How to design an irresistible (and truly compelling) pitch deck

You have the project that makes the difference, the mature market, the best team at your side. And yet... every last detail can make you miss out on your financing.

Not clear enough. Too dense. Too generic. Result: the investor moves on to the next startup.

What if that detail was the design?

Because no, design is not limited to “making the slides pretty”. Good design is what allows your message to be understood, remembered, and above all, to convince.

At mprez, we see it every day: between two projects that are essentially equivalent, it is often The shape that tips the scales.

Indeed, investors spend on average less than 3 minutes on a pitch deck (DocSend, 2023). In other words, You only have a few seconds per slide to make a good impression.

So how do you design an investor pitch deck that matches your ambition? How can you avoid form errors that prevent a successful fundraiser?

And above all, how do you structure your message visually so that it is convincing... without overdoing it?

That is what this guide is all about.

Why your pitch deck design can change everything

Design, the first decision filter for an investor

A mastered pitch deck design ** is not a “plus”. It is the first element that an investor sees.

Even before reading the content, it assesses your seriousness, your rigor and your ability to structure your ideas.

According to DocSend, an investor spends on average 2 min 42 on a pitch deck, or a few seconds per slide (DocSend Startup Index, 2023).

If the information is not immediately understandable, he simply moves on to the next one.

Cognitive science confirms this:

• 94% first impressions are linked to design (Northumbria University, 2004)
• 75% of a company's perceived credibility comes from its visual appearance (Stanford Web Credibility Project, 2002)

In other words: an amateur deck weakens your project before you've even started pitching it.

A clear design makes your story obvious to follow

An investor does not read a pitch deck: he The scanner.

One good design creates a simple, predictable, and logical reading path.

It organizes the story so that each slide naturally leads to the next one: problem → solution → market → traction → model → team.

This is what transforms a succession of slides into a Fluid story, easy to follow and pleasant to navigate.

A controlled design brings out what is best for you

In a saturated market, many startups offer similar offers.

What makes the difference is your ability to make your value tangible.

A well-thought-out pitch deck design allows you to:

• highlight your traction (legible graphics, highlighted trends)
• make your product concrete (mockups, visual demonstrations)
• Clarify your business model at a glance
• value what makes your team unique

You don't just explain. You Show.

A well-designed pitch deck makes it easier to decide to go further.

The aim of a pitch deck is not to say everything: It's about arousing interest and capturing attention.

Professional pitch deck design reduces cognitive effort, makes it easier to understand, and makes you want to know more.

It instantly conveys three signals that investors are looking for:

• you are able to execute,
• You know how to prioritize what matters,
• You respect their time.

This is often what transforms a shy “interesting, we'll contact you” into a frank “we'll talk to you next week”.

The 5 fundamental rules of effective pitch deck design

Pitch deck design doesn't rely on complex visual effects.

What matters is readability, structure, and the ability to get the essentials across at a glance. Here are the five key rules that we always apply at mprez.

One idea per slide

Each slide must carry a clear, unique and autonomous message.

If you try to say too much at once, you're diluting your impact. And above all, you're tiring your audience.

The role of design here is to organize the space to highlight this unique message, without noise around.

Do you need to detail several points? Divide them into several slides.

Truly legible text

It's a common mistake: wanting to fit everything on a slide... at the price of one typography microscopic.

The result: no one is reading, especially not remotely or by video.

Readable text is:

• one simple font (without wheelbases, Arial or Inter type)
• a clear contrast with the background
• a minimum size of 28 to 30 pts (basic rule used by Guy Kawasaki for the oral presentations)

If you can't read without squinting, your message is lost.

Air, rhythm, hierarchy

A good solid breathes.

The eye must be able Scan items in a logical order, without being attacked or disoriented.

For this:

• Use margins and white space to structure the slide
• Position key elements in natural reading areas (title at the top, visual on the left or centered)
• Give weight to the main ideas (size, boldness, colors)

The design should not decorate, it must guide.

A simple and coherent graphic charter

A pitch deck doesn't have to look like a collage of different styles.

Choose a limited color palette, one or two matching fonts, and keep them constant throughout the document.

Even without a brand charter, you can create a simple grid that sets a professional tone:

• light background + dark text (or the other way around)
• one main color and one accent color
• a single typeface family

Coherence = credibility.

No attention-distracting effects

Transition effects, complex animations, useless icons... all this adds weight to your message without enriching it.

The aim is not to amuse, but to make people understand and convince.

Good design is almost invisible: it highlights the content, without interfering with it.

It avoids the “PowerPoint 2010” effect and reinforces reading fluency.

In short: the best design is the one that disappears in favor of your idea.

How to visually structure the key slides of your pitch deck

Not all slides have the same weight. Some focus most of your message and deserve special care.

Here, the design should make your point immediately understandable, even for someone who is discovering your project for the first time.

Here's how to visually process the most strategic slides in your pitch deck.

The “Problem” slide: simple, concrete, visual

Your audience should understand what you're solving in seconds.

No long text, no complex storytelling.

A good design for this slide is:

• A short sentence that summarizes the problem
• a visual or a number that illustrates it (screenshot, photo, sector data)
• possibly 2 to 3 key points maximum

The objective: to make the subject feel urgent and relevant at first glance.

The “Solution” slide: show rather than describe

This is where a lot of teams get lost in text.

Your solution should be shown, not told.

Some best practices:

• A sentence that summarizes your value proposition
• a mockup, a prototype, a screenshot
• a refined layout to let the product breathe

If the investor understands your solution before even reading the text, it's a win.

The “Traction” slide: a design that puts numbers first

Do you have results? Show them.

The pull should be a graphical element, not a pasted Excel table.

Visually, focus on:

• a simple and readable graph (curve, bars)
• a key data highlighted (MRR, users, growth)
• A title that announces the conclusion from the start

Design should bring out the dynamic, not stifle it with data.

The “Business model” slide: clarifying at a glance

This slide is often too technical.

The challenge is to make a sometimes complex model readable immediately.

For this:

• a diagram or a frieze that shows the flows
• little text, and keywords
• an insert that highlights “how do you make money”

If your model fits in one sentence + one visual, you are on the right track.

The “Team” slide: simple, credible, human

Most investors rely as much on the team as on the product.

Design advice from our professional team at mprez:

• professional and consistent photos
• 1 line of presentation or expertise per person
• a symmetric and balanced layout

The aim is not to be decorative but to inspire confidence.

Mistakes that ruin a pitch deck... even if the design is “clean”

You can have a visually polished deck.

But if the structure or the message is not clear, an investor picks up just as quickly.

Here are the most critical mistakes, the ones found in 80% of early-stage pitch decks.

Do not “announce” the message of each slide

A slide with a vague title (“Background”, “Benefits”, “Vision”) requires the reader to guess where you are coming from.

An investor doesn't have the time or the patience for that.

An effective slide announces its own conclusion. For example:

• “Gross margin x3 in 18 months”
• “Our market is growing twice as fast as the average”

Without a clear title, the investor takes longer to understand... and drops out.

Put all content at the same level of importance

A slide where everything is put forward is finally a slide where nothing comes out.

This requires the investor to sort the information himself... which he won't do., let's be honest.

The design should create a natural reading order : a main message + secondary elements.

Add data... without interpreting it

An extremely common mistake: showing numbers without saying what they show.

However, an investor reads dozens of decks per week: he will not draw never the conclusion for you.

The design should support a clear message, but the message should exist.

Present a business model that is too complex visually

A poorly schematized economic model immediately gives the impression of a confusing or risky project.

It is not a design problem, but visual clarification of the model.

A good pitch deck simplifies, even if the reality is more complex internally.

Make slides that don't tell a story

A deck can be clean, harmonious... and yet completely flat.

If the slides do not follow one another logically, if the progression does not carry the investor away, you lose the “momentum” effect.

A pitch deck should be thought of as a structured story, not as an assembly of slides.

Use AI tools... without reworking them

Les AI tools to make PowerPoints multiply, and they are useful.

But presented “raw”, their templates are immediately recognizable: generic, interchangeable, sometimes inconsistent.

And for an investor, this sends several negative signals, even very negative ones. In fact, according to a Bynder study, 52% of the audience drops out when she feels that content has been generated by artificial intelligence.

So, AI can be a starting point, but never an end result.

What mprez can do for you

The action of succeeding in Raise funds doesn't just depend on your idea or product.

It depends on your ability to convince in a few minutes.

That's exactly what we've been doing for over 10 years: turning an idea into a pitch deck that captures, convinces, and ultimately raises funds.

A structure designed for investors

Each round follows its own codes: priming, Series A, Series B, Series C.

We are building a pitch deck that precisely meets the expectations of VCs, business angels and family offices: the right indicators, in the right place, in the right format.

The objective: to allow your interlocutor to understand your growth potential in record time.

Storytelling that sets your vision in motion

We help you to clarify your message, prioritize your arguments and building a story that sets up your ambition from the first slides.

Your pitch deck doesn't tell your story: it tells it Bring to life.

A tailor-made design to make you stand out

No AI templates.

No generic models.

Our designers create a medium that reflects your identity, enhances your product, and showcases your traction.

A deck that stands out visually and that positions your startup at the level of requirement expected by investors.

A document ready to convince in a few days

Thanks to our teams based in Paris, Lisbon and Sao Paulo, we are able to produce a complete pitch deck Within 48 hours when needed.

You receive a finalized, clean, consistent support that is immediately ready for your appointments.

Expertise from the startup ecosystem

For more than ten years, more than 2,500 customers gave us their PowerPoint presentations.

In total, we have achieved more than 10,000 supports, of which Over 300 pitch decks dedicated to fundraising.

This work taught us what investors expect, and what they don't forgive.

• Signals that reassure.
• The ones that trigger questions.
• And the ones that make you drop out.

We support you throughout: design, structure, message, rhythm, and even Executive Summary, to continue convincing after the meeting.

And the results speak for themselves. Here are some examples of startups that trusted us to prepare their pitch deck:

• Ziwig (€5 million raised)
• Faume (€7M raised)
• Ensol (€14M raised)
• Taster (€27M raised)‍
• Quandela (€50M raised)
• And many more...

A pitch deck is more than a neat layout.

It is a strategic tool that should make your vision legible, your value obvious, and your unquestionable growth potential, all in a few minutes.

A professional pitch deck is not intended to impress with its aesthetics, but to guide your reading, to strengthen your credibility and to create the effect of conviction which opens the door to the next appointment, and finally to financing.

Whether you are in early stages, in Series A or beyond, a well-designed pitch deck is a real advantage : it distinguishes you, facilitates understanding and gives confidence to your interlocutors.

And if you want to go further, be supported in the design, structure or storytelling of your investor pitch deck, our team is there for make your slides a real financing lever.

Ready to move on to a pitch deck that convinces?

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