YC Pitch Deck

Create a compelling startup pitch deck that follows the structure proven to raise billions from top investors. Master the YC and Sequoia formats that get founders funded.

When to Use This Skill

• Fundraising to create investor pitch decks

• YC application to structure your narrative

• Demo Day prep to craft your 2-minute pitch

• Angel investors to communicate your opportunity

• Partnership pitches to structure compelling asks

• Internal alignment to articulate your strategy clearly

Methodology Foundation

Aspect Details

Source YC (Y Combinator), Sequoia Capital pitch framework

Core Principle "The best pitch decks tell a story: Problem → Solution → Why Now → Why You. Every slide must earn its place."

Why This Matters Investors see thousands of decks. You have 3 minutes of attention. A great deck doesn't get you funded—a bad deck gets you rejected.

What Claude Does vs What You Decide

Claude Does You Decide

Structures video workflow Final creative vision

Suggests shot compositions Equipment selection

Creates storyboard templates Brand aesthetics

Generates script frameworks Final approval

Identifies technical requirements Budget allocation

What This Skill Does

• Structures your narrative - Proven slide sequence that works

• Crafts compelling slides - What goes on each slide

• Identifies what to include/exclude - Signal vs. noise

• Tailors for stage - Pre-seed vs. Seed vs. Series A

• Prepares you for Q&A - What investors will ask

• Provides templates - Starting points for each slide

How to Use

Create a Pitch Deck from Scratch

Help me create a pitch deck for my startup: [Description of company] Stage: [Pre-seed/Seed/Series A] Raising: [$X] Key metrics: [if any]

Review an Existing Pitch Deck

Review my pitch deck against YC/Sequoia best practices: [Paste slide content or describe] What's working? What needs improvement?

Prepare for Demo Day

I have 2 minutes for Demo Day. Here's my company: [description] Help me structure the 2-minute pitch.

Instructions

Step 1: Understand the Standard Structure

Pitch Deck Structure (10-15 slides)

Core Slides (Required)

Optional Slides (Based on Stage/Story)

• Go-to-Market: How you acquire customers
• Roadmap: Where you're going
• Unit Economics: LTV/CAC, margins
• Vision: 10-year view
• Financials: Projections (Series A+)

What NOT to Include

• Detailed financial projections (too early stage)
• Technical architecture (unless deep tech)
• Advisory board (unless remarkable)
• Patents pending (rarely impressive)
• Long text blocks (nobody reads)

Step 2: Craft Each Slide

Slide-by-Slide Guide

SLIDE 1: Title

Purpose: First impression. Who are you?

Include:

• Company name and logo
• One-line description (what you do)
• Your name and contact

Format: [Logo] "[One-line description]" [Founder Name] | [email]

Example: "Stripe for healthcare payments" "AI that writes sales emails that actually get responses"

Don't: Start with "We are..." or use jargon.

SLIDE 2: Problem

Purpose: Make investors feel the pain.

Structure:

1. Who has the problem? (specific customer)
2. What is the problem? (concrete, relatable)
3. Why is it painful? (stakes, cost)

Do:

• Use a specific customer story
• Quantify the pain ($, time, frequency)
• Make it visceral/emotional

Don't:

• List multiple unrelated problems
• Use abstract language
• Describe your solution yet

Example Template: "[Customer type] struggle with [problem]. Currently they [painful workaround]. This costs them [quantified impact]."

Strong Example: "Marketing teams spend 6+ hours/week manually pulling data from 5 different tools to answer one question: 'What's working?'"

SLIDE 3: Solution

Purpose: Your answer to the problem.

Structure:

1. What is your solution? (one sentence)
2. How does it work? (simple explanation)
3. What's the key insight? (why this approach)

Do:

• Start with the customer benefit, not features
• Keep it simple (if you can't explain simply, you don't understand it)
• Show, don't tell (visual if possible)

Don't:

• List features
• Use technical jargon
• Describe every capability

Example Template: "[Product] is [category] that [key benefit]. Unlike [alternative], we [unique approach]. The result: [outcome]."

Strong Example: "Databox pulls all your marketing data into one dashboard, automatically. No spreadsheets, no manual work. See what's working in 30 seconds."

SLIDE 4: Why Now

Purpose: Why is THIS the moment?

Market timing matters more than you think. Great ideas at the wrong time fail.

Why Now Categories:

• Technology shift: "AI/ML now makes X possible"
• Regulatory change: "New regulation requires X"
• Behavior change: "COVID changed how people X"
• Cost inflection: "Cloud costs dropped, now X is viable"
• Platform shift: "Mobile/AR/crypto created X opportunity"

Structure: "[Recent change] has created [new reality]. This means [customers] now [new behavior/need]. We're positioned to [capture opportunity]."

Don't:

• Say "It's just time" without specifics
• Claim first mover advantage alone
• Ignore the "why not 5 years ago" question

SLIDE 5: Market Size

Purpose: Is the opportunity big enough?

The Hierarchy:

• TAM: Total Addressable Market (everyone who could buy)
• SAM: Serviceable Addressable Market (who you could realistically reach)
• SOM: Serviceable Obtainable Market (what you'll capture in 3-5 years)

How to Calculate: Bottom-up (preferred): # customers × price = market size Top-down: Industry reports (less credible)

What Investors Want:

• Believable path to $100M+ revenue
• Clear logic in numbers
• SAM/SOM more important than TAM

Example: "TAM: $50B (all SMB marketing software) SAM: $5B (SMBs with marketing teams) SOM: $500M (marketing teams using data tools) We're targeting the SOM, growing SAM over time."

Don't:

• Throw out huge TAM with no logic
• Say "if we capture 1% of TAM..." (red flag)
• Ignore competition in market sizing

SLIDE 6: Product

Purpose: Show what you built.

Options:

• Screenshots (annotated)
• Short demo video (30-60 sec)
• Before/After
• Product in action

Do:

• Show the core experience
• Highlight what's different
• Keep it simple

Don't:

• Show every feature
• Include UI-heavy screenshots with no context
• Use mockups if you have a real product

For Pre-Product:

• Show prototype/mockup
• Be clear it's not built yet
• Focus on the experience you'll create

SLIDE 7: Traction

Purpose: Prove it's working.

Best Traction Metrics by Stage:

Structure:

• Lead with strongest metric
• Show growth trajectory (graph)
• Include context (timeline)

What Investors Care About:

1. Growth rate (MoM, WoW) > absolute numbers
2. Retention > new users
3. Revenue > free users
4. Engagement > signups

Example: "$30K MRR, growing 25% MoM 100 paying customers (75% month-over-month retention) Started charging 4 months ago"

No Traction? Show other signals:

• Waitlist with conversion
• Letters of intent
• Pilot commitments
• Expert/customer testimonials

SLIDE 8: Business Model

Purpose: How you make money.

Include:

• Revenue model (subscription, transaction, etc.)
• Pricing
• Unit economics (if available)

Keep Simple: "We charge $X per [unit] per [period]." "Customer pays [how much] for [what]."

If you have data:

• Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
• Lifetime value (LTV)
• LTV/CAC ratio (3+ is good)
• Payback period

Example: "SaaS: $99/user/month Current LTV: $2,400 | CAC: $400 | LTV/CAC: 6x Payback: 4 months"

SLIDE 9: Competition

Purpose: Show you understand the landscape and why you win.

DO NOT: Say "We have no competition." (It means no market or you don't understand it.)

Best Format: 2×2 Matrix or Feature comparison

2×2 Matrix Example:

Choose axes where you win.

Alternative: Why We Win

• We're faster because [technical advantage]
• We're cheaper because [efficiency]
• We're better for [specific segment] because [focus]

Don't:

• Dismiss competitors
• Show a feature matrix where you check every box
• Ignore the "do nothing" alternative

SLIDE 10: Team

Purpose: Why YOU can pull this off.

Include:

• Founders (photo, name, relevant background)
• Key relevant experience
• Why this team for this problem

What Matters:

• Relevant domain expertise
• Relevant startup/tech experience
• Co-founder complementarity
• Prior exits (if any)

Format: [Photo] Name | Role Previously: [Relevant credential] [One-line about why they're perfect]

Example: "Jane (CEO): 10 years at Google Ads, built their SMB product John (CTO): Ex-Stripe, scaled payments infra 100x We met this problem daily—now we're solving it."

If team is weak:

• Show advisors
• Show early hires you'll make
• Be honest about gaps and how you'll fill them

SLIDE 11: Ask

Purpose: What do you want?

Include:

• Amount raising
• What you'll do with it
• Key milestones you'll hit

Example: "Raising $2M Seed Use of funds:

• 50% Engineering (ship v2, integrations)
• 30% GTM (first sales hire, marketing)
• 20% Operations (12-month runway)

Milestones: $500K ARR, 500 customers, Series A ready"

Don't:

• Be vague about use of funds
• Ask for too wide a range ("$1-5M")
• Skip this slide

Step 3: Apply Stage-Specific Adjustments

Adjustments by Stage

Pre-Seed ($500K-$1M)

Focus: Problem, solution, team, early signal Acceptable to not have: Revenue, clear CAC/LTV, full team Key question: "Is this a problem worth solving by these people?"

Seed ($1M-$3M)

Focus: Traction, product-market fit signal, GTM hypothesis Expected: Some revenue or strong engagement, clear positioning Key question: "Is this working? Can it scale?"

Series A ($5M-$15M)

Focus: Unit economics, scalable GTM, repeatable sales Expected: $1M+ ARR, clear path to $10M+, proven CAC/LTV Key question: "Does this scale? What does $100M look like?"

Step 4: The 2-Minute Pitch (Demo Day)

Demo Day Format

Total Time: 2 minutes

Structure:

Hook (10 sec): "[Company] is [category] for [customer]." Or: "[X] companies have [problem]. We fix that."

Problem (20 sec): Who, what, why it hurts—specific and relatable.

Solution (20 sec): What you built, how it works, key insight.

Traction (20 sec): Best metrics, growth rate, proof it works.

Business Model (15 sec): How you make money, unit economics if strong.

Market/Why Now (15 sec): Big opportunity, market timing.

Ask (10 sec): What you're raising, what you'll do with it.

Close (10 sec): Memorable one-liner, call to action.

Demo Day Tips

• Practice until it's natural
• Don't rush—pause for impact
• Memorize the flow, not word-for-word
• End with energy
• Have your email visible

Examples

Example 1: Pre-Seed Pitch Deck

Input:

"Create a pitch deck for my AI sales email tool. We help SDRs write personalized emails. Pre-seed, raising $750K. We have a working product and 50 beta users."

Output:

Pitch Deck: [SalesFlow AI]

Slide 1: Title

[SalesFlow Logo]

AI-Powered Sales Emails That Get Responses

Jane Smith | jane@salesflow.ai

Slide 2: Problem

SDRs spend 40% of their time writing emails. Most of those emails get ignored.

The average SDR: • Sends 100+ emails/day • Gets <2% response rate • Wastes 3+ hours/day on copy-paste personalization

Top performers personalize deeply—but that doesn't scale.

Slide 3: Solution

SalesFlow writes personalized emails in seconds.

Input: prospect LinkedIn + company data Output: unique, personalized email

Not templates. Not mail merge. Actually personalized—every email is different.

[Screenshot: Before/After of generic vs. personalized email]

Slide 4: Why Now

Three shifts make this possible:

1. GPT-4 quality: AI can write like humans now
2. Data availability: LinkedIn, company data, news all accessible
3. Buyer expectations: Generic emails don't work anymore

2024: The year personalization becomes mandatory.

Slide 5: Market

$4.5B Sales Engagement Market

TAM: $4.5B (all sales software) SAM: $800M (email/outreach tools) SOM: $100M (AI writing for sales)

3M+ SDRs in the US alone Each worth $500-2000/year

Slide 6: Product

[Product screenshots showing:]

1. Paste LinkedIn URL
2. AI analyzes profile + company
3. Generates personalized email
4. One-click send to sequence

"Write 100 personalized emails in 10 minutes"

Slide 7: Traction

Early but promising:

• 50 beta users (SDRs at 20 companies) • 15,000 emails generated • 4.2% response rate (vs. 2% baseline) • 3 paid pilots starting ($500/mo each)

[Graph showing weekly email volume growth]

Slide 8: Business Model

SaaS: $99/user/month

Target customer: SDR teams of 5-50 Contract value: $500-5,000/month

At scale: CAC target: <$500 LTV: $2,000 (20-month lifespan) LTV/CAC: 4x+

Slide 9: Competition

  ↑ Personalization
  |

Lavender ←─────────────────→ [SalesFlow] | | | • Manual research • AI-generated | • Time-consuming • Instant | • Suggestions only • Full emails | Outreach, Salesloft | └─────────────────────────→ Automation

We're the only tool that writes truly personalized emails, not templates.

Slide 10: Team

[Photo] Jane Smith | CEO • 8 years at Salesforce, led SMB product • Sold to thousands of sales teams

[Photo] Tom Chen | CTO • ML engineer, ex-OpenAI • Built GPT applications at scale

We've lived this problem and built the solution.

Slide 11: Ask

Raising: $750K Pre-Seed

Use of funds: • 60% Product (AI model, integrations) • 30% Go-to-market (first customers) • 10% Ops (runway)

Milestones to Seed: • $50K MRR • 500 paying users • Prove 2x response rate improvement

Example 2: Demo Day Script

Input:

"Write my 2-minute Demo Day pitch based on the deck above."

Output:

Demo Day Script (2:00)

[0:00-0:10] Hook "SDRs spend half their day writing emails that nobody opens.

SalesFlow is AI that writes personalized sales emails that actually get responses."

[0:10-0:30] Problem "The average SDR sends 100 emails a day. Response rate? Under 2%.

The problem isn't effort—it's personalization. Top performers research every prospect. But that takes hours—it doesn't scale.

Generic emails don't work anymore. Buyers know when they're in a sequence."

[0:30-0:55] Solution "SalesFlow solves this. You give us a LinkedIn profile. Our AI reads their background, their company, recent news, and writes a unique email—not a template, not mail merge—actually personalized.

What took 5 minutes now takes 5 seconds. Scale AND personalization."

[0:55-1:15] Traction "We launched 8 weeks ago. 50 beta users have sent 15,000 emails.

Their response rates doubled—4.2% versus the 2% baseline.

We just signed our first three paying pilots, $500 a month each. This works."

[1:15-1:30] Business Model + Market "We charge $99 per user per month. There are 3 million SDRs in the US—this is an $800 million market.

The shift to AI writing is happening now. GPT-4 made this possible."

[1:30-1:45] Team "I'm Jane. I spent 8 years at Salesforce selling to these teams. Tom, my co-founder, built GPT applications at OpenAI.

We lived this problem. Now we're solving it."

[1:45-2:00] Ask "We're raising $750K to get to $50K MRR and prove we can 2x response rates at scale.

If you're an SDR, a sales leader, or an investor who's tired of bad cold emails—come talk to us.

SalesFlow. Personalized emails that get responses."

Checklists & Templates

Pitch Deck Review Checklist

Deck Quality Check

Structure

• 10-15 slides max
• Follows standard order
• No unnecessary slides
• Each slide has one point

Content

• Problem is specific and quantified
• Solution is clear in 10 seconds
• "Why now" is compelling
• Market size is bottom-up credible
• Traction is the best available
• Competition is honest
• Team backgrounds are relevant
• Ask is specific

Design

• Readable at 8pt (presentation size)
• Minimal text per slide
• Visuals support, not distract
• Consistent formatting
• No typos

Story

• Flows logically
• Builds excitement
• Ends with clear action

Slide Content Templates

Quick Templates

Problem Slide

"[Customer segment] struggle with [problem]. Currently they [painful workaround]. This costs them [impact]."

Solution Slide

"[Product] is [category] that [benefit]. Unlike [alternative], we [differentiation]."

Why Now Slide

"[Change] has created [opportunity]. We're positioned to [capture it]."

Market Slide

"TAM: $[X] ([total market]) SAM: $[Y] ([reachable segment]) SOM: $[Z] ([our target])"

Traction Slide

"$[X] MRR | [Y]% MoM growth [Z] customers | [A]% retention [Timeline context]"

Ask Slide

"Raising $[X] [stage] Use: [breakdown] Milestones: [targets]"

Skill Boundaries

What This Skill Does Well

• Structuring video production workflows

• Creating storyboard frameworks

• Suggesting technical approaches

• Providing creative direction templates

What This Skill Cannot Do

• Replace professional videography

• Edit video files directly

• Make final creative judgments

• Guarantee audience engagement

References

• Y Combinator. "How to Make a Pitch Deck" (YC library)

• Sequoia Capital. "Writing a Business Plan" (classic framework)

• Reid Hoffman. "Blitzscaling Lectures" - LinkedIn pitch deck

• DocSend. "Pitch Deck Data Reports" (what gets funded)

• Kawasaki, Guy. "The Art of the Start" - 10/20/30 rule

Related Skills

• fundraising-narrative - Story beyond the deck

• startup-metrics - What metrics to include

• positioning - Differentiation strategy

• storytelling-storybrand - Narrative structure

Skill Metadata

• Mode: cyborg

name: yc-pitch-deck category: startup subcategory: fundraising version: 1.0 author: MKTG Skills source_expert: Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital source_work: YC Library, Sequoia Business Plan difficulty: intermediate estimated_value: $10,000 pitch deck consulting tags: [pitch-deck, fundraising, YC, Sequoia, startups, investors, Demo-Day] created: 2026-01-25 updated: 2026-01-25