Kerbside demo day pitch
Pitch deck cover slide example for a demo day
A pitch deck cover has about four seconds to say who is presenting, what they do and what they are raising, because the room is still settling when it goes up. This one belongs to Kerbside, a fictional kerbside charging startup presenting at a demo day.
What is on the slide
- Top rail
- DEMO DAY on the left, MARCH 2027 and SEED ROUND on the right, over a hairline that runs the width of the slide.
- Title
- Kerbside, set as an oversized white display word on a dark gradient canvas.
- The claim
- Charging for the 60% who rent, on one line under an accent rule.
- Byline rail
- Ana Petrovic at the lower left, with CO FOUNDER AND CEO, KERBSIDE at the lower right.
When this is the right slide
A dark full bleed typographic cover suits a pitch where the company name is the strongest asset on the slide and the room is lit for a stage rather than for a boardroom table.
What to swap it for
Cover: Minimal Typographic. Swap to the minimal typographic cover for a quieter room, such as a partner meeting or a diligence session where a dark stage cover reads as louder than the conversation.
What this slide shows
The canvas is a dark brand gradient with faint concentric circles in the lower right. A thin meta rail runs across the top: DEMO DAY at the left as a small uppercase eyebrow, MARCH 2027 and SEED ROUND at the right, separated by a middle dot, with a hairline rule underneath. The company name, Kerbside, sits below that as an oversized white display word taking the upper middle of the slide. A short accent rule sits beneath it, then the claim on one line: Charging for the 60% who rent. A second hairline runs near the foot of the slide, and under it the byline rail carries Ana Petrovic at the left and CO FOUNDER AND CEO, KERBSIDE at the right. There is no photograph, no logo image and no product shot, so the slide holds six pieces of text and two rules, which is what a stage cover can afford.
When this is the right slide
Use it for a pitch delivered from a stage: demo day, an accelerator showcase, an investor showcase or a conference pitch competition. Those rooms are darkened, the screen is large, and the cover is on screen while the presenter is still walking on, so the slide has to work without narration. It is the right choice when the company name is short and memorable enough to carry the whole canvas. It is the wrong slide for a cover that has to do product explanation, because there is no room for a screenshot or a diagram, and equally wrong for a quiet meeting where a dark full bleed feels theatrical. A seed deck sent by email rather than presented is also better served by a lighter cover, since a reader scrolling on a laptop has no stage to match.
How to adapt it
First, decide what the top rail is for and keep it to two facts. Date and round is the usual pair for a pitch. If the deck is going to a single firm, the firm name belongs there instead of the event, and if it is a follow on conversation, the meeting number does. Second, write the claim as a sentence a listener could repeat to a colleague. Charging for the 60% who rent survives that test because it carries an audience and a number. Rewriting it as the future of urban energy does not, and no amount of type size will fix it. Third, if the deck will be read rather than presented, move the round and the raise into the claim line and drop the event eyebrow, because an email reader has no event context to anchor on. Where the room is small and lit, the minimal typographic cover carries the same four facts without the stage styling.
What makes this slide work
The round and the date sit on the top rail
MARCH 2027 and SEED ROUND are the two facts an investor needs before the first slide changes, and they sit on the meta rail where the eye lands after the eyebrow. A cover that leaves the round to slide fourteen makes every listener carry an open question through the first third of the pitch, which is attention spent on the wrong thing.
The claim is one line and names a number
Charging for the 60% who rent is nine words and contains the market in a single figure. It is not a tagline about the future of mobility; it says which people the product is for and how many of them there are. A cover line that could belong to any company in the sector gives the audience nothing to hold while the founder walks to the lectern.
The name is the only large element
Kerbside fills the middle of the slide and nothing competes with it: no logo lockup, no product shot, no background photograph. On a lit stage a dark canvas with one white word stays legible from the back row, and the audience leaves with the name rather than with a picture of a car park.
Questions people ask
What has to be on a pitch deck cover slide?
The company name, one line saying what it does, and the context of the meeting: the date and the round, or the firm being pitched. Four facts is the working maximum. Anything else, including the logo lockup, the website and the tagline that hedges the claim, competes with the name at exactly the moment the room is deciding whether to pay attention.
Should the amount being raised go on the cover?
The stage of the round belongs there; the figure usually does not. Seed round tells an investor how to listen to the next ten slides, while a dollar amount printed before any traction is shown invites a valuation conversation before the story. Put the amount on the ask slide, where the use of funds sits beside it and can justify it.
How many words should a cover claim carry?
Between six and twelve. Long enough to name who the product is for and what it does, short enough to sit on one line at display size. If the claim needs a subordinate clause, it is describing a mechanism rather than a market, and that belongs on the problem slide where there is room to explain it properly.
Does a pitch cover need a photograph?
No, and on a stage it is often worse with one. A dark typographic cover stays legible under any projector, while a photograph fights the title unless it is dark and blurred to the point of being decorative. Use imagery on the cover when the product is physical and recognisable, and keep it typographic when the product is software or a service.
When should a cover become two slides?
Never, but the work it is carrying might belong elsewhere. If the cover is trying to hold the claim, the market size and the traction headline, move the last two to the slides built for them. A cover that has been split is usually a sign that the deck has no clear problem slide, and adding a second title slide does not fix that.
How should a pitch cover be presented out loud?
Say the name, then the claim, then stop and move on. The cover is on screen for the walk to the lectern and the first fifteen seconds; it is not a slide to talk over. Founders who narrate the cover tend to start the pitch twice, once on the cover and again on the problem slide, and the room hears the repetition.
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