Pitch Decks
Investor pitch decks that work without a presenter: denser copy, an expected structure, optimised for a reader skimming on a laptop. The 10-slide frame is the common ground between Kawasaki's 10/20/30 rule, Sequoia's business-plan outline, and YC's seed deck guidance; the async copy rules are this skill's.
Two pitch decks, not one
| Aspect | Sent deck (this file) | Presented deck (demo day, partner meeting) |
|---|---|---|
| Who reads it | An associate skimming at a desk, then forwarding it | A room, with you talking |
| Text density | Higher: every slide stands alone | Minimal: one idea, large type, you add the rest |
| Reading time | 30-60 sec per slide, studied | 3 sec per slide, glanced |
| Font floor | Legible at 50% zoom | 30pt body (Kawasaki), legible from the back row (YC) |
| Structure | The 10-slide frame, in order | The same frame, presented in 20 minutes or less |
| Copy rules | This file | writing-slides.md, with this frame as the outline |
Build the sent deck first. The presented version is a cut of it with the body text moved into the talk track.
The 10-slide frame
Order is flexible where a slide is unusually strong (traction early when the numbers carry the story), fixed otherwise: readers expect it, and a Problem slide on page 7 reads as evasion.
1. Title
Company name, the company in one declarative sentence (Sequoia's "company purpose"), contact. Optional one-line traction hook.
2. Problem
Who feels the pain, why it is urgent, what they do about it today. Lead with a customer quote or a number.
3. Solution
Product in 30 seconds, as before and after, not a feature list. One screenshot at most.
4. Why now
What changed that makes this possible or necessary this year. Sequoia's question; a deck with no answer reads as a good idea anyone could have had five years ago.
5. Traction
Charts over text: revenue, users, growth rate, retention, logos. Put the number in the headline.
6. Market
Bottom-up TAM/SAM/SOM from customers times price, not a quoted "$1T market".
7. Business model
Revenue streams, pricing, unit economics (CAC, LTV, payback).
8. Competition
A landscape matrix or quadrant with your axis of differentiation. "No competition" reads as "no market".
9. Team
Names, roles, one line of relevant credential each. Why this team wins this market.
10. The ask
Amount, use of funds, the milestones it unlocks, next step.
**Raising:** $XM [Stage]
**Use of funds:**
- 50% Product
- 30% Go-to-market
- 20% Operations
**Unlocks:** [milestone] by [date]
**Next step:** 30-minute callFinancial projections and roadmap go in an appendix after the ask, clearly separated. Anything beyond 10 slides plus appendix is trimming, not adding.
Writing for async reading
- Headlines are the complete claim: "1,000+ customers, $10M ARR", not "Traction". The forwardable test: does the headline alone make sense to someone who received this with no context?
- 2-3 bullets per section, each a complete thought. Bold the key phrase, explain after.
- Charts over tables over bullets over paragraphs.
- Metrics as text on the slide, not baked into an image: search, screen readers, and the associate's copy-paste all read text. Define acronyms on first use; slide titles match the expected categories so a skimmer finds Traction where they look for it.
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| No clear ask | Explicit slide with amount, use, milestones, next step |
| Features over benefits | Lead with the outcome for the customer |
| TAM fantasy | Bottom-up calculation from customers times price |
| No traction proof | Chart, logos, or testimonials; a number in the headline |
| Too many slides | The 10-slide frame; everything else in a separated appendix |
| Presented-deck copy in a sent deck | Every headline passes the forwardable test |
Format guidelines
- PDF for sending: under 10MB, named
Company - Stage Deck - Month Year.pdf. Marp to PDF (output-formats.md), or the externalpptxskill when the recipient expects PowerPoint - 16:9, high contrast, readable at 50% zoom
- Same colour systems and contrast thresholds as presented decks (
visual-design.md); a sent deck is read on a laptop in daylight, so the paper or near-black pairs suit it better than pure black