Make your pitch deck stand out
The majority of founders are impressive, but only a few stand out from the crowd. The problem is that every pitch sounds the same. It’s sad to see great stories and founders getting lost just because of this.
To stand out, (a) first, follow the required standard format. Too many founders misinterpret what each slide needs to tell (eg, the team slide is about being the right team, not the smartest team, the market slide is about the why now and SAM, not the TAM, etc). Then, (b) your different why now, why you, your unique strengths and unfair advantages need to pop out instantly and clearly.
(i) The standard format
Find here the expected structure and frequent misconceptions/error. Overall, the key parts are:
1. The market: its “why now” and a bottom-up SAM.
The majority of founder build in the wrong market or timing. The why now. Operate in a market that is growing like a river. Its current can pull the growth of the company. This relates also to a Chinese saying: “If you stand in the wind, even a pig can fly.”
A large SAM. Calculate the SAM with a bottom-up approach. Don’t rely on the TAM. The SAM gives a realistic size of your imminent market. Don’t use a top-down approach to calculate the market size.
– Misconception/error: a high-level (top-down) view of the market size. Focus on TAM.
– Key questions: Is there a current or a trend? Is the SAM (bottom-up) large enough?
2. Founder: Why you, why your insights?
Be the right team and not the smartest team. Be a team with experience in the sector and with specific insights. Don’t be the smartest team with fancy logos. Some investors analyze the quality and the impact of the founders’ insights. Not all insights are equal.
– Misconception/error: The team has great logos, and it has worked in the industry before.
– Key question: What do you know that others don’t? Are the founders’ insights/secrets actually valuable? If so, what impact do we expect?
3. The problem: Why is this problem? Why this customer profile?
The majority of founders solve the wrong problem. The selection of the right problem is a superpower. It will set the course for the years. It will define the upper limit of your business. Too many founders work on problem not worth solving. Instead solve the single, specific and most important problem really well.
In your deck, show you have identified the right prolem. Start by showing the it is the highest-ranked problem (the one that ranks first among all the problems), and it is also a “burning problem” (it has extreme and unbearable pain and urgency) for the users. Too many founders identify good problems, but don’t focus on the single most important one. This leads to building a nice-to-have solution rather than a must-have. A nice-to-have solution stalls growth, limits LTV, and can’t win against switching costs and inertia.
Then, identify the right ICP (ideal customer profile). Nail your niche. In the beginning, it’s impossible to have a 10x better solution for all typep of customers. Choose your customer, don’t let the customer choose you. PG famously said that in the beginning, it’s better to have a few customers that truly love you than many ambivalents.
Finally, be specific and adopt a bottom-up approach like an entrepreneur. Not a top-down one like a consultant or banker.
– Misconception/error: The team identified many good problems and many good customers.
– Key questions: Is the team focused on the single most important burning problem and ICP that can generate a massive impact?
4. Solution: Initial signs that customers want your product.
Some initial signs of PMF might help if available. A good LTV, retention, or adoption rate is extremely valuable. Even if the size of your customer base is still small in the early days. It was well said by PG that in the early days, “It is better to have a few customers that truly love your product than many that sort of like it.” Also, avoid quick but low-quality growth.
– Misconception: need to have a fast growth rate or large revenue in the initial stage
– Key questions: Analyze the quality of revenue and product. (1) Do customers want/love the product? How is LTV, retention, and adoption rate? Are/Will customers pay enough? (2) Is the solution 10x better than alternatives, or can it be? (3) Is there a “wow feature” addressing the highest-ranked problem?
Nailing the points above is standard and expected. To stand out, focus on the next point.
(ii) Then stand out from the crowd: be different and have an unfair advantage.
1. Be different. Be the only one.
Investors will look for something that makes this company uniquely positioned to succeed and sets them apart from the rest. Something surprisingly better or drastically different than everyone else. Those are the founders that operate with a “different model of how the world works.” – Pmarca
With a tactical example. “We are an AI recruiting tool that integrates and automates processes end-to-end,” evolved into “We are the only AI recruiting tool capable to check if engineers are cheating with AI during interviews”. It’s the same product, but the perceived stories are opposite.
With a higher level example. Airbnb did not try to build faster, better, cheaper hotels. They did something completely different: transform homes into hotels and everyone into a host.
Some of the factors that can make a story different or unique are:
- Unique founders’ insights. See what others don’t. Have a different and convincing view of the future and of today’s problems and priorities. Show you have identified the “highest ranked” problem that matters the most to the users. Your founder’s insights should help explain why you have a different view of reality and why no one has seen this before.
- A different view of what matters. Focus where others don’t. Founders who are able to identify the 1 factor or problem that matters the most will have a higher probability of succeeding. Usually, at the early stage, the highest-ranked problem drives ~90% of the impact for the users. Some VCs look for one “wow feature” that really moves the needle in the early days. On the contrary, founders who don’t have this level of clarity will try to solve too many mediocre problems at once.
- Be 10x better than alternatives. Some investors analyze whether a startup solution is drastically better than alternatives. Some even measure this gap quantitatively to ensure it’s 10x. The key is to find a much better solution. This helps overcome the customers’ switching costs and the many decision-makers involved.
With one example. Consider asking an e-commerce company to change its Warehouse Management System. This comes after months of integrating systems with internal teams and third-party partners. They have a high switching cost. A 10x better solution for the most important problem can become a Trojan horse. Then use it to gradually increase your presence inside the customer organization. - Feel free to add other cases in the comment below for other founders to read
2. Have an unfair advantage and unique strengths.
An unfair advantage is a unique, defensible edge that a company possesses. This can facilitate the company in scaling faster or more easily in the early days. It goes beyond a company’s typical strengths. Some of these are temporary, but they can still help to create the initial growth.
Below are three cases I can think of and that I have observed directly:
- Unfair access to GTM. To share two real examples: The teams know the potential customers well from their previous job. They have the entire database and know the largest accounts personally. This can help you reach $10 million in revenue quickly. It also gives you time to develop more distribution channels. Another example is that your biggest distributors are also your investors. And see your product as a priority
- A rare and notable expertise of the team. Having an outstanding “right to win” or operate in this space. With an example: Chat Rigetti was a senior leader in quantum computing at IBM. One of the most advanced center in the world. He had an unfair edge as the only highly qualified person in the field who was also starting a quantum computing company
- A unique or proprietary technology. There are many cases we can think of. It comes to mind, DeepSeek. It’s said their language model is slightly lower in quality but ~10x cheaper
- There are other unfair advantages. Feel free to add them in the comment below for other founders to read
I like to highlight and recap the unique factors and strengths in the last slide of the deck. YC calls this the “vertebrae slide”. You will close the story in a climax, and hopefully they will stick in the investor’s mind.
To conclude
Make your pitch deck stand out from the crowd. Show you are drastically different and have unique strengths or unfair advantages that give you and head start and the “right to win” in this space.
If you don’t have both points today, don’t artificially manufacture them. This might backfire, and ultimately, it will not help your business; that is the main goal.
This exercise is more important for the founders than the investors. Make the effort to think about what makes users love and want urgently your product and what are your defensible positions. Cultivate a mindset and skills around them.
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