Pitch deck glossary.

Plain-English definitions of the terms used across How to Make a Deck modules, teardowns, and the audit.

ACVAnnual Contract Value

The average dollar value of a customer contract, annualized. Used in bottom-up market sizing (customers × ACV = SOM).

ARRAnnual Recurring Revenue

Total recurring subscription revenue, annualized. The metric seed and Series A investors judge SaaS traction on. Excludes one-time revenue.

Beachhead

The first specific customer segment you plan to win before expanding. Investors want a named beachhead, not a claim on the whole market.

Bottom-up TAM

Market sizing built by multiplying reachable customers by ACV, not by taking a percentage of an analyst report. Preferred over top-down.

Burn

Monthly net cash out (spend minus revenue). Runway = cash on hand ÷ burn.

CACCustomer Acquisition Cost

Fully-loaded sales + marketing spend divided by new customers acquired in the same period.

Cohort

A group of customers acquired in the same period, tracked over time. Cohort retention curves are the most honest way to show product love.

Dealbreaker

In How to Make a Deck teardowns: a slide-level flaw serious enough that the investor closes the deck. Marked red.

Dwell

Average seconds an investor spends on a slide. DocSend's 2015 study measured this per-slide across 200 seed decks.

EOREmployer of Record

A vendor that legally employs a worker on your behalf in a country you don't have an entity in. Deel, Remote, Rippling are the incumbents.

First-3 filter

How to Make a Deck shorthand: if any of Cover, Problem, or Solution is missing or weak, the rest of the deck doesn't get read. DocSend measured the shortest dwell on these three.

GTMGo-to-market

How you'll reach and convert your first customers. At seed, the specific channel matters more than the size of the funnel.

Hotspot

A numbered callout on a teardown slide explaining what's weak or strong at that spot. Click to expand.

LTVLifetime Value

Gross margin × average retention period × ARR per customer. LTV/CAC > 3 is a common seed target.

MoMMonth-over-Month

Percentage growth from one month to the next. Investors want to see the monthly curve, not just quarter-over-quarter.

Moat

A durable, compounding advantage: data, distribution, cost structure, workflow lock-in, or regulatory license.

MRRMonthly Recurring Revenue

The monthly equivalent of ARR (ARR ÷ 12 for subscription businesses).

NRRNet Revenue Retention

Revenue from a cohort a year later ÷ revenue at start, including expansion and net of churn. Over 110% is strong; over 130% is a category signal.

PLGProduct-Led Growth

A GTM motion where the product itself drives sign-up, expansion, and conversion, with sales layered on top.

SAMServiceable Addressable Market

The portion of TAM you could realistically serve with your current product and geography.

SOMServiceable Obtainable Market

The slice of SAM you can win in the next 3–5 years. Built bottom-up.

TAMTotal Addressable Market

The total revenue opportunity if you had 100% market share. Almost always too big to be useful on its own.

Traction

Evidence customers want what you built. At seed, dollars of ARR + a growth rate matter more than logos or signups.

Use of funds

How the round will be spent, mapped to the milestone it buys. Belongs on the Ask slide.

Wedge

The narrow, defensible starting point from which you expand. Not the whole product roadmap.