Your First Pitch Deck Shouldn't Be a Guessing Game
A 12-slide PowerPoint template and a 17-page guide that tells you exactly what to put on each slide, what to avoid, and why it matters. Use it to pitch investors, or just to stress-test your business idea before you build anything.
12 Slides. Every One Explained.
The template gives you the structure. The guide tells you what belongs on each slide, the mistakes to avoid, and how to think about each one, whether you're pitching investors or validating an idea.
Title Slide
Your first impression. Company name, tagline, and nothing else.
The Problem
The foundation of everything. If the problem isn't real, nothing else matters.
The Solution
Your answer to the problem. Benefits, not features, in your customer's language.
Market Opportunity
Bottom-up TAM, SAM, and SOM with real numbers and credible sources.
How It Works
The user journey in 3-4 steps. Start from their perspective, not yours.
Business Model
How you make money. Real costs, defensible pricing, and unit economics.
Traction & Validation
Proof it's working, or proof you're learning. Pre-launch and post-launch signals.
Competitive Landscape
Know your battlefield. Direct competitors, indirect alternatives, and the status quo.
Go-To-Market Strategy
How you'll actually reach customers. Start scrappy, then scale what works.
The Team
Why you? Founder-market fit, complementary skills, and owning your gaps honestly.
Financial Projections
Month-by-month models with three scenarios. Prove you understand the machine.
The Ask
What you need, where it goes, and which milestones it unlocks.
Not Another Generic Template
Built from Experience, Not Theory
Every section includes real stories from building, scaling, and exiting a business. I've been through this before, and I wrote down what I wish someone had told me.
Validation Checkpoints
Each slide has a checkpoint that tells you whether you've done the work or are building on assumptions. Most templates skip this entirely.
Investor Perspective on Every Slide
Know exactly what investors are looking for on each slide before you walk into the room.
Common Mistakes Called Out
Specific mistakes first-time founders make on every slide. From jargon-filled taglines, or top-down-only market sizing, to hockey-stick projections with no explanation.
Just Thought Up a Business Idea? Start Here.
You don't need to be fundraising to get value out of this. If you have a business idea and you haven't built anything yet, the Problem, Solution, and Market Opportunity slides are the best place to start. Work through those three before you write a single line of code or spend a dollar.
But here's the part most people skip: go talk to real people. Not just your friends or family. Find the people who would actually use what you're building and be sure to ask them: "How much would you pay if this was available right now?" That question is uncomfortable. It's supposed to be. People are polite, and polite doesn't tell you anything. "That sounds cool" is not validation. "I'd pay $50 a month for that tomorrow" is.
The more of these conversations you have, the better you'll get at telling the difference between someone being socially nice and someone who actually has the problem you're trying to solve. That skill is worth more than the deck itself.
Working with Stewart was a turning point for my project. I came in focused on technical execution, things like database-to-frontend reliability and visualizations, and Stew helped me step back to look at what actually needed to be true for this to become a real business. He flagged major risks early, pointed out inconsistencies in my strategy and economics, and gave me a structured way to validate the idea before writing more code. His push to validate my core business thesis first and then rebuild the service could have felt intense at the time, but it was certainly the right call, and I wouldn't have done it without his feedback. If you’re turning an idea into a real product and need grounded advice and practical next steps, I couldn't recommend Stew enough.
Get the Template
Enter your name and email. The template and guide arrive in your inbox within minutes.
Want to Talk Through Your Idea?
A template gets you started. If you want someone to poke holes in your idea, challenge your assumptions, or just give you honest feedback on your deck, let's have a conversation.