How to Make the Pitch Deck Financials Slide [A Guide]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- Feb 19, 2023
- 8 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
Last month, our client Alexis asked a surprisingly sharp question while we were building her pitch deck financials slide.
She said,
“How much detail is too much detail when it comes to numbers?”
Our Creative Director replied without blinking,
“If you need to explain it, it’s already too complicated.”
As a presentation design agency, we work on dozens of pitch deck financial slides every year. And in the process, we’ve noticed one common challenge: most founders either over-explain or under-express their numbers.
In this blog, we’re going to show you how to strike the balance. This is your no-fluff guide to getting the financial slide right without drowning your investors in spreadsheets.
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.
Why the Financials Slide Matters in a Pitch Deck
Let’s be honest. Most people don't get excited about financials. But investors aren’t most people. They’re not just betting on your product or your passion. They’re betting on whether the numbers back it all up.
Your pitch deck financials slide isn’t just a summary of revenue projections. It’s a trust-building tool. A badly presented financial slide can make even a great business look like it’s held together by duct tape. On the flip side, a clear, confident financials slide can elevate your entire pitch.
And here’s the real kicker — investors rarely take your numbers at face value. They’re reading between the lines. They want to see your logic, your ambition, and your grip on reality. What you choose to show (and how you show it) tells them what kind of founder you are.
We’ve seen two patterns play out over and over again:
Founders who try to impress with too many numbers end up confusing everyone in the room.
Founders who oversimplify come across like they haven’t done their homework.
Neither works. Investors need a bird’s-eye view, not a worm’s-eye tour. They want to know your thinking without needing a calculator or a finance degree.
The financials slide is your moment to say, “I understand this business, I know where it’s going, and I’ve thought it through.” No fluff. No filler.
How to Make the Pitch Deck Financials Slide
Let’s walk through what actually makes a good financials slide. Not theoretically. Not hypothetically. But from the trenches — what works in real decks, with real investors, in real meetings.
First, Understand What It’s Not
Your financials slide is not your business plan. It’s not a place to drop in every assumption, every metric, or every forecast you’ve ever brainstormed with your CFO.
Think of it this way: If your business were a movie, this slide is the trailer. It shows just enough to make investors curious, but not so much that they feel like they’ve already seen the whole film.
This isn’t about holding back. It’s about being intentional. If investors want more detail, they’ll ask. That’s a good thing. That’s the door opening.
The Ideal Financials Slide Shows Three Things Clearly
Every strong pitch deck financials slide boils down to this:
Where you’ve been
Where you are
Where you’re going
That means you’ll want to show actuals, current state, and projections. And do it in a way that doesn’t make someone squint at the screen.
Let’s break it down.
1. Start With Actuals (Only If You Have Them)
If you’ve been operational for a year or two, don’t hide your numbers. Even if they’re not massive. Investors appreciate transparency more than inflated optimism.
Keep it tight:
Revenue
Gross margin
Net burn
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)
LTV (Lifetime Value), if relevant
But only include what you can explain quickly. This is not the time to pull out your full P&L. You’re aiming for clarity, not completeness.
If you’re pre-revenue, skip this part. Don’t stretch to show numbers just to look “mature.” Investors know how early-stage companies work. Just move straight into projections.
2. Show a Simple Forecast
Here’s where most founders mess up. They either overstuff this section with 20 line items, or they oversimplify with a hockey stick growth chart and zero context.
The key: Give just enough data to show you’re not guessing.
We recommend showing 3 to 5 years of high-level forecasts. Keep the table clean, use one row per metric, and avoid getting into operational minutiae.
Your basic structure might look like this:
Metric | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
Revenue | $X | $Y | $Z | ||
Gross Margin | XX% | XX% | XX% | ||
EBITDA (or Burn) | |||||
# of Customers |
Keep it consistent. Round numbers. Use clear labels. And whatever you do, don't copy-paste straight from Excel with all its raw gridlines. We’ve seen slides that looked like spreadsheets exploded on screen — and trust us, they lost the room in seconds.
3. Explain Assumptions (Briefly)
This is the part most people forget. And ironically, it’s what investors often care about the most.
You don’t need to list all assumptions, but you do need to back up the logic behind your forecast. For example:
If your CAC drops over time, why? Is it scale? Better targeting? Referral effects?
If your margin improves, is it due to improved ops, automation, pricing power?
If your revenue jumps, what’s driving it? Expansion? Product launches? Geo entry?
Add a small section right below the table that says:Key Assumptions
CAC decreases from $200 to $120 over 3 years as paid channels optimize
Revenue growth driven by B2B contracts and 2 new product SKUs in Year 2
Margins improve due to manufacturing efficiencies and volume deals
That’s it. Three to four bullets. Enough to show you’ve thought it through. Not so much that it feels defensive or uncertain.
4. Design Like It’s a Slide, Not a Spreadsheet
Let’s say this clearly. You’re not building a dashboard. You’re not preparing for due diligence yet. You’re presenting. That means design matters more than you think.
A good pitch deck financials slide should not make your viewer do any math. If they have to add, subtract, or scan for data, you’ve already lost them.
A few design principles we follow:
Use whitespace generously. Let each element breathe.
Align your columns and rows. No wobbly grids.
Highlight key numbers using bold or color (sparingly).
Avoid overly small text. You’re not writing a legal contract.
Use charts only if they clarify. A simple bar graph showing YoY revenue or customer growth can help anchor your story. But only if it’s readable and supports your narrative.
Investors should be able to glance at your slide and get the full story in 5 seconds. That’s the bar.
5. Tailor the Detail to Your Stage
Pre-seed and seed rounds don’t need complex breakdowns. In fact, too much detail at this stage makes it seem like you’re guessing. Investors know it’s early. What they’re looking for is thought process and ambition.
Show:
3-year revenue projections
Burn rate
High-level cost assumptions
That’s enough.
At Series A and beyond, expectations shift. You’ll need more depth and maybe a few extra slides to support the main one. But your core financials slide should still hold its ground on its own. Think of it as the headline, with backup data available when asked.
6. Use Numbers That Tell a Story
Numbers on their own are just noise. But numbers placed in context — now that’s narrative.
You want to make sure your numbers tell the same story the rest of your pitch does.
If you’re positioning yourself as a capital-efficient business, your burn better be low and your margins high.If your narrative is about rapid scale, your revenue should show aggressive (but believable) growth and customer acquisition.If your product is complex or expensive, the CAC and LTV should reflect the premium positioning.
Misalignment kills confidence. We’ve seen slides where founders are pitching “lean, fast, scalable,” and then show a five-year plan that bleeds red ink every year. Investors don’t forget that stuff.
7. Leave Room for the Conversation
Here’s something most people don’t realize. The best slides are the ones that invite questions, not the ones that answer everything.
Your job isn’t to close the deal on the slide. It’s to get the meeting, spark the dialogue, and show you’ve done your homework.
Don’t crowd the slide with backup data. That’s what your appendix is for. Use that space to hold optional charts like revenue by product line, CAC by channel, or unit economics breakdowns. Keep the main slide tight and sharp.
8. Bonus: Use the Right Format
Yes, this matters too.
Save it as PDF before sharing.
Never send raw PowerPoint or Keynote files.
Don’t send screenshots of Excel tables. They always look blurry.
Make sure it’s viewable on mobile — a surprising number of investors will first see it on their phone.
And one more thing — rehearse your voiceover if you're presenting live. Know your numbers. Own them. If you can’t talk through your financials with ease, you’ll lose confidence before you lose the deal.
Example of Pitch Deck Financials,
For a good example of how financial data can be visually presented in a pitch deck, take a look at these two case studies from our portfolio. They highlight how we effectively design the financials slide to convey complex information clearly.
Case Study 1 : BOCACO Series B Pitch Deck
Case Study 2: IndiaNext Series A Pitch Deck
When to Include the Financials Slide (And How to Position It)
When it comes to placement in your pitch deck, the financials slide typically appears towards the end—after you've already captured attention with your company’s mission, problem-solving capabilities, and product-market fit. The financials should come right before your closing slide, where you make your ask for funding.
This placement is strategic: by the time you get to your financials slide, you’ve already built excitement and confidence in your potential. Now, it’s time to show them the money—and how you plan to make even more of it.
A Few Insider Tips
Okay, we’re not giving everything away, but here are a few insider tips to give your financials slide that extra “oomph”:
Use Visuals: Forget about long paragraphs of text. Investors don’t want to be buried in numbers. Use graphs, charts, and tables to make your financials digestible. Visual representation of data is much more compelling and helps convey information at a glance.
Keep It Simple: Focus on the most important data. Too much information will overwhelm your audience. Highlight key numbers and trends that tell your story in a way that’s easy to digest.
Be Transparent: Investors appreciate honesty. If your projections are based on assumptions, say so. Explain what’s behind your numbers and the factors influencing them.
Tell a Story: As with the rest of your pitch deck, the financials slide should follow a logical flow. Connect the dots between your current situation, projections, and the impact of the funding you’re asking for.
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.