was their GTM edge, and they leaned into it.
Founder Tip:
Show traction with actual channel tests, not just a list of strategies.
“We tested LinkedIn ads, CAC was $34, which goes a long way.”
Slide 9: Team
What to cover:
Core team and roles
Key experiences (domain or execution)
Why you’re uniquely suited to win
Example:
Instacart’s founder, Apoorva Mehta, was a former Amazon engineer. That connection helped validate his ability to build logistics infrastructure.
Founder Tip:
This is not about credentials. It is about founder-market fit. Tell us why you are the right one to solve this problem now.
Slide 10: Financials
What to cover:
3–5 year financial projections (Revenue, COGS, Operating Expenses, Net Income)
Key assumptions (growth rate, pricing, CAC, churn, etc.)
Burn rate and runway
(Optional) Milestones aligned to funding rounds
Example:
Figma’s Series A deck showed a clear trajectory: team growth, infrastructure costs, expected revenue per active user, and when they’d hit profitability.
Founder Tip:
Investors do not expect you to be right, but they expect you to be thoughtful. Use projections to show how you think.
Slide 11: The Ask
What to cover:
How much are you raising
What it will fund (team, GTM, product, runway)
Your goals for this round
Example:
Buffer asked for $500K and showed how every dollar would be allocated. Their precision gave investors confidence.
Founder Tip:
Do not just say “we’re raising $1M.” Break it down: $300K for product, $400K for growth, $200K for hiring. Show you have done the math.
Final Thought
A great pitch deck is a balance of clarity, confidence, and humility.
Tell a story. Show your thinking. Prove that you are learning fast and building intentionally.
Remember: most investors do not fund ideas. They fund teams who understand the problem and have a plan to learn and win.
Coming Wednesday on VentureBizz: Why Most Decks Fail: A VC’s View from the Other Side of the Table.
Need pitch feedback? Reply “DECK REVIEW” to this newsletter or DM me on LinkedIn.
—
Adraudis Santos
Helping startups unlock smart capital and strategic growth