Recruiting decks that close senior hires

A senior candidate weighing your offer is not asking 'is this cool'. They are asking 'if I take this job, what specifically will I own, what does the next 12 months look like, and what is the probability this company still exists in three years'. Every slide in a recruiting deck should be a data point for one of those three questions.

Start with the mandate, not the mission

Mission slides are for a first coffee. By the time you're showing a recruiting deck, the candidate wants the operator's document: what business outcome does this role own, what changes in the company if it goes well, and what the current state of the function looks like today.

Answer the three silent no's

Every senior candidate says no in their head three times before they say yes out loud. The recruiting deck's job is to address each one directly on its own slide.

1. 'Will this company survive.' Traction, runway, and named investors. Real numbers, not adjectives.
2. 'Will I actually get to do the job.' Scope, decision rights, and what the founder will not do anymore once you're in seat.
3. 'Is the equity real.' Percentage, strike math, secondary policy, and what a plausible exit looks like at the price point you'd underwrite.

Compensation slides in numbers, not ranges

'Competitive comp with meaningful equity' is a phrase that translates to 'I don't want to commit and I don't want you to compare.' Senior candidates compare either way. Put the actual base, the actual equity percentage, the vesting terms, and, if you can, a scenario table showing what the equity is worth at three exit valuations. Ambiguity here reads as a bad offer, not a flexible one.