One slide fixed
One slide fixed #1: the ask slide
One slide, the question an investor asks about it, the arithmetic and the fix. In this issue: where the ask goes, and the one line it needs.
By Amer Habeeb. Published . 2-minute read.
Both slides below come from Hearthfold, a fictional company, and every figure comes from its model. You can page through all 20 slides of its seed deck.
The slide: the ask as a closing slide
A common layout states the ask once, on the last slide. Hearthfold's slide 20 shows what that closing slide should carry: $3.5M, the milestones it reaches by Aug 2028, the runway, the use of funds and the terms. If it were the only place the ask appeared, it would arrive after the investor has already formed a view.
The question an investor asks
“What does $3.5M buy, and does the cash last until you get there?” An investor wants that answer before the story, because it decides how every later slide is read.
The arithmetic
The fix: one line on slide 2
Put the ask on slide 2, as one line: the amount, the milestone as a number, and the month. Hearthfold's summary slide opens with it: $3.5M takes Hearthfold from 11 pilot agencies to the $3.0M ARR Series A gate by Aug 2028. Every slide after it reads as evidence for that line, and slide 20 repeats it with the runway, the cash low, the use of funds and the terms.
Check yours
- Write your ask as one sentence: the amount, the milestone as a number, and the month you reach it.
- Find that month in your model's monthly cash. Cash should stay above zero until then, with months to spare.
- Put the sentence on slide 2, and repeat it with the terms on your last slide.
The full 20-slide order, and the six questions an investor tests on it, are in the seed deck guide's section on slide order.
Want this on your whole deck?
The Investor Read is free. Send the deck you have, and your model if there is one. Within 2 business days (India time) you get one written page: where investors will push hardest, two fixes you can make today, and what already holds up.
Want to see the format first? See the full sample
How this note was made: written with Claude from the method I use on every read and the Hearthfold sample model. Every Hearthfold number on this page comes from that model.