I want to understand what you're building, why customers need it, and how you plan to
make money. These are the questions I'd use to put the deck together.
The short answer
What should an early-stage pitch deck include?
I use 13 sections as a starting point: introduction, team, metric
hook, market opportunity, problem, solution, business model, go-to-market, traction,
competition, financial projections, funding ask, and conclusion.
You don't need exactly 13 slides or this exact order. If you have strong traction, put it
earlier. If the investor can't understand the product, fix that before adding more slides.
I want to understand the business before I get into the details. Tell me what you do, why you know this customer, and how big the opportunity could be.
01
Slide 1
Introduction
Explain what your company does in one sentence.
Name the company, the customer, and what you help them do.
Use words your customers use. I shouldn't need to ask what your company description means.
Use a logo, product image, or visual that makes the description easier to understand.
02
Slide 2
Team
Why are you the right people to build this?
Introduce the key team members and the experience that matters for this company.
Include advisors if they actually help with the business. A row of famous names doesn't tell me much.
Explain what you know about the customer or industry that someone new would have to learn.
03
Slide 3
Metric hook
Lead with a number that changes how I think about the business.
Choose a fact about the market or customer that an investor might not know.
Save the full market-size calculation for the next slide. Here, give me a reason to want to know more.
Make the source and context easy to verify.
For Outdoorsy, the hook was that one in six U.S. households owned an RV. The number changed how investors saw the category before they saw a market-size chart.
04
Slide 4
Market opportunity
How many customers could buy this, and why now?
Show the customer count and expected spend behind your market estimate. A large industry number on its own tells me very little.
Explain what changed in customer behavior, technology, or regulation that makes this possible now.
Put the sources and assumptions beside your numbers.
05
Slide 5
Problem
What is the customer struggling with today?
Define the problem from the target customer's point of view.
Use a real example, workflow, or anecdote instead of an abstract claim.
Explain what the problem costs in money, time, risk, or missed opportunity.
If you can't explain why a customer would bother switching, spend more time on that question before polishing the slide.
02 · Building the deck
Show the product and how the business works.
Walk me through what the customer does. Then explain how you get paid, how you find more customers, and what people have done with the product so far.
06
Slide 6
Solution
Show me how someone uses the product to solve the problem.
Connect the product directly to the pain you just described.
What did you learn about the customer that led you to build it this way?
Use screenshots, a short demo, or another visual that makes the product concrete.
If you have one, add an early traction signal here so investors are not waiting until the end for proof.
07
Slide 7
Business model
Explain who pays, how much, and why the economics can improve with scale.
Lay out the revenue streams and pricing strategy.
Explain the unit that drives the business: transaction, subscription, usage, or another clear unit.
Show that pricing, margins, and the cost to serve have been considered together.
08
Slide 8
Go-to-market
How will you get your first customers, and the ones after that?
Identify the first customer segment and why it is the right place to start.
Be specific about how you reach people. 'Social media and partnerships' is not much of a plan.
Explain any access you already have to customers or suppliers, and what it costs to bring them on.
09
Slide 9
Traction
What have customers actually done?
Show transactions, revenue, usage, or other progress you can back up. Label the period.
Include credible partnerships, signed supply, pilots, repeat use, or customer testimonials.
Use a graph when it reveals a trend. Do not turn one small number into a decorative chart.
03 · Building the deck
Explain the competition and the round.
Finish with the alternatives customers have, your financial assumptions, and how much money you need to reach the next milestones.
10
Slide 10
Competitive landscape
Why would a customer choose you over what they use today?
Include direct competitors, indirect alternatives, and the status quo.
Don't tell me there is no competition. Doing nothing is often the alternative you have to beat.
Compare the few dimensions that actually drive customer choice.
11
Slide 11
Financial projections
Show the assumptions behind your financial plan.
Show revenue, major expenses, cash needs, and the path toward a sustainable business.
Use charts or a compact table so the shape of the plan is obvious.
I don't expect an early forecast to be right. I want to understand what has to happen for it to work.
12
Slide 12
Funding ask
How much are you raising, and what will you get done with it?
Say how much the company is raising.
Break down the major uses of capital, such as product, go-to-market, or key hires.
Connect the round to runway, the next set of milestones, and likely future financing needs.
13
Slide 13
Conclusion and Q&A
Leave the investor with the main reason to keep talking.
Restate the company, the opportunity, and the strongest reason this team can win.
Leave time for questions. Don't introduce a new argument on the last slide.
Include clear contact information for follow-up.
Use the framework
Want an AI agent to review your pitch deck?
Attach your deck to the AI tool you use and paste these instructions. They'll ask it to
flag missing information and suggest specific edits. Check its feedback against your
actual numbers before using the revised copy.
Agent instructions
Review the pitch deck I provide using Colin Gardiner's 13-slide early-stage pitch deck framework:
https://yonder.vc/resources/pitch-deck-structure/
Do the following:
1. Start with a plain-English summary of what the company is, who it serves, how it makes money, and why now. If the deck does not make one of those clear, say so.
2. Map the deck to these 13 roles: introduction, team, metric hook, market opportunity, problem, solution, business model, go-to-market, traction, competitive landscape, financial projections, funding ask, and conclusion.
3. For each role, mark it Strong, Needs work, or Missing. Cite the relevant slide number and recommend the single highest-impact improvement.
4. Check whether the story is easy to follow, the customer problem is specific, and the product and acquisition plan address it. Assess traction, competition, and whether the funding ask is tied to runway and milestones.
5. Do not invent facts, market data, customer evidence, or financials. Call out unsupported claims and list the evidence or questions needed to fix them.
6. Finish with a recommended slide order, a rewritten one-sentence company description, and the five highest-priority edits.
Write like an investor talking to a founder: plain language, specific feedback, no hype or canned praise. Avoid em dashes and slogans. The framework is a guide, not a rigid template, so do not penalize a deck only because its order is different.
Common questions
Pitch deck structure FAQ.
How many slides should an early-stage pitch deck have?
I use 13 sections as a starting point. You can combine slides or change the order. Cover the questions an investor needs answered; don't add slides just to hit a count.
Does the pitch deck have to follow this exact order?
No. If traction is your strongest point, bring it forward. If the problem needs explaining before the team makes sense, start there. The investor should be able to follow the business without jumping around.
What is a metric hook in a pitch deck?
A metric hook is a number that gets an investor to reconsider what they think they know about your customer or market. Use a fact you can source, then explain why it matters to this business. The full market-size calculation comes separately.
What should an early-stage traction slide include?
Use the strongest real behavior available: transactions, revenue, signed supply, pilots, repeat use, retention, a credible waitlist, partnerships, or another signal that customers care. The right evidence depends on the business and stage.
