A Business Plan in 10 Slides

The Pitch Deck

This template has been designed to describe all aspects of the venture (not just the ones
you know about or are excited by) and serves as both a prototype your vision and
communicate it to others.
The pitch deck is the first comprehensive prototype of a new venture, and so should be
created, shared, and in other ways treated as a work in progress (and slides are easier to
revise or abandon than a lengthy written document).
Its general outline addresses most of the questions investors will have about your business, in
the order they will ask them—thus the order of the slides is critical.
Use this template to create two decks: the pitch deck to present from and an annotated
pitch deck to leave behind. This second deck should be self-contained and self-explanatory.
Keep it simple: be concise but also comprehensive. Where possible, try to use images or
charts to convey your message.
Personalize your deck—remove the instructions, change the titles, change the master slide—
but keep the original order and focus of the slides.
NOTE: The grey boxes in this template provide guidance and instruction, and can
be deleted as you compile your pitch deck.
 Overview of Pitch Deck Template

Vision Validation

The Idea Market

(as a pitch) Assumptions Team

The Problem
Technology The Summary &
Solution, & Milestones
Assumptions Deliverables Next Steps
value

Business
Resources
Assumptions
Your Company (or Project) Here
Your company name and contact information here:
• Include all names/emails/phone numbers of the founding team
• Include company website (if established)
The Introduction – Elevator Pitch
• In approximately 140 characters or less, describe what the company
does, for whom, and why its important (i.e., valuable to that customer).

• You can also very briefly mention any significant

accomplishments/milestones reached so far, e.g. have license to patent,
proof of concept completed, prototype completed, tested with name
brand customers, etc. This can attract interest for the remainder of the
presentation.

Page  4
Problem, Solution & Value Proposition

Use this slide to define three things:

The problem are you solving
• Describe the problem your venture will address, using as clear and compelling
language as possible. Be sure to clearly identify who has the problem (consumer
or customer) and how badly.
Your solution
• Describe your solution in terms of the benefits it provides for the consumer
and/or customer (avoid describing the technical features of your solution here).
Your value proposition
• The value proposition represents how you (and the customer) will measure the
value of your offering. Be as specific (and if possible, quantitative) as you can
about the relative value of your solution: is it 5% better than existing alternatives,
50%, 500%? And by what measure: is it faster, better, or cheaper?
The Market
Use this slide to define three things:
Your consumer (and/or customer)
• Clearly identify who your customer is and how
many of them there are (the particular market
segment you are pursuing).
The Price, Revenue Model, and Volume
• How much they will pay (price), how they will
pay (revenue model) and how much they will
buy (lifetime customer value).
How you will reach them
• How you will communicate your offering and
value (i.e., your go-to-market strategy).
Technology
Use this slide to define:
What is your solution?
• What is your technology? What does it do? How does it do it?
Describe your solution without disclosing any patentable or
trade secret information.
• What makes this solution effective, unique, and/or defensible
from competitors? Describe any IP (patents, provisional
patents, or trade secrets). Describe any distinguishing (or
inimitable) value of your technology over competing solution.
Will it work (and when)?
• Describe the “readiness” of your technology and how long it
may take to reach commercial scale.
Can you make it (at scale)?
• What does it cost? What is the supply chain (i.e., who will
provide any critical elements of your core technology?)
Financial Projections
Describe how your company will make money solving
the customer’s problem. Make sure to answer the
following questions:
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
• How much will you make?
• How much will it cost?
revenue (000s) $ 62.5 $ 129.6 $ 336 $ 960 $ 1,600
• When will it happen?
customers 500 In 1200
a single table, show
3000 how much you expect to5000
4000 get paid
for each unit you sell, how much it will cost to make, and
units/customer 5 how6many you will7sell. In this case,
15 keep it simple:
20
identify the three most important factors driving your
price $25 $18 projections
revenue $16 and the three
$16most important
$16
factors driving your cost projections.
expenses (000s) $85 $650 $250 $335 $750

headcount 10 14 15 27 34

COGS $18 $17 $15 $14 $14

CAC $325 $250 $200 ** All $ are in 000

$100 $50
What are the 3 factors (max) that will
drive changes in your revenue and
net income (000s) ($22.50) expenses($479.6) $ -85
over the next three years? $ 625 $ 850
Can you control them?
 Early Stage Deliverables
For your vision of this venture to work,
what has to be true?
List all of the assumptions you have made in
Assumption / Hypothesis $5 specifically$50 $500 $5,000
describing your vision. Each of these
assumptions represents an uncertainty.
Some are more uncertain than others, and some are
more critical than others (i.e., if they prove false,
you would fail completely).
List your assumptions and then prioritize them in
terms of how critical and how uncertain they are
now.
Identify the major uncertainties you would tackle in
the next stage of developing this venture.
This is a private slide, not for presenting, but you
should keep it in the slide deck and record every
time you recognize a looming uncertainty.
Milestones
Your milestones represent the most important activities to
accomplish during the next phase that will reduce the
uncertainties surrounding your business.
Note that, to accomplish each milestone, you’ll need the right
capabilities and sufficient investment. Thus the milestones
should be reflected in the Team and Summary slides.
Typical milestones might be:
• Completing a technical prototype
• Interviewing 20 customers to create an MRD
• Getting a first customer commitment
• Shipping your first product (or getting your first
10,000 users)
Don’t list every activity, but rather group them into a set of
milestones that you will accomplish in this round.
The Team

Relevant skills and

Picture Name (or TBD)
experiences

Describe your current and planned management team. For each of the founders and
NOTE: Don’t put someone on your team just to fill a advisors, describe the skills
spot. List only the people who are moving forward with and experiences that are
your venture. Otherwise list TBD and be prepared to meaningful to the venture
explain what kind of person you need.

The Advisory Board

Relevant skills &
Picture Name (or TBD)
experiences

Describe your current advisors. Don’t list advisors you For each of the founders and
have not gotten permission to list. Instead, if you’re advisors, describe the skills
missing key advisors, list the backgrounds and and experiences that are
experiences you think will be valuable. meaningful to the venture
Summary and Next Steps
On this slide, summarize your venture as you currently
envision it as well as its current status:
• Be clear in what you are planning to do in the long
run
• Be equally clear in what you are planning to do in
the short run.
• Be clear in what you are asking for from this
audience. If you are pitching internal executives (or
outside investors), tell them what funding you need
and what you will do with it. If you are pitching to
potential advisors or employees – be clear about
what you’re asking of them.
(Optional) Appendix Slides
To develop your concept further, you may choose to
include the accompanying slides in an appendix:
1. Describe the 4 Ps: product, price, promotion,
and place of your marketing plan.
2. Describe the current and emerging
competition, use the accompanying
Competitive Landscape Matrix to define the
critical features that your customers care
about, and the differences (based on these
features) between your offering and the
competition’s.
3. You may also want to add a User Scenario(s)
slide to describe the typical customer, their
preferences, and how they would use this
product.
The slides are optional and should only be included if
they will help you develop your concept.
 (Optional) Product, Price, Promotion, Place

“P” Description

What is the product (tangible) or service (intangible) or combination

Product that you are offering. If there is a product mix, describe the
differences among the mix.

What is the price the customer will pay for the product/service?
Price
What is the perceived value proposition that justifies that price?

What is the promotion plan? What are the methods of

communicating the relevant information about the product to each of
Promotion
many different parties (including customer, distributors, etc.):
advertising, direct mail, word-of-mouth, public relations, coupons?

What is your place? Place describes your distribution strategy: where

Place will customers get access to your products/services? How will you
distribute your products to these locations?
 (Optional) Competitive Landscape
Feature Feature Feature Feature Feature Feature
1 2 3 4 5 N

Your Company / Project      

Competitor 1   
Competitor 2  
Competitor 3    
Competitor 4   
Competitor N   
▪ List any direct competitors as well as competing alternatives (including the status quo). Do your research here. Who are they?
List them. What makes you different? Describe it! What gives the company an advantage? Describe it too!
▪ Depending on the product and competitors it is sometimes easier to depict the competitive landscape in terms of specific
features that add substantial value compared to your competitors. This can be shown easily by careful consideration to the row
and column headings in the illustrated table.
(Optional) User Scenario(s)
A User Scenario describes a typical customer (or 2 or 3),
their demographics, and what they are looking to do
with your solution (i.e., what is their problem and how
your solution will solve it?)
These descriptions are narratives, not bullets, and
demonstrate that you understand the typical customer
and their needs (better than anyone else does).