An 18-slide pitch deck investors can read in three minutes
Investors decide in minutes whether to take a meeting. Build the story first (slides 1-6), then the business (7-12), then the numbers (13-18). Each slide below has a wireframe, what to include, what investors look for, an example and a short script.
Slides 1–6: The opportunity
Investor feeling you want: "This matters, and it's big."
1. Title
Set context in five seconds: who you are and what you do.
2. Problem
Make the investor feel the pain, with evidence it is real and expensive.
3. Solution
Show how you remove the pain, in plain language.
4. Product
Make it real. One strong screenshot beats ten features.
5. Why now
Explain the shift that makes this possible or urgent today.
6. Market size
Show a market big enough for a venture outcome, built bottom-up.
Slides 7–12: The business
Investor feeling you want: "This works, and they're the team to do it."
7. Business model
Explain how you make money and why it scales.
8. Traction
Your strongest evidence. Lead with the most impressive number.
9. Unit economics
Show that each customer creates value.
10. Go-to-market
How you will win customers repeatably.
11. Competition
Show you understand the alternatives and why you win.
12. Team
Why this team will win.
Slides 13–18: The numbers
Investor feeling you want: "I know what I'm buying and what it becomes."
13. Financial plan
Where this is going, in one table and one chart.
14. The ask
How much, how long it lasts, what it achieves.
15. Use of funds
Where the money goes.
16. Milestones
What success looks like by the next round.
17. Vision
The big picture: what you become if it works.
18. Appendix
Answers to likely questions, so you can jump to them in Q&A.