Introduction

Imagine sitting across from an investor. You’ve rehearsed your pitch. Your deck is polished and filled with stunning visuals, market projections, and a compelling narrative. But three slides in, the investor stops you and asks, “Wait—what does your company actually do?”

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

Jesse Heikkilä is a seasoned venture capital investor and the founder and general partner at Failup Ventures. As someone who’s reviewed thousands of pitch decks, he said the biggest mistake founders make is failing to communicate their companies’ purposes upfront.

“I recently reviewed a deck where it took 17 slides before I understood what the company did,” he said. “That’s far too long. If an investor can’t immediately grasp the core problem and solution, they won’t care about your market opportunity, financials, or growth potential.”

A great pitch deck isn’t about impressing investors with fancy slides or lofty vision statements. It’s about clarity and traction, as well as demonstrating why your team is uniquely positioned to execute the idea.

Common mistakes found in pitch decks (and how to fix them)

Most pitch decks fail not because the idea is bad but because the story is unclear or key information is missing. Here are the biggest mistakes founders make and how to fix them.

1. Overcomplicating market opportunity slides

According to nearly every expert I spoke with, this is one of the most classic mistakes eager founders make: presenting a convoluted TAM/SAM/SOM (Total Addressable Market, Serviceable Available Market, and Serviceable Obtainable Market) diagram without clear relevance to their businesses.

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It’s natural to want to look like you can appeal to the largest possible market. But that’s not really what investors are looking for, and they can discern which numbers really matter.

“While total addressable market (TAM) is important, investors are more interested in the specific slice of the market your business can realistically capture in the short term,” Heikkilä said. “Early-stage companies should calculate their market opportunity as ‘Number of customers who could use the product × What you charge.’ It’s simple and keeps the focus on immediate potential.”

Replace abstract market sizing visuals with direct calculations. For example:

• Customers: 20,000 small businesses in your niche
• Pricing: $1,000 per year
• Market opportunity: $20 million

This approach is more credible because it focuses on realistic adoption, not arbitrary estimates. Instead of inflating numbers, investors want to understand:

1. How many customers realistically fit your product today?
2. How much revenue can you generate in the near term?
3. How can your market grow over time?

A better way to present this is to use TAM, SAM, and SOM in a way that actually tells a story. Airbnb’s market slide is one of the best-known examples of TAM/SAM/SOM done right.

TAM (Total addressable market): The entire travel market — 2B trips booked worldwide

SAM (Serviceable available market): The portion that fits Airbnb’s model — 560M budget travelers looking for affordable stays

SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market): The share they could realistically capture in the short term — 84M trips

Find your real market opportunity

To ensure your market opportunity slide is credible, try this simple breakdown.

1. TAM: Look at existing reports, industry research, and market data (e.g., Statista, IBISWorld, and industry white papers). Example: “The global fitness tech industry is worth $40B.”
2. SAM: Narrow it to the segment of the market actively looking for your type of product. Example: “Wearable fitness tracking devices for home workouts are a $10B market.”
3. SOM: Define the share you can realistically capture based on competitors, pricing, and adoption. Example: “With 200K users at $100/year, we’re targeting a $20M slice in year one.”

If your TAM is massive but your SOM is tiny, investors will question your execution strategy. Be realistic. Your goal isn’t to impress investors with big numbers. It’s to show them exactly how you’ll get to a meaningful piece of the market.

2. Failing to explain the product clearly

It might sound obvious, but many pitch decks bury the lead. 

Investors often flip through several slides before understanding what the product actually does. This lack of clarity makes it difficult to evaluate the problem you’re solving, your market potential, or your solution’s feasibility.

Your pitch deck should answer three fundamental questions within the first three slides:

1. What problem are you solving?
2. What is your solution?
3. Why now?

You could have an incredible product and incredible results, but investors won’t even get that far if you lack clarity on the most important things. 

As Heikkilä explained, “If the reader doesn’t get the fundamentals upfront, they’re unlikely to care about the vision.”

On Slide 1, use a simple one-liner that explains your product in plain language. For example, Airbnb’s early pitch deck included the following: “Book rooms with locals rather than hotels.”

It’s short, specific, and easy to understand. Your deck should do the same. If a non-technical person can’t explain what your company does after reading Slide 1, rewrite it.

3. Focusing on storytelling instead of substance

There’s a lot of hype around “storytelling” in pitch decks, and there is a place for storytelling as a startup. However, narrative should never overshadow clarity and data.

Heikkilä emphasized, “Storytelling is less important than having a clear narrative and description of what the company is solving. Use meetings to elaborate on the vision—the deck should focus on providing clarity.”

Structure your deck to mirror how an investor thinks. Instead of telling a long-winded origin story, structure your deck like a logically flowing investment memo. Include the following elements:

• Problem: What urgent pain point exists?
• Solution: How does your product solve it?
• Market opportunity: Why is this a big business?
• Business model: How do you make money?
• Traction: What proof do you have that this works?
• Team: Why are you the right person (or people) to do this?
• Financials: How much do you need and why?

This format respects investors’ time and keeps the focus on key insights.

What investors are really looking for in a pitch deck

Every founder believes their idea is the next big thing. But investors see hundreds to thousands of pitch decks every year, and only a handful make it past the first glance.

Pitch decks don’t have to be a mystical code you have to crack; instead, the formula can be quite simple. First, you need to learn what investors are looking for, and then you’ll need to figure out how best to share that information.

Let’s examine what investors are looking for and how you can make your pitch deck stand out.

1. Team-problem fit

At the early stage, the team is the most important factor. Investors want to know why you, out of all possible founders, are uniquely suited to solving this problem.

“We’re more likely to invest in a health tech startup founded by a former doctor or medical professional,” Heikkilä said. “Their insider knowledge reduces risks and improves their odds of success.”

How to showcase team-problem fit in a pitch deck

• Highlight previous experience related to the problem
• Show proof of execution (such as past startup success or industry leadership)
• Keep bios short and hyper-relevant to why you’ll win

2. Traction over vision

Visionary ideas may sound inspiring, but hard numbers carry more weight. 

As Heikkilä explained, “Even if the pitch deck is subpar, strong traction can still lead to funding. Show that your idea works, even on a small scale.”

How to prove traction in a pitch deck

Use real, quantifiable traction metrics, such as:

• Monthly recurring revenue (MRR): “$50K MRR, growing 15% MoM”

• Year-over-year growth

• Active users or retention rates: “10K active users, 30% retention rate”
• Customer testimonials or case studies: “$1M in pre-orders”

Of course, this data will vary depending on your specific company, idea, and where you’re at in the process. 

No traction yet? Show customer validation. Have you run paid ads or collected waitlist signups? Any indication of demand makes your case stronger.

3. Conciseness and simplicity

Investors flip through hundreds of decks per month. They don’t have the time to read long paragraphs.

Heikkilä recalled a pitch deck from a recent HubSpot for Startups event that stood out. “Coplay.dev’s pitch deck stood out because most slides had fewer than 10 words,” he said. “It was visually clean and instantly understandable.”

How to create a concise pitch deck

If an investor can’t grasp a slide in 10 seconds, simplify it.

• Each slide should have ONE main idea.
• Use bullet points, not walls of text.
• Favor visuals and data over long explanations.

Tips for refining your pitch deck

Your first draft of a pitch deck will always have gaps. The best decks go through multiple rounds of refinement before they’re ready for investors.

Here’s how to take your deck from “decent” to fundable.

1. Test for clarity with the “parent test”

Heikkilä’s number one piece of advice? If your parents can’t understand your business after reading Slide 1, rewrite it. To perform the parent test:

• Show your deck to someone outside your industry (a friend, relative, or mentor).
• Ask them to explain your business back to you in one sentence.
• If they get it wrong, your deck needs work.

2. Use data visualizations instead of text

Numbers are more persuasive than words. But big chunks of data can be hard to digest. Use charts, infographics, or visual elements to make your key metrics pop.

Examples:

• A growth graph showing user traction (instead of writing “10% MoM growth”)
• A pie chart of customer segmentation (instead of listing demographics)
• A roadmap timeline to showcase milestones (instead of explaining your roadmap in text)

Slack’s pitch deck used a simple user adoption chart to illustrate traction instead of a long explanation. 

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3. Focus on first impressions — make your first three slides count

Most investors spend less than four minutes reviewing a pitch deck. Ensure your first three slides — problem, solution, and market — are compelling enough to hold their attention.

If you’re looking for an area to improve first, make sure that these first three slides are bulletproof. 

1. Problem statement: Frame the pain point in a way that’s immediately relatable.
2. Solution: Clearly show how your product fixes this problem.
3. Market opportunity: Prove there’s real demand with a credible TAM/SAM/SOM slide.

You can also use customer testimonials, industry quotes, or compelling stats to draw attention.

4. Get brutal feedback before pitching investors

One of the best ways to improve a pitch deck is to put it in front of people who will challenge you.

Here’s who you can ask to test your deck before pitching investors:

• Other founders who have raised funding
• Angel investors (even if they aren’t investing, they can give feedback)
• Industry mentors who know your space
• Venture capital associates (they’re often more accessible than partners)

Create a “dummy” investor meeting where someone critiques your deck in real time. This feedback will help you catch weak spots before real investors see the pitch deck.

The best pitch decks are concise and crystal clear

The difference between a funded startup and one that never gets an investor meeting isn’t the idea. It’s the execution.

A winning pitch deck:

• Communicates the company’s purpose in seconds,
• Focuses on market opportunity realistically,
• Prioritizes traction and execution over storytelling, and
• Keeps slides simple, visual, and compelling.

“If your mom doesn’t understand your deck,” Heikkilä said, “rewrite it.”

So, as a final word of advice: before you send that next pitch, go back, refine, and simplify.

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