Pitch deck guide
Pitch deck scoring rubric: eight dimensions, stage weights and bands
Last verified: October 20, 2026
The getfund pitch deck scoring rubric is the published method behind the free deck scorer. It rates a deck on eight dimensions from zero to five, weights them by funding stage, and adds deterministic checks that a script can count. The total reads as one of three bands: ready to send, tighten first, or not ready yet.
The eight dimensions and what each score needs
The getfund rubric v1 scores every dimension from 0 to 5 against written anchors, so each score can be traced to a sentence in the deck. In the getfund rubric v1, an anchor that begins "As 4" also needs everything a 4 needs. The getfund rubric v1 table shows what a 0, a 3 and a 5 need.
| Dimension | Score 0 | Score 3 | Score 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Problem clarity | No slide states a problem. | A specific customer and pain, with one concrete example, quote or number. | As 4, and the deck shows why the current alternatives fail this customer. |
| Solution and product evidence | No solution or product is described. | The product is shown (screenshot, photo, demo or step-by-step workflow) and tied to the stated problem. | As 4, plus a defensible advantage (patent, proprietary data, network effect, exclusive distribution) backed by evidence. |
| Market and why now | Neither a market size nor a reason why now. | A size for the target segment (sourced or bottom-up) and a stated why-now. | As 4, with the why-now backed by data and a path from the first segment to a larger market. |
| Business model | No way of making money is stated. | Price and who pays, plus at least one unit-economics figure (gross margin, CAC, LTV, payback, revenue per customer). | As 4, with measured (not projected) unit economics and a stated path to scale. |
| Traction and evidence quality | No traction, validation or milestones. | Dated figures of real usage or revenue, or named paying customers or pilots. | Sustained growth in revenue or retention with cohort or unit detail and a verifiable source. |
| Team | No team information. | Relevant experience (domain, technical or commercial: employer, years, degree) stated for each founder. | As 4, with a track record that directly de-risks this plan (built and scaled a similar product or company). |
| Ask and use of funds | No funding ask. | An amount and a use-of-funds breakdown in percentages or amounts. | As 4, with milestones tied to the next round's metrics, or the round's terms or committed investors. |
| Design and readability | Unreadable: slides are walls of text, broken or illegible. | Consistent styling, one main idea on most slides, legible charts; at most two overloaded slides. | As 4, and the deck reads without a presenter: every slide is understood in a few seconds. |
Stage weights
The getfund rubric v1 splits 80 judged points across the eight dimensions and the split changes with the stage: pre-seed puts the most points on team (18) and problem clarity (14), seed puts the most points on traction and evidence quality (18) and business model (13), series A puts the most points on traction and evidence quality (22) and business model (13).
| Dimension | Pre-seed | Seed | Series A |
|---|---|---|---|
| Problem clarity | 14 | 10 | 6 |
| Solution and product evidence | 10 | 10 | 8 |
| Market and why now | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Business model | 6 | 13 | 13 |
| Traction and evidence quality | 6 | 18 | 22 |
| Team | 18 | 9 | 8 |
| Ask and use of funds | 8 | 5 | 8 |
| Design and readability | 8 | 5 | 5 |
Pick the stage you are raising at: the same deck can score differently under each stage because the weights differ.
Bands
The getfund rubric v1 total is out of 100: 80 points come from the judged dimensions and 20 from the deterministic checks, and the total falls in one of three bands.
| Band | From | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Ready to send | 80 | Send it after a last proofread. |
| Tighten before sending | 60 | Fix the top three issues first. |
| Not ready yet | 0 | Rework the weakest dimensions before you send it. |
Bands are a reading aid, not a prediction. The rubric measures how clearly a deck communicates, not whether an investor will fund the company.
The deterministic points
The getfund rubric v1 keeps 20 points for checks a script can count in the text of the PDF, so they give the same result on every run.
| Check | Points | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Page count | 4 | 10 to 20 pages for a deck sent to be read (10 to 14 to present live): full points inside 10-20, none outside. |
| Words per slide | 4 | Median words per slide at most 50: full points; at most 75: half; above: none. |
| Text density | 3 | Share of slides over 100 words: at most 10% full points, at most 25% half, above none. |
| Required sections | 4 | Problem, solution, market, business model, traction, team and ask, each found by keyword in English or Turkish: points in proportion to the sections found. |
| Market figures with a source | 3 | Every slide that sizes a market (a market word next to a money amount or a percentage) also names a source or links one: points in proportion to the sourced slides, full points when no slide sizes a market. |
| Contact details | 2 | An e-mail address, website or phone number anywhere in the deck. |
How confidence and ranges work
The getfund rubric v1 runs the visual judge three times at temperature 0 and takes the median score of each dimension, so one odd run does not move the result.
In the getfund rubric v1 a separate text judge reads only the extracted text for the narrative dimensions, and a dimension where the two judges differ by more than 2 points is marked low confidence and widens the range of the total.
Every dimension has to quote the deck and name a slide number. A quote that cannot be found on that page is shown as unverified.
A result therefore reads as a total with a range, not as one exact number.
How to use the rubric on your own deck
- Read the anchors of the dimension that carries the most weight at your stage first.
- Fix the lowest scores in the heaviest dimensions before you polish a slide that is already strong.
- Fix the deterministic points last: they are the quickest to move.
- Score again after each round of edits and compare the evidence quotes, not only the total.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the rubric public?
- Yes. The anchors, weights and checks are published on this page and on the scorer page, and the scorer is built from exactly these texts. Nothing is scored on a hidden criterion.
- Does a high score mean investors will fund me?
- No. The rubric measures how clearly a deck communicates evidence. It has not been tested against funding outcomes, so treat the bands as a reading aid.
- Why are some points deterministic?
- The getfund rubric v1 reserves 20 points for facts a script can verify, such as page count and words per slide, so part of the score never depends on a model's judgment.
- What does low confidence mean?
- The judges disagreed on that dimension or its runs spread out. Read its evidence quote and slide number, and treat the score as a range.
- Which stage should I pick?
- The round you are raising now. The weights change by stage, so the same deck can land in a different band.
Sources
- getfund rubric v1, published on the pitch deck scorer page
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