ITR #008: The "Uber Test" for Pitch Decks

Welcome to the latest edition of “Into the Ring” - a warm welcome to my new subscribers and thank you to my existing subscribers! As a reminder, I’m Jorian Hoover and I’m a Startup Fundraising Sparring Partner:

• I guide Pre-Seed thru Series A founders through their fundraising preparation & execution process. Since 2022, I’ve helped 30+ founders raise over $130M.

• My Startup Fundraising Package includes a built-for-you fundraising plan, a custom Notion fundraising hub, live 1:1 sessions, offline support with materials creation/investor list research, and more. Check out how to work with me here.

Now on to today’s newsletter topic: building a pitch deck ready for the “Uber Test.”

The Brutal Reality of Pitch Decks

Founders spend hours, days, or even weeks perfecting their pitch decks. They tweak every slide, agonize over details, and imagine investors poring over their carefully crafted narratives. But here’s the reality: most investors will only spend 30 seconds skimming your deck before deciding whether to engage further.

Yes, 30 seconds.

Picture this: a VC is in the back of an Uber, heading to their next meeting. Between Slack notifications and emails, they open your deck on their phone and start scrolling. If your startup’s story isn’t clear in that moment, you’ve already lost them.

This is what I call the Uber Test—the ability of your pitch deck to communicate its core message in a fast, frictionless way. If your deck passes, the investor leans in and books a meeting. If it fails, they move on, and your chance at funding vanishes.

Most decks don’t pass the Uber Test. But yours can. Here’s how.

What Is the Uber Test?

The Uber Test is a thought experiment that reflects how VCs actually interact with pitch decks. It’s based on three key realities:

1. Investors get thousands of decks annually but only have time for a few hundred meetings.

2. Most decks are skimmed, not deeply analyzed, especially in the early filtering stages.

3. If your startup’s story isn’t immediately clear, investors won’t go digging for it.

Your deck isn’t just competing with other startups—it’s competing for an investor’s limited attention. They don’t have time to decipher your business model, decipher dense text, or sift through excessive slides. Your job is to make every second count.

And this isn’t just about email pitches. Even in live pitch meetings, you want investors to focus on what you’re saying, not struggling to process cluttered slides. And if your deck gets passed around to an investment committee? Same challenge—it needs to be instantly scannable for decision-makers who weren’t in the room.

So, how do you build a deck that survives the Uber Test? Let’s break it down.

How to Ensure Your Deck Passes the Uber Test

1) Headline Power: Slide Titles Should Tell the Story

Every slide in your deck should be scannable. That means your slide title should tell the main takeaway of the slide.

Bad example: Market Size

Better example: We’re tackling a $10B market growing 20% YoY.

If a VC only reads the slide titles, they should already get the broad strokes of your business. The supporting visuals and bullet points should enhance understanding, not be required to grasp the point.

2) Easy on the Eyes: A Fresh, Uncluttered Design

Many founders assume content is everything. But design is key to engagement. If your deck is visually overwhelming, investors will disengage before they absorb your message.

Key design principles:

• Whitespace is your friend. Don’t crowd slides with too much information.

• Use high-quality visuals and charts. A simple, well-designed graph is more effective than a paragraph of text.

• Choose a modern, clean font. Avoid tiny text or outdated PowerPoint-style templates.

• Be consistent. A deck with five different fonts and colors screams “unpolished.”

Good design doesn’t mean over-the-top graphics. It means clarity, simplicity, and effortless scannability.

3) Slide Count Discipline: Keep It to Around 12 Slides

Your deck should be around 12 slides. Many founders try to cram 30+ slides into their deck, thinking more detail equals more credibility. It doesn’t. It just overwhelms investors.

Here is an example of what the 12 slides could look like:

1. Cover Slide

2. Problem

3. Solution

4. Product Overview

5. Market Opportunity

6. Business Model

7. Traction

8. Go-To-Market Strategy

9. Competitive Landscape

10. Financials

11. Team

12. Fundraising Ask/Use of Funds

Anything beyond your core deck should go in an appendix (which you shouldn’t include when emailing your deck). The core deck should be lean and punchy.

4) Minimal Text, Maximum Impact

Investors don’t want to read essays. They skim. Every slide should follow a “less is more” approach.

• Keep bullet points short. One line, not full sentences.

• Use visuals instead of text where possible. Charts > Paragraphs.

• Layer information smartly. The slide should show the big idea, with supporting info available if they want to dig deeper.

Bad example:

A 3-paragraph block of text explaining how the company operates.

Better example:

Header: We’ve built a capital-efficient, high-margin SaaS model.

• ARR: $500K

• Gross Margins: 80%

• Growth: 50% MoM

Concise. Clear. Memorable.

How to Ensure Your Deck Passes the Uber Test

Now, let’s put your deck to the test.

Step 1: Pull up your pitch deck on your phone. No laptop. No zooming in.

Step 2: Give yourself 30 seconds to scroll through.

Step 3: Ask yourself: If you were a VC, would you immediately understand:

• What the company does?

• Why it’s exciting?

• What the key takeaways from each slide are?

If not, your deck fails the Uber Test.

Remember: Investors won’t give your deck the benefit of the doubt. If they have to work hard to understand your story, they won’t.

So make it effortless for them.

Take the Uber Test. Then refine, simplify, and sharpen your pitch deck until passing it is a no-brainer.

Your next investor meeting might just depend on it.

👉Need help getting your pitch deck “Uber Test” ready? I would love to help.

Every other week, I’ll be reaching out to my network to get their take on important questions on every aspect of fundraising. Got a question you’d like me to ask? Let me know.

Q: What factors did you consider when deciding how much capital to raise?

Thanks for stepping Into the Ring 🙏

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