Design
What should an investor pitch deck include, and what does its design cost?
An investor pitch deck tells the company’s story in about 20 slides: purpose, problem, solution, why now, market, competition, business model, team, financials and the ask. DocSend found investors spend under three minutes on a deck, so every slide must read at a glance. VITON13 pitch deck design starts from $53.
What should an investor pitch deck include?
Investors see many decks and read them in a familiar order, so a predictable structure helps rather than bores. Sequoia Capital’s guide to writing a business plan lists the sections most funds expect, and almost every good deck is a version of it with an ask at the end.
| Slide | The question it answers | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Company purpose | What do you do, in one sentence? | A list of features instead of a mission |
| Problem | Whose pain is it, and how do they cope today? | A problem only the founder has |
| Solution | Why is your way better? | Screens without the benefit |
| Why now | What changed that makes this possible? | No reason at all |
| Market | How big can this get? | One huge number with no calculation |
| Competition | What else do customers use? | Claiming there is none |
| Business model | How do you make money, and at what margin? | Pricing without unit economics |
| Team | Why are you the people to do it? | Titles without relevant experience |
| Financials | What do the next years look like? | Growth with no assumptions shown |
| The ask | How much, for what, for how long? | No amount or no plan for the money |
How long do investors look at a pitch deck?
DocSend, which tracks how decks are opened through its links, reports that investors spend less than three minutes on a typical deck. In its 2020 data, decks that went on to raise held attention for more than four minutes, while unsuccessful ones got about a minute and a half. The average deck ran to around 20 pages with about 50 words per slide.
Three minutes for twenty slides is nine seconds each. That is the design brief: every slide must make one point that a busy reader grasps without the founder in the room, and the order must pull them to the next page.
Which slides do investors read most closely?
In DocSend’s data the business model section received the most attention across all decks. Time on competition slides rose by 51% between 2019 and 2020, and successful decks were far more likely to include a section on their main competitors. At the earliest stage, the product and the why-now slides drew early focus in decks that raised.
- Business model: price, cost to acquire a customer, margin and how revenue repeats.
- Competition: the real alternatives, including spreadsheets and doing nothing, and why customers switch.
- Traction: users, revenue or pilots with dates, shown as a trend rather than a single number.
- Why now: the change in technology, regulation or behaviour that opens the window.
How should a pitch deck look?
- One idea per slide, stated in the headline as a full sentence with the conclusion.
- About 50 words at most; move detail to an appendix or the data room.
- Charts with labelled axes, units, dates and a source line.
- A consistent grid, two fonts at most and your brand colours used for meaning, not decoration.
- Real product screens or photos instead of stock images.
- No table of contents; successful decks in DocSend’s data got straight to the point.
- A PDF that stays readable when opened on a laptop or projected in a meeting.
What would a pitch deck cost with VITON13?
Pitch deck design is selected; add the research and extra formats you need. The totals add the live starting prices of VITON13 packages in both production modes.
Cost calculator
Plan your pitch materials
Tick what your raise needs; the totals update as you choose.
Your estimate
- AI-assisted
- from $53
- Human-led
- from $73
- Timeline
- 3–5 working days
stages can overlap; the written estimate fixes the dates
Get a written estimate in 1 working dayStarting prices of VITON13 packages; the written estimate confirms the slides, formats and price after we see your material.
The pitch deck package covers the narrative structure, the design of every slide including data slides, and a reusable deck system your team can update after the round. It takes 3–5 working days.
Do you need more than one version of the deck?
| Version | When it is used | How it differs |
|---|---|---|
| Send-ahead deck | Emailed before or instead of a meeting | Reads on its own; slightly more text |
| Presentation deck | Shown while you speak | Fewer words, larger visuals |
| One-pager | First contact or a warm introduction | The whole story on a single page |
| Appendix | Due diligence questions | Detailed financials, cohorts, contracts |
DocSend’s research also notes that priorities shift by stage: a why-now slide matters at pre-seed but less at Series A, where traction and unit economics lead. Build the deck for the round you are raising, not the one after it.
What mistakes make investors stop reading?
- A market size quoted from a report with no bottom-up calculation of your share.
- Numbers that disagree between slides, such as revenue in the traction chart and in the financials.
- A competition slide that claims no competitors or places everyone in the lower left corner.
- Slides full of text that only make sense when the founder explains them.
- No clear amount, use of funds or milestone the money will reach.
When will a better deck not help?
A deck presents a business; it cannot replace one. If the numbers do not support the ask, the investor does not fund your stage or sector, or there is no evidence that customers want the product, polish will not change the answer. In that case spend the time on traction, or on finding investors who back companies like yours, and update the deck when you have news.
How VITON13 does it
We start from your material: metrics, financial model, product and team. We shape it into a narrative that follows the order investors expect, edit the headlines so each slide makes one point, design the data slides so the numbers are easy to check, and hand over a template your team can keep updating. AI-assisted: AI drafts structure and layouts, a designer checks every slide. Human-led: a designer leads, AI assists. The written scope and price arrive within one working day.
Investor pitch deck design
- Price
- $53 AI-assisted or $73 human-led
- Timeline
- 3–5 working days
Market research
- Price
- $73 AI-assisted or $93 human-led
- Timeline
- 5–8 working days
Sales presentation design
- Price
- $53 AI-assisted or $73 human-led
- Timeline
- 2–4 working days
AI-assisted: AI drafts inside defined steps, a person directs and checks every result. Human-led: a specialist does the work and AI assists.
What is included
- A narrative structure from company purpose to the ask
- Design of every slide, including data slides for market, traction and financials
- A reusable deck system with master slides your team can update
- Delivery: 3–5 working days after we receive your material
Not included
- Building or checking your financial model; the figures stay yours
- Investor introductions and fundraising advice
- Market and competitor research, available as separate packages
- Any promise of investment
Revisions: 1 revision round
Get an estimate in 1 working dayWritten estimate within 1 working day
Example
PILOTPilot in progress
No published pitch deck case yet
VITON13 has not yet published a pitch deck case with a founder’s permission, so this guide shows no invented funding results. The first founders join through the pilot programme, and their decks will be shown only with their consent and without confidential figures.
What this does not prove
- Without a case, nothing here proves how our decks perform with investors; the data comes from DocSend and Sequoia.
Questions and answers
How many slides should an investor pitch deck have?
DocSend’s data puts the typical deck at around 20 pages with about 50 words per slide. Ten to fifteen core slides plus an appendix works for most early rounds: enough to cover the questions investors ask, short enough to read in three minutes.
Do you write the content or only design the slides?
Both, within limits. We build the structure, sharpen the headlines and edit the text from your material, and we design every slide. The figures, the financial model and the claims about your business come from you, because investors will hold you to them.
What do you need from me to start?
Your current deck or notes, key metrics with dates, the financial model or its summary, the amount you are raising and its use, team bios, product screenshots and any brand files. The more complete the material, the faster the first draft.
Should I send the deck as a PDF or a link?
A tracked link shows who opened the deck and which slides they read, and lets you update it after sending. A PDF opens everywhere and suits data rooms. Many founders send a link first and keep a PDF for requests.
How long does pitch deck design take?
With VITON13 it takes 3–5 working days after we receive your material. If the story still needs work, we agree the structure with you first, so the design time goes into slides you will actually use.
Will a well-designed deck get me funded?
No deck can promise that. A clear deck makes sure investors understand your business in the few minutes they give it; the decision still rests on the team, the market, the traction and the fit with their fund.