Pitch decks,
engineered.
Founder-led writing on pitch deck design, raise mechanics, and AI deck generators \u2014 anchored to a measured dataset of 109 funded decks.
Essays
20
Topics
5
Latest
Apr 29
In this issue \u00b7 latest 5
The closing slide. I've analyzed 109. Yours is probably wasting it.
Founder Narrative \u00b7 7 min
What I tell every founder before they touch slide 1.
Founder Narrative \u00b7 8 min
Your problem slide is a confession, not a setup. Rewrite it.
Founder Narrative \u00b7 7 min
The 7 narrative arcs that get pitch decks funded (and the one that kills them).
Founder Narrative \u00b7 9 min
Editorial vs cinematic: two pitch deck design systems, when to use each.
Design Principles \u00b7 8 min
Editorial cadence
Weekly \u00b7 Tuesdays
Topic 01
Investor-Deck MechanicsFrom cold open to term sheet.
- 01
What 109 funded pitch decks actually look like (the data).
I measured every slide of every public funded deck I could find. Here are the patterns nobody told you about.
Mar 8
14 min
- 02
The 11-slide order that closed $4.2B. I analyzed every funded deck I could find.
Slide order is not a creative choice. The funded distribution is brutally narrow.
Mar 11
10 min
- 03
Your traction slide is wrong. Here's the 3-chart framework VCs actually read.
The 8-KPI traction slide is a confidence problem in disguise. Here's what to ship instead.
Mar 15
9 min
- 04
Why your 'team' slide should be slide 9, not slide 3 (data from 109 decks).
Founders put team early because they think VCs invest in people. They do. After they invest in markets.
Mar 18
7 min
Topic 02
Public Deck TeardownsReading the room.
- 01
I rebuilt the Airbnb seed deck slide-by-slide. Here's what 17 years reveal.
The 2008 deck still gets passed around as gospel. I measured every slide and rebuilt it for 2026.
Feb 22
9 min
- 02
The Uber pitch deck wouldn't raise today. I rebuilt it with 2026 standards.
The 2008 UberCab deck is famous for the right reasons — and a few wrong ones. Here's the teardown.
Feb 25
10 min
- 03
Front's Series A deck is a masterclass in restraint. I measured every slide.
Front raised $10M with a deck that has, by my count, three colors and four typefaces of self-discipline.
Mar 1
8 min
- 04
Mixpanel vs Notion: two pitch decks, two opposite philosophies, both worked.
One deck is a data audit. The other is a manifesto. Both raised. Here's what the contrast teaches.
Mar 4
9 min
Topic 03
AI-Tool Reality ChecksWhere the tools fall short.
- 01
I gave Gamma, Tome, Beautiful.ai, Pitch, and Four Creative Studios the same prompt. Here's all 5 decks.
Same brief. Five tools. The output gap is bigger than the marketing suggests.
Mar 22
12 min
- 02
Why AI-generated decks all look the same (and how to fix it).
Every AI deck tool ships the same gradient-purple house style. Here's why, and what to do about it.
Mar 25
8 min
- 03
The 6 things every AI deck tool gets wrong about charts.
Charts are the place AI deck tools fall apart most reliably. Here's the diagnosis.
Mar 29
7 min
- 04
I asked 5 AI tools to make a Series B deck. A VC scored them blind.
Removing my own bias from the benchmark — here's what an active VC said when she didn't know which tool made which deck.
Apr 1
10 min
Topic 04
Design PrinciplesComposition, restraint, craft.
- 01
The 45% rule: how much accent color a pitch deck can survive.
Color is structural, not decorative. The funded distribution is brutally specific.
Apr 5
7 min
- 02
Glass cards, mesh orbs, opaque blocks: the 3 moves behind every premium deck.
Three composition moves separate 'designed by hand' from 'made in a hurry.' Here's how each one works.
Apr 8
7 min
- 03
Stop using stock photos on every slide. Here's when photos earn their place.
Photo-on-every-slide is the single fastest way to make a deck read as 'AI-generated scrapbook.' Here's the discipline.
Apr 12
7 min
- 04
Editorial vs cinematic: two pitch deck design systems, when to use each.
There are two fundable design languages in 2026 — and most decks pick the wrong one for their company.
Apr 15
8 min
Topic 05
Founder NarrativeVoice, not template.
- 01
The 7 narrative arcs that get pitch decks funded (and the one that kills them).
Strip every funded deck to its skeleton and you find one of seven story shapes. Here they are.
Apr 19
9 min
- 02
Your problem slide is a confession, not a setup. Rewrite it.
The problem slide is where most decks die. Here's the rewrite that lands.
Apr 22
7 min
- 03
What I tell every founder before they touch slide 1.
The deck is downstream of three sentences. Get those right and the deck writes itself. Get them wrong and design can't save you.
Apr 26
8 min
- 04
The closing slide. I've analyzed 109. Yours is probably wasting it.
The closing slide gets the longest dwell time of any slide in the deck. Don't put 'Thank You' on it.
Apr 29
7 min