How to Make the Team Slide [Of Your Pitch Deck]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- Oct 29, 2023
- 7 min read
Updated: Aug 1
Our client Eli asked us an interesting question while we were building their pitch deck.
“Do investors even care about this part, or is it just filler?”
Our Creative Director answered,
“They care more than you think, but only if you give them a reason to.”
As a presentation design agency, we work on many pitch deck team slides throughout the year. And in the process, we’ve observed one common challenge: founders tend to either overhype the team or undersell them entirely.
So, in this blog, we’ll talk about how to get the team slide right (without the fluff, without the bragging, and without boring the investor half to sleep).
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 Team Slide Matters in a Pitch Deck
Let’s get this straight. Investors don’t invest in ideas. They invest in the people behind them.
You can have the slickest product, the most disruptive business model, and all the right market signals. But if the people running the ship look unconvincing, the whole thing sinks.
That’s why the pitch deck team slide matters.
It's your one chance to say, “Here’s who’s driving this—and here’s why you can trust us to pull it off.”
The problem is, most founders treat the team slide like a LinkedIn resume dump. Name, title, a fancy logo or two. Maybe a quote. Maybe a photo. Then they move on.
But the whole point isn’t to show who you are. It’s to show why you’re the right team for this specific problem.
This is the slide where the investor subconsciously checks off a few things:
Do these people have relevant experience?
Have they built something before?
Do they complement each other?
Are there any glaring red flags?
If your team slide doesn’t help answer these questions, then it’s just decoration.
And if that sounds harsh, good. Because this slide decides whether your deck builds confidence—or quietly plants doubt.
How to Make the Team Slide of Your Pitch Deck
Let’s stop pretending the team slide is just a “formality.” It’s not. It’s the part of your pitch deck where investors go: “Alright, who’s behind this? Can they actually pull it off?”
So if you're treating this slide like an afterthought, you're already setting yourself back.
We’ve designed hundreds of team slides, and let us tell you this—there’s a formula that works. Not a template. A way of thinking. Because your team slide should do one thing very well: it should build credibility fast.
Let’s break this down.
1. Don’t introduce your people. Introduce your edge.
Most team slides start with a row of nice photos, a name, a job title, and a previous company logo. It’s clean. It’s tidy. It’s also forgettable.
The investor doesn't need to know that Priya is the Head of Product. They need to know why Priya is the best possible person to build this product right now.
That means don’t just show who’s on the team. Show what unique advantage they bring. What do they know that others don’t? What have they done before that directly connects to what you're building?
For example, let’s say you’re building a fintech product for cross-border payments.
You don’t just say: Priya Shah – Co-founder, Product (ex-PayPal, ex-Citibank)
Instead, say: Priya Shah – Built cross-border payment systems at PayPal. 10+ yrs experience optimizing global payment architecture.
That single sentence tells the investor, “She’s done this before. She knows the terrain.”
See the difference?
2. Keep it tight. Less is more.
You don’t need to show your entire 14-member founding team. That’s overwhelming, and frankly, irrelevant.
Focus on your core founding team. That usually means 2 to 4 people who are responsible for product, growth, and business strategy. Everyone else—advisors, early hires, part-time contributors—can be mentioned elsewhere (like in the appendix or a separate slide if they’re truly worth highlighting).
Each person should get:
Name
Role (make it meaningful, not vague)
1-liner credibility builder (as specific as possible)
Optional: a photo (we’ll talk about this next)
Don’t clutter. Don’t add bios. Don’t put LinkedIn links. Don’t write paragraphs.
You’re not writing their career story. You’re showing how this group is the right mix to win.
3. About the photos: humanize, but don’t overdo it
There’s no hard rule about whether or not to include team photos, but here’s what we’ve seen:
Yes to photos if you’re early-stage and the people are the story. This helps humanize the pitch and create an instant connection.
No to photos if they look like blurry LinkedIn screenshots or badly cropped selfies. That hurts more than helps.
If you’re including photos, make them professional and consistent. Not stiff. Not overly corporate. Just real, clear, and confident. The goal is simple: let the investor look you in the eye and go, “Alright, these folks seem legit.”
But if your design doesn’t support good photo placement or if you don’t have quality headshots, skip it. It’s not mandatory.
4. Show complementary skills, not copy-paste roles
One major red flag we see is when the founding team looks like clones of each other.
Three ex-consultants. Or three engineers. Or three growth marketers.
If you don’t show complementary skill sets, the investor starts wondering: “Who’s actually handling product? Who’s selling? Who’s running the business?”
So instead of titles like “Co-founder” for everyone, make the roles clear. Show that you’ve got both technical and commercial firepower.
For example:
Ali Khan – CEO | Built and sold a SaaS platform in logistics. Responsible for overall strategy and investor relations.
Sarah Lee – CTO | 12 years in AI. Previously led ML at Amazon. Leading product and engineering.
Javier Morales – CMO | Scaled B2B marketing at 2 startups from 0 to $10M ARR. Leading growth and customer acquisition.
Now the investor sees a team where everyone knows their lane—and knows how to execute.
5. Add one proof point per person
This is subtle, but powerful.
Investors don’t want vague promises. They want proof. And while you can’t write an essay for each team member, you can sneak in one very specific proof point per person.
Think:
“Built a team of 30 engineers at Google”
“Grew user base from 0 to 200K in 18 months”
“Managed $20M budgets across 3 markets”
“Raised $2M+ in prior startup”
These little details carry disproportionate weight. They turn generic claims into tangible facts. They give the reader something to latch onto.
6. Don’t include advisors just to look impressive
Here’s the thing about advisors: if they’re truly involved, they can be a game-changer. But if they’re just there for window dressing, leave them off.
A slide cluttered with 5-6 “advisors” with recognizable names reeks of insecurity. It’s as if you’re trying to compensate for a weak core team.
If you do include advisors, limit them to 1-2 max, and be specific about how they’re helping.
Instead of: John Smith – Advisor (ex-Apple)
Say: John Smith – Advisor | Mentors on product strategy. Built and led Apple’s global UX team.
Now it’s clear why he’s on your slide. He’s not just a trophy name.
7. Make it visually scannable
We’ve seen team slides that look like Word documents. Dense. Ugly. Impossible to skim.
Your slide isn’t an essay. It’s a visual pitch. The layout should make it easy for an investor to get the key info in 10 seconds.
Here’s what works well:
Use a consistent layout grid
Keep all photos the same size and style
Limit text to short bullets or 1-liners
Use bold or color to highlight keywords (past companies, achievements, etc.)
Don’t squeeze too much—leave white space for breathing room
A clean, confident design says something about how you think. It shows that you respect the investor’s time and know how to communicate clearly.
8. Address gaps or unconventional backgrounds—deliberately
Some founders avoid adding themselves because they feel underqualified. Maybe they didn’t go to Stanford. Maybe they haven’t worked at Google. Maybe they’re first-time founders.
That’s okay.
In fact, it’s better to own your story than hide behind vague titles. Show what makes your journey matter. If you’re an outsider building a solution for a problem you’ve lived with—say that. If you taught yourself to code and already built the MVP—say that.
Credibility doesn’t always come from pedigree. It comes from clarity, conviction, and craft.
9. One last thing: this slide is not about you. It’s about investor confidence.
Remember, you’re not building a Wikipedia page. You’re telling a story.
The pitch deck team slide is where you say: Here’s who we are, and here’s why you can bet on us.
So everything you include should reinforce that message.
Does this info increase trust?
Does it show relevant experience?
Does it prove we can execute?
Does it show we’ve got the right mix of skills?
If it doesn’t check those boxes, delete it.
That’s your blueprint. Not a list of ingredients. A way of thinking.
Because when you treat the team slide like an investor’s litmus test, you start to build it differently. You stop thinking about who deserves to be on it, and start thinking about what makes the investor say, “This is a team I want to back.”
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.