Only 0.2 Percent of Pitch Decks Lead to Funding

Only 0.2 Percent of Pitch Decks Lead to Funding

Author

Peter Walker

|

Read time: 

1 minute

Published date: 

June 5, 2026

Out of 4,500 pitch decks reviewed, just 11 checks were written—a 0.2% conversion rate that founders and investors should both internalize.

4,500 pitch decks --> 11 checks written.

0.2% deck-to-funding rate.

Couple of thoughts on this venture math (which may be a little extreme, but I think is representative of the world of pre-seed & seed):

- Founders should realize they may have been the 12th "best" pitch that VC heard in a year where they invested in 11 companies. No need to over-rotate on the feedback!

- Investors should think deeply about whether they can really tell the difference between the 11th and 12th-best companies they saw last year. And if they can't, maybe do slightly more investments into slightly more...offbeat startups. It's all about finding the contrarian ones anyway, right?

LinkedIn: Only 0.2 Percent of Pitch Decks Lead to Funding
Peter Walker
Author: Peter Walker
Peter Walker runs the Insights team at Carta, focused on discovering key data and narratives across the private capital ecosystem. In a former life, he was a marketing executive for a media analytics startup and led the data visualization team at the Covid Tracking Project.

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