Checks on the deck read as one document, not slide by slide. Each has a written test for done, partly and not done.
The story
Each slide's title is its takeaway, not a label, and claims no more than the slide shows. NFX's example: a title that says 'Market size' tells the reader nothing; '$10bn market with an immediate $2bn SAM' gives them something to remember. That a title must not outrun its own slide is SVV's addition.
The test for each mark
Done
Every title after the cover is a statement with a claim or a number in it, and none claims more than its own slide shows.
Partly
Anything between: some titles are statements and some are labels, or one title claims more than its slide shows.
Not done
No title is a statement: all are labels such as "Problem", "Market" and "Team". Or two or more titles claim more than their slides show.
Read in order, with everything else covered, the titles tell the story. You can run this test yourself: copy the titles into a list and read only the list.
The test for each mark
Done
The titles alone say all four of these: what the company does; the problem it solves; at least one figure for customers, revenue, usage or demand; and what is being asked for.
Partly
Anything between: the titles alone say two or three of the four.
Not done
The titles alone say one of the four, or none.
Where it comes fromSourcesCRV, 20 August 2026The Seed Pitch Deck Guide: Slides, Structure and What VCs WantNFX, 7 July 2021The 23 Rules of Storytelling For FundraisingY Combinator, undatedHow to build a great Series A pitch and deck
Plain words throughout. A term a stranger to your market would not know is spelled out or explained the first time it appears. Investor terms such as ARR, TAM and CAC do not count.
The test for each mark
Done
No acronym or term from your market is left unexplained where it first appears, and the sentence that says what the product does uses no word such as "platform" that could mean anything.
Partly
Anything between: that sentence is plain, but one or more terms elsewhere in the deck are never explained.
Not done
The sentence that says what the product does cannot be followed without a term the deck never explains, or says it only in words such as "platform".
The deck makes it concrete with one case: a customer, real or typical, followed through the problem or through the product. NFX, on telling a customer's story: "Making it about real people makes it tangible."
The test for each mark
Done
At least one slide follows a single case with its particulars: who, what happened, and what the product did or would do.
Partly
Anything between: a customer or a job is named as an example, with no particulars of what happened.
Not done
The deck speaks only in general terms: no single case anywhere.
The strongest proof comes before the midpoint. At seed and Series A that is the traction: who pays and how much. At pre-seed it is the founders or the evidence of demand: either counts.
The test for each mark
Done
A slide in the first half of the main deck gives the number of paying customers or the headline revenue figure. At pre-seed, a slide there presents the founders or the evidence of demand.
Partly
Anything between: in the first half they are mentioned only in passing, in a footnote, a source line or a subtitle, and the slide that shows them comes later.
Not done
They first appear in the second half, or not at all.
Pipeline is never passed off as customers. Every customer named, counted or shown as a logo is marked as paying, on a pilot or trial, or still a prospect.
The test for each mark
Done
Wherever customers are named, counted or shown as logos, the deck makes clear which pay and which are on a pilot or trial or are prospects. Customers shown with what each pays are paying. A deck that names and counts no customers passes.
Partly
Anything between: paying customers are told apart on one slide but mixed with pilots, trials or prospects on another.
Not done
A count of customers on one slide takes in pilots, trials, letters of intent or free users that another slide shows are not paying; or nowhere does the deck say which of its customers pay.
One idea a slide. The title states it and everything else on the slide supports it. A slide makes a second point when part of it is on a subject its title does not cover: a second headline, or a chart, table or block of text about something else. A box that backs up the title, with evidence, a definition or a caveat, is not a second point. A summary slide is left aside.
The test for each mark
Done
No slide makes a second point.
Partly
Anything between: one or two slides make a second point.
Can it be read on a phone? The phone is SVV's framing: a deck is often read on one. NFX's rule is no font smaller than 24 point, and Kevin Hale of Y Combinator asks for large type with good contrast. Type size cannot be measured from a PDF, so this is marked on what can be seen: whether a slide's main text is set like small print.
The test for each mark
Done
On every slide the main text is plainly larger than that slide's small print: its footnotes, source lines, chart labels and page number. Words inside a product screenshot are left aside.
Partly
Anything between: on one or two slides the main text is about the size of the small print, or smaller.
Not done
On three or more slides the main text is about the size of the small print, or smaller.
Could not see
Judged from the slides as pictures, not from their text.
Every chart says what it measures and shows actual figures. A forecast is marked as a forecast.
The test for each mark
Done
Every chart says what it measures and in what units, on its axes, in a caption or in the slide title, and shows its figures on an axis or on the bars or points. A chart over time names its months or years, and a forecast is marked as one. A drawing marked as a schematic is not a chart. A deck with no charts passes.
Partly
Anything between: one chart fails on any of these.
Not done
Two or more charts fail on any of these.
Could not see
Judged from the slides as pictures, not from their text.
The numbers agree, from slide to slide and within a slide: revenue, customers, growth, price, market size, the amount being raised and the runway. Every split and every total adds up.
The test for each mark
Done
Every figure that appears on more than one slide is the same each time, or the deck says why it differs: another date or another definition. Every split, table and sum on a slide adds up to what the slide says.
Partly
Anything between: one figure differs between slides with no reason given, or one split or sum does not add up.
Not done
Two or more figures differ between slides with no reason given, or do not add up.
Where it comes fromSVV's judgementSVV's own rule: the numbers in a pitch should reconcile across the materials (price, pipeline, market size, the ask). Fewer than three of the published guides to pitch decks that SVV read make the point. A figure that differs from one slide to another is a fault of the deck and is marked here, in the deck reading.
Length and the appendix
The length fits the round. For the main deck at pre-seed and seed, CRV says 10 to 12 slides, NFX 10 to 14 and Unusual Ventures no more than 15. At Series A, Y Combinator says 10 to 15 and Creandum about 20, with no more than 30 pages in the whole file. The cut-off of 25 slides at pre-seed and seed is SVV's judgement: a main deck of twenty-five slides is a common mistake. The appendix is not counted in the main deck.
The test for each mark
Done
At pre-seed or seed the main deck has 15 slides or fewer. At Series A the main deck has 20 or fewer and the whole file has 30 pages or fewer.
Partly
Anything between: at pre-seed or seed, 16 to 24 slides in the main deck; at Series A, more than 20 in the main deck with 30 pages or fewer in the whole file.
Not done
At pre-seed or seed the main deck has 25 slides or more. At Series A the whole file has more than 30 pages.
Back-up detail is kept out of the main deck, in an appendix for the questions the deck will raise. NFX: "Include an appendix with slides for every question you can predict."
The test for each mark
Done
After the main deck there is a section marked as an appendix, with at least one slide that answers a question the main deck raises.
Partly
Anything between: the file ends with the main deck and has no appendix, or back-up slides follow the ask with nothing to mark them as an appendix.
Not done
Slides of back-up detail (a full financial model, a table of every customer, a long list of features) sit inside the main deck.