PitchScan/Pitch deck score
Pitch Deck Score
A score you cannot interrogate is just a vibe with digits. Here is exactly how the 0 to 100 PitchScan score is constructed: the three lenses, the 14 checks, and why there is no formula.
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01 · The three lenses
Three archetypes, 14 named checks.
In the free scan each archetype scores the deck through its own lens, silently, then the three have to agree on one consensus number. That number is your score.
| Lens | Scored by | What moves the sub-score |
|---|---|---|
| Unit economics, business model, defensibility, downside risk | The Value Investor | CAC logic, margins, burn multiple, and whether projections have visible drivers. |
| Market size, timing, traction, momentum, category potential | The Growth Partner | Bottom-up market build, wedge sharpness, and evidence of pull, not push. |
| Competition, execution risk, team gaps, regulatory exposure, weak claims | The Risk Realist | An honest competitive map, a team that fits this problem, and claims that survive a cold read. |
02 · The mechanics
No formula. A judgement, forced to be harsh.
There is no arithmetic here, and pretending otherwise would be the black box we are arguing against. Each archetype scores the deck 0 to 100 the way a real investment committee member does, holistically, and the three then have to converge on one number. The instruction they are given is explicitly tough: most cold decks land between 40 and 75, and 85 or above is reserved for genuinely exceptional decks. That is why a score in the 60s is the normal starting point, not a failure.
What is ranked, rather than computed, is severity. Your three findings come back marked HIGH, MEDIUM or LOW, most severe first, and each one names the slide it came from. A HIGH finding, like a 14x revenue jump with no driver, is what moved the number. An overcrowded advisor slide did not. The findings are the audit trail for the score, which is the part a single number can never give you.
The $5 report replaces this single pass with something heavier: 7 to 10 personas picked from a bank of 11 for your specific deck, each reading it alone in its own pass, then a meta-analysis that reconciles where they disagree instead of averaging it away.
03 · How it works
From PDF to settled score.
Read
Every slide parsed: text, numbers, charts, and omissions.
Score
Three archetypes score the deck silently, each through its own lens.
Debate
Disagreements get argued. Surviving objections become your findings.
Settle
They agree on one 0 to 100 score, which maps to your letter grade.
04 · FAQ
Scoring questions.
How is a pitch deck score calculated?
The free scan puts three investor lenses on your deck in one pass: unit economics and downside risk, market and momentum, and risk and execution. Between them they run 14 named checks. Each archetype scores the deck silently, the three converge on one consensus number out of 100, and the three findings that come back are ranked by severity. There is no point-deduction formula behind it: it is a judgement, held to a deliberately harsh bar.
What is a good pitch deck score?
On the PitchScan scale, 85 and above means send it, 70 to 84 means fix the top findings first, 55 to 69 means the core argument leaks, and below 55 means rebuild. Most first uploads land in the 60s, which is normal for a draft that has never faced hostile readers.
Why do two similar decks get different scores?
Because the score is evidence-weighted, not coverage-weighted. Two decks can cover the same 12 points while one proves them and the other asserts them. A dated pilot beats an adjective, and a bottom-up market build beats a bigger top-down number. Judgement also means some variance between runs, which is the honest cost of not having a formula.
Does slide design affect the score?
Not directly. Design is not one of the 14 checks, and a clear ugly deck outscores a beautiful confusing one. It costs you indirectly, when it hides the argument: an unreadable chart or a wall of text turns a claim you did make into a claim the committee scores as unsupported.
Every deck has a score.
Ours shows its work.
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