021

1. Tell the story like a founder, not like a COO
2. Position your story in an area of interest. E.g. Don’t position your company as a media company or co-working space if these verticals are no longer of interest
3. The slide headline is always the summary or description of the slide. It is not a title. It is not “The team”, “The market”, etc… Use statemetns not captions in the headline of the slide (eg. “sales autolook” vs. “sales are growing 20% MoM”). One line per headline
4. One concept per slide. The concept is indicated in the headline
5. Make the slide readable in 5 secs. No extra words, no extra colors, lines, boxes, etc..
6. Inside the slides use graphs rather than texts
7. Bottom-up forecasts for market size are usually more appealing than top-down ones
8. Bottom-up > Top-down. In everything you do (eg. forecast, market dynamics, product dev., what users need, etc…)
9. No autocelebration, show magnitudes with numbers. “We are having exponential growth” and “we are growing 50% MoM” have opposite effects
10. Avoid declarations without proof or validation
11. Specific answers show clarity. High-level asnwers or statements reveal lack of clarity
12. Concise answers. Founders who know what matters can summarize their findings in just a few words. Being concise indicates clarity.

1) The one-liner is the description of what your company does in a few words only. The goal is to explain, not to impress. Don’t make the listeners think. Ensure clarity. Ensure they are on the same page with no questions and are ready to absorb more concepts.
The one-liner is not long and with buzzwords. A bad one-liner kills the entire pitch from the start. 

Airbnb’s 2008 one-liner is epic: “Book rooms with locals rather than hotels.” It is short, clear, and shows what they do and why it’s better in just 7 words.

2) The blurp is the description of what your company does in a few lines only. Start with the one-liner and then add your outlier strengths. What makes you stand out from the crowd. See below the slide 8: “The three vertebrae”.

Lastly, investors make quick decisions, so a strong one-liner and blurb are vital. First impressions really count. In fact, it was well said that:

“In 3 seconds → Do I get what you do?” (One-liner)
“In 30 seconds → Do I believe it matters?” (The blurp)
“In 3 minutes → Do I want to learn more and meet the founder?” (The pitch deck)

This slide is not about a list of good problems for the users. And, it’s not a top-down gap in the industry. Not all problems are equal. Not all problems are worth solving.

This slide is about identifying the right problem: (1) the highest-ranked problem for the users. Show this ranks first in the list of all problems. And, that it (2) has an unbearable and extreme level of pain & urgency. It’s a burning problem.

Ideally, you have also identified a (3) specific niche of customers to focus on serving them well. Initally, “it’s better to have a few users that truly love you than many that sort of like you” – PG

Many founders identify good problems but fail to identify the highest-priority ones. This leads to building a nice-to-have solution rather than a must-have. A nice-to-have solution will block your growth and LTV. A must-have solution will also help you win against the high switching costs of potential customers.

At this stage, it’s vital to understand if this is a problem worth solving. Not all problems are worth solving and worth many years of the founder’s life. Start by asking: “How do you know this specific problem is the 1) most painful & urgent and 2) it has burning pain for your users?”.

Some common errors:

• as discussed, not having identified the highest-priority problems. Then,
• Not being specific. High-level statements reveal lack of clarity. Being specific indicates clarity
• Not being concise. Founders who know what matters can summarize their findings in just a few words. Being concise indicates clarity.

If the problem and customer niche are framed well in the previous slide, the solution becomes obvious. No explanation needed.

This slide is about:
(1) Show it’s a must-have, not a nice-to-have solution. In the problem slide, prove the problem is extremely urgent & painful, and is the highest-priority (ranks #1)
(2) strong differentiators and a 10x better solution. Also needed to overcome switching costs
(3) If live, use data to prove you are “making something people want”. Adoption and retention rates are great metrics. The total number of users is not.

Have a clear understanding of your SAM vs TAM. Use a bottom up calculation for the path to $100m ARR.

This slide is not about how large the total market (TAM) is. This is calculated top-down. It is often taken from a McKinsey or GS report. It shows a high level gap in the market or some unmet demands. It lacks evidence of founder’s deep understanding of the problem, the customers’ niche, and the market that will be addressed in the short term.

This slide is about how large your addressable (SAM) or obtainable (SOM) market is in the medium and short term. This is calculated bottom-up. It shows the founders’ granular understanding of the market, the initial niche market, and potential adoption rates. Bottom-up indicates clarity and deep understanding.

I personally like to present both markets in this slide. The bottom-up one to show the founders’ insights and deep knowledge of the market. Then add the top-down TAM to give a quick feeling of the overall market. Some investors still ask. Some other examples.

Some investors model bottom-up to test key assumptions and see what it takes to reach $100M ARR and then $1B. Every founder should present this calculation as well.

One final note, for some investors, the market comes first and the team comes second. Sequoia and Benchmark focus a lot on the market, and it’s why now. For other investors, the team comes first: there are many pivots, and markets can change over time.

Some quotes:

“When a great team meets a lousy market, market wins. When a lousy team meets a great market, the market wins. When a great team meets a great market, something special happens.” – Andy Rachleff, Benchmark

“We have always focused on the market — the size of the market, the dynamics of the market, the nature of the competition — because our objective always was to build big companies. If you don’t attack a big market, it’s highly unlikely you’re ever going to build a big company” – Don Valentine, Sequoia

“This is an area that people talk so much about. Do one hour of research, figure out where there are billions of dollars being made in the market, and customers use your competitors’ products. After that… I don’t care.” – Michael Seibel, YC

This slide is about whether there is a shift that is happening in the market. A current that will pull the founders into hyper growth.

Some investors are fixated on the current market trends, or the “why now.” Others pay more attention to the founder’s insights, key problems, and market size.

This slide is not about forcing or artificially creating a “why now”. This can backfire.

Some quotes:

“Even a pig can fly as long as the wind is strong” – Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi. In China investors refer to this as “fēng kǒu”

“The most interesting markets are like currents. The current is going to pull you forward v.s. a market that doesn’t really have momentum. So I care less about market size. I care more about the dynamics of change and what is this current and momentum that will pull the company and make the job easier for the founder – Sarah Tavel, Benchmark

Some examples:

1. A technological shift – AI, mobile, and cloud had strong shifts. 1) Uber had perfect timing or “why now”. The advent of the mobile phone was a strong current for them. 2) The current played a role also on Instacart (2012) v.s. Webvan (1996)
2. A shift in demand. Today there is a FOMO in consuming AI from both individuals and corporates. This is also driving achillaries services (eg. data centers, energy, chips, quality data to train models, etc…)
3. Replicate a proven model from the US or China in a large and fast-growing market like India or Brazil. The Uber model was replicated in each local market by local champions (eg. Grab in SEA, Ola in India, Didi in China, etc)
4. A government or regulator shift – an example could be Robotics or EV in China, given the magnitudes of investments and incentives. Or the US Genius Act for web3 companiescompanies

This slide is not about many good metrics, non-core metrics, and vanity metrics (e.g., organic traffic, MAU, DAU, etc.).

This slide is about the trend of your “one metric” – your output north star. It’s also good to show that your team is focused on what matters the most. It’s fine to have two metrics: ARR and probably your CAC payback periods. Or ideally, your key output metric (e.g., ARR) and your key input metric.

To elaborate on the key input metric. Sarah Tavel explained how MAU or DAU/MAU are not the right “one metric” to focus on for social or consumer apps. In the early days of Pinterest, the leading input metric was the number of pins executed. For FB, it was famously how many new subscribers had added “7 friends in 10 days.” For Slack: “2k messages per team” within a few days. For Notion: “3+ docs with 2+ collaborators.” For HubSpot: “10+ contacts, 1 campaign.”

This slide is not common. I personally use it to address the famous VC questions: “If everything goes right, how big can it become?” 

This slide is about the levers available in each phase of the company to arrive at $100m in revenue and keep growing ~100% YoY after that. Remember, in the venture game, $100m in ARR is just the starting line. Some of those levers are expanding the customer segment, geo expansion, and products. Bottom-up calculations only. And, understand your addressable market and specific ICPs (ideal customer profiles). Know who you can realistically reach at each stage.

This slide is not about a top-down list of ideas with top-down market sizes or a brainstorming list.

This is one of the most important slides and is frequently misunderstood. 

This slide is not about a team with fancy logos or even a team made of industry insiders.
This slide is about the quality of the founders’ insights. Often, insiders don’t have quality and high-impact insights. Some problems aren’t worth solving. And, some insights may not lead to anything 10x better or transformative.

People talk about “founder market fit”. Being an industry insider is not sufficient. Having valuable insights is necessary. In fact, nn-insiders can succeed if they find valuable insights and a high-priority problem. Having valuable secrets is one of the most precious and scarce resources today. It’s an unfair advantage.

In the team slide, I like to show (1) the industry expertise of each team member, if any, and (2) the insights the team is relying on.

At pre-seed and seed, investors also assess if the team will stick together during hard times (ideally founders worked together) and might look for a spark or outlier past achievements.

This slide is crucial. You need to recap your strengths, unfair advantages and finish with a strong climax. In fact, YC calls this the “three vertebrae slide,” and Khosla Ventures always advises to “finish with a flourish!“

Just list the three most important points of your story. The ones that will make the investor request a call with you with Fomo. Ensure to stand out from the crowd.

Simply have your company name, the one-liner and your contact details (yes, some founders forget them).

This slide is not about being better in everything. Don’t defame competitors and gossip, just present the differences. Don’t be defensive, be transparent.

This slide is about showing (1) specific differentiators. Ideally, measure quantitatively the differences. E.g. 10x better. And show (2) why you chose this approach and why your approach matters more for users. Be better at what matters the most.

This slide is not about differentiators, being a first mover, or faster executor. Don’t oversell “branding” and “community.”

This slide is about what makes it very hard, almost impossible, for others to copy or displace you. Even with more capital, talent, or time. For example. Network effects, switching costs, proprietary data, strong distribution channels, regulatory edge, lock-in mechanisms.

To frame it:

• Clarity: Which moat matters most
• Durability: why these advantages will strengthen over time instead of eroding
• Evidence: traction, metrics, or case studies proving the moat is already forming

Growth-stage investors should invest only in companies with a competitive advantage that are defensible and sustainable over time. They are paranoid about them. Seed-stage investors don’t need these yet. Still, it’s a good exercise to think about what it could be and how to get there.

(Coming soon)

(Coming soon)

This is a simple slide. Explain how much money you need to achieve which milestones and how would you allocate the funds.

I personally prefer not to add this slide and explain these concepts during the first call.

This deck from Khosla Ventures is a must read. Start here.

This video by Michael Seibel is exhaustive and concise.

Here an extremely short explenation about each slide by Sequoia.

Here YC’s pitch deck.

(Coming soon)

This is a great example. The deck is concise with a clean look.

Their “one liner” is epic!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FlMXpFiyBwkxU5TGH48dfyK8ZRGO7xfh/view

I really like the explenation of the problem. Using only a picture to explain it (slide 2) was a good hack.

Great to see the “why now” slide. The competitor slide is really simple and effective.

https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/dropboxs-original-pitch-deck/251815932

I like the Market size slide and slide 8 to show how the product works.

https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/uber-pitch-deck-2008/79075025