The Series A deck.

About 3 minutes to read. The highlight walks the deck at the pace a first read moves; click a slide for its notes.

Slide by slide

What goes on each slide

1. 0101Cover

   Cover

   [Company]: [what you do] for [whom]

   e.g. "Acme: fills the appointments clinics lose to no-shows"

   What goes on it

   • The name and one line a stranger could repeat
   • The round and the date

   Leave it off

   A tagline that sounds like a brand and explains nothing.

   100% of longer funded decks (14 slides or more) have oneusually about slide 1 of 15about 11 words on itSee it in Uber (slide 1), Airbnb (slide 1), Gusto (slide 1)

2. 0202Summary

   Summary

   [Company] in one slide

   e.g. "Acme: $168k ARR, 128% net retention, raising $8M"

   What goes on it

   • What you do, the traction, and the raise, on one slide
   • A partner should be able to forward this slide alone

   Leave it off

   Repeating the cover.

3. 0303Problem

   Problem

   [Who] lose [what] every [period]

   e.g. "Clinics lose 18% of appointments to no-shows"

   What goes on it

   • Who has the problem, in one line
   • What it costs them, in money or time, with a number
   • How they cope today

   Leave it off

   A problem only you have noticed, or one sized in adjectives.

   41% of longer funded decks (14 slides or more) have oneusually about slide 5 of 15about 59 words on itSee it in Airbnb (slide 2), Docsend (slide 7), Momentum (slide 3)

4. 0404Solution

   Solution

   [Product] [does what] so [result]

   e.g. "Acme predicts no-shows and refills the slot two days ahead"

   What goes on it

   • What you do about the problem, in one sentence
   • The result for the customer, as a number if you have one

   Leave it off

   A feature list. Features belong on the product slide.

   34% of longer funded decks (14 slides or more) have oneusually about slide 7 of 15about 53 words on itSee it in Airbnb (slide 3), ElevenLabs (slide 4), Shopify (slide 25)

5. 0505Product

   Product

   [How it works] in [n] steps

   e.g. "Connect, predict, refill: live in an afternoon"

   What goes on it

   • One screenshot or the flow in three steps
   • What the customer does and what the product does

   Leave it off

   Every screen you have built.

   61% of longer funded decks (14 slides or more) have oneusually about slide 7 of 15about 50 words on itSee it in Uber (slide 25), Airbnb (slide 6), Vercel (slide 16)

6. 0606Traction

   Traction

   [Metric] up [x] in [period]

   e.g. "ARR up 8x in a year, to $168k"

   What goes on it

   • One chart of the metric that matters, over time
   • Retention or repeat use beside it

   Leave it off

   Cumulative charts, vanity numbers, and no dates on the axis.

   29% of longer funded decks (14 slides or more) have oneusually about slide 8 of 15about 42 words on itSee it in Shopify (slide 20), Apollo (slide 15), Beam (slide 12)

7. 0707Business model

   Business model

   [Price] per [unit], paid back in [time]

   e.g. "$350 a clinic a month, paid back in under two months"

   What goes on it

   • Who pays, how much and how often
   • Margin, and payback on acquiring a customer if you know it

   Leave it off

   Five revenue streams. Show the one that matters.

   21% of longer funded decks (14 slides or more) have oneusually about slide 9 of 15about 52 words on itSee it in Airbnb (slide 7), Shopify (slide 23), Wise (slide 2)

8. 0808Market

   Market

   [n] [customers] pay [amount]: a $[size] market

   e.g. "230,000 clinics at $4,200 a year: a $1B market in the US"

   What goes on it

   • The market bottom up: customers you can reach times what each pays
   • Where you start and where it leads

   Leave it off

   A top-down TAM from an analyst report with no route to it.

   68% of longer funded decks (14 slides or more) have oneusually about slide 7 of 15about 51 words on itSee it in Uber (slide 4), Airbnb (slide 4), ElevenLabs (slide 8)

9. 0909Go to market

   Go to market

   We reach [customers] through [channel] at [cost]

   e.g. "Sold through two scheduling partners; each group brings 8 to 30 clinics"

   What goes on it

   • The channel that works today, with its numbers
   • The next one, and how you will test it

   Leave it off

   Every channel at once: SEO, events, partnerships, paid.

   28% of longer funded decks (14 slides or more) have oneusually about slide 9 of 15about 51 words on itSee it in Docsend (slide 2), Vercel (slide 15), Shopify (slide 24)

10. 1010Competition

    Competition

    Why [customers] choose us over [alternative]

    e.g. "Reminders tell patients; Acme refills the slot"

    What goes on it

    • What customers use today, including doing nothing
    • The one or two things you do that they cannot

    Leave it off

    A 2×2 where you are alone in the top right, or "no competitors".

    29% of longer funded decks (14 slides or more) have oneusually about slide 9 of 15about 56 words on itSee it in Uber (slide 6), Airbnb (slide 9), Gusto (slide 17)

11. 1111Roadmap

    Roadmap

    [Milestone] by [date], [next] by [date]

    e.g. "150 clinics in 2026; dental and physiotherapy in 2027"

    What goes on it

    • Three milestones with dates
    • What each one proves

    Leave it off

    A product backlog.

    9% of longer funded decks (14 slides or more) have oneusually about slide 10 of 15about 48 words on itSee it in Apollo (slide 14), OpenDoor (slide 13), Pillar (slide 5)

12. 1212Team

    Team

    [Why this team] wins this market

    e.g. "Ran a 60-clinic group; built scheduling at scale"

    What goes on it

    • The founders, and the one thing each has done that matters here
    • Key hires and advisers only if they change the odds

    Leave it off

    Logos of every employer and degree.

    48% of longer funded decks (14 slides or more) have oneusually about slide 8 of 15about 54 words on itSee it in Airbnb (slide 11), Apollo (slide 4), Momentum (slide 15)

13. 1313Financials

    Financials

    [Revenue] by [year] on [burn]

    e.g. "$1.2M ARR in 20 months on $2.5M"

    What goes on it

    • Revenue and burn for three years, by year
    • The two or three assumptions everything rests on

    Leave it off

    A full P&L in 10-point type. Send the model separately.

    20% of longer funded decks (14 slides or more) have oneusually about slide 8 of 15about 51 words on itSee it in Uber (slide 7), Airbnb (slide 14), Shopify (slide 19)

14. 1414The ask

    The ask

    Raising [amount] to reach [milestone] in [months]

    e.g. "Raising $8M to reach 150 clinics and $1.2M ARR in 20 months"

    What goes on it

    • The amount, and the runway it buys
    • The milestones it reaches, which set up the next round
    • Use of funds in three lines at most

    Leave it off

    An amount with no milestone, or "$1M to $3M".

    23% of longer funded decks (14 slides or more) have oneusually about slide 9 of 15about 54 words on itSee it in Docsend (slide 3), Shopify (slide 26), Alto (slide 8)

15. 1515Contact

    Contact

    [Name], [email], [website]

    e.g. "Maya Chen · maya@acme.example · acme.example"

    What goes on it

    • A name, an email and the website
    • Nothing else: this is the slide left on screen

    Leave it off

    "Questions?" with no way to reach you.

    43% of longer funded decks (14 slides or more) have oneusually about slide 14 of 15about 41 words on itSee it in Gusto (slide 32), Figma (slide 15), Beam (slide 14)

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