This free eBook goes over the 10 slides every startup pitch deck has to include, based on what we learned from analyzing 500+ pitch decks, including those from Airbnb, Uber and Spotify.
Everything you need to raise funding for your startup, including 3,500+ investors, 7 tools, 18 templates and 3 learning resources.
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SendGrid effectively frames the problem around the operational burdens of email delivery, such as CAN-SPAM compliance, unsubscribe management, and branding complexities. This strategy works because it translates a technical issue into relatable business pains, making the problem feel both urgent and widespread. By focusing on the consequences of poor email management, they immediately establish a clear need for a specialized solution in the minds of investors.
Our Tip: Ground your problem in tangible, relatable business pains instead of abstract technical issues to make the need for your solution feel urgent and undeniable.
The deck presents SendGrid as a simple platform that directly solves the stated problems by emphasizing outcomes like high deliverability, scalability, and insightful metrics. This approach creates a compelling narrative by showing a clear "before and after" scenario for the customer. Notice their value proposition focuses on benefits, not features, promising efficiency and performance without requiring deep technical knowledge.
Our Tip: Frame your solution in terms of clear, quantifiable benefits that directly solve the customer's problem, rather than just listing product features.
SendGrid uses hard numbers, specifically 400 customers and $60,000 in monthly recurring revenue, to provide concrete proof of market validation. These metrics are powerful because they shift the pitch from a theoretical idea to a functioning business with a paying customer base. This serves as validation that de-risks the investment by demonstrating that product-market fit is not just a hypothesis but a revenue-generating reality.
Our Tip: Showcase your most compelling traction metric, like MRR or customer count, to prove your business model is already working and generating revenue.
The deck makes a clear and justified ask of $300,000, explicitly linking the capital to enhancing sales and marketing efforts. This direct approach shows investors a clear plan for how their money will fuel specific growth initiatives. By connecting the funds to a strategy for customer base expansion, SendGrid presents a logical roadmap for generating a return on investment.
Our Tip: Clearly state your funding ask and tie the use of funds directly to specific, growth-oriented milestones to give investors confidence in your capital allocation plan.
SendGrid’s deck tells a clear story, moving logically from a relatable business problem to a direct solution, then to market validation through traction. This narrative structure makes the investment feel like a natural next step in an already successful journey. Structure your pitch as a cohesive story where each slide builds on the last to create a compelling and logical case for investment.
The entire deck excels at translating complex technical and business concepts into simple, digestible information. From the problem statement to the financial ask, every point is made with clarity and focuses on what truly matters to an investor. Ruthlessly edit your deck to remove jargon and complexity, ensuring your core value proposition and business case can be understood in seconds.
