Pitch Deck
Overview
Generate and refine investor-ready pitch decks with industry-specific templates, AI-powered content generation, investor psychology insights, and automated critique for identifying red flags and "elephant in the room" questions.
When to Use
- •Generating pitch deck slides
- •Building industry-specific deck templates
- •Implementing deck review/critique features
- •Creating smart interview wizards for deck content
- •Designing deck export functionality
Deck Generation Workflow
code
STEP 1: TEMPLATE SELECTION ├── Industry-specific template ├── Stage-appropriate emphasis └── Slide count recommendation STEP 2: SMART INTERVIEW ├── 8-10 industry questions ├── Pre-filled from profile/canvas └── AI suggestions for each answer STEP 3: CONTENT GENERATION ├── All slides with bullets ├── Data visualization suggestions └── Speaker notes STEP 4: VISUAL ENHANCEMENT ├── Layout recommendations ├── Chart/graph suggestions └── Image recommendations STEP 5: REVIEW & REFINE ├── Critic agent analysis ├── Elephant questions identified ├── Red flags highlighted └── Improvement suggestions
Slide Structure
| # | Slide | Time | Content Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cover | 30s | Company name, one-liner, logo |
| 2 | Problem | 1m | Pain point with data, who/struggle/why-now |
| 3 | Solution | 1m | How you solve it, before/after |
| 4 | Market | 1m | TAM/SAM/SOM with bottom-up |
| 5 | Product | 2m | Demo, screenshots, key features |
| 6 | Business Model | 1m | How you make money, pricing |
| 7 | Traction | 1m | Growth metrics, logos, quotes |
| 8 | Competition | 1m | Positioning matrix (honest!) |
| 9 | Team | 1m | Founder-market fit, achievements |
| 10 | Financials | 1m | 18-month projection, key metrics |
| 11 | Ask | 30s | Amount, use of funds breakdown |
| 12 | Appendix | - | Detailed data, backup slides |
Industry-Specific Emphasis
| Industry | Slide Emphasis | Unique Slides | Investor Psychology |
|---|---|---|---|
| SaaS | Traction, Retention | Net Revenue Retention | NRR >120% signals PMF |
| FinTech | Compliance, Trust | Regulatory Pathway | Regulatory moat matters |
| Healthcare | Clinical Evidence | FDA/CE Pathway | Clinical validation required |
| Marketplace | Liquidity, Take Rate | Supply/Demand Balance | Network effects proof |
| AI/ML | Data Moat, Accuracy | Technical Architecture | Defensibility beyond model |
| eCommerce | Unit Economics, CAC | Customer Acquisition | Before/after merchant data |
Slide Templates
Problem Slide Template
typescript
interface ProblemSlide {
headline: string; // "X million [personas] lose $Y annually to [problem]"
data_point: {
stat: string; // "$500B lost annually"
source: string; // "Gartner 2025"
};
who: string; // "Mid-market finance teams"
struggle: string; // "Spend 20+ hours/week on manual reconciliation"
why_now: string; // "Remote work made collaboration 3x harder"
visual: string; // "Pain cycle diagram" | "Cost breakdown chart"
}
Traction Slide Template
typescript
interface TractionSlide {
headline: string; // "10x growth in 12 months"
primary_metric: {
value: string; // "$500K ARR"
growth: string; // "10x in 12 months"
};
secondary_metrics: {
name: string; // "Customers"
value: string; // "50+"
}[];
logos: string[]; // Customer logos (4-6)
quote: {
text: string;
attribution: string;
};
chart: 'hockey_stick' | 'bar_growth' | 'cohort';
}
Team Slide Template
typescript
interface TeamSlide {
founders: {
name: string;
role: string;
achievement: string; // "Built X at Y" > "VP at Z"
photo_url: string;
}[];
key_hires: string[]; // "Hiring: CTO (ex-Google), Head of Sales"
advisors: string[]; // Notable advisors
founder_market_fit: string; // Why this team for this problem
}
Critic Agent
typescript
interface DeckCritique {
overall_score: number; // 0-100
strengths: string[];
weaknesses: string[];
red_flags: RedFlag[];
elephant_questions: string[];
improvement_suggestions: {
slide: number;
current: string;
suggested: string;
reasoning: string;
}[];
}
interface RedFlag {
slide: number;
issue: string;
severity: 'high' | 'medium' | 'low';
fix: string;
}
// Common red flags
const RED_FLAGS = [
{ pattern: /no competitors/i, issue: "Claiming no competitors", severity: 'high' },
{ pattern: /viral/i, issue: "Relying on 'going viral'", severity: 'medium' },
{ pattern: /AI-powered/i, issue: "Generic AI buzzwords", severity: 'medium' },
{ pattern: /disrupt/i, issue: "Overused startup jargon", severity: 'low' }
];
// Elephant questions by industry
const ELEPHANT_QUESTIONS = {
fintech: ["How do you handle regulatory compliance?", "What's your licensing status?"],
healthcare: ["What's your FDA pathway?", "Do you have clinical evidence?"],
marketplace: ["How do you solve chicken-and-egg?", "What's your take rate?"],
saas: ["What's your net revenue retention?", "Why will enterprise buy from you?"]
};
Smart Interview Questions
typescript
const DECK_INTERVIEW = {
problem: [
"What specific problem do you solve?",
"Who experiences this problem most acutely?",
"How do they solve it today?",
"What's the cost of the problem (time, money, pain)?"
],
solution: [
"How does your solution work?",
"What's the 'before and after' for users?",
"What's the core technology/innovation?"
],
traction: [
"What's your current revenue/users?",
"What's your growth rate?",
"Who are your notable customers?",
"What's your best customer quote?"
],
ask: [
"How much are you raising?",
"What will you use the funds for?",
"What milestones will this achieve?",
"What's your next funding timeline?"
]
};
Universal Deck Rules
| Rule | Application |
|---|---|
| Problem = numbers | Cost, time, risk — never just qualitative |
| Solution = before/after | Transformation, not feature list |
| Traction = graph-ready | Numbers with timeframes |
| Competition = honest | Never "no competitors" |
| Team = achievements | "Built X at Y" > "VP of Engineering" |
| Ask = specific | "$2M seed: 50% product, 30% GTM, 20% ops" |
Edge Function: pitch-deck-agent
typescript
// Actions - 'select_template': Choose template based on industry/stage - 'interview': Run smart interview for content - 'generate': Create all slides from answers - 'critique': Run critic agent analysis - 'suggest_visuals': Recommend charts/images - 'export': Generate PDF/PPTX/Google Slides
AI Model Selection
| Task | Model |
|---|---|
| Template selection | gemini-3-flash-preview |
| Interview questions | gemini-3-flash-preview |
| Slide generation | claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929 |
| Critique/Red flags | claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929 |
| Visual suggestions | gemini-3-pro-preview |
References
- •PRD Section 10: Pitch Deck System
- •Strategy Section 8: Investor Materials
- •Diagram D-12: Pitch Deck Flow
- •
/startup-system/guides/09-pitch-prompts.md