How to Make Your Pitch Deck [Lessons from Top Experts]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- Jan 5, 2020
- 12 min read
Updated: Dec 23, 2025
Earlier this year, while speaking with a client named Thomas, he said something we hear more often than people admit.
“I am trying to raise USD 10 million, and I am terrible at presentations, let alone a pitch deck. That is why I hired your agency.”
Thomas is sharp and deeply understands his business. But when it came to turning that knowledge into a clear, convincing story on slides, especially for something as high stakes as fundraising, he felt lost.
We make many pitch decks throughout the year, and we have observed a common pattern: people do not fail at pitch decks because they lack ideas, they fail because they do not know how to structure those ideas for persuasion.
A pitch deck is not hard because it is technical. It is hard because most people have never been taught how to think in slides.
So, in this blog, we will break down what a pitch deck really is, how to approach making one from scratch, and how to structure it in a way that feels clear, confident, and intentional.
In case you didn't know, we're a pitch deck design agency. We can help you by designing your slides and writing your content too.
So, What on Earth Is a Pitch Deck Anyway
A pitch deck is a short visual story designed to help someone understand what you are building and decide whether they want to keep listening.
That is, it.
It is not a business plan. It is not a data dump. And it is definitely not a place to prove how hard you have worked.
A good pitch deck does one thing well. It creates enough clarity and confidence that the next conversation feels worth having.
If you have the budget to spend, hire us to build your pitch deck. If you do not, follow this guide and you will still create a pitch deck that gets the job done.
So, let's get into How to Make a Pitch Deck from Scratch...
Start With Writing Slide Content of Your Pitch Deck
Before you open PowerPoint, Keynote, Google Slides, or whatever tool you swear by, you need to do something far less exciting and far more important.
You need to write.
Most pitch decks fail not because of bad design, but because the thinking underneath is messy. People jump straight into slides because slides feel productive. Writing feels slow. Writing feels uncomfortable. Writing exposes gaps in logic that design happily hides.
If you want your pitch deck to work, you start by writing the slide content first. Not designing. Not formatting. Writing.
Why writing your pitch deck content first changes everything
Slides are terrible at helping you think. They are great at helping you decorate decisions you already made.
When you write first, you are forced to answer uncomfortable questions like:
What am I actually trying to say here?
What does this slide need to prove?
If this slide disappeared, would anyone care?
Writing removes the illusion of progress. It shows you very quickly where your story is weak, where you are repeating yourself, and where you are hoping design will do the persuasion for you.
A pitch deck is a sequence of decisions. Writing forces you to make those decisions deliberately.
Think in slides, not paragraphs
Writing slide content does not mean writing essays.
Each slide should communicate one idea. One. If you cannot explain what the slide is about in a single sentence, the slide is doing too much.
A simple test we use is this: If someone only reads the slide headline and ignores everything else, do they still understand the point?
If the answer is no, your writing is unclear.
Good pitch deck writing is closer to billboards than books. Short. Direct. Purposeful.
The essential slide structure of a pitch deck
Let us get something straight. There is no single perfect pitch deck structure. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling certainty, not expertise.
That said, most effective pitch decks follow a familiar logic because human attention works in predictable ways.
Below is a practical structure you can use as a starting point. You should adapt it, but do not ignore it unless you know exactly why.
1. The opening slide that earns attention
Your first slide is not about details. It is about orientation.
The reader should immediately understand:
What you do
Who it is for
Why it matters
Bad opening slide example: "We are a next generation AI powered platform revolutionizing the future of X.”
Good opening slide example: "We help mid sized ecommerce brands reduce returns by predicting sizing issues before checkout.”
Notice the difference. One hides behind buzzwords. The other makes a clear promise.
Write your opening slide like you are explaining your business to a smart friend who is impatient.
2. The problem slide that proves pain exists
The problem slide is where most founders either over explain or under sell.
You are not trying to convince people that problems exist in the world. You are trying to convince them that this specific problem is real, painful, and worth solving.
Good problem slide writing:
Names a specific audience
Describes a specific pain
Shows consequences of not fixing it
Example: “Customer support teams in SaaS companies lose hours every week answering the same five questions, leading to burnout and slower response times.”
Avoid vague problems like: "Businesses struggle with efficiency.”
Nobody funds a struggle. They fund pain with teeth.
3. The solution slide that feels inevitable
Your solution slide should feel like a logical response, not a magic trick.
Do not list every feature. Focus on how your solution directly attacks the problem you just described.
A simple structure for solution writing:
What it is
How it works at a high level
Why it is different
Example: "Our product is a self learning help center that automatically updates answers based on real customer conversations.”
If you cannot explain your solution without diagrams and long explanations, the problem might not be clear enough yet.
4. The product slide that shows reality
This is where screenshots, visuals, or simple flows matter. But even here, writing comes first.
Write captions that explain what the viewer is seeing and why it matters.
Bad product slide copy: “Dashboard view.”
Good product slide copy: “Support managers see trending issues in real time, without manual tagging.”
Never assume the reader will understand what they are looking at. Guide them.
5. The market slide without fantasy math
Market sizing slides have a reputation problem. Mostly because they are often nonsense.
Writing a strong market slide means being honest and grounded.
Avoid inflated numbers with no context. Instead, explain:
Who your actual customer is
How many of them exist
Why reaching them is realistic
Example: “There are approximately 120,000 mid-sized ecommerce brands in North America. We focus on the 35 percent that sell apparel online, where return rates are highest.”
Clarity beats ambition here.
6. The business model slide that makes money understandable
Your business model slide should answer a simple question: How does this make money in the real world?
Write this slide as plainly as possible.
Who pays
How much
How often
Example: “Customers pay a monthly subscription starting at USD 199, based on order volume.”
Do not hide pricing logic behind clever words. Transparency builds trust.
7. The traction slide that proves progress
Traction is not just revenue. It is evidence of movement.
Good traction writing highlights:
Growth over time
Key milestones
Signals of demand
Example: "In the last six months, we grew from 10 to 85 paying customers, with 92 percent monthly retention.”
If you do not have strong traction yet, write honestly about early signals like pilots, waitlists, or partnerships.
8. The team slide that shows competence
Your team slide is not a resume dump.
Write one line per person that answers: Why are you the right people to build this?
Example: "Founder previously led operations at a logistics startup serving over 500 merchants.”
Do not list every past role. Relevance beats completeness.
9. The ask slide that respects the reader
The ask slide is where many decks suddenly become awkward.
Be specific.
How much you are raising
What it will be used for
What milestone it gets you to
Example: “We are raising USD 10 million to expand sales, improve product automation, and reach USD 3 million ARR.”
Confidence here comes from clarity, not bravado.
Copywriting tips that make pitch deck slides stronger
Good slide copy follows a few simple rules.
Write like you speak, then cut it in half
Start conversational. Then remove anything that sounds like it is trying too hard.
If a sentence would feel strange to say out loud, it probably does not belong on a slide.
Headlines do the heavy lifting
Every slide should have a headline that communicates the takeaway.
Instead of: “Our Solution”
Try: "A faster way for support teams to answer customer questions”
The headline should tell the story even if the rest is skimmed.
Avoid buzzwords unless they earn their place
Words like scalable, innovative, disruptive, and cutting edge are empty unless backed by specifics.
If you remove a word and the meaning does not change, cut it.
One idea per slide, always
If you feel tempted to squeeze in one more point, that is your cue to create another slide.
Crowded slides signal unclear thinking.
Assume the reader is distracted
Because they are.
Write with the assumption that your pitch deck will be skimmed, interrupted, and revisited out of order.
Clarity is not a bonus. It is the baseline.
A final mindset shift about pitch deck writing
Writing slide content is not about sounding impressive. It is about making decisions easy.
A good pitch deck respects the reader’s time, attention, and intelligence. It does not beg. It does not overwhelm. It leads.
If you get the writing right, design becomes an amplifier, not a crutch.
And that is when a pitch deck stops being a collection of slides and starts becoming a tool that actually works.
FAQ: Should My Pitch Deck Structure Change Across Funding Rounds?
Yes, your pitch deck structure should change across funding rounds. And no, it is not because there is a magic slide count you need to follow.
Across the internet, the same advice keeps circulating.
"Ten slides only."
"Never cross a fixed slide limit."
"Keep it short at all costs."
This is surface level thinking. Pitch decks are far more complex than these cookie cutter rules, which are often repeated by people who have never designed a single slide well in their life.
What investors want to see changes as risk changes. Your pitch deck should evolve with it.
Early stage and Pre Seed
At this stage, investors are betting on people and insight.
A clear, real problem
A believable solution
Why this team should be trusted to figure it out
Less data is fine. Clarity matters more than proof.
Seed and Series A
Now the question shifts from “could this work” to “is this working.”
Early traction or revenue
User behavior and retention
Signs of product market pull
Your pitch deck needs evidence, not just vision.
Later stage rounds
Here, investors care about scale and risk management.
Growth mechanics and efficiency
Unit economics and margins
Operational maturity
More depth is expected, as long as every slide earns its place.
The takeaway is simple. Use common sense. Build your pitch deck around the decision an investor needs to make at that stage, not around arbitrary rules designed for clicks.
Now, How Should You Design This Pitch Deck
Once the content of your pitch deck is written, design becomes a multiplier. Get it right, and your ideas feel sharper and more credible. Get it wrong, and even strong thinking starts to feel confusing or amateur.
This is where many people slip. They treat pitch deck design like general presentation design. They focus on looking nice instead of communicating clearly. A pitch deck is not a conference talk and not a marketing brochure. It is a decision making tool that needs to work fast, often without you in the room.
So the design choices you make should serve one goal: make your story easier to understand in less time.
Design your pitch deck for scanning, not studying
Most pitch decks are not read carefully. They are scanned.
An investor might spend two to three minutes flipping through your deck before deciding whether to look deeper. That means your design has to guide the eye and surface the important points immediately.
Practical design rules for pitch decks:
One core message per slide
Large, readable headlines that stand out
Enough white space to avoid visual fatigue
If a slide looks busy from a distance, it is too busy.
Example: If your traction slide includes a chart, remove everything that does not help someone understand growth at a glance. Axis labels should be minimal. Legends should be obvious. Numbers that matter should be large.
Use layout consistency to build trust
Consistency is not about aesthetics. It is about trust.
When slides jump between different layouts, font sizes, or alignment styles, the deck feels unstable. That instability subconsciously undermines confidence in the content.
For pitch decks, consistency should show up in:
Headline placement
Font hierarchy
Spacing between elements
Color usage
Example: If your headline is top left on one slide, keep it there on all slides. The reader should never wonder where to look first.
A predictable layout lets the reader focus on your message instead of your formatting.
Design headlines as part of the story
In pitch decks, headlines are not labels. They are arguments.
A good test is to read only the slide headlines from top to bottom. If they tell a coherent story on their own, your design is doing its job.
Weak headline: "Market Opportunity”
Strong headline: "A large, underserved market with urgent demand”
Design these headlines to be visually dominant. They should be the first thing the eye lands on, every time.
Use visuals to clarify, not decorate
Every visual in a pitch deck should earn its place.
Screenshots, charts, icons, and diagrams are useful only when they reduce explanation. If a visual requires a long verbal explanation to make sense, it is failing.
Examples of effective visuals in pitch decks:
Simple product screenshots with short captions
Clean charts showing growth over time
Diagrams that explain a process in three steps or fewer
Avoid:
Stock photos
Decorative icons with no meaning
Complex diagrams that try to show everything at once
If a visual does not help the reader understand faster, remove it.
Typography choices that work in pitch decks
You do not need fancy fonts. You need readable ones.
Pitch decks are often viewed on laptops, tablets, or printed quickly before meetings. Small text and thin fonts fall apart fast.
Guidelines:
Use one primary font family
Keep body text large enough to read from a distance
Use bold or weight changes instead of multiple fonts for emphasis
Example: If someone cannot read your slide from across a small meeting room, the text is too small.
Color use should support hierarchy, not style
Color in pitch decks should guide attention, not show personality.
Use color to:
Highlight key numbers
Separate sections
Emphasize important points
Avoid using too many colors or low contrast combinations. Dark text on light backgrounds remains the safest choice for readability.
A common mistake is designing slides that look great on a designer’s screen but lose clarity when shared as a PDF or viewed on a different device.
Design for the worst-case scenario
Always assume your pitch deck will be:
Read without you present
Skimmed quickly
Viewed on a small screen
Printed in grayscale
Design accordingly.
Ask yourself: If someone scrolls through this deck in silence, do the slides still make sense?
If the answer is no, simplify.
The real goal of pitch deck design
Good pitch deck design does not impress. It reassures.
It tells the reader that you think clearly, respect their time, and understand how to communicate under pressure.
When design disappears into the background and your message moves forward effortlessly, you have done it right.
And that is what pitch deck design should always aim for.
FAQ: What Colors & Style Should I Choose for Designing the Pitch Deck?
Start with your brand guidelines. If they exist, use them. A designer likely put real thought into those choices, and your pitch deck should reflect that consistency, not reinvent it.
If you do not have brand guidelines yet, keep things simple. Pitch decks perform best with clean layouts, high contrast, and restrained use of color. One primary color, one neutral, and clear typography will take you further than trendy styling.
If you are starting from scratch, here's a simple guide: Best Fonts & Colors for a Pitch Deck
Let’s Look at a Pitch Deck Example from Our Portfolio
The Co-Founder of BOCACO hired our agency after an in-house attempt at their Series B pitch deck went sideways. The slides looked fine, but the story had no spine. So, we did what we always do. We locked the narrative before touching design, rebuilt the flow from the ground up, and addressed investor objections upfront, especially those tied to their regulated industry.
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.
How To Get Started?
If you want to hire us for your presentation design project, the process is extremely easy.
Just click on the "Start a Project" button on our website, calculate the price, make payment, and we'll take it from there.