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Korean vs US IR decks: what seed investors really want

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Korean vs US IR decks: what seed investors really want

A deck that wins praise in Seoul can lose a Silicon Valley investor in the first 60 seconds. Not because the business is weak, but because the two audiences read decks in very different ways.


If you are a founder in Korea pitching for seed money, at home or abroad, here is what the research and investors themselves say about the gap, and what actually matters at the earliest stage.


Don't think you can hoodwink your US investors with an AI-translated deck, that was originally made for the Korean investors.


Always remember to ask and check if the Venture Capitalists and Investors in an upcoming pitch are from the Korean background, or a Silicon Valley background. This will largely affect the number of slides, your pitch focus and the way you present.


For ease of understanding, we are comparing Korea and US pitch, but US here is just an example to reflect the English-speaking pitch events at large.


Korea vs US at a glance

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The Korean column is the common default, not what every Korean pitching event asks for. From recent observations, as more and more cross-border pitching opportunities arise, there is a general shift of preference towards the US style of pitching. Many young Korean founders find this intimidating, now that they can't read data off a slide and must speak in full English to an international panel. This is where your strength as a foreign founder comes in. Own the stage and speak with confidence.


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Shorter wins, because nobody reads to the end

Investors give a seed deck about 3 minutes and 44 seconds, and only 58% read to the final slide, according to DocSend's research [1]. Y Combinator's advice is 10 to 12 slides, one idea per slide, in large type [2]. DocSend suggests about 20 pages including an appendix, with the core story standing on its own in the first 12 to 16.

Korean investors are saying the same thing. Many now admit they judge a deck by its first three slides: is the problem urgent, is the solution clear, can this team execute [3]?

More data is not more convincing. In failed decks, investors spent four times longer on product slides than in successful ones [4]. Long dwell time usually means confusion, not interest. Keep the detailed numbers in an appendix or a separate document for due diligence and government programs. In fact, some programs may specify that you must adhere to the slide limit of 10 to 12, 7-minute pitch, and attach the Appendix as a separate document. The Appendix will only be shown as 'evidence' to support your claims, if there is a Q&A session.


At seed, investors bet on the team first

The team slide gets the most viewing time of any slide in funded decks, and that attention grew 40% year over year as AI makes products cheaper to build [5]. When anyone can ship a product fast, the people become the moat.

But a team slide is not a CV. A list of universities and big-company titles tells investors little. Show founder-market fit instead: why you, specifically, understand this problem better than anyone else.

One caveat. Team outweighs traction most clearly at pre-seed, especially if your startup has less than 3 years since it was incorporated. At seed, investors typically want three of four pillars (team, market, product and traction) [6], and the traction bar has risen since 2021 [7]. You do not need big numbers, but you do need proof of fast execution and learning.


Vision needs evidence

A grand vision as the closing climax is a Korean pitching habit that can backfire. One Silicon Valley VC warns that it earns applause but not investment: your idea should come across as an experiment already underway [8]. Show the vision early, then prove you are already moving toward it.


The takeaway

Build one 10 to 12 slide story deck: purpose, problem, why now, why us, early proof, and the ask. Put the dense data in an appendix. Lead with people and momentum, and let the numbers support the story rather than replace it.


Sources

  1. Pitch deck statistics, citing DocSend research (Presentations.ai)
  2. The YC seed round pitch deck framework (DEV Community)
  3. 3분 안에 승부가 난다: 달라진 IR의 법칙 (EO Planet)
  4. Why pitching your product will kill your fundraising (TechCrunch)
  5. Investors spend under 2 minutes on pitch decks, citing DocSend (EIN Presswire)
  6. What VCs want: key criteria for early-stage investment decisions (Forum VC)
  7. What investors look for in a seed pitch (CRV)
  8. 한국에서는 칭찬받는데, 미국에서는 바로 거절당하는 IR 방식 (Peter Shin, LinkedIn)


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