Founders often ask for a library of example decks. The more useful library is a library of your own artifacts: the deck variants and exhibits you will be asked for during a round. Assembled once, it covers well over a hundred distinct requests. Below is the index, grouped so you can build only the branches that apply to you.
Core deck variants (7)
- Send-ahead deck - self-explanatory, readable without narration, 12 slides.
- Presentation deck - sparser, built to be spoken over.
- One-pager - company, metrics, ask, contact.
- Teaser - anonymised where needed, safe to forward.
- Demo-day deck - 3 to 5 slides, timed.
- Partner-meeting deck - the send-ahead deck plus appendix, for the full-partnership session.
- Update deck - the monthly investor update format reused for warm re-engagement.
Stage-specific exhibits
- Pre-seed: problem interview log, prototype walkthrough, design partner letters, founder background note, bottom-up market model.
- Seed: monthly cohort retention, channel test results, pricing experiment log, pipeline snapshot, 18-month operating model.
- Series A: CAC and payback by channel, net revenue retention build, sales capacity model, org chart with planned hires, competitive win-loss analysis.
- Growth: segment P&L, burn multiple history, cohort LTV build, pricing architecture, expansion revenue analysis, cap table waterfall.
Sector-specific requirements
- SaaS: ARR bridge, logo and revenue churn split, expansion versus new, sales efficiency, implementation timeline.
- Marketplace: liquidity by cohort, take rate build, supply and demand acquisition costs separately, repeat rate on both sides, disintermediation analysis.
- Fintech: unit economics net of credit losses, regulatory licences held or applied for, partner bank or NBFC arrangements, fraud and collections data, capital adequacy plan.
- Consumer: retention curves by acquisition cohort, contribution margin after delivery and returns, repeat purchase frequency, organic share of installs.
- Deeptech and hardware: technology readiness level, bill of materials and cost curve, IP position and filings, pilot results with named partners, certification pathway.
- Healthcare: clinical or outcome evidence, regulatory pathway, reimbursement or payer model, data protection posture, clinician adoption data.
- B2B services productisation: gross margin by delivery model, utilisation, share of revenue from repeatable product versus bespoke work.
Diligence exhibits requested in almost every round
- Cap table with all instruments and ESOP, plus a post-money waterfall.
- Monthly management accounts for 24 months.
- Bank statements, GST and TDS filing status.
- Customer contracts and the top-ten customer concentration analysis.
- Employment agreements, IP assignments and contractor assignments.
- Statutory registers, ROC filing history and board resolutions.
- Product architecture note and security posture summary.
How to build the library without drowning
Build the seven core variants once and derive everything else from two source files: an operating model and a metrics workbook. Each exhibit should be a view of those files, exported on request, never a separately maintained document.
Add exhibits reactively but permanently: the first time an investor asks for something you do not have, build it properly and add it to the index. After two rounds, the library is complete and each subsequent process is materially faster.