First Customers (GTM)

What should my very first sales pitch actually say, and how long should it be?

A starting point

Skip the deck at first, a first pitch is a two-sentence problem statement plus a question: here is the painful thing I noticed, is that true for you? The goal is to get them talking about their pain, not to talk them into buying. Once you can say your value in one sentence a stranger repeats back correctly, you have a pitch worth building on.

Go deeper

Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time.

3 resources 3 link-checked Watch Read

Watch

▶️ Video
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it Kevin Hale (YC partner, Wufoo co-founder) walks through how to package your idea so an investor believes it can grow fast, and a big part of that is telling the founder story so 'why you' lands instead of sounding like a boast. It is practical and script-level: how to open, what to lead with, and how to make your unfair edge legible in the first minute. Watch it once before you write a single pitch line.

How to Pitch Your Startup

On Y Combinator by Kevin Hale ~35 min

How to Pitch Your Startup
  • A pitch is really a hypothesis about why this company can grow quickly, so your 'why you' has to feed directly into that growth story, not sit as a separate bio slide.
  • Investors weigh how well you can sell and tell the story, so evidence you understand your customer beats abstract claims about your background.
  • Lead with clarity: make the problem, your insight, and why you are the one to solve it understandable in a sentence or two.
Watch on YouTube youtube.com →

Read

📖 Book
✓ Link checked Paid Intermediate

Why we picked it The best-known framework for structuring a message as a story where the customer is the hero, practical templates you can apply to your site and pitch.

Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

From Amazon / HarperCollins Leadership by Donald Miller Book (~240 pages)

  • Make the customer the hero and your product the guide
  • Frame it: they have a problem, you have a plan, here's the win
  • People buy the transformation, not the feature list
Open amazon.com →
📖 Book
✓ Link checked Paid Intermediate

Why we picked it Dunford's whole method starts with the customers who already love your product, then turns that into positioning the entire team can repeat the same way. Her final step is literally capturing positioning so it can be shared, which is the exact problem you have once new hires start describing your customer in their own words. Read it when you want the ICP and the pitch to stay consistent from the founder down to the newest rep.

Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It

From April Dunford by April Dunford Short book, about 200 pages

  • Positioning should start from the specific customers who already get real value, not from a generic market.
  • A shared positioning document is what keeps a growing team describing the same ideal customer.
  • The book is battle tested across hundreds of B2B tech companies, so the process travels well beyond one industry.
Open aprildunford.com →

People also ask

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