Pitch deck design agency, freelancer or template: which fits a seed raise

A disclosure first: I work alone, and this site is not an agency

I build seed decks and financial models myself, from Nalgonda, India. There is no studio and no team behind this site. You deal with me from the first read to the final file.

This guide compares the options anyway, because the right choice for your raise may not be me. Where I describe agencies, I describe a category, not a firm. Where a figure comes from a provider's own page, that page is listed under Sources at the end, with the date I checked it. Naming a page there is a citation, not a recommendation.

Four options, and what each one is for

Before a seed raise, most decks get made in one of four ways. Each one fixes a different problem, so start with the problem.

• A template. A slide file you fill in yourself. It gives you a structure and a look. It checks nothing, and the writing is yours.
• A design agency. A studio with a sales team, designers and often writers. It is strongest on visual polish and on large or complex decks.
• A freelancer. One person who does the work and talks to you directly. Quality varies most here, so the questions later in this guide matter most.
• A fractional CFO. A part-time finance lead on a monthly retainer, for budgets, board reports and a forecast kept current. It is the right hire when you need finance help every month, after the raise as well. It is not what I do.

The table on my services page sets these options side by side on how each starts, whether the numbers are checked and how pricing works.

How each one starts: a download, a call or a message

How a provider starts tells you what it expects from you.

• Template: a download. Your first draft starts tonight, and you write all of it.
• Agency: a form, then a call. Both agencies I checked for this guide start a writing project with a call, and the price for a full project follows it.
• Freelancer: a message, often on a marketplace, and often a fixed package you can order directly.
• Fractional CFO: a call, then a monthly agreement.

With me it starts with the deck you already have. You send it, with your model if there is one, and you get one written page back: where investors will push hardest, two fixes you can make today, and what already holds up. No call is needed, and the read does not commit you to anything.

Whether your numbers get checked against your model

This is the difference that shows up in the meeting. A design-first service makes the slides look right. Whether the figures on them agree with your model is usually outside the brief, because the brief is the design.

An investor reads the other way round. Every number on a slide is a claim, and each claim is tested against the model and against the other slides. A beautiful slide with a number the model does not support costs more than a plain one.

Before you pay anyone, ask one question: will you check every figure on a slide against my model, and tell me in writing where they disagree? If you would like that check run on your own deck first, send me the deck and the model. Every point in the reply names the slide, the number and the fix.

Published prices, by category

These are starting prices that providers publish on their own pages, as of the date under Sources. They change, so treat them as a range, not a quote.

• Template: the lowest cost of the four. You pay with your own time.
• Agency, design only: $799 to redesign a deck of up to 20 slides at one agency; from $100 a slide at another. You supply the words and the numbers.
• Agency, writing and design: starting prices of $5,000 to $6,000.
• Custom financial model: from $3,000 at one agency, and $1,000 to $10,000 at one modeling practice.
• Fractional CFO: from $2,000 a month at one practice.
• Freelancer: set by the person. Mine are fixed and listed: $95 for a deck of 12 to 15 slides, and $295 for a deck with a 3-year model, both on Fiverr. A model on its own is quoted in writing before any work starts.

A low price is rarely the risk. The risk is paying for design when your problem is the numbers, or for a model when your problem is the story. The pricing page lists what each of my packages includes.

Time to delivery: weeks or days

Agency writing projects usually run to weeks. One agency page gives about 2 weeks from kickoff to final delivery, including revisions, with a first full deck on days 4 to 8 and an urgent option from 2 business days; the other gives 3 to 4 weeks. A design-only redesign of a deck you have already written is faster: one agency lists 4 business days.

My two packages are measured in days, counted from the order: 6 days for the deck and 7 days for the deck with its model, as listed on the Fiverr gig.

Order matters more than speed. If the model changes after the deck is designed, the deck changes again, and every redesign is a chance for a slide and a cell to drift apart. Build the model first and the deck from it. The model, built step by step shows that order on one sample company.

What you own afterwards

The deck will be edited the night before a meeting, and the model will be changed in diligence. Ask for three things in writing: the editable deck file, the PDF, and the model with every formula intact. Ask whether fonts and stock images inside carry their own licenses.

Then read the terms for limits on editing. One published model contract says that once you disclose a deliverable, you “shall not alter, edit or modify it” from the form provided. A model you may not change is a problem the first time an investor asks, “What if you charge less?”

With me, the files are yours: the editable deck in PowerPoint, Google Slides or Canva, the PDF, and the Excel model with live formulas. Any fonts or stock images inside keep their own licenses.

How you talk: calls or writing, and whose time zone

Agencies run on calls: a discovery call, a kickoff, review sessions. Calls suit anyone who thinks out loud. Check when they happen, in your own time zone, before you book one.

I work in writing. The read, the quote, my questions and each round of changes come as written lists, so nothing depends on a time zone, and you keep a record of what was agreed. During a project I reply within 1 business day (India time).

A decision rule

Name your deck's problem first, then pick the option that fixes that problem.

1. You need finance help every month, after the raise too: hire a fractional CFO.
2. Your numbers are final, the deck is large or highly visual, and you have weeks: a design agency fits.
3. Your numbers are final and the deck needs to carry them clearly: a freelancer or a fixed-price deck package is enough.
4. Your deck and your numbers disagree, or you have no model yet: hire someone who builds the model first and the deck from it.
5. You have time and no budget: start from a template and run the questions below yourself.

Check yours

Ask any provider these questions before you pay, and keep the answers in writing.

1. Will you check every figure on a slide against my model, and list where they disagree?
2. What exactly is the price, and what would change it?
3. How many days to the first full draft, counted from when?
4. How many revision rounds, and what counts as one round?
5. Which files do I get, in which formats, and may I edit them afterwards?
6. Does the work run by call or in writing, and in which hours?
7. Who does the work, and who answers my questions?

Find out which gap you have before you choose

The rule above depends on one thing you may not know yet: whether your deck's problem is the design, the numbers, or both.