How to Make a 10 Slides Pitch Deck [A Detailed Guide]

Jon, one of our clients, asked us a question while we were making their pitch deck.

He said,

“What’s the one thing that can make or break a pitch deck?”

Our Creative Director didn’t even pause before answering,

“Clarity beats everything else.”

As a presentation design agency, we work on many pitch decks throughout the year and in the process we’ve observed one common challenge: most decks try to say too much and end up saying nothing well.

So in this blog we’ll talk about how to create a 10 slides pitch deck that is crisp, memorable, and easy for investors to say yes to.

What is a 10 Slides Pitch Deck

A 10 slide pitch deck is exactly what it sounds like — a presentation with ten carefully chosen slides that tell your business story from start to finish. No fluff, no random tangents, no death-by-bullet-points. Each slide has a job to do, and together they build a case for why someone should give you their time, money, or partnership.

Now, let’s address the obvious question.

Why ten slides?

Because attention is a scarce resource. Investors are busy. Potential partners are juggling ten other things while you’re speaking. The moment your deck starts to feel like a lecture, you lose them. Ten slides forces you to prioritize. It makes you strip away the “nice-to-have” and focus on the “must-have.”

Think of it like packing for a two-day trip. You don’t bring your entire wardrobe. You choose the outfits that make sense for the trip, fit in your bag, and still make you look good. That’s what the 10 slide format does for your pitch — it keeps it lean, relevant, and memorable.

The beauty is that the “ten” isn’t a magic number carved in stone. It’s a mental constraint that forces discipline. You could do nine or twelve if it makes sense, but the point is this: limit yourself enough to make your message sharp. When you do that, you create a pitch deck that feels intentional instead of bloated.

How to Make a 10 Slides Pitch Deck

We’ve built enough pitch decks to know this — most of the work isn’t in the design, it’s in the thinking. A beautiful but aimless deck is like a sports car without an engine. The slides might look good, but they’re not going anywhere. So let’s talk about how to build a 10 slide pitch deck that’s more than just a collection of pretty visuals.

We’re breaking this down slide by slide. You’ll notice we’re not just telling you “what” to put on each slide — we’re telling you how to make it land.

1. Title Slide: Make a First Impression Without Saying a Word

Your first slide is not a formality. It’s your opening handshake. It sets the tone before you even start talking. At the bare minimum, it should have your company name, your logo, and a short tagline that actually means something. Avoid jargon. Avoid buzzwords that sound like they belong on a corporate coffee mug.

If your tagline can spark curiosity, you’re already ahead. “We make small businesses unbreakable” says more than “Innovative SME growth solutions.” One makes me want to hear more, the other makes me want to check my phone.

2. Problem: Make Them Feel the Pain

If they don’t care about the problem, they won’t care about your solution. Don’t just state it — make them feel it. Use a short story, a shocking stat, or a relatable scenario that paints a clear picture of what’s broken.

Bad example: “There is a lack of efficient delivery services in urban areas.”Better example: “In New York, it takes longer to get a couch delivered than to get a passport renewed — and both involve waiting at home for hours.”

Your goal here is to make the investor nod along and think, “Yes, that’s a real issue.” That emotional connection is your hook.

3. Solution: Show You’re Not Just Another Idea

Now that you’ve made the problem real, you bring in your solution. This is not the time to dump every feature you’ve built. Instead, explain the core of what you do in a way that a non-expert could repeat after hearing it once.

Investors are exposed to hundreds of ideas. They forget most of them within a day. You want yours to stick because it’s simple and sharp. Frame it as “We help [audience] solve [problem] by [how you do it].”

Example: “We help city dwellers get large furniture delivered in under 48 hours by using an on-demand driver network and AI-powered routing.”

4. Market Opportunity: Prove It’s Worth Playing For

If your market is too small, even the best idea will hit a wall. Show that there’s money to be made.

This is where you share market size, growth trends, and potential upside — but keep it relevant. A giant TAM (Total Addressable Market) number means nothing if it’s not tied to your actual customer base.

Bad example: “The global furniture market is worth $500 billion.”Better example: “The urban furniture delivery segment in the US is projected to grow from $4.5B to $8B in the next five years — and no one dominates it yet.”

This is where you prove you’ve done your homework and you’re not just chasing a dream.

5. Product or Service: Make It Tangible

Don’t just tell them what it does — show them. Use product photos, short demo videos, or mockups to make your solution real. If they can picture themselves using it or imagine your customers doing so, you’ve won half the battle.

But keep it focused. Show the core experience, not every possible use case. Too many details here can distract from the main storyline.

6. Business Model: Explain How You Actually Make Money

This is where a lot of decks get vague, and vague equals risky. Investors want to see that you’ve thought through how revenue flows in and how it scales. Are you subscription-based? Transaction-based? Do you take a percentage of sales?

The key here is to show not only the model but why it makes sense for your market. If you’re charging premium prices in a price-sensitive market, you’d better have a strong justification.

7. Traction: Replace Hype with Proof

Traction isn’t just about revenue. It’s about anything that proves momentum. This could be early sales numbers, active users, partnerships, or even strong waitlist sign-ups.

The best traction slides don’t just dump data — they tell a story of growth. Show a clear before-and-after picture, or highlight a meaningful milestone that signals you’re on the right path.

Example: “In the past 6 months, we’ve grown from 200 to 1,500 paying customers with zero paid ads.” That’s the kind of sentence that makes people sit up straighter.

8. Go-To-Market Strategy: Show You Know How to Win Customers

Even the best product fails if no one knows about it. Here you explain your plan to get customers in the door. It’s not enough to list marketing channels. Show why those channels make sense for your audience and how you’ll execute.

Bad example: “We’ll use social media and SEO.”Better example: “We’ll target mid-sized furniture retailers with a referral program, then amplify with city-specific influencer campaigns to drive direct orders.”

Clarity here shows that you’re not just hoping people show up — you have a strategy to bring them in.

9. Team: Make Them Believe in the People Behind the Idea

Investors don’t just bet on products. They bet on people. This is where you highlight the team members who can actually pull this off. Focus on relevant experience, achievements, and complementary skills.

It’s not about listing every resume bullet point. It’s about making them see that this team has the mix of vision, skill, and grit to turn the idea into reality.

10. Closing Slide: Make the Ask Clear

Your last slide isn’t just a thank-you screen. It’s your chance to make your ask crystal clear. Are you raising $1 million? Looking for strategic partners? Seeking a pilot program? Spell it out.

Also, leave them with a reason to remember you. That could be a short, impactful statement about your mission or a quick callback to the problem you’re solving. The goal is to stick in their minds after they’ve seen five other pitches that day.

A Few Extra Things We’ve Learned Making Dozens of These Decks

Building a 10 slide pitch deck isn’t just about filling out a template. It’s about building a flow where each slide naturally leads to the next. The best decks make the viewer curious at every step, pulling them forward to the next piece of the story.

Here’s what we’ve seen work consistently:

• Less text, more impact: If they’re reading paragraphs while you’re talking, they’re not listening. Keep each slide to the point.

  
  

• One idea per slide: Don’t cram multiple concepts into one slide. It waters down the message.

  
  

• Visuals over decoration: Graphics should help explain, not just make it look pretty.

  
  

• Rehearse until it’s second nature: Even a great deck can flop if the delivery feels unprepared.

  
  

• Start strong, end stronger: People remember beginnings and endings the most. Nail those.

  
  

When you stick to ten focused slides, you’re not just respecting your audience’s time — you’re forcing yourself to distill your message into something sharp and unforgettable. And in our experience, that’s what gets a yes.

Why Hire Us to Build your Presentation?

If you're reading this, you're probably working on a presentation right now. You could do it all yourself. But the reality is - that’s not going to give you the high-impact presentation you need. It’s a lot of guesswork, a lot of trial and error. And at the end of the day, you’ll be left with a presentation that’s “good enough,” not one that gets results. On the other hand, we’ve spent years crafting thousands of presentations, mastering both storytelling and design. Let us handle this for you, so you can focus on what you do best.

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