Pitch Deck Outline: What to Put on Each Slide
A strong startup pitch deck tells one story in about 10 to 15 slides: the problem, your solution, why now, the market, your traction, the business model, the competition, the team and a specific ask. Each slide should make one point and set up the next.
By Javier Alonso, Founder & CEO. Updated .
The slides
- Title: company name and a one-line description of what you do and for whom.
- Problem: who has it, how painful it is and how they cope today. Use evidence from customers.
- Solution: what you built and the outcome it creates. Show the product if you can.
- Why now: the change in technology, regulation or behavior that makes this possible or urgent today.
- Market: the size of the opportunity, ideally bottom-up. See TAM, SAM and SOM.
- Traction: your strongest evidence, such as revenue, growth, retention, pilots or waitlist quality.
- Business model: how you make money, your pricing and the unit economics if you have them.
- Go-to-market: how you reach customers. See go-to-market strategy.
- Competition: the real alternatives, including doing nothing, and why you win.
- Team: why these people are the right ones to build this.
- The ask: how much you are raising, what it will fund and the milestones it will reach.
Lead with your strongest evidence
If your traction is impressive, move it earlier, even to slide two or three. Investors decide quickly whether to keep reading, and evidence beats vision. If traction is early, use the strongest validation you have: customer interviews, pilot results or waitlist conversion from your target segment.
Writing tips
- One idea per slide. If a slide needs a paragraph, split it.
- Write slide titles as conclusions: "Clinics lose 12% of revenue to no-shows", not "Problem".
- Use real numbers and say where they come from.
- Keep a separate, more detailed version for follow-up meetings and diligence.
Make the ask specific
"We are raising $X to reach [milestone] in [months], which sets us up for [next round]." Tie the money to evidence you will produce, not just to hiring and spending plans.
For your role
- Mentors
- Reading a deck slide titles only is a quick test. The titles alone should tell the whole story.
- Accelerators & incubators
- A shared outline across a cohort makes demo-day decks easier for investors to compare.
Primary sources
- Writing a Business Plan — Sequoia Capital
- Pitching Your Early-Stage Startup — Stripe Atlas
Common questions
- What slides should a pitch deck have?
- Problem, solution, why now, market, traction, business model, go-to-market, competition, team and the ask, in an order that tells one story.
- How long should a pitch deck be?
- Usually 10 to 15 slides for the version you send or present. Keep extra detail in an appendix or a separate deck.
- What matters most in a pitch deck?
- A clear story backed by real evidence of demand, and a specific ask tied to the milestones the round will reach.
Put it into practice
Pitch Deck Analyzer scores narrative clarity, traction, business model and fundraising readiness.