Article · 12 min read

How to design a better pitch deck

Kevin Hale · Y Combinator Free Beginner

Kevin Hale's rule for a non-designer is three words: legible, simple, obvious. He argues an investor should grasp a slide's point in seconds, so the fix is not prettier gradients but fewer words, bigger type, and one takeaway per slide. It reframes design as clarity, which is exactly the bar a founder with no design skill can actually hit.

  • Make every slide legible, simple, and obvious: if the point does not land in a few seconds, cut it down
  • One idea per slide, with the takeaway stated as the headline, not buried in the chart axes
  • Big fonts and short lines are a design system on their own; whitespace and readability beat decoration
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The question it answers

  1. How do I design a good-looking deck when I have no design skills and no budget for a designer?

Read with it

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