Pitch Deck Template

The 10-slide pitch deck template that's actually opinionated. Built from reading 500+ decks from Australian startups raising pre-seed to Series A.

By Michael Batko - founder of batko.ai, the platform helping founders raise smarter.

Why another pitch deck template

Most templates are generic. They tell you what slides to include but not what makes them work, what investors actually look for, or how to write the lines that move the needle.

This one is different:

• Slide-by-slide content guide with real Australian startup examples
• Opinionated commentary on what works and what doesn't, drawn from running PitchMaster and reviewing hundreds of decks
• A free Google Slides template you can copy in one click
• A bonus checklist for the 24 hours before you send the deck to an investor

What's in this repo

• SLIDES.md - The 10-slide structure with example content from a fictional Australian SaaS startup.
• COMMENTARY.md - Per-slide commentary on what investors actually look for.
• GOOGLE-SLIDES.md - How to use the Google Slides template.
• CHECKLIST.md - The pre-send checklist.

The 10 slides

1. Title - Who you are, what you do, in one line.
2. Problem - The pain you solve. Specific. Visceral.
3. Solution - What you built. Show, don't tell.
4. Market - How big this gets. Bottom-up, not top-down.
5. Product - The actual thing. Screenshots beat descriptions.
6. Traction - Proof it's working. The slide investors flip to first.
7. Business model - How you make money and why it scales.
8. Competition - Who else does this and why you win.
9. Team - Why you, why now.
10. Ask - What you want, what you'll do with it.

Read COMMENTARY.md for the why behind each one.

How to use it

1. Read COMMENTARY.md first. Don't skip this. The structure means nothing without the principles.
2. Copy the Google Slides template.
3. Use SLIDES.md as a fill-in guide for each slide.
4. Run through CHECKLIST.md before sending.

More resources

• batko.ai/pitchmaster - Free AI-powered pitch deck review tool
• batko.ai/raise - All the raising tools in one place
• batko.ai/blog - Writing on fundraising and storytelling

Licence

MIT. Use it however you want. Attribution appreciated but not required.