PITCH DECK COACH

Get a pitch deck that gets you funded

Hi, I'm Malcolm Lewis, the Pitch Deck Coach. I’ve been a founder/CEO or marketing exec at 8 software startups that have produced 6 exits, including a $1B IPO and an $11B Secondary. I’ve also personally built a SaaS startup from concept to $10M in ARR and $7M in EBIT. I can help you build a pitch deck that can get your startup funded.

Founder testimonials

I had the pleasure of working with Malcolm in recent weeks after spending countless hours trying to create the perfect company deck... and achieving no results. Working with him has been a game-changer.

Malcolm has helped me and my team achieve the result we wanted in a fraction of the time I spent in the past few years. He quickly understood our business model and clearly provided the guidelines for us to work on. After only a week he had reconstructed the deck with a brand new perspective.

I felt he was part of our team, working together on a common goal.

To all Founders wanting to create their company's first deck... stop wasting your time, invest instead in collaborating with Malcolm. For any direct inquiries, feel free to reach me at stefano@4urspace.com

Stefano Sanchini

Co-Founder & CEO, 4URSPACE

Malcolm is extremely knowledgeable, business savvy and is a great story teller. He can take a raw narrative and transform it into crisp, data-driven and tight pitch deck that comes across as pretty convincing. I highly recommend him.

Kapil Gupta

Co-Founder & CEO, Stealth SaaS startup

Malcolm was instrumental in helping my company Salesmsg understand who our best customers are. He ran a really engaging, fun, and tight process for interviewing our customers and extracting PURE GOLD. The insights gained from working with Malcolm have been reverberating throughout our company ever since working with Malcolm. He has a unique mind and thinks differently which provides a left brained approach to growth.

Chris Brisson

Founder & CEO, Salesmsg

It was very evident from our first call that Malcolm was going to get thoroughly involved in understanding our problem, solution, market opportunity, business model, competitive advantage, etc. Thanks to his extensive experience as an entrepreneur himself, he can help you present the best you have to offer to all your stakeholders in a simplified and consistent manner.

Narayan Mahadevan

Founder & CEO, Bridgelabz

Investor testimonials

Malcolm understands the business and experience of being an entrepreneur. More importantly, he understands how to help entrepreneurs build the story that will move prospective investors, customers, partners, and employees.

David Carlick

Formerly Rho Ventures and VantagePoint Capital Partners

A pitch deck is the backdrop for telling your story: conveying your vision, your passion, the problem that you’re solving, your solution, and how you’re going to build your company. Malcolm’s experience is all around telling that story, to a variety of audiences, but always in a compelling way.

Alex Osadzinski

Former Venture Partner, Trinity Ventures

If you're working on your pitch deck, you want a lot of well-trained eyes on it, that are more objective than you are, can clarify your story, and connect it to the market opportunities with customers and investors. Malcolm has a career of developing these stories as an entrepreneur, investor, and coach, and is a critical ally to founders.

Carey Ransom

Founder & President at Operate

Read dozens more testimonials on LinkedIn.

My pitch deck coaching services

FREE Pitch Deck Review

· $0

Get 45 minutes of free feedback on your current pitch deck.

I'll provide a quick review of your current deck. It'll help us both decide if I can help you. Try before you buy.

Book free review

Why me? · Testimonials

Pitch Deck ASSIST

· Hourly

Refine your existing pitch deck.

We'll use my pitch deck template and guide as a benchmark. This process can take anywhere from a few hours to 20 or more. It all depends on how much help your current deck needs. Book a free chat to learn more.

Find out if your pitch deck is missing critical information
Get clear, actionable recommendations that will make your pitch deck better
Receive a video and transcript of our call for easy reference

Book a free chat

→ Get your questions answered before you buy. No commitment.
Why me? · Testimonials

Pitch Deck BUILD

· Hourly

Get a new pitch deck

Pick this option if you want me to build a pitch deck for you from scratch. I'll base your new deck on the template and guidelines I share in my pitch deck template and guide. My process usually takes 15-30 hours. Book a free chat to learn more.

Save dozens of hours of pitch deck research and development.
Outsource this critical component of your startup's future to an expert.
Give investors the information they need to fund your startup.

Book a free chat

→ Get your questions answered before you buy. No commitment.
Why me? · Testimonials

Why me?

Check out my profile on LinkedIn. Most pitch deck consultants are really design consultants. They can make your deck look great, but a pretty deck is secondary to killer content. As a verteran founder, CEO, and CMO, I know how to craft a story that engages and delights investors. Content > Design.

You'll see a common thread in all of my LinkedIn testimonials. I'm an expert at developing compelling stories that engage investors, customers, partners, and employees. And I love sharing my expertise with startup founders.

Startup expert

I’ve been a founder/CEO or marketing exec at 8 software startups over the last 25+ years. Those startups have produced 6 exits, including 4 acquisitions, one $1B IPO, and one $11B Secondary. I’ve also personally built (and sold) an investor-backed SaaS business from concept to $10M in ARR and $7M in EBIT. I developed the pitch decks for every one of these startups.

Rigorous process

Clients pick me because they have read my pitch deck template and guide and strongly agree with my philosophy on how to build pitch decks. Read my guide yourself and get in touch if you like what you see.

Personal service

I work alone on a small number of select projects to ensure my clients enjoy my full attention and benefit from my extensive pitch deck experience and expertise.

Why you probably need help

Investors routinely report that most startup pitch decks they see are confusing and incomplete. That provides you with a great opportunity to stand out with a professional deck that answers the specific questions that investors need you to answer before they will consider funding your business.

Questions like:

Who does your product help and what pressing problem does it solve?
How big is the market for your specific product?
How unique and valuable is your product versus alternatives?
Do you have the startup experience and domain expertise to launch a new product?
What's your specific plan to acquire and retain customers profitably, at scale?
Do you have an attractive, realistic financial plan to drive significant investor returns?
What evidence can you provide to back up the claims you make in your pitch deck?

Make a strong first impression

Ignore these important questions, and many more, and you'll fail the investor's initial sniff test — and blow your best chance to engage them. But if you proactively answer your investors' questions with clarity and precision, in a professional-looking deck, you'll pass their first test and keep the funding conversation moving forward.

Learn more about what investors are looking for in my popular pitch deck template and guide.

Why pitch deck content is king

Here's the #1 thing to remember when you're looking for pitch deck help: Design is table stakes, content is king. Put another way, great design alone will not get you funded. You'll find plenty of people who can make your pitch deck look pretty — because it's easy. Content is much harder. But without strong content, you're adding lipstick to the proverbial pig. You need someone with deep startup experience to get your content right.

While I include design in my pitch deck builds, I focus 95% of my time and effort on nailing your content.

Frequently asked questions

Who are you, and why should I pick you to help me with my pitch deck?

Check out my founder and VC and investor testimonials. For a deep dive into my 30+ year career — including dozens of testimonials — check out my LinkedIn profile page. The headline is I have 30 years of founder/CEO/CMO/product marketing experience. I have 8 startups, 6 exits, one $1B IPO, and one $11B Secondary under my belt. I'm not aware of anyone else with my level of successful startup experience offering 1:1 pitch deck coaching services. Anyone can make your pitch deck pretty. But you need a startup veteran like myself to nail your pitch.

What pitch deck services do you offer?

Check out my services. It boils down to as little or as miuch help as you need. I work on an hourly basis so you only pay for what you need.

What kind of startups do you help?

My typical pitch deck clients are early-stage startups looking to raise their first or second round. While I am based in the United States, I have no geographic preference and am happy to help clients anywhere in the world. Recent clients includes B2B SaaS companies, web3 companies, and industrial product companies.

How much do you charge for a pitch deck?

You should budget $3,000-6,000. Anyone charging less is not taking the time required to understand your business pitch and work with you to make your pitch deck significantly better.

How long will it take you to build a pitch deck for me?

Depending on my workload and your availability, 2-4 weeks. I can sometimes do it faster depending on my workload and your availability.

What's your process?

There are 3 steps in my process. Step 1 is the Research step. I'll work with you to learn as much as I can about your business. Step 2 is the Blueprint step. I'll develop an initial version of your story in Google Sheets. The goal is to get the flow and words right without the distraction of slides. Step 3 is Deck step. I'll turn our finalized outline into slides.

How will we work together during the process?

I'll create a shared Google Doc with tabs for your deck outline, research links, competition info, and your financial model. We'll meet regularly on Zoom. And we'll set up a WhatsApp group for quick and efficient Q&A outside of our Zoom sessions.

How come some other companies charge less for a pitch deck?

I often ask that myself. Perhaps they spend less time than I do in learning your business and digging deep for the information investors need. Or perhaps they employ junior staff. All I can tell you is that my pricing is based on a reasonable fee for the time I expect to spend on your deck. As in all things, you get what you pay for.

I already have a pitch deck. I just want feedback. Can you help?

Yes. I charge by the hour. We cn review your current deck and work from there. If you've done most of the work, you'll only need a few hours from me to polish it up and make sure you've avoided common mistakes.

Will your pitch deck get my startup funded?

It depends. As I explain in my pitch deck guide, investors are looking for the highest returns with the least risk. So your chances of getting funding are directly tied to your startup's risk and return profile, which is something I cannot control.

What I can promise is I can help you build a pitch deck that proactively addresses the three common risk factors — namely, market risk, product risk, and execution risk — while also providing a realistic yet attractive financial model that promises superior investment returns.

Put another way, I'll help you deliver the best possible pitch with what you've got to work with. I'll also identify where you might have information gaps to plug before you approach investors. Those two things will not guarantee you get funded, but they'll make it more likely.

I've see several pitch deck templates. Why do I need your help to fill in the blanks?

Great question. Anyone can buy a recipe book. But it takes an expert chef to bring those recipes to life and create delicious meals that delight diners. If you're able to produce a great pitch deck from a template without any help from me or anyone else then great. But most founders don't build pitch decks for a living, so they inevitably waste time without expert guidance.

How important is pitch deck design?

Content is king. Deck design is icing on the cake. While your pitch deck must obviously look clean and professional, pitch deck design alone is not going to get you funded. When it comes to design, less is more. Investors care far more about your answers to their questions than your deck design. The best deck design enhances your content but does not dominate it. Take a look at AirBnB's classic pitch deck and note how its clean and simple design conveys professionalism without overpowering the pitch.

Will I have a say in my pitch deck's design?

Absolutely. I'll ask you to provide a visual style guide plus examples of deck designs you like. If you don't yet have a visual style guide, I'll use your website design as a proxy style guide.

Will I own the copyright to the pitch deck you build for me?

Yes. Our pitch deck consulting agreement will clearly state that my work product is your sole intellectual property.

Do you offer investor introductions?

Sorry, no. But I can give you some suggestions on where and how to build your target investor list.

Can I pay you with company stock?

Sorry, no.

Will you sign an NDA?

Sure, if you really think it's necessary. But know that most investors will not sign an NDA before reviewing a pitch deck.

Where are you located?

I'm in Newport Beach, CA, about an hour south of Los Angeles. I work on Pacific Time.

I'm interested. What's our next step?

Purchase one of my pitch deck services or contact me and let me know how I can help you.

Partners

Do you need help preparing detailed financial projections? My friends at ProjectionHub offer 70+ unique, CPA developed, financial forecast worksheet templates to help you provide investor-ready projections in no time at all.

Got questions?

Contact me