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Fundraising, decoded.

Insights on seed-stage fundraising, VC meetings, and startup evaluation.

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David Rakusan · May 28, 2026

Investor Pitch Deck Template: 10 Slides That Actually Work in 2026

Most pitch deck templates give you a structure but not an argument. This 10-slide investor pitch deck template for 2026 walks slide by slide through what to put on each slide, the proof signal each one should carry, the most common 2026 mistake, and the test for whether the slide is doing its job. Built on the team-weighting research from 885 institutional VCs and DocSend's 2024 behavioral data on how investors read decks.

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David Rakusan · May 28, 2026

Pattern Matching is Broken: Why Investors Miss Good Deals (and What Founders Can Do About It)

Pattern matching is the dominant shortcut VCs use to decide who to fund. It is also the reason the same VCs missed Airbnb, missed Brian Chesky, and continue to misallocate billions to founders who look like past winners. Seven years on the investor side, plus the actual academic data, shows why this happens and how founders who do not fit the template can produce a counter-signal that gets read.

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David Rakusan · May 19, 2026

Pitch Deck Examples for Startups (and What Investors Actually Look at on Each Slide)

Most pitch deck guides show you what a great deck looks like. This one shows what investors actually read on each slide. Behavioral data from 30,000+ investor sessions, the slide-by-slide framework, and the proof signals that separate decks that move forward from decks that get a polite reply. Includes a 11-slide comparison table, a working redesign checklist, and the structural fix for the question-repetition trap that decks alone cannot solve.

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David Rakusan · May 6, 2026

We Analyzed 4,690 Founder Posts About Fundraising. The #1 Problem Isn't Rejection.

Original research across 4,690 founder posts on LinkedIn, X, Reddit, and Quora. Timeline drag is the #1 pain in seed-stage fundraising, ahead of rejection, deck feedback, and investor ghosting combined. Here is what founders themselves say is breaking them.

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David Rakusan · April 28, 2026

How to Answer Difficult VC Questions: A Founder's Field Guide for 2026

Difficult VC questions are proof tests, not traps. When a partner asks how you found your first ten customers or what breaks if a competitor copies you, they are checking whether the claims in your deck hold up under pressure. This guide breaks down the four categories of hard questions you will actually face in a 2026 seed meeting, why rehearsed answers fail, and how to build a proof layer that turns interrogation into validation. Written by a founder who spent 7 years on the investor side.

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