Writing on the pitch deck investors actually read.
Short field pieces adapted from the How to Make a Deck curriculum. Each essay is a self-contained argument you can send to a co-founder before they open the deck.
- Fundamentals · 7 min read
The 3-minute deck: why investors skim, and what to do about it
Investors do not read your deck. They skim it in about three minutes. Here is how to design for that reality without dumbing anything down.
Updated July 11, 2026 - Craft · 6 min read
Problem slides that work: numbers, names, and consequences
The problem slide is where most decks lose the meeting. The fix is not more empathy, it is a specific person, a specific cost, and a specific reason it exists today.
Updated July 11, 2026 - Craft · 6 min read
Traction without revenue: what counts, what to leave off
Pre-revenue does not mean pre-traction. What to put on the traction slide when you have no ARR chart yet, and what to keep out of it.
Updated July 11, 2026 - Craft · 8 min read
Sizing a market investors will actually believe
TAM, SAM, SOM is not the point. The point is a bottom-up number a partner can rebuild on the back of a napkin and still find defensible.
Updated July 11, 2026 - Craft · 7 min read
The competition slide: how to draw a 2x2 that isn't a lie
Every 2x2 puts the founder in the empty top-right. The exercise is not choosing the axes that flatter you. It is choosing the axes a buyer actually decides on.
Updated July 11, 2026 - Craft · 6 min read
The ask slide: raise, runway, milestones
The ask slide is the last thing an investor reads and the first thing they remember. Three numbers, in order: how much, for how long, to prove what.
Updated July 11, 2026 - Craft · 6 min read
The team slide: why you, not just who you are
A team slide full of logos is a resume, not an argument. The argument is why this team is the one that finally does this thing.
Updated July 11, 2026 - Fundamentals · 8 min read
Unit economics on one slide: the numbers investors actually read
Business model slides fail by drawing a value chain instead of showing the unit. What one customer costs to get, what they pay, and what they leave behind.
Updated July 11, 2026 - Craft · 7 min read
Board decks that produce decisions, not applause
A board deck is a governance document, not a pitch. If the meeting ends without two or three decisions, the deck failed no matter how nice the charts were.
Updated July 11, 2026 - Craft · 5 min read
Investor updates that compound trust between rounds
The monthly investor email is the highest-return document a founder writes. Cadence matters more than length, and lowlights matter more than wins.
Updated July 11, 2026 - Craft · 6 min read
Recruiting decks that close senior hires
A senior candidate deciding between you and a bigger name is running a private risk model. The recruiting deck exists to give that model better data.
Updated July 11, 2026