Is the pitch deck culture making founders worse at building businesses?
I've reviewed hundreds of decks as an early-stage fund manager. The decks have gotten better every year. The businesses underneath them haven't kept pace. My observation: founders optimize for the 5-minute impression. Investors evaluate for the 5-year business. The pitch coaching industry selects for performance over clarity. The best decks I've seen are often less polished — but they answer every investor question before it's asked. Curious whether others — founders, investors, operators — see the same pattern. Is the deck a useful forcing function or a distraction from the actual work? I wrote about this here if useful context: [https://ift.tt/XCeKdxL] 0 comments on Hacker News.
I've reviewed hundreds of decks as an early-stage fund manager. The decks have gotten better every year. The businesses underneath them haven't kept pace. My observation: founders optimize for the 5-minute impression. Investors evaluate for the 5-year business. The pitch coaching industry selects for performance over clarity. The best decks I've seen are often less polished — but they answer every investor question before it's asked. Curious whether others — founders, investors, operators — see the same pattern. Is the deck a useful forcing function or a distraction from the actual work? I wrote about this here if useful context: [https://ift.tt/XCeKdxL]
I've reviewed hundreds of decks as an early-stage fund manager. The decks have gotten better every year. The businesses underneath them haven't kept pace. My observation: founders optimize for the 5-minute impression. Investors evaluate for the 5-year business. The pitch coaching industry selects for performance over clarity. The best decks I've seen are often less polished — but they answer every investor question before it's asked. Curious whether others — founders, investors, operators — see the same pattern. Is the deck a useful forcing function or a distraction from the actual work? I wrote about this here if useful context: [https://ift.tt/XCeKdxL] 0 comments on Hacker News.
I've reviewed hundreds of decks as an early-stage fund manager. The decks have gotten better every year. The businesses underneath them haven't kept pace. My observation: founders optimize for the 5-minute impression. Investors evaluate for the 5-year business. The pitch coaching industry selects for performance over clarity. The best decks I've seen are often less polished — but they answer every investor question before it's asked. Curious whether others — founders, investors, operators — see the same pattern. Is the deck a useful forcing function or a distraction from the actual work? I wrote about this here if useful context: [https://ift.tt/XCeKdxL]
Hacker News story: Is the pitch deck culture making founders worse at building businesses?
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Reviewed by Tha Kur
on
April 11, 2026
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