What your startup's pitch deck really says about you.

1. Startup pitch deck
An authentic template
@bigyahu
http://m8.ventures

2. This is our customer and
their problem
• This person is just a customer archetype,
they don’t actually exist
• I just said several witty or heart-felt
things. Better pay attention - I’m a master
story-teller. This is like a free ticket to
TED.

3. Existing solutions suck
• This part of the story is either funny as
hell or maddening. It sets you up for…

4. Here’s our way-better
solution
• Making the world a better place through
the application of blockchain, AI, machine
learning, autonomy, the gig economy, the
cloud, and more tiny whirring propellers
than a model airplane builders’ world
congress.

5. The opportunity is
surprisingly large
• Think of a number and 100x it, that’s how big
our total addressable market is. We could sell
one of these widgets to every person in China,
if we didn’t need to employ every person in
China to make widgets.
• You should feel greedy right now and paranoid
that someone else might get there first.

6. Here’s how we convert that
into money
• More money than any of us could eat.
Way more than that. And you can eat a
lot of money if you put your mind to it.
That one time at Davos. We know about
that.

7. The customers never, ever
leave
• They can’t. They could try, but they might
literally die if they succeed.
• Becoming a customer also forces the
customer’s entire extended family, friends
and work colleagues to sign up immediately.

8. This is what we think we can
achieve in the next year
• Because are you from the future? Who
really knows what might happen any further
out than one year? Let’s not kid ourselves.
• We will achieve stupendous goals in the
next year.

9. But we can’t achieve these
things without your help
• And by “help” i mean money, in the form of
investment.
• This much raised so far, goal of that much,
likely to stop raising and go to lightspeed X
months from now.

10. This is what the future looks
like if you join us
• Flying cars. Meals in pill form. Robotic
domestic staff. One-piece shiny overalls.
Colonise Mars (or Moon, your choice).
• Remember customer? Customer is so
happy now.
• World is better place.

11. Startup name, my name,
contact details
• Because I know you probably weren’t that
interested when I introduced myself at the
beginning.
• But now you know I am an awesome story-
teller and this is an incredible story.
• Hit me up at the break.