Free · 7 min read
How to design a pitch deck: structure and slide design
How to design a pitch deck: Sequoia's structure, 5–7 key ideas, legible and obvious slides following Y Combinator's advice, and practice for a portfolio.
- Build a pitch deck structure from Sequoia's guide before you design
- Make slides people get at first glance, following Y Combinator's advice
- Turn a pitch deck into an honest study case for your portfolio
- Free
- 1,504 members
- Join in 1 click
Five steps to designing a pitch deck
- 1
Step 1
Build the structure before the design
- 2
Step 2
Define 5–7 ideas and write the headlines
- 3
Step 3
Make the slides legible
- 4
Step 4
One idea per slide and no riddles
- 5
Step 5
The stranger test and a portfolio project
- 1,504
- community members
- 8,915
- messages with questions since July 2024
- 9
- design games since September 2024
- 759
- people wrote in the chat
This guide is for you if you are
Asked to design a pitch deck
A founder sent you text and spreadsheets, and you need to turn them into convincing slides.
Building your own startup or project
You're preparing for an accelerator, a grant competition or an investor meeting and want slides that don't get in the way.
Looking for a portfolio exercise
You want a project that shows not just nice slides but the ability to structure complex information.
In short
- A pitch deck is a company's story for an investor: problem, solution, market, model, team, vision.
- First define the 5–7 ideas people should remember, and only then draw the slides.
- Kevin Hale of Y Combinator gives three rules: slides should be legible, simple and obvious.
- Caption charts with the conclusion, not the topic: people should get a slide in a second.
- For practice, take an imaginary startup and put [data] placeholders where numbers are unknown, not made-up figures.
Five steps to designing a pitch deck
- 1
Step 1
Build the structure before the design
A pitch deck isn't a set of pretty slides but an argument: why this company deserves attention. A handy starting point is the structure the venture firm Sequoia Capital publishes in its guide for founders. Its sections are:
- company purpose: one declarative sentence about what you do;
- problem: the customer's pain, how it's addressed today and what current solutions lack;
- solution and why now: what has changed, why this hasn't been built before;
- market potential and competition / alternatives: who the customer is and how you'll win;
- business model, team, financials (if any) and vision: what you'll have built in five years.
💡 Not every section is one slide. But if a section can't be described in one sentence, design won't help: first ask the founder (or yourself) to sharpen the idea.
- 2
Step 2
Define 5–7 ideas and write the headlines
Kevin Hale, who prepared Y Combinator startups for Demo Day, writes that there may be a hundred reasons a company is great, but after a short pitch people remember only a few. So with each team they worked out the 5–7 most important ideas. For Demo Day, with 2 minutes 30 seconds on stage, he suggests about as many slides. A longer meeting needs more slides, but the principle is the same.
- write down 5–7 statements people should remember and put them in story order;
- each statement becomes a slide headline: not "Market" but a conclusion about the market your data supports;
- read only the headlines in a row: if the story is clear without the rest, the structure works;
- remove anything that supports none of the ideas, or move it to an appendix.
💡 Guy Kawasaki suggests the 10/20/30 rule: 10 slides, no more than 20 minutes and no font smaller than 30 points. It's a guideline, not a law, but it's good discipline.
Show your pitch deck
A fresh pair of eyes quickly shows which slide doesn't land the first time. Post your deck in the community and ask people to name each slide's main point in a second.
Share your pitch deckFree. 1,504 designers are already in the community.
- 3
Step 3
Make the slides legible
Hale puts it simply: if people can't read a slide, they can't understand it. A slide should be readable even for someone with poor eyesight in the back row. Following his advice, that takes:
- large type and bold text for the main message;
- a simple font without thin strokes or complex decorative shapes; for a Ukrainian deck, one with good Cyrillic;
- good contrast with the background: under WCAG at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text;
- key text at the top of the slide: it's easier to read from the back of the room;
- don't let a product screenshot dictate the text size: pull the key idea out as a separate large caption.
💡 Check the slides on a phone: if the deck is sent as a file, it may well be opened there. What can't be read on a small screen won't be read there.
- 4
Step 4
One idea per slide and no riddles
A simple slide, in Hale's terms, expresses one idea. An obvious one is understood at a glance: investors are easily distracted, and when they look up from their email, the slide should make its point at once. So write the idea out explicitly instead of hiding it in a chart.
- caption a chart with its conclusion: instead of a bare growth curve, a short sentence saying what it shows;
- don't draw complex diagrams where one sentence will do: Hale calls diagrams "little mazes for ideas";
- remove the distractions on Hale's list: too much text, excessive explanations and caveats, too much branding per slide, photos without captions, animations, transitions and memes;
- keep a grid: the same headline position, margins and accent color on every slide, so attention goes to the content.
💡 Hale warns: don't make a "visual essay". Slides should support what the founder says, not replace the talk. Investors invest in teams, not slides.
Pitch deck not coming together as a story? Show it to the community → - 5
Step 5
The stranger test and a portfolio project
Hale's simplest check: show a slide to a stranger and ask what it means. If they don't immediately say your idea, the slide needs reworking. For learning, make a pitch deck as a project of its own:
- take an imaginary startup or a real company's public pitch deck and redesign it, honestly labeled as a study concept;
- don't invent numbers that could pass for real ones: where data is needed, put a [data] placeholder and show how it should be presented;
- make a before and after for a few slides and briefly explain your decisions: why one conclusion here, why this type size;
- show the deck in the community and ask a few people to name the main point of each slide in a second.
💡 An honestly labeled study pitch deck with explained decisions shows your thinking better than ten beautiful but empty slides. How to present such a case: Designer portfolio.
You're not alone with these questions
We counted what people ask about most in our community. Learning, portfolios and Figma are the top three. A pitch deck combines it all: structure, visuals and a portfolio project.
Messages by topic in Spaceberry Community, July 2024 — November 2026. Keyword search.
Practice with a deadline and live feedback
The best teacher is a task with a deadline that other people see. That's why the community regularly runs design games: the same brief for everyone, a deadline and a vote.
Design game · January 2026
NAOMA website redesign
The academy's home page through the eyes of an applicant, a student and a teacher. Three finalists; the community chose the winner.
AI challenge · May 2025
A landing page made by AI
Logo, copy and visuals made only with AI tools. Four entries, an anonymous vote, and participants shared their prompts.
Workshop · April 2026
Figmosha: AI in Figma
The tool's author showed how to generate interfaces in Figma and analyze a design system.
Free. 1,504 designers are already in the community.
How to join: 1 minute
- 1
Tap the button
Telegram opens with the Spaceberry community.
- 2
Join
It's free: all you need is a Telegram account.
- 3
Introduce yourself
Say where you're starting from and ask your first question.
Questions and answers
Didn't find your answer? Ask it in the community.
How many slides should a pitch deck have?
There's no single standard. Guy Kawasaki recommends 10 slides and no more than 20 minutes. For two and a half minutes at Demo Day, Kevin Hale suggests about 5–7 slides, one per key idea. Go by the time you have and the number of ideas people should remember.
What should I make a pitch deck in?
Any slide tool you're confident with will do: Google Slides, PowerPoint, Keynote, Figma. The tool matters less than structure and legibility. One thing to weigh: if the founder will edit the deck themselves, choose a format they're comfortable with. And send the final deck as a PDF, so fonts and layout don't shift when it's opened on another computer or a phone.
How is a pitch deck different from a regular presentation?
The general slide design rules are the same (see [How to make a good presentation](/en/guides/presentation-design)), but a pitch deck has a specific listener and a specific goal: convincing an investor to continue the conversation. So the structure is closer to an argument: problem, solution, market, model, team, vision.
Can I put a redesign of someone else's pitch deck in my portfolio?
As a study project, yes, if you clearly label it as a concept, not a commission from the company, and don't present it as real collaboration. Don't publish other people's confidential materials: for a redesign, use only decks the companies themselves made public.
Is the Spaceberry community paid?
No, Spaceberry Community is completely free. It's supported by Spaceberry Foundation, a non-profit public organization. All you need to join is a Telegram account: tap the button on this page, introduce yourself and ask your first question. The community has 1,504 designers who share their work, give feedback and take part in design games with the same brief for everyone. Conversations are in Ukrainian.
Get feedback on your pitch deck
Join 1,504 designers who learn, share their work and play design games. Show your slides and find out what lands and what doesn't. The community talks in Ukrainian.
- Free
- 1,504 members
- Join in 1 click