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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.

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The Perfect Pitch Deck

The Pitch Deck Ladder Used to Raise $100M

Updated: 
October 8, 2025
 | 
Pitch Decks

Description

CTA
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Description

CTA
Ladder
Ladder
Ladder provides flexible and affordable term life insurance through a simple, all-digital process.
Industry:
FinTech, SaaS
Business Model:
SaaS
Customer:
B2C
Round:
Series D
Amount Raised:
$100M
Investor:
VC
Year:
2021

Ladder Pitch Deck Breakdown

Problem & Pain Points

Ladder effectively frames the life insurance industry as complex, opaque, and inaccessible for its target demographic. They articulate clear pain points like complicated applications and a lack of transparency, which immediately resonates with anyone who has shopped for insurance. This approach makes the problem feel both significant and personal, setting a strong foundation for their solution.

Our Tip: Frame the problem through the eyes of your customer, using emotional and relatable language to make investors feel the urgency.

Solution & Value Proposition

The pitch presents a clear, tech-driven solution: a 100% digital platform that directly addresses the previously stated problems. They differentiate themselves with proprietary technology, the "Ladder Longevity Score," which provides a tangible reason for their efficiency and instant underwriting. This directly connects their unique value proposition to the core pain points of complexity and opacity.

Our Tip: Clearly link your unique solution directly back to each pain point you identified, showing a one-to-one correspondence.

Traction & Social Proof

Ladder showcases impressive traction with hard metrics, which is exactly what investors want to see as proof of product-market fit. Highlighting a 4.5x year-over-year growth and a strong LTV/CAC ratio of 5.2x provides concrete validation of their business model's viability. These numbers serve as powerful evidence that their strategy is not just a theory but is already working effectively in the market.

Our Tip: Lead with your single most impressive metric to immediately establish credibility and de-risk the investment.

Team & Advisors

The team slide builds immense credibility by showcasing a roster with relevant, high-caliber experience from companies like Google, Dropbox, and Wharton. Notice that they list specific roles and past affiliations, which allows investors to quickly assess the team's expertise in key areas like product, business development, and engineering. This demonstrates they have the right talent to execute their ambitious vision.

Our Tip: Showcase team members' past successes at well-known companies to act as a powerful signal of their capability and potential.


Lessons Learned from Ladder Pitch Deck

Create a Cohesive Narrative

Ladder’s pitch deck tells a single, powerful story where each slide logically builds on the last, from problem to solution to validation. This narrative cohesion makes the investment thesis feel inevitable and easy for investors to follow. Ensure your deck connects each section, showing how your team is uniquely equipped to solve a specific problem and has the traction to prove it.

Systematically De-Risk the Investment

Every section of Ladder’s deck is designed to proactively answer an investor's underlying questions and reduce perceived risk. They use customer-centric problem framing to validate market risk, hard traction metrics to prove product risk, and a high-caliber team slide to mitigate execution risk. In your own deck, anticipate investor doubts for each section and provide concrete evidence to build their confidence at every step.

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