So you want to craft a killer pitch deck

May 31, 2023 ndowd

Hey, friends!

So, you want to craft a great pitch deck. You want to come up with something authentic but also informed by past successes. Hell, you probably want to avoid common mistakes and get a feel for what other startup founders are using to raise capital.

Good news: TechCrunch+ has all of that, and more, ready to go.

Through our weekly Pitch Deck Teardown series, we’ve analyzed dozens of pitch decks that startups have used to successfully raise capital. Written by our in-house expert Haje Jan Kamps, a pitch coach, former founder and venture investor, this series presents a both-sides-of-the-table perspective on what makes a great pitch deck and the mistakes you should avoid.

Here’s a rundown of our favorite teardowns from the past few weeks:

Here’s the deck that Fibery used to raise a $5.2 million Series A. The corporate knowledge platform had a particularly good set of slides detailing its competition, and we also liked how it explained its business model.
Here’s the deck that Smalls used to raise $19 million Series B. Who knew that subscription pet care was such a big market?
Here’s the deck that Honeycomb used to raise a $50 million Series C. The company’s work to make large software platforms more observable might not apply to your current work, but the company’s pitch deck is well worth your time.
Here’s the deck that Ageras used to raise a $35 million private equity round. Sure, we cover a lot of smaller rounds, but as this was our 50th pitch deck teardown, Haje decided to stretch his legs a bit and analyze something a bit different.
And, to close out this short list of examples, here’s the deck that Northspyre used to raise $25 million. If you are interested in the world of physical structures, this deck is well worth your time. It had especially good ‘why’ slides and its market explainer was short and sweet.