Guides · Pitch decks

How to Build a Pitch Deck Investors Actually Read

Most pitch decks I see are 40 to 70 pages long. Almost nobody reads them all the way through. That includes the founder's own spouse and business partner.

The investors you most want to reach are the busiest ones. Here is how we at Family Office Club tell people to build a deck, and the short materials around it, so it gets read.

How it works, in order

Step 1. Cut the deck to 10 to 19 pages

Most decks run 40 to 70 pages. Most should be just 10 to 19 pages long. Here is a test you can run. Put the words Mickey Mouse on page 27 of a 44 page deck. Then ask your business partner and your spouse to look for mistakes. They probably will not catch it. If your own spouse will not read your pitch deck, an investor probably will not either. Make the deck look institutional, professional and well put together. Then keep it very concise, so the people you want most can read 100% of it.

Step 2. Write for a busy reader

The more valuable the investor, the less time they have. They may ask AI to summarize your deck. They may go through it quickly just to decide whether to meet you at all. So the job of your deck is to help them decide yes to a meeting. Cut anything that does not help that decision. A shorter, sharper deck beats a long one that tries hard to give value. A 300 page book that nobody finishes builds less trust than a short one that gets read.

Step 3. Write a one-sentence one-liner

A one-liner costs nothing, and most people are missing one. It is one well written sentence. It says what you do and why someone should work with you. It also names the two or three compelling reasons. We hammer this home all the time, yet most people still do not have one, and most get poor ratings when they present theirs on stage. If you already have a long deck, our AI tool can take a 50 page version and produce seven one-liners instantly. Test them and pick the clearest.

Step 4. Make your brand name say it

Brevity applies to your name too. If you are called Richard Capital, nobody knows what you do. A name like Austin Senior Living Partners tells people what you do and where. Some people are half sold just reading it. One member's firm, Iron Toro Capital, had a name that did not explain itself. After the change to a name about motel to apartment conversions, people understood the business right away and started asking where and how. Your brand can work for you or not.

Step 5. Show your uniqueness as a visual

One of the three biggest mistakes I see from clients is having no visual of what makes them unique. Draw your five-step secret sauce, or whatever ties back to your one-liner. If you source deals in a special way, make a diagram of it. If your team is your strength, show a professional picture of the team. Someone should look at the page and say, I get it, that is how you source the best deals and work the upside. Put three or four great visuals in the deck.

Step 6. Turn the best visuals into a one-pager

Make the pitch deck amazing first. Then strip out the best one to three visuals and put them on a one-pager. This is a one-sided PDF that tells people what your investment is and why it is compelling. A reader should glance at it and want a call. Your one-liner, your brand name and your main visual need to do that work. If people are not sold in 7 to 10 seconds, the one-pager is not doing its job. Many people have a deck but no one-pager to get investors to open it.

Step 7. Match materials to the raise size

The larger the deal, the more you should spend on materials. If you need to raise a quarter of a million in a few weeks, a one-page teaser and maybe a video may be enough. For 2 million or 5 million dollars, have the deck, video, website, one-pager, one-liner and logo dialed in. More sophisticated investors want materials that are both more detailed and more concise. You can also score your deck with our pitch deck scoring tool, which looks at 25 criteria. Many sponsors talk to a securities attorney about how they describe their offering to investors.

From my talks

More from my talks

Here is a point I see often. In one speaker's experience, many investors will put money into a deal without reading the full 130 page PPM, because just meeting the CEO and going through the deck already eats the time they have. Many of them are founders or entrepreneurs themselves, so they are busy too. The other common mistake is having a pitch deck but nothing short that gets someone motivated to open it. If your materials do not do you justice, they can actually hurt you.

Mistakes to avoid

• Sending a 40 to 70 page deck when 10 to 19 pages would get read.
• Having a deck but no one-pager to motivate someone to open it.
• Leaving out any visual that shows what makes you unique in the marketplace.
• Using a brand name that does not say what you do or where you do it.
• Skipping the one-liner, which costs nothing and which most people still do not have.

On the record

• Most pitch decks run 40 to 70 pages, while most should be just 10 to 19 pages long.
• Our pitch deck scoring tool looks at 25 criteria to analyze and score a deck.
• For a raise of a quarter of a million in a few weeks, a one-page teaser and maybe a video may be all you need.

General education only. Not legal, tax or investment advice.

Talk to a securities attorney to explore options around investor-facing claims, offering documents and investor communications. Do not use AI to write your own legal agreements.

Questions about this guide

Related questions

• How long should an investor pitch deck be?Keep your investor pitch deck to about 10 to 19 pages.
• What financial slides should a fund manager's deck include?A fund manager's deck should show the numbers an investor tests first.
• What is an investor teaser and what goes in it?An investor teaser is a one-page, one-sided PDF that tells an investor what your deal is and why it is compelling in two or three ways.

Use the waterfall calculator alongside this guide.