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Pitch Deck

lastmod 2026-01-12created 2026-01-121 edits

A short presentation in order to pitch a product

A pitch deck is a presentation that a startup uses to introduce its business idea to investors and raise funding. A pitch deck is usually made up of slides and conveys the company's core information, such as its vision, problem, solution, market size, revenue model, and team composition, concisely and clearly.

The purpose of a pitch deck is to help investors quickly grasp the company's potential and make an investment decision. As a result, a successful pitch deck leaves a first impression on investors and serves as an important tool for sparking curiosity about the business opportunity.

Don't copy your pitch deck onto your website

  • An investor-facing pitch deck and customer-facing marketing messages have completely different purposes and audiences, so the same content should not be copied over
  • A pitch deck focuses on vision, team, and market potential, but early marketing should focus on solving the immediate problems of a narrow target customer
  • Before writing customer-facing messages, first establish a positioning framework (alternatives, target customer, product definition, differentiator)
  • Each slide of the pitch deck (problem, solution, vision, market size, competitors, team, etc.) should be reinterpreted from the customer's perspective and applied to the website
  • An early startup's strength is focus; trying to speak to everyone ends up persuading no one

Why you shouldn't copy your pitch deck onto your website

  • A pitch deck is a high-level narrative arc meant to build belief in the market, the team, and the timing
    • Uses vision-driven, aspirational language such as "our platform will become the system of record"
    • Future-oriented messaging rather than the single feature built today
  • A pitch deck targets an audience interested in VC-backed outcomes
    • Prospective customers, on the other hand, want a cost-effective, easy solution to an immediate problem
    • Customers don't want inflated promises about what the product can do today
  • Customers care about a wider range of topics than VCs
    • New trends in the industry, things that help them do their jobs better
    • Marketing is an opportunity to build credibility and raise awareness on customer interests beyond the product

What an early B2B marketing story needs

  • The core of early marketing is delivering the right piece of the right story to the right people clearly, consistently, and repeatedly
  • There is a temptation to look bigger, as in the pitch deck, but the early advantage is focus
    • You can solve a very specific problem for a very specific audience better than anyone
    • Trying to look like you solve everything for everyone backfires
  • 3 ways to focus marketing messages
    • Pick a wedge or beachhead: the narrower and more urgent the problem, the easier it is to win
      • Even if you're building a broader product, start with a narrow GTM audience and message
    • Speak directly to the audience: make the product feel tailor-made for them
      • Reflect what you heard on discovery calls and use the customer's language, not VC terminology
    • Don't copy the messaging of late-stage companies: you are not Stripe, Airbnb, or Figma
      • Nobody knows what you do yet, so you have to explain it clearly

Positioning framework: 4 questions to answer before writing customer-facing messages

  1. What is the alternative to using the product?
    • Need to explain why using the product is better than the alternative
    • Possible alternatives:
      • Building in-house
      • A mix of several tools and homegrown solutions
      • Using an existing product
      • Using a general-purpose tool not fit for the purpose
  2. Who is the product for?
    • Specify potential ICPs concretely and prioritize them
    • Use the language customers use to describe themselves
    • Don't: "distributed knowledge workers"
    • Do: "fully remote employees"
  3. What exactly is the product?
    • Explain in plain English; be clear rather than clever
    • Don't: "AI-powered revenue architecture"
    • Do: "manage business mail online", "scale B2B support", "AI code editor"
  4. Why is it better than the alternative?
    • Pick the high-level reason it is better than the alternative most early ICPs would compare it to
    • Don't: "unlike competitors, offers both XYZ and ABC"
    • Do:
      • If the alternative is building in-house: "save months of building X yourself"
      • If the alternative is a mix of internal tools and expensive service providers: "save $X a year in legal fees"

The marketing story is bigger than the product story

  • Positioning covers the core product message (who, what, why), but the marketing story should extend beyond the product
  • Need to pick 3-4 narratives (perceptions) to tell the audience
    • Market trends, what customers have in common, the founding story, unique insights or contrarian views
  • Can be adapted from the pitch deck's "why now" and "vision" slides, but adjusted to the customer's perspective
  • Example narratives:
    • "Usage-based pricing will grow revenue more than subscription-based pricing"
    • "You can now build a product even if you can't code"
    • "Diagnostic errors always occur in medical images read by humans"
  • 4 things an early marketing story must achieve
    • Hook quickly: start with the customer's pain and explain how you solve the problem
    • Assume zero context: explain what you do in plain language
    • Speak to beachhead users: highlight only the most urgent and clear use case, not the whole TAM or every potential use case
    • Prove it: even early on, build trust with real quotes, early traction, and the team's credibility
      • Apply it across everything, not in a single callout section

How to translate each pitch deck slide

  • Problem slide
    • Pitch deck purpose: the mid-term pain point and why what you're building matters
    • Customer-facing translation: focus on the customer's pain points today
    • Website location: homepage hero copy saying "we understand your pain and have a solution"
    • Common mistake: writing the problem too generally or abstractly, not tied to real customer pain
    • Pitch deck: "Medical images read by radiologists are frequently misinterpreted, leading to missed or delayed diagnoses"
    • Website: "Reduce diagnostic errors"
  • Solution slide
    • Pitch deck purpose: explain what you built and your unique view of the solution
    • Customer-facing translation: focus on what the product does now for the ICP
    • Website application: explain very clearly in the homepage hero what the product does
    • Common mistake: repeating vague pitch language or trying to name a category from day one
    • Pitch deck: "A compliance and security management platform, starting with SOC 2"
    • Website: "SOC 2 audit platform"
  • Vision & why now slide
    • Pitch deck purpose: inspire belief in a big future and show that now is the right time
    • Customer-facing translation: connect the product to a broader movement or new shift customers want to be part of
    • Website location: include on the About page, company story, and founder's note; don't put it front and center
    • Common mistake: leading with the vision or an overly academic view of the market before explaining basic positioning
    • Pitch deck: "We are simplifying global trade in an era of tariff chaos"
    • Website: "Manage the customs process for everything you ship"
  • Market size slide
    • Pitch deck purpose: prove the opportunity is big enough for venture scale, implying the market is huge and growing
    • Customer-facing translation: the message should feel targeted and personalized, "this is for you"
    • Website application: make clear throughout the website who the product is for
    • Common mistake: assuming prospects already know the product is for them, or trying to speak to everyone to raise the odds of winning customers (backfires)
    • Pitch deck: "We are targeting remote-first and hybrid companies worldwide"
    • Website: "Built for early-stage remote startup teams"
  • Competition slide
    • Pitch deck purpose: show awareness of the landscape and how you differentiate
    • Customer-facing translation: emphasize differentiators, mention competitors only when necessary
    • Website application: make clear how it fits with other tools the audience uses and why it is better than the alternatives
      • Use comparison pages, customer switching stories, and sales content (battle cards)
    • Common mistake: obsessing over direct competitors instead of explaining what you do and why it's the better choice for the chosen audience
    • Pitch deck: a 2x2 visual of video editing software
    • Website: "The only multiplayer video editing platform"
  • How the product works slide
    • Pitch deck purpose: demonstrate that the product works, is feasible, and has a clear roadmap
    • Customer-facing translation: explain how the product works for early adopters; don't market too far ahead of what's built
    • Website application: create a product tour, a "how it works" section, feature pages, and demo videos
    • Common mistake: hiding how the product works until the sales demo only adds friction and slows discovery
    • Pitch deck: "We're building an AI engine that automates workflows after customer calls, starting with workflow X. Roadmap presented"
    • Website: "Step 1: record customer calls, Step 2: write and tag notes, Step 3: automatically send to other tools"
  • Business model & GTM strategy slide
    • Pitch deck purpose: prove the ability to generate revenue and reach the market efficiently
    • Customer-facing translation: make it clear how to buy the product
    • Website application: create a packaging and/or pricing page, even a basic one
      • Buyers look for this information, so set the right expectations with a clear CTA
    • Common mistake: being opaque about pricing and packaging; prospects will look for the information anyway, so it's better to control the message
    • Don't: "Get started today" when booking a demo takes a week and onboarding takes a month
    • Do: "Talk to sales" or "Request a demo"
  • Traction slide
    • Pitch deck purpose: show progress, demand, and momentum
    • Customer-facing translation: weave social proof into as much marketing as possible, rather than adding just one quote to one page
    • Website application: integrate (genuine) social proof throughout the website
      • Show quotes and logos on the homepage
    • Common mistake: building a logo wall, thinking the box is checked, and not adding the customer perspective to everything
  • Team slide
    • Pitch deck purpose: convince investors that the founding team is the best fit to build and win
    • Customer-facing translation: build trust by sharing the team's credibility, values, and voice
    • Website application: include on the About page; use the founders' voice to kick off content and social efforts
      • The homepage should be about prospects, not the team
    • Common mistake: focusing too much on résumés and credentials without showing the ability to solve customer problems
  • Ask & use of funds slide
    • Pitch deck purpose: tell investors what you need and what it unlocks
    • Customer-facing translation: funding history should not be the main message shared with prospects
    • Website application: if you mention funding, use it as a hook showing that the new funds unlock something directly valuable to the audience (e.g., new features)
    • Common mistake: spreading the funding announcement everywhere makes it about you rather than what the new cash means for customers

Conclusion

  • A pitch deck is a good forcing function for thinking through the story and compiling assets useful for marketing
  • However, a few extra steps are needed to make it ready for prospects and customers
  • Most of it can be done yourself without hiring for marketing
  • The key is using clear language and getting real feedback from real people in your ICP

See also

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