The Perfect Pitch Playbook

the 'perfect pitch' playbook:

Discover the Secret “H.E.A.R.T. of the Perfect Pitch” and Upgrade Your Deck

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BEN WIENER

(Click this first)

How to use this playbook

NAVIGATION Guide

1. Expert video explanations

2. Click this for pro-tips

3. The 10 / 20 / 30 Rule

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BEN WIENER

SLIDE 1: PROBLEM / OPPORTUNITY

[H: HYPOTHESIS / START WITH WHY] “Start With Why” - Begin your pitch with a Belief Statement. For example, “We believe that… [The ABC market suffers from (describe problem), or, the opportunity for (XYZ) has not yet been adequately understood or addressed], etc.”

[E: ENORMOUS STAKES] Provide some objective, factual evidence that the problem or opportunity is sufficiently LARGE, in monetary value and/or scope and impact.

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BEN WIENER

SLIDE 2: Current solutions grossly inadequate

[A: Alternatives Grossly Inadequate] Before introducing your solution, succinctly list all of the current alternatives and how they all fall short. Beyond competing companies, this slide must present the alternative ways of solving the problem or addressing the opportunity you presented on Slide 1.

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BEN WIENER

SLIDE 3: SOLUTION

[R: Radically differentiated solution] Describe the functions, features and benefits of the solution. Highlight not just what the solution does, but how it is radically different from the inadequate current alternatives described on the previous slide. Your goal on this slide? Show how your solution is 10x better than all of the current solutions described on the previous slide.

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BEN WIENER

Time Out!

1. Why Not “Why Now”?

Let’s answer some Questions You May be Thinking at this Point

2. 10x Better? Really?

3. "Send me a deck”?

4. Trouble with the 10-slide limit?

5. What about shorter pitches?

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BEN WIENER

SLIDE 4: How it Works

Describe your “secret sauce,” without disclosing any proprietary intellectual property or business secrets that require confidentiality.

The solution’s “secret sauce”

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BEN WIENER

Slide 5: Business Model

Who are the customers and what business model will you use to generate revenue from them? (Per unit? Per month? Per user? Value-based? Etc.) Will you sell directly to customers, or through channels? If through channels, describe or give examples. For an inception-stage startup, you are not expected to know (yet) or quote your product pricing in your deck.

A brief description of the intended business model

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BEN WIENER

slide 6: Go to Market

Describe what categories or sub-market channels or customers will you target first, and why? You must demonstrate an understanding of:

• Market and customer segmentation
• Projected sales cycles for each type or segment of customer

• Which segment or type(s) of customers you are most likely to be able to capture with your minimal resources

Concise, thoughtfulmarket penetration strategy

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BEN WIENER

slide 7: Team

[T: Traits and Skills] On this slide, in your text (and/or your narrative) you must address the following:

• Does the Team have Founder/Market Fit?
• What are the allocated roles among the team members - give evidence that the Team members have three necessary “personas” for their roles (“Hustler, Hacker, Designer”). What prior experience or capabilities show that the Team has the credibility and ability to execute the needed tasks?
• List Advisors or Board Members only if doing so directly supports the case for the Team’s credibility and ability. Investors are primarily interested in the founding team.

Founder Roles and supporting evidence of Credibility and Ability

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BEN WIENER

slide 8: Projections & Milestones

Describe the financial, development and commercial milestones you plan to achieve in the coming years. (Five years is ideal.)

 There are multiple legitimate ways to visually present this information. For this slide, just keep the data concise and focused. Investors will probably gloss over a table with many numbers in tiny boxes, but you should be prepared to provide a separate, detailed financial projection spreadsheet upon request.

Forward-looking projections

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BEN WIENER

slide 9: Status and Timeline

Show the startup’s accomplishments and achievements to date, on a backward-looking timeline: What’s been done, over what period of time? If the startup has already raised capital, list the amounts and timing of those prior raises.

What’s been accomplished up to now

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BEN WIENER

slide 10: Summary and Call to Action

Summarize the key H.E.A.R.T. “reasons to invest”

• There’s a lot at stake
• The current alternatives are not adequate
• We have the game-changing, paradigm-shifting solution that’s right for our market
• We have the right team in place

Don’t forget to state how much you are seeking to raise, and what next-round funding milestone you hope to reach with those funds.

Ask for Money

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BEN WIENER

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10/20/30 Pitch Deck with H.E.A.R.T. Elements: Slide 1: Problem / Opportunity

• H: Hypothesis / Belief Statement
• E: Enormous Stakes

Slide 2: Current Solutions Grossly Inadequate

• A: Alternatives Grossly Inadequate

Slide 3: Solution

• R: Radically Differentiated Solution

Slide 4: How it Works Slide 5: Business Model Slide 6: Go to Market Slide 7: Team

• T: Traits and Skills

Slide 8: Projections & Milestones Slide 9: Status & Timeline Slide 10: Summary & Call to Action

recap

The Body and H.E.A.R.T. of the Perfect Pitch

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BEN WIENER

• This Playbook was designed by Design For Decks. They help startup founders create professional, head-turning, fund-raising slide decks. Over $3B has been raised with decks they’ve designed.
• Video credits: Benny Goldman | Eli Ben Ze'ev, MoonSong Media
• Audio by ElevenLabs

credits & Resources

• VC Pitch Deck Survey

• Guy Kawasaki 10/20/30 Rule video

| post

• DocSend Video on Pitch Length

• Howard Marks Memo

• Jag Duggal Interview

• Andy Rachleff Interview

• Ben Horowitz, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, pg. 179

• Jeff Bezos, final Amazon shareholder letter, April 2021

• Geoffre y Moore, Crossing the Chasm

• The Hacker, Hustler Hipster founding team personas

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BEN WIENER

Some Common mistakes on the How it Works slide:

• Getting too technical
• Assuming the investor understands what you already understand or have learned

Pro Tips from Design For Decks

Design For Decks are experts in pitch deck design (link at the end of the Playbook) and they helped create this Playbook. Throughout the Playbook you’ll find these text box popup icons — click on them to find helpful “Pro Tip” insights from Design For Decks.

10x Better / Differentiation is Survival

“The primary thing that any technology startup must do is build a product that’s at least ten times better at doing something than the current prevailing way of doing that thing. Two or three times better will not be good enough to get people to switch to the new thing.” Ben Horowitz, The Hard Thing About Hard Things “Differentiation is Survival and the Universe Wants You to be Typical” Jeff Bezos’ final instruction in his final Amazon shareholder letter, April 2021

Enormous Stakes

Size matters in venture capital, because VCs need outsize returns. VCs are not just looking for winning startups that can return profit on that specific investment; rather, VC fund economics require investments that can potentially return profit for the entire fund. You must represent the size of the market opportunity accurately with relevant facts or figures. If you can’t find relevant figures for your TAM, do your best to estimate the TAM size using bottom-up calculations.

A common mistake on the Business Model slide:

Unless there’s a very strong reason, do not invent a new business model from scratch, or plan to adopt one that’s not appropriate for or familiar to your target customers.

"Why Now?"

Many consider “Why now?” the key question in a pitch, often warranting its own slide. In our model, it should be addressed—explicitly or implicitly—within the first three slides. The answer may lie in a newly emerged problem or opportunity (Slide 1), recent failures of existing solutions (Slide 2), or the newfound feasibility of your product or technology (Slide 3).

The Ten-Slide Rule

If you’re struggling to fit everything on one slide — try harder. You really want to try to include only the most important things on the slide. If it still doesn’t fit, then you have our reluctant permission to add a second slide. The ten-slide rule is our religious belief, but it’s not an orthodoxy. We strongly recommend only one idea per slide.