The Financials Slide in Your Pitch Deck
The numbers slide matters because it compresses the economic story of the business into one investor-readable summary: growth, margin, burn, runway, and funding need. It works best when every number comes from one model, so the figures agree with each other and with the rest of the deck.
· Updated · 3 min read
On this page
- The finance slide compresses growth, margin, burn, runway, and the ask into one view.
- Check the slide's own arithmetic before an investor does: ARR, MRR, cash, burn and runway should all agree.
- If the slide's numbers disagree with each other, investors will notice the first time they check one against another.
- Keep the slide tied to live assumptions so it stays consistent with the rest of the deck.
A finance slide that survives questions
The follow-ups usually come in pairs: what does that burn buy, and how does the raise change runway? If every number on the slide comes from the same model, you can answer both from the slide itself.
Charts that drift from the model
| Feature | Startup Suite | A spreadsheet |
|---|---|---|
| The slide | Built to keep the slide tied to live assumptions | Can produce the chart |
| Consistency | Slide-to-model traceability | Easy to create disconnected visuals |
- The slide
- Built to keep the slide tied to live assumptions
- Consistency
- Slide-to-model traceability
- The slide
- Can produce the chart
- Consistency
- Easy to create disconnected visuals
Keeping the slide current
Decks often go out with burn from one month and runway from another. Whenever an assumption changes, regenerate the slide from the model instead of editing numbers by hand, and date the slide so readers know which month it reflects.
Generating the slide in Pitch Studio
Startup Suite's Pitch Studio is built to produce the finance slide from the same assumptions that drive your forecast, so you don't have to rebuild it by hand.
Pitch Studio: the finance slide, from your model
- Built to generate the finance slide from your model.
- Designed to keep growth, margin, burn, runway, and the ask consistent with the forecast.
- Intended to refresh the slide when an assumption changes.
A one-slide finance summary
A strong one-slide finance summary might show the following at a glance:
- ARR now: $240,000, up from $120,000 a year ago
- Gross margin: 68 percent
- Monthly burn: $18,000
- Runway: 11 months
- Raise target: $450,000 (25 more months at today's burn)
- Milestone: reach $40,000 of MRR
Why it works: The numbers check against each other. $240,000 of ARR is $20,000 of MRR, so the milestone means doubling it. Eleven months at $18,000 a month implies about $198,000 in the bank. An investor who does that arithmetic and gets your answer will trust the rest of the slide more.
What goes on the finance slide
Frequently asked questions
How many numbers belong on the slide?
Five or six: growth, gross margin, burn, runway, the raise and the milestone it funds. Detail beyond that belongs in the appendix or data room.
Should the slide match the rest of the deck?
Yes. It should reconcile with every other number you present, which is why it should come from one model.
What makes a finance slide fail?
Numbers that disagree with each other: an ARR that isn't 12 times the MRR, or a runway that isn't cash divided by burn. That usually happens when the slide is edited by hand instead of taken from the model.
Still have questions? Talk to the team.
