Pitch Reviewfrom Sure Valley Ventures
Contents

The standard · version 1.1.0 · 15 November 2026

Pre-seed deck template

A pre-seed deck is a bet on the founders and on how fast they are learning, not on revenue.

Each slide asks for evidence a first investor can check before there are sales: who you are, who you have spoken to, what you have built and who is using it. Twelve slides, one message each: the title states the message and everything else on the slide proves it.

Each read is marked on what the deck says and how plainly it says it, not on how strong the business is: that is read separately. A read is met wherever in the deck its content sits, so folding two of these slides into one is not a fault. A mistake is marked only where it can be pointed at on a slide, never because something is missing.

Download the template

PowerPoint file (.pptx), 46 KB. Opens in PowerPoint, Google Slides and Keynote. Each slide's notes say what investors read there.

A line marked for AI, not AI, a sales team or self-serve applies only to those companies.

1. Title and one-liner

Says what you do, for whom and to what end, in one sentence a stranger can repeat.

What investors read here

  1. Whether they can say what you do in one sentence after reading it once.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    One of the first two slides has a sentence that says what the product does, in words a stranger would understand.
    Partly
    Anything between: the sentence leans on a term a stranger would need explained, or first comes after slide two.
    Not done
    No sentence in the deck says what the product does: a name, a logo or a tagline only.

  2. Which buyer pays, and for what outcome.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The first two slides name the customer (a role or a kind of organisation) and the outcome they get.
    Partly
    Anything between: they name one of the two.
    Not done
    They name neither.

  3. Stage, amount and where you are, so the deck is filed in the right place.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The first two slides give all three: the round, the amount being raised and the city or country.
    Partly
    Anything between: they give one or two of the three.
    Not done
    They give none of the three.

The mistakes investors see most

  • A tagline instead of a sentence with a customer and an outcome in it.

  • A one-liner that names the technology and not the job it does.

2. The founders

Shows who the founders are and why they are the people to solve this problem. At pre-seed this is the slide the round rests on.

What investors read here

  1. Who builds the product and who owns the conversations with customers, each a named founder.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck names the founder who builds the product and the founder who talks to customers. One person may do both.
    Partly
    Anything between: one of the two jobs has no name against it.
    Not done
    No founder is named, or founders are named with no roles.

  2. Why these founders for this problem: what they know about it that others do not, and how they came to know it.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck links a founder's past to this problem in a sentence a reader could check: years in the customer's job, a system built for it before, or research on it.
    Partly
    Anything between: past employers, degrees or titles are listed with no link drawn to this problem.
    Not done
    Nothing on the founders' past.

  3. Who is full-time today, and what each of the others will be after the round.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    For every founder the deck says whether they are full-time now and, if not, when they will be or that they will stay part-time.
    Partly
    Anything between: it says the team is full-time or committed without covering each founder.
    Not done
    Nothing on whether the founders are full-time.

The mistakes investors see most

  • Advisors listed as if they were the team.

  • Logos of past employers, with nothing on what each founder did there.

3. The problem

Shows what the problem costs one customer today, in their numbers.

What investors read here

  1. Whether the problem is measured in the customer's units: hours, days, pounds, error rates.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck gives at least one figure for the problem in the customer's own units (time, money, a count or an error rate), for one customer or a typical one.
    Partly
    Anything between: the only figures are for the market as a whole.
    Not done
    The problem is told in words only.

  2. Who has the problem, and how they cope today.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck names who has the problem (a role or a kind of team) and says how they deal with it today.
    Partly
    Anything between: it gives one of the two.
    Not done
    It gives neither.

  3. What the problem costs one customer, set beside the price you plan to charge.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    A title or the main text of a slide gives what the problem costs one customer, in money or time, and the deck gives the price you plan to charge.
    Partly
    Anything between: the cost is given with no price anywhere in the deck, or the cost is only in a footnote or a source line.
    Not done
    No cost to one customer is given.

The mistakes investors see most

  • A market-level problem with no single customer's numbers.

  • Numbers with no source: say which customer, which pilot or which interview they came from.

4. What we have learned

Shows the learning that stands in for revenue: who you have spoken to, the customer you chose, and what you found out.

What investors read here

  1. How many people with the problem you have interviewed, and who they were.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck gives the number of people interviewed and says who they were: the role or the kind of organisation.
    Partly
    Anything between: a number with nothing on who, or a description of who with no number.
    Not done
    No interviews are mentioned.

  2. The customer you will sell to first, written down: the kind of organisation, and who in it buys.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck describes the customer it will sell to first by kind and size of organisation and names who buys: a role or, for a product bought self-serve, who signs up.
    Partly
    Anything between: the customer is described with no size, or with nothing on who buys.
    Not done
    No first customer is described, or it is "any company".

  3. What you now know about the problem that most people in the market do not, and what you did about it.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck states one thing learned from the interviews and says what it changed: the customer chosen, the product or the price.
    Partly
    Anything between: a finding with nothing on what it changed.
    Not done
    Nothing learned from customers is stated.

The mistakes investors see most

  • Every conversation counted the same, with no split by the kind of customer.

  • A market report or a statistic standing in for what customers told you.

5. What we have built

Shows what exists today and who is using it, and says plainly what is still a plan.

What investors read here

  1. What exists today and what is still to be built, said plainly.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck says what stage the product is at (an idea, a mock-up, a working prototype, or in use) and tells what is built apart from what is planned.
    Partly
    Anything between: it does one of the two.
    Not done
    It does neither.

  2. Whether they understand what the product does from one screen, without a demo.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck shows the product at work: a screen, a simple diagram of the steps a user or a piece of work goes through, or one worked example. It says what goes in and what comes out.
    Partly
    Anything between: the product is explained in a paragraph or bullets with no screen, diagram or example; or a screen or diagram that does not say what goes in and what comes out.
    Not done
    Only a list of features or a diagram of the system's parts; or nothing on what the product does.
    Could not see
    Judged from the slide as a picture, not from its text.

  3. Who is using what you have built, and on whose data.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck says who has used what is built so far and on whose data, or says plainly that nobody outside the team has used it yet.
    Partly
    Anything between: it says people are using it with nothing on who, or with nothing on whose data.
    Not done
    Nothing on whether anyone has used it.

The mistakes investors see most

  • An architecture diagram or a feature grid where the product screen should be.

  • The roadmap presented as if it were the product.

6. Early demand

Shows the commitments that stand in for revenue, each called what it is.

What investors read here

  1. What customers have committed so far, each called what it is: a paying customer, a paid pilot, a free pilot, a letter of intent, a waiting list or a conversation.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    Each sign of demand the deck shows is called what it is, with its date or period; or the deck says plainly that there are no commitments yet.
    Partly
    Anything between: demand is listed with its kind left unclear, or with no dates.
    Not done
    No sign of demand is shown, and the deck does not say there is none.

  2. Who each commitment or conversation is with: the role or kind of organisation, and who would pay.Sold by a sales team

    The test for each mark
    Done
    For each customer it shows, the deck gives the role of the person or the kind of organisation, and says who would pay.
    Partly
    Anything between: it does so for some and not others, or says who they are with nothing on who would pay.
    Not done
    Customers, pilots or letters of intent are counted with nothing on who they are.

  3. What each commitment turns into: for a pilot, how long it runs and the price agreed after it; for the rest, the next step agreed.Sold by a sales team

    The test for each mark
    Done
    For each pilot the deck gives its length and the price agreed for after it. For a letter of intent or a conversation it gives the next step the customer has agreed to.
    Partly
    Anything between: it does so for some and not others, or gives the length of a pilot with no price.
    Not done
    Customers or pilots are shown with nothing on what comes next.

  4. How many people have signed up or joined the waiting list, since when, and where they came from.Bought self-serve

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck gives the number of sign-ups, the period it covers, and where they came from (for example search, referral or the founders' own network).
    Partly
    Anything between: a number with no period, or with nothing on where they came from.
    Not done
    No sign-ups and no waiting list are shown.
    The bar it leans on
    Where demand comes from

  5. How many of those who signed up came back and used it again.Bought self-serve

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck gives the number who used the product in a later week or month, out of the number who signed up.
    Partly
    Anything between: it says people come back with no figure, or gives a figure with no total.
    Not done
    Nothing on whether anyone came back.

The mistakes investors see most

  • A letter of intent, a free pilot or a waiting list counted as revenue.

  • A running total, such as sign-ups to date, charted where the figure for each week or month belongs.

7. Why now

Shows what changed, and why the window is open now and was not two years ago.

What investors read here

  1. A dated, external change, not an internal milestone.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck names a change outside the company (in regulation, cost, technology or behaviour) and says when it happened.
    Partly
    Anything between: an outside change is named with no date.
    Not done
    The deck names no change outside the company: the argument rests on the company's own progress, or there is none.

  2. Evidence a stranger can check: a regulation, a price curve, a published target.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck gives a number or names a document that shows the change, with its source.
    Partly
    Anything between: a number or a document with no source.
    Not done
    No number and no document is given.

The mistakes investors see most

  • "AI is here" as the whole argument.

  • A trend with no date and no number.

8. Market

Shows the market from the bottom up: how many buyers, at what price, and which of them you will sell to first.

What investors read here

  1. A bottom-up number: counts × price, with the assumptions on the slide.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The market figure is built as a count of buyers times a price, and both the count and the price are in the deck.
    Partly
    Anything between: a bottom-up figure with the count or the price behind it missing; or, for a product bought self-serve, demand shown as counts for a stated period (visitors, sign-ups) with no market figure built from them.
    Not done
    No market figure, or a top-down figure only.

  2. The first segment you will sell to, sized the same way: buyers × price.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck names the first segment and gives its size as a count of buyers or a value.
    Partly
    Anything between: a first segment is named but not sized.
    Not done
    No first segment is named: the whole market only.

  3. Whether the counts have a source, or came from a report's top-down figure divided by something.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    Every figure the market size is built from names where it comes from, so that a stranger could check it: a publication, a register, or your own count or prices.
    Partly
    Anything between: some do and others do not, or the source is not named ("an industry report").
    Not done
    No figure says where it comes from.

The mistakes investors see most

  • A £30bn market with no path from here to there.

  • Counting every organisation as reachable at the same price, unless that price is given as an average.

9. Competition

Shows where you win against every alternative, including the in-house build and doing nothing.

What investors read here

  1. Whether doing nothing and building it internally are named beside the other products; they are the alternatives that win most deals.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck names at least one other product or company and at least one way a customer copes without buying: doing it by hand, building it themselves or doing nothing.
    Partly
    Anything between: it names products only, or ways of coping only.
    Not done
    No alternative is named.

  2. The reason a customer would choose you over each alternative, said for each one.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    For each alternative it names, the deck says what that alternative does well and why a customer would choose you.
    Partly
    Anything between: the reason is given once for all of them, or with nothing on what the alternatives do well.
    Not done
    No reason to choose you is given.

  3. Whether the incumbent could add your feature in a quarter, and what stops them.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck names an incumbent, or a supplier the customer already uses, and gives a reason specific to it why it has not done this or could not quickly.
    Partly
    Anything between: an incumbent is named with no reason, or with a reason that would fit any incumbent.
    Not done
    No incumbent is named.

The mistakes investors see most

  • "We have no competitors."

  • A matrix where you have every tick and everyone else has none.

10. What will be ours

Says what the company will own that others cannot easily copy and, for an AI product, how you know the AI works.

What investors read here

  1. How you know the AI works: a test against a baseline on your own test set, with the result.AI only

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck gives a measured result, says what it was measured on, and gives the baseline it is compared with.
    Partly
    Anything between: a result with no baseline, or with nothing on what it was measured on.
    Not done
    No measured result: "proprietary AI" or "state of the art" only.

  2. Which model the product runs on, and what you add on top of it. A company that trains its own model says so.AI only

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck names the model or models the product runs on and says what the company adds on top: data, a workflow or integrations. Or it says the model is its own and what it was trained on.
    Partly
    Anything between: a model is named with nothing on what is added on top.
    Not done
    Nothing on what the AI runs on.

  3. The advantage over what customers use today, measured on a number the customer cares about.Not AI

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck gives a figure, says what it is compared with, and says where it comes from: a design partner, a pilot or a test.
    Partly
    Anything between: an advantage claimed with no figure, or a figure with nothing to compare it with or no word on where it comes from.
    Not done
    No advantage over today's alternative is stated.

  4. What is hard to build here, and how much of it you have built.Not AI

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck names the hard part in a sentence and says how far it is built.
    Partly
    Anything between: the hard part is named, with nothing on how far it is built.
    Not done
    Nothing is named as hard to build.

  5. What will be yours and get harder to copy with every customer: data, integrations, a workflow the customer depends on.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck names the asset (which data, which integrations or which workflow) and says how it grows with each customer.
    Partly
    Anything between: an asset is named with nothing on how it grows, or the deck says "data" or "network effects" without saying which.
    Not done
    No asset is named.

The mistakes investors see most

  • "Proprietary AI" with no evaluation set and no number.AI only

  • A moat that is a model provider's moat, not yours.AI only

  • "Proprietary technology" with no measured advantage behind it.Not AI

  • A moat that is only a head start: features an incumbent could add in a quarter.Not AI

11. What we have done, and the plan to seed

Shows how much has been done in the time, and what the seed round will need to see and when.

What investors read here

  1. How much you have done in the time: a dated record from the day you started.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck says when work started and gives at least two things done since, each with its month or year.
    Partly
    Anything between: what has been done is listed with no dates, or with no start date.
    Not done
    No record of what has been done so far.

  2. The numbers the seed round needs, stated now, and the date you plan to raise it.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck states what it aims to show at seed as at least one number (for example paying customers, revenue or usage) and gives the month or year the seed raise opens.
    Partly
    Anything between: aims with no numbers, or numbers with no date for the raise.
    Not done
    Nothing on what the next round needs to see.

  3. The next hires, by role, and when they start.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck names the next hires by role and ties them to the round or to a date.
    Partly
    Anything between: hires are named with nothing on when, or a number of hires with no roles.
    Not done
    No hires are named.

The mistakes investors see most

  • A plan that ends when the money runs out rather than six months before.

  • Milestones with no numbers ("expand to Europe").

12. The ask

States the amount, what it buys and how long it lasts.

What investors read here

  1. Amount stated plainly, as one figure. Where part of it is already committed, say how much.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck states one amount for the round, not a range.
    Partly
    Anything between: the amount is a range.
    Not done
    No amount is stated.

  2. Use of funds by percentage, in a split that adds up.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck splits the money by use, in percentages or amounts that add up to the whole.
    Partly
    Anything between: a split that does not add up, or uses listed with no split.
    Not done
    No use of funds.

  3. Runway from the close: how long the money lasts.

    The test for each mark
    Done
    The deck gives the runway the round buys, in months or to a date.
    Partly
    Anything between: spend a month is given with no runway.
    Not done
    Nothing on how long the money lasts.

The mistakes investors see most

  • "Raising £1–£2m" with no use of funds.

  • A valuation, a cap or other terms of the round printed in the deck.

Appendix

Slides kept behind the main deck, for the questions it will raise.

The interviews
How many, with whom, by segment, and the questions you asked.
Pilot and letter-of-intent terms
For each one: who signed, the dates, the price and what happens at the end.
The evaluation
For an AI product: the test set, the baseline and how the result was measured.
The cash plan
Month by month from the close to the seed raise, with the assumptions it rests on.
The cap table
Who holds what today, including any convertible notes or agreements for future shares.
Questions you have been asked
One slide for each question an investor has asked more than once.

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