Pitch deck review
Investors give a deck less than three minutes. Make yours the one they finish.
I read your deck the way an investor does on a busy Monday. Then I show you where they would stop, and exactly what to change so they keep reading.
Written notes in 3 to 7 working daysEnglish, Italian or PortugueseNDA on request
The average time an investor spends reading a pitch deck. On decks that failed to raise, they gave up after about two minutes.
Where you are
You’ve rewritten it ten times. That’s the problem.
By now you know every slide by heart, which is exactly why you can’t see it anymore. Your co-founder read it. Your advisor read it. A friend who once worked at a fund read it. All of them read it with goodwill.
An investor reads it with one question: is this worth one of the few meetings I’ll take this week?
What actually happens
Your deck is judged fast, and in silence.
The read is short
Investors spend less than three minutes on a deck. On decks that didn’t raise, DocSend’s data shows they gave up after about two.
They look for three answers
Is the problem real and expensive? Why this team? Why now? Every slide that answers none of them spends attention you need for the slides that do.
Silence is the answer
Most investors won’t tell you why they passed. The deck just stops getting second meetings, and you’re left guessing which slide did it.
The real price
What a deck that doesn’t land really costs you.
Your runway
A raise takes months, and every week of silence comes out of your cash. The median gap between seed and Series A is now about two years, so the money has to last.
Your leverage
Fewer second meetings means fewer options on the table. Options are what move your valuation, your dilution and the clauses you end up signing.
Your company
In 70% of the VC-backed startups that shut down since 2023, running out of capital was one of the reasons. It rarely starts with a bad product. Often it starts with a raise that took too long.
Where you want to be
Now picture the next meeting.
The partner read your deck before the call, all the way to the last slide. The first question isn’t “so, what do you do?” It’s about your retention, your next hire, your timing.
You spend the hour on the business, not on explaining slide four. That’s the job of a good deck: it holds the first meeting for you, before you walk into the room.
What you receive
The investor read, in one page.
Every review opens with a one-page read like this one, then goes slide by slide. The company below is fictional.
Deck review · Tessaro, seed round
The investor read, in one page
Section by section
The first three minutes
The traction is strong but it’s hiding on slide 9. The market number is top-down, so I stop trusting the rest. I can’t tell what €1.5M buys.
Fix first
- Move traction from slide 9 to slide 3
- Rebuild the market bottom-up
- Tie the €1.5M to three milestones
The problem is described, not proven. Add the one number that shows it costs your customer money.
Three charts compete for attention. Keep the one that shows retention and move the other two to the appendix.
The ask has no milestones. Say what the €1.5M buys, and by when.
Example notes from the same fictional review.
Three levels
Choose the depth your deck needs.
Starter
The read
3 working days · 1 revision
A note on every slide (up to 15) and the five changes to make first, ranked by impact.
- One-page investor read
- Slide-by-slide notes
- Top five fixes, ranked
Standard
The read and the rewrite
5 working days · 2 revisions
Everything in the read, plus a 20-minute video walkthrough and new copy for the five slides that carry the story.
- Everything in The read
- 20-minute video walkthrough
- New copy for problem, solution, traction, market and the ask
Advanced
The rebuild
7 working days · 2 revisions
For decks that need more than edits: the storyline rebuilt from the first slide to the ask, new copy throughout and a 60-minute working call.
- New storyline, slide one to the ask
- Copy rewritten throughout
- 60-minute working call
A fixed fee for each level, confirmed in writing before anything starts. Every read ends with at least five changes you can make this week.
How it works
Four steps, no surprises.
Send the deck
PDF, Google Slides or Keynote, plus two lines on your round: stage, amount, timing.
Get a written scope
Level, fee and delivery date within one working day, before any work starts.
The read
Slide by slide, with the investor’s three questions in front of me the whole time.
Delivery
The one-page read, the notes and, depending on the level, the walkthrough, the new copy or the rebuilt storyline.
Why Adaxit
I read it like an investor, not like a designer.
Adaxit gets startups and SMEs ready for capital. The work covers the deck, the financial model, the valuation logic and the data room. From Milan, we work on rounds in Italy, the rest of Europe, the US and Latin America.
Done personally
Every review is read and written by Cassio Thiengo, Adaxit’s founder. No juniors and no templates.
Story and numbers together
The traction slide, the model and the ask have to tell the same story. It’s the first thing that breaks, and the first thing investors notice.
Italian and international rounds
An Italian seed and a US-style SAFE round are read differently. Your deck should know which one it’s in.
Confidential
Your deck isn’t shared with anyone, ever. NDA on request, before you send a single file.
Honest fit
Is it for you?
It’s for you if
- You plan to raise pre-seed, seed or Series A in the next six months.
- You have a deck, even a rough one.
- You want specific changes, not encouragement.
It’s not for you if
- You want the deck sent to every investor you can find. We fix it first, then introduce you to the few who fit.
- You only need slide design. We work on story, structure and copy; design can be scoped separately.
Questions
Before you send it.
Will you introduce me to investors?
Not as part of the review, which is about the deck. Once it’s ready, introductions to investors who fit come under a written mandate, with your OK on every name. Nobody can promise you a round. Doubt anyone who does.
Does the review include slide design?
The review covers story, structure and copy. A full visual redesign is a separate job. Ask for one and I’ll scope it on its own.
Will you keep my deck private?
Yes. I’ll sign your NDA, or send you a short mutual one before you share anything.
My deck is still rough. Is it too early?
Rough is the cheapest moment to fix it. If you don’t have a deck at all yet, start with the Investor-Ready Kit.
How soon will I have the notes?
Three, five or seven working days, depending on the level. They count from the written scope.
What language will the notes be in?
English, Italian or Portuguese. The notes come in your deck’s language unless you prefer another one.
Your next round
The next investor will give it a few minutes. Make them count.
Each review is done personally, so only a few run at the same time. Send your deck today and you’ll have a written scope and a delivery date within one working day.
Not ready for a review? Start with the Investor-Ready KitRequest your review
Tell me about the deck and the round.
Sources: DocSend research on pitch decks, April 2025 (investors spend less than three minutes per deck); TechCrunch on DocSend data, September 2022 (on decks that failed to raise, investors gave up after 2 minutes 13 seconds); Carta, time between rounds, February 2026 (median seed to Series A of 1.9 years in Q4 2025); CB Insights, “The top 9 reasons startups fail”, March 2026 (running out of capital among the reasons in 70% of the VC-backed shutdowns analysed).