Deck Roast · Example
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This is a complete example roast on Renta, a fictional UK pre-seed company. It is exactly what you get: seven scores, verbatim quotes pulled from the deck, the shape of a stronger version for each weak slide, and next actions linked to the guides that fix them.
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Deck Roast · Pre-seed UK · example
Renta · fictional sample deck
2.8out of 5 overall
Strong problem, real timing, and you clearly know renters. The bottom half of the deck is where an investor's questions pile up. The market slide borrows a number that is not yours, the traction slide leans on a waitlist, and the ask does not say what the money buys or whether SEIS is on the table. We are working from the deck alone, so some of this may already be true and just left unsaid. These are the slides an angel screens on first, so making them concrete in your own numbers is what moves this from a polite pass to a real conversation.
Scores
Problem clarity4/5
You name the pain in one sentence and back it with a number. By the end of slide 2 an investor knows exactly who hurts and why.
“1 in 3 UK adults rent, yet their largest monthly payment builds zero credit history.”
Solution credibility3/5
The mechanism is believable but unproven on the slide. You say you report to the bureaus, but not whether those integrations are live, contracted, or hoped for, so an investor assumes the weakest reading until you say otherwise.
“Renta reports your rent to all three credit bureaus automatically.”
Stronger: State the status of each integration in your own terms: which bureaus are live, which are contracted, which are in talks, and how many tenancies you have reported so far.
Market sizing2/5
This is the whole UK rental market, not your market. An investor reads a top-down number like this as a flag, not a flex, because it says nothing about what Renta can realistically reach.
“The UK rental market is worth 85 billion pounds a year.”
Stronger: Build it bottom-up from your own numbers: [UK renters who fit your profile] x [your monthly price] x [the share you can realistically win] = your SOM. Smaller and defensible beats big and borrowed.
Traction signal2/5
A waitlist is intent, not traction. An investor discounts an email list heavily because signing up is free and says nothing about whether anyone will pay or stay.
“4,200 people on our waitlist.”
Stronger: Lead with live usage in your own figures: [tenancies live], [the share that activate and how fast], [how many are paying]. Small and real beats big and soft.
Founding team3/5
Good logos, but you have not said why this specific team wins this specific market. Ex-Monzo is a signal an investor will like, but it is not yet an argument.
“Founded by two ex-Monzo product leads.”
Stronger: Connect the experience to this problem: what each of you built, at what scale, that proves you can build [your product] better than anyone else chasing it.
Ask and use of funds2/5
No SEIS, no breakdown, no milestone. A funder cannot tell what the raise buys or where it gets you, and a missing SEIS line costs you angels before they read further.
“Raising 400k to grow the team and scale marketing.”
Stronger: Say whether SEIS or advance assurance is in place, split the raise across your main areas (for example [engineering], [growth], [buffer]) and end on the milestone it gets you to. The amount and the split are yours to set, just show the reasoning.
Timing, why now4/5
A real external reason this works now and not two years ago. Regulatory tailwind plus rising awareness is exactly the why-now an investor wants.
“Renters Reform and the rise of rent-reporting awareness make this the moment.”
What's working
Your problem slide is the strongest in the deck. Specific, evidenced, impossible to misread.
“1 in 3 UK adults rent, yet their largest monthly payment builds zero credit history.”
Timing is genuinely on your side and you resist overclaiming it. A regulatory tailwind you did not manufacture.
“Renters Reform and the rise of rent-reporting awareness make this the moment.”
What's weak
Market sizing leans on a borrowed big number that is not your market. An investor reads that as top-down.
“The UK rental market is worth 85 billion pounds a year.”
Stronger: Build it bottom-up from your own numbers: [renters who fit your profile] x [your price] x [the share you can reach]. Your numbers, defensible.
Traction is a waitlist wearing a traction costume. An investor discounts an email list to near zero.
“4,200 people on our waitlist.”
Stronger: Swap the waitlist headline for live usage: [tenancies live], [activation rate], [paying users]. Small and real beats big and soft.
The ask slide is the single biggest thing to tighten here. No SEIS, no maths, no milestone.
“Raising 400k to grow the team and scale marketing.”
Stronger: Say whether SEIS or advance assurance is in place, then a costed split across your main areas ending in a clear milestone. The amount stays yours to set.
Your next 5 actions
1
Rebuild slide 7 bottom-up: UK renters, the slice you can realistically reach, what they pay. Three lines of your own numbers. Read the guide →
2
Swap the waitlist headline for live usage. Even small real numbers beat a big soft one. Read the guide →
3
Rewrite the ask to lead with SEIS and advance assurance, then a costed breakdown ending in a milestone. Read the guide →
4
Add one line on why this team wins this market, not just where you worked. Read the guide →
5
Confirm which bureau integrations are actually live and state it on the solution slide. Read the guide →
Worth considering
SEIS advance assurance (HMRC)
Free, takes a few weeks, and removes the single easiest reason for an angel to say no. Get it before you send the deck.
This is an example on a made-up company.
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