Pitch Deck Due Diligence Checklist for Founders: Audit Your Deck Before Investors Do

Most pitch deck feedback focuses on design, storytelling, and narrative flow. This checklist is different. It covers the 50+ items that investors specifically check during due diligence — the things that kill deals in the verification stage, not the pitch stage. Use this to audit your deck, your team's digital footprint, your financials, and your data room before you send your first investor email.

How to Use This Checklist

Work through each section as if you are an investor seeing your company for the first time. For each item, ask not just "is this correct?" but "can this be verified independently, and does the verification confirm what my deck says?" That second question is what matters during due diligence. A claim that is true but cannot be independently verified still creates credibility friction. A claim that is true and verifiable builds trust at every layer of the investigation.

Items marked as critical are the ones that most frequently kill deals when they fail. Do not skip them because they feel uncomfortable — they are uncomfortable precisely because they are high-stakes.

Section 1: Deck Content Checklist

Problem & Solution slide:

• ✓ The problem is specific — it names a specific customer, a specific pain, and a specific consequence of that pain.
• ✓ The problem is urgent — customers are actively looking for a solution, not passively aware of the issue.
• ✓ The solution is a "10x improvement" over existing alternatives — not a 20% improvement, but a step-change.
• ✓ The solution narrative is supported by real customer quotes or customer discovery findings.

Market size slide:

• ✓ TAM is derived from a bottom-up calculation, not a top-down estimate from a consulting report.
• ✓ The SAM reflects a realistic and specific customer segment, not "all businesses" or "all consumers."
• ✓ The SOM is the realistic 3-5 year addressable market given your specific go-to-market strategy.
• ✓ Every market size figure can be traced back to a primary source or a named methodology.

Traction slide:

• ✓ MRR or ARR figure is accompanied by verification documentation (Stripe screenshot, bank statement).
• ✓ Growth chart shows actuals, not projections. Past periods are not filled in with "expected" numbers.
• ✓ Customer count is consistent with the revenue figure divided by the stated average contract value.
• ✓ No "vanity metrics" (downloads, registered users, social followers) presented as primary traction evidence.
• ✓ Customer logos, if shown, reflect companies that have paid — not free trials or "pilots in progress."

Team slide:

• ✓ Every title and employer claimed is accurate and verifiable against independent sources.
• ✓ Every co-founder listed is genuinely full-time committed with a signed vesting agreement.
• ✓ No employment gaps of 12+ months left unexplained in the narrative.
• ✓ Advisor names, if listed, reflect genuine relationships where the advisor has actually spent meaningful time with the company.

Financials slide:

• ✓ Projections are derived from explicit assumptions that you can articulate on demand.
• ✓ The growth assumption in year 2 and year 3 is explained by specific activities, not just "scale."
• ✓ Gross margin assumptions account for hosting, support, and customer success costs.
• ✓ Use of funds is broken down into specific categories with rough allocations, not just "hiring and growth."

Competition slide:

• ✓ The deck does not claim "no competitors" or "no direct competitors."
• ✓ Named competitors are actual companies in the market, not cherry-picked weak ones that make you look better.
• ✓ Your differentiation is structural (data moat, network effect, switching costs) not just executional ("we move faster").
• ✓ The competitive landscape is honest about what competitors do well, not just dismissive.

Section 2: Team and Founder Checklist

• ✓ Google yourself: review the first 3 pages of results for your name and address any negative items proactively.
• ✓ Your LinkedIn profile is 100% accurate — every title, employer, and date reflects reality exactly.
• ✓ Prior companies you founded are accurately represented — do not claim an "exit" if you simply shut the company down.
• ✓ If you have a criminal record or were involved in litigation, you have a clear disclosure statement ready.
• ✓ Your claimed credentials (degrees, certifications) are verifiable. Uncompleted degrees should not be listed as completed.
• ✓ All co-founders have signed IP assignment agreements and vesting schedules with a 1-year cliff.
• ✓ Your employment contract from any previous employer does not contain non-compete clauses that apply to your current company's activities.
• ✓ Any code written by contractors includes a signed IP assignment clause giving the company ownership.
• ✓ Reference contacts have been briefed and are prepared to take investor calls.

Section 3: Digital Footprint Checklist

• ✓ Domain registration date is consistent with your claimed founding date, or you have a clear explanation for any discrepancy.
• ✓ Wayback Machine shows your website's history is consistent with your founding timeline.
• ✓ Your GitHub organization shows consistent commit history going back to your product development start date.
• ✓ GitHub commit frequency reflects genuine ongoing development, not a fundraising-mode burst followed by inactivity.
• ✓ Job postings on LinkedIn and Indeed are consistent with your hiring narrative in the deck.
• ✓ No current open job postings that contradict your headcount claims (e.g., actively hiring a Head of Engineering while the deck shows one already exists).
• ✓ Company LinkedIn page employee count is consistent with deck headcount (within reason for contractors and part-time contributors).
• ✓ No news coverage containing material negative information about the company, founders, or prior ventures that is not addressed proactively in the deck or founder narrative.

Section 4: Financial Story Checklist

• ✓ MRR can be verified by Stripe screenshots or bank statements — have these ready before any investor asks.
• ✓ Customer concentration is disclosed: what percentage of your MRR comes from your top 3 customers?
• ✓ Churn rate is accurately stated — annual churn, not monthly, and including downgrades as well as cancellations.
• ✓ CAC is calculated correctly: all sales and marketing expenses (salaries, ads, tools, events) divided by new customers acquired.
• ✓ LTV is calculated with a realistic churn assumption, not an "expected future state" churn rate you have not yet achieved.
• ✓ Burn rate is accurately stated and does not hide deferred compensation, outstanding invoices, or off-balance-sheet liabilities.
• ✓ Runway calculation assumes current burn rate, not a reduced rate you "plan to achieve" after the round closes.
• ✓ Financial projections go through a "sanity check": can you explain how you get from current ARR to Year 3 ARR in specific operational terms?

Section 5: Data Room Checklist

• ✓ Articles of incorporation or certificate of formation — clean Delaware C-Corp for US startups.
• ✓ Cap table exported from Carta, Pulley, or equivalent — fully diluted, showing all SAFEs, options, and warrants.
• ✓ IP assignment agreements for all founders and key contractors — signed and dated.
• ✓ Prior investor agreements (SAFEs, convertible notes, equity purchase agreements) — full versions, not summaries.
• ✓ P&L with actuals for the past 12-18 months — not just the past 3 months.
• ✓ Monthly MRR breakdown in spreadsheet form for the past 12-18 months.
• ✓ Cohort retention analysis showing monthly customer retention by acquisition cohort.
• ✓ Sample customer contract showing actual pricing and term structure.
• ✓ Employee agreements for co-founders and any key hires — including non-disclosure and IP assignment clauses.
• ✓ Any litigation history — even settled disputes — disclosed with full documentation.

Section 6: Common Reasons Investors Pass After Due Diligence

Understanding why investors pass during diligence — rather than at the pitch stage — helps you address these issues before they become fatal. The most common late-stage diligence failure reasons:

Revenue that cannot be verified. A founder who claims $80K MRR but cannot produce documentation is an immediate pass. Revenue claims must be supported by verifiable evidence. This is non-negotiable.

Founder background discrepancy. A title, employer, or credential claim that does not match independent verification — even a minor one — destroys trust for everything else in the deck. Accuracy in your own background is the minimum bar for credibility.

Missing or incomplete IP assignment. Code written before incorporation or by unassigned contractors represents a legal cloud over the company's core asset. This is fixable, but the fix must happen before diligence, not after it is discovered.

Customer reference calls that do not go well. A reference who cannot specifically recall working with the founder, who hedges on basic questions about the product's value, or who offers only generic praise without specifics is a red flag. Brief your references thoroughly and choose them carefully.

Cap table complexity that affects economics. Multiple rounds of uncapped notes, existing investors with blocking rights, or outstanding options that create unexpected dilution for the incoming investor. Map the fully diluted cap table clearly and walk investors through it proactively.

GitHub activity that contradicts the development narrative. A technical startup claiming 18 months of product development with a GitHub history showing 6 weeks of activity has a fundamental credibility problem that no amount of deck polish will overcome.