Template · 10 min read

Writing a Business Plan (The Sequoia Pitch Deck Template)

Sequoia Capital Free Beginner

The de facto global standard for pitch deck structure, straight from Sequoia. The same outline Airbnb's founders used; if you follow one template, follow this one.

  • Ten-slide structure: purpose, problem, solution, why now, market size, competition, product, model, team, financials
  • Define your company in a single declarative sentence up front
  • One idea per slide; the deck earns the meeting, it doesn't answer everything
Open on sequoiacap.com ↗

It answers 10 questions

  1. How big does my market need to be for this to be a real business?
  2. What slides should my pitch deck have, and in what order?
  3. My market is small right now but growing fast. Is that a problem?
  4. What are the most common mistakes that kill a pitch deck?
  5. How long should my deck be, and what goes in the appendix?
  6. What should be in my seed pitch deck, and what kills a deck in the first 30 seconds?
  7. Investors keep asking for a top-down TAM slide, but I built my number bottoms-up. Which do I show?
  8. Is it smarter to ride a trend that's clearly rising, or to bet on a trend that hasn't started yet?
  9. Is it smarter to enter a market while it's still forming, or wait until demand is obvious and proven?
  10. Everyone says my market is too niche to be venture-scale. When are they right, and when are they wrong?

Read with it

  1. The definitive essay on where good ideas come from: notice problems you personally have, don't force it. Use it as the lens for... paulgraham.com Essay · ~20 min read How to Get Startup Ideas Paul Graham
  2. The essay that put 'product-market fit' into the startup vocabulary. Read it for the gut-level description of what PMF feels... pmarchive.com Essay · ~15 min read The Only Thing That Matters Marc Andreessen
  3. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  4. Most market sizing advice online is generic TAM SAM SOM filler. This one is written by an investor, backed by a survey of 30... Pear VC Essay · ~15 min read Market Sizing Guide Ian Taylor
  5. Before you sweat which side to seed, Gurley helps you judge whether your marketplace is even structurally worth building. He... Above the Crowd Essay · 20 min read All Markets Are Not Created Equal: 10 Factors to Consider When Evaluating Digital Marketplaces Bill Gurley
  6. The definitive short read on why disruptive ideas get dismissed as toys, and why that dismissal is your opening. It reframes... cdixon.org Article · ~5 min read The Next Big Thing Will Start Out Looking Like a Toy Chris Dixon
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