Pitch deck guide
Series A pitch deck checklist: twelve items mapped to the rubric
Last verified: October 20, 2026
A series A pitch deck checklist lists what a deck has to prove once a company has customers and revenue: a growth trend investors can check, measured unit economics, a repeatable way of selling, a defensible advantage and a plan tied to the next round. This one maps twelve items to the getfund rubric for series A.
What investors read at series A
Neither DocSend 2020 pre-seed research nor Y Combinator's 2018 seed deck guide covers series A decks, so this guide draws its figures only from the getfund rubric v1.
In the getfund rubric v1 the top traction score needs sustained growth in revenue or retention with cohort or unit detail and a verifiable source, and the top business-model score needs measured, not projected, unit economics.
That is why series A puts the most points on traction, then on business model.
Rubric weights at series A
In the getfund rubric v1, series A puts the most points on traction and evidence quality (22), business model (13), market and why now (10), out of 80 judged points.
| Dimension | Points |
|---|---|
| Traction and evidence quality | 22 |
| Business model | 13 |
| Market and why now | 10 |
| Solution and product evidence | 8 |
| Team | 8 |
| Ask and use of funds | 8 |
| Problem clarity | 6 |
| Design and readability | 5 |
The twelve-item checklist
Each item belongs to one rubric dimension. Check the list against your deck slide by slide and fix the items you cannot tick.
- Show revenue or retention as a trend over several periods, with one metric defined once.Rubric: Traction and evidence quality
- Add cohort or unit detail that lets an investor check the trend.Rubric: Traction and evidence quality
- Name customers and show plainly how much of revenue the largest ones represent.Rubric: Traction and evidence quality
- Show measured unit economics, not projections: gross margin, acquisition cost and payback.Rubric: Business model
- Describe the repeatable sales or distribution motion and its measured results.Rubric: Business model
- Show the path from the first segment to the larger market, with sources.Rubric: Market and why now
- Back the why-now with data, not with a trend word.Rubric: Market and why now
- Show a defensible advantage with evidence: proprietary data, a patent or exclusive distribution.Rubric: Solution and product evidence
- Show with your own data why the alternatives fail the customer.Rubric: Problem clarity
- Show who owns product, technology and sales today, and the hires the round adds.Rubric: Team
- Tie the amount to milestones that match the next round's metrics, and state terms or committed investors if there are any.Rubric: Ask and use of funds
- Make the deck readable without a presenter: every slide understood in seconds.Rubric: Design and readability
Common failures
- A growth rate with no base figure or dates behind it.
- Blended metrics that hide how new and existing customers behave.
- Unit economics that are projected and presented as measured.
- No cohort or customer detail, so the trend cannot be checked.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a series A deck scored differently?
- By weight. The getfund rubric v1 gives traction the most points at series A, then business model, so evidence that can be checked counts for most.
- Do the DocSend 2020 and Y Combinator 2018 figures apply?
- No. The DocSend 2020 research covered pre-seed decks and the Y Combinator 2018 guide covers seed decks, so this guide cites neither for series A.
- What does measured unit economics mean?
- Figures taken from real customers over a stated period, such as gross margin or payback time. Projections are fine if they are labelled and kept apart.
Sources
- getfund rubric v1, published on the pitch deck scorer page
- DocSend, 2020 pre-seed pitch deck research (not applied to series A)
- Y Combinator, 2018 seed deck guide (not applied to series A)
More pitch deck guides
Score your deck free
Upload your pitch deck PDF and see how it scores against this rubric, with your three most useful fixes. No account needed.