Learn how to validate your startup idea by pre-selling it, for only $80 (includes a free 1-hour consultancy call).
Download Our Free Guide: The Perfect Pitch Deck

This free eBook goes over the 10 slides every startup pitch deck has to include, based on what we learned from analyzing 500+ pitch decks, including those from Airbnb, Uber and Spotify.

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
The Perfect Pitch Deck

The Pitch Deck Hyphen Used to Raise $2.8M

Updated: 
November 7, 2025
 | 
Pitch Decks

Description

CTA
Fundraising OS
Tool
Fundraising OS

Everything you need to raise funding for your startup, including 3,500+ investors, 7 tools, 18 templates and 3 learning resources.

Buy It For $97 $297

Description

CTA
Hyphen
Hyphen
Hyphen is an employee voice platform helping companies listen and act on feedback.
Industry:
HR, Software, Audio
Business Model:
SaaS
Customer:
B2B
Round:
Series A
Amount Raised:
$2.8M
Investor:
VC
Year:
2018

Hyphen Pitch Deck Breakdown

Problem & Pain Points

Hyphen immediately frames the problem with a powerful statistic: 7 out of 10 employees are disengaged. This approach effectively quantifies the scale of the issue, making it tangible and urgent for potential investors. By focusing on a well-known business pain point like disengagement, they establish a broad, relatable market need without requiring extensive explanation.

Our Tip: Start your problem slide with a single, shocking statistic to instantly grab attention and establish the severity of the problem you are solving.

Solution & Value Proposition

The deck presents a clear, logical solution: an anonymous feedback platform that generates real-time insights. Hyphen’s value proposition is sharp, emphasizing how anonymity empowers employees and real-time data enables swift action from management. This directly addresses the core issues of fear and slow response times that plague traditional feedback methods.

Our Tip: Clearly connect your solution's core features directly to the pain points you identified on the problem slide.

Team & Advisors

The team slide is a major credibility anchor, showcasing a core team that has worked together for five years. Highlighting their previous success, building and selling a SaaS business for $7 million, is a powerful proof point that de-risks the investment. This track record tells investors that the team not only has the skills but also the experience to execute and create a successful exit.

Our Tip: If your team has a prior successful exit or significant achievement together, make it the headline of your team slide.

Traction & Social Proof

Hyphen uses specific, impressive metrics like 34% month-over-month ARR growth to demonstrate powerful market validation. Showing user growth from 18,000 to 49,000 in a single quarter provides concrete evidence of rapid adoption and product-market fit. These hard numbers are far more convincing to investors than vague statements about progress.

Our Tip: Showcase your most impressive growth metric as a chart or a large number to make your traction undeniable and easy to digest.


Lessons Learned from Hyphen Pitch Deck

De-Risk the Investment with Hard Proof

Hyphen systematically builds investor confidence by presenting undeniable proof points on key slides. They use a prior $7 million exit to prove team capability and 34% MoM growth to validate product-market fit. Apply this by identifying your biggest investment risks and dedicating slides to showcasing concrete evidence, like customer traction or team achievements, that directly addresses those investor fears.

Tell a Story with Numbers, Not Adjectives

The deck's power comes from using specific metrics to tell the story instead of relying on vague, descriptive language. From the "7 out of 10" disengaged employees to the rapid user growth, every key claim is backed by a hard number. Audit your own deck to replace adjectives like "fast growth" with specific figures like "34% MoM growth" to make your narrative more credible and impactful.

The All-In-One Newsletter for Startup Founders

90% of startups fail. Learn how not to with our weekly guides and stories. Join +40,000 other startup founders!

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.