Built from 59 investor decks scored against the same eleven criteria. The average was 69.9 out of 100 and nothing cleared 75 — because almost every deck is strong in the same place and thin in the same place. This checklist covers the thin part. The percentage on each block is how many of the 59 decks had a weakness logged against it.
The weakest block in the entire sample — 78% scored 5 or below, and not one deck cleared 7. The cheapest points available.
The largest single gap between the strongest and weakest decks (+1.80). A curve without a visible driver reads as fiction.
Growth without retention is not traction — and over half of decks show only the first half.
Pricing is the most-missed line in the business model, in two decks out of three.
An ask is a number until it's tied to a milestone. Nearly half of decks stop at the number.
"We have competitors" is not a competition slide. Three decks in four are marked down here.
No deck fails outright here, but two thirds are marked down for a number with no method behind it.
Measured across 59 decks, these two blocks separate strong from weak by 0.13 and 0.07 points. Every deck already does them well.
Green-light when blocks 1, 2 and 5 are complete — exit, financials and the ask. Those three carry the largest gaps between the strongest and weakest decks in the sample, and all three are disclosure rather than new business results. If your first third is polished and your last third is thin, you are looking at the most common shape in this data, and it caps out around 70.
Deck ready, and now you need the right investors in front of it? That's the part we run.
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