How to Make your Accelerator/Incubator Pitch Deck [A Startup Guide]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- Feb 4
- 8 min read
Updated: 4 hours ago
When we were working with Alex on his pitch deck, he asked,
“How do we make it stand out without sounding like everyone else?”
Our Creative Director leaned back and said,
“Your pitch deck isn’t about you.”
That’s when the room went silent.
As a pitch deck agency, we see this all the time. Founders pour their hearts into crafting the perfect deck, only to realize halfway through that it’s not a love letter to their startup, it’s a mirror for the investors, mentors, and program managers who’ll decide their fate.
So, in this blog, we’ll cover how to make your accelerator/incubator pitch deck resonate, connect, and get remembered for all the right reasons.
In case you didn't know, we specialize in only one thing: making presentations. We can help you by designing your slides and writing your content too.
3 Mistakes Founders Make with Their Accelerator/Incubator Pitch Deck
We’ve seen hundreds of founders walk into accelerators with the same problem: they think the pitch deck is just a prettier version of their business plan. It’s not. It’s a test of clarity, not creativity. Here are the three mistakes that quietly sabotage great ideas before they even get noticed.
1. Talking like an encyclopedia instead of a storyteller.
Founders often feel the need to prove how much they know, so they cram every number, chart, and buzzword onto a slide. But the people in the room aren’t grading you on data, they’re judging whether you can make them care.
2. Selling the product, not the progress.
Accelerators and incubators invest in potential, not perfection. Yet too many decks obsess over features instead of showing traction, milestones, or lessons learned. They don’t want to see what you’ve built, they want to see where you’re headed.
3. Ignoring the “why you” question.
Your deck might explain what you do and how you do it, but if it doesn’t nail why you’re the team to do it, you’ve already lost their attention. Passion is great, but credibility seals the deal.
How to Plan & Write Your Accelerator/Incubator Pitch Deck
Let’s be honest. Most founders open PowerPoint, stare at a blank slide, and think, “Okay, let’s start with the problem.”
Five minutes later, they’re knee-deep in bullet points, half of which sound like something copied from a Y Combinator blog.
That’s where things go wrong.
Before you even think about “designing,” you need to plan your story. Because your accelerator/incubator pitch deck isn’t a presentation—it’s a narrative about possibility.
Here’s how to build that narrative, step by step.
1. Start with your audience (it’s not you)
If you forget everything else, remember this: your audience is not a group of customers. It’s a room full of people whose job is to find the next breakout team.
That means they’ve seen hundreds of decks. They’re not looking for perfection; they’re looking for clarity, direction, and energy.
So before writing a single word, ask yourself three questions:
Who will see this deck?
What do they already know about my space?
What do I want them to remember 10 minutes after I stop talking?
Let’s say you’re building a fintech platform for small retailers. A typical founder starts with a slide full of jargon: “A digital ecosystem leveraging AI-driven insights for SMBs.”
But what if you started with something like this instead:
“Millions of small retailers still manage their finances with pen and paper. We’re building a way for them to see their entire business on one screen.”
See the difference? The first version talks at the audience. The second speaks to them.
2. Define your core message before writing anything
Every strong accelerator/incubator pitch deck is built around one core message—a single line that sums up what makes your startup worth betting on.
Not a tagline.Not a vision statement.Just a clear, powerful truth about why your company matters.
Here’s a test: if someone flipped through your slides in 30 seconds, could they tell what makes your startup different?
Take Airbnb’s early pitch deck as an example. Their core message wasn’t “We’re a vacation rental platform.” It was:
“Travel like a local.”
Simple. Memorable. It set the tone for everything else.
Once you have your core message, build every slide around it. If a slide doesn’t support that message, delete it.
3. Follow a story arc, not a template
You’ve probably seen the “10-slide pitch deck” formulas floating around the internet. Problem, Solution, Market, Product, Traction, and so on.
Those templates are fine—but they’re not a substitute for storytelling.
Think of your pitch deck as a short film about your startup. It needs a flow, not a checklist. Here’s a simple structure that works beautifully for accelerator and incubator decks:
Act 1: The Hook
Start with the problem and why it matters. Don’t drown it in stats—tell it through a moment. Example: “When a local farmer loses a crop, it’s not just income. It’s food security for a whole community.”
Act 2: The Spark
Introduce your solution in one clear sentence. Then show the world it creates. Example: “We’ve built a simple app that predicts crop disease before it happens.”
Act 3: The Proof
Show that your idea works. Use traction, user feedback, or early results. If you’re pre-launch, show pilot data, waitlists, or partnerships.
Act 4: The Plan
Explain how you’ll scale and where you’ll go next. Investors want to know you’re not guessing.
Act 5: The People
End with your team. Make it human. Tell them why you’re the ones to make it happen.
This story arc not only flows naturally—it helps your audience emotionally connect before they logically evaluate.
4. Keep your slides brutally simple
Here’s a truth most founders resist: if your slide needs more than 12 words to explain, it’s not clear yet.
Accelerator pitch decks are meant to be skimmed fast. So think of your slides as visual cues, not essays.
Each slide should do one of three things:
Highlight a big idea.
Show progress visually.
Support your narrative emotionally.
Let’s look at an example.
Weak version:
“Our platform offers a unique value proposition by optimizing user engagement through AI-driven analytics and personalized insights.”
Strong version:
“Our users spend 2x more time on the platform after the first week.”
The second one tells a story through proof. The first one sounds like it came out of a corporate handbook.
Use one headline, one visual, and one core takeaway per slide. That’s it.
5. Use data like seasoning, not the main course
Data is important—but too much of it makes people’s eyes glaze over.
Think of data as seasoning: sprinkle it where it adds flavor.
Example: instead of saying,
“The global market for edtech is projected to reach $404 billion by 2025.”
Try saying,
“Every school we talk to is looking for better ways to engage students online. That’s a $400B opportunity waiting to be redefined.”
It feels alive. It creates context instead of reciting a statistic.
Your accelerator/incubator pitch deck isn’t a research paper—it’s an argument for why you’re the one to solve this problem.
6. Build credibility through small wins
If you’re pre-revenue or pre-launch, you might think you don’t have much to show. But accelerators love evidence of movement.
Traction isn’t just users or revenue. It can be:
A pilot test with great feedback.
A waitlist of 500 people.
A partnership with a known name.
Even a quote from a customer saying, “This solved our problem.”
These micro-proof points show that you don’t just have an idea—you’ve validated it in the real world.
In Alex’s deck, one of the best slides was just a screenshot of three real customer messages. Simple, authentic, and far more convincing than another line graph.
7. Let your “ask” be specific and confident
The biggest mistake founders make on their final slide is getting vague. “We’re raising funds” is not an ask. It’s an announcement.
Instead, be precise and confident.Example:
“We’re seeking $150K from this accelerator to scale pilot programs across three cities.”
Specificity builds trust. It tells them you’ve done your homework and you know exactly how their support fits into your roadmap.
Also, remember that your “ask” doesn’t always have to be money. It could be mentorship, distribution access, or even connections to a particular industry.
Accelerators and incubators love clarity—they need to know where they can plug in.
8. Rehearse like your life depends on it (because it kind of does)
No matter how beautiful your slides are, your delivery will make or break your pitch.
Practice telling your story aloud. Not reading—telling. Record yourself. Time it. Cut filler words. Refine transitions.
When you know your story by heart, you stop presenting and start connecting.
Remember, accelerators aren’t just evaluating your idea. They’re evaluating you as a communicator, a leader, and a problem-solver.
9. Treat feedback like fuel
Once your deck is ready, show it to three types of people:
Someone who knows your industry.
Someone who doesn’t.
Someone brutally honest.
Their reactions will reveal if your story is clear or confusing.
We once had a founder pitch a “blockchain logistics solution” to a group of investors who had zero technical background. The deck was smart, but everyone looked lost. After simplifying the language and focusing on how it saved companies time, they got accepted into an accelerator within a week.
That’s the power of feedback—it forces clarity.
A Few Famous Formats You Should Know
If you're building a pitch deck for an accelerator or an incubator, you might want to check out the pitch deck formats used by Sequoia, Y Combinator, Techstars and 500 Startups. We’ve broken them down in separate blogs, and you can find them here...
Design Your Accelerator/ Incubator Deck for skimming, not studying
The reality: the people reviewing your accelerator/incubator pitch deck won’t sit down with a cup of coffee and study it like a novel.
They’ll skim.
They’ll flip through slides while checking their email, talking to a colleague, or waiting for their next meeting to start. And in that tiny window of attention, your design has to do one thing—make them stop scrolling.
That’s why your deck must be clear at a glance. Not clever. Not “artsy.” Just unmistakably easy to absorb.
Good design isn’t decoration. It’s communication. Every visual choice either sharpens your story or smothers it.
So here’s what we’ve learned after designing hundreds of decks for startups like yours:
Use large, legible fonts.
Nothing smaller than 24pt. If you have to shrink your text to make it fit, you’re saying too much. The point of a slide is to guide your story, not contain it.
Pick a clean color palette.
Choose two to three main colors that align with your brand. Keep your backgrounds simple and your contrasts high so your message pops.
Replace heavy stock photos with icons or minimal illustrations.
One simple visual does more work than a dozen generic photos of “people smiling in a meeting.”
Leave white space.
It’s not “empty.” It’s breathing room for ideas. White space gives your message time to land.
Most founders struggle with this last one. The instinct is to fill every inch of a slide because it feels like you’re adding value. But that clutter creates noise, not impact. That’s the paradox of great design: the less you show, the more they see.
FAQ: How do I structure my pitch, so it grabs attention fast?
Think performance, not presentation. In a live pitch, your energy, pacing, and tone matter more than your slides. Start with a confident hook that makes the room stop scrolling their phones. Keep your body language open, make eye contact, and move with intention. Not nervous pacing, but controlled presence.
Use your slides as cues, not crutches. Speak to the audience, not the screen. Slow down just enough to sound sure of what you’re saying, and let short pauses emphasize key points.
End strong with a single, confident line that signals you’re done, something that makes people think, “That founder knows exactly where they’re headed.”
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