🌟 Why Does This Slide Matter?
🔍 What's the Market Missing?
✨ How Do We Stand Out?
📈 Are We Built to Last?
🎨 Making Our Slide Pop
🛠️ Tools and Tricks at Our Disposal
🎣 Grabbing Their Attention
🌟 Why Does This Slide Matter?
The competition slide is the space in your deck to illuminate the overlooked gaps in the market. This slide should crystallise your competitive edge and be firmly tied with your entire story, your solution, your GTM, your roadmap. Again, this is to amplify your Value prop. and not just some adhoc list that says little to nothing.
Some of the most interesting things I see when pointed to a list of competitors are how much better they are at messaging their VP… and that is why this is such a key slide to get right.
🤷🏼♂️ What the pro templates say!
These are so convoluted 🤯 and have led to this…
Which can just be ripped up because this format it is so weak and litrally useless.
Writing a compelling competitive landscape slide is a perennial challenge. It's not just another slide; it's a bit of a litmus test that can make your pitch. Standard visual aids, like quadrant diagrams or tick-and-cross feature lists, have become so cliché that they often fail to engage investors in any meaningful way. They usually come off as self-serving, leaving investors to roll their eyes at yet another founder who thinks they've "disrupted" something.
So, what are investors really looking for? In essence, they need clarity on three key aspects:
Differentiation
Unique value proposition
Defensibility
It's not merely about demonstrating that you understand your market and competition; it's about showcasing why your solution is 10x better, faster, cheaper. Investors need to see that you're not just better but different in a way that matters. This is where your 'unfair advantage' comes in, whether that's proprietary technology, an innovative go-to-market strategy, or an unparalleled understanding of customer needs. And it has to be easy to grasp—no mental gymnastics allowed.
Your competitive landscape slide should tell a cohesive story that integrates these elements, tying them back to your overall business model and market strategy. It's your opportunity to provide a 360-degree view that's reinforced with hard data and market insights, solidifying the notion that you're bringing a special solution to an untapped market.
Investors are in it to make money, plain and simple. In a venture landscape where many startups fail, your competition slide needs to do more than just impress; it has to convince. It needs to de-risk the investment by showing your startup is designed for both scale and long-term sustainability.
To sum up, your competitive landscape slide is far more than just a box to check off. It's a strategic tool for validating your startup's potential. When put together thoughtfully, this slide does more than capture attention; it earns you credibility and potentially opens the doors to investment. Use it wisely.
