Article · 12 min read

How to Build Your Seed Round Pitch Deck

Michael Seibel · Y Combinator Free Beginner

This is the canonical slide-by-slide template from the person who has read more pre-traction decks than almost anyone. Seibel's rule directly answers your question: put your single strongest thing right after the 'what you do' slide, so if you have no revenue but a great team or a sharp insight, that leads. He also insists you present any traction with real timeframes instead of a vague chart, which is exactly the honest signal a pre-traction founder should lean on.

  • A seed deck is 10 to 12 boring, legible slides: title, problem, solution, market, traction, team, ask. Lead with whatever is strongest.
  • With no revenue, your team slide and your non-obvious insight ('what do you know that everyone else doesn't') carry the deck, so move them early.
  • Show traction with dated timeframes and specific numbers, not a smoothed hockey stick, because investors are grading your thinking at this stage, not your metrics.
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The question it answers

  1. How do I pitch when I have almost no traction yet? What replaces revenue on the deck?

Read with it

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