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4 months ago
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Discover the Secret “H.E.A.R.T. of the Perfect Pitch” and Upgrade Your Deck
BEN WIENER
© 2025 I v1.01
the 'perfect pitch' playbook:
3. The 10 / 20 / 30 Rule
(Click this first)
2. Click this for pro-tips
1. Expert video explanations
NAVIGATION Guide
BEN WIENER
© 2025 I v1.01
How to use this playbook
[E: ENORMOUS STAKES] Provide some objective, factual evidence that the problem or opportunity is sufficiently LARGE, in monetary value and/or scope and impact.
[H: HYPOTHESIS / START WITH WHY] “Start With Why” - Begin your pitch with a Belief Statement. For example, “We believe that… [The ABC market suffers from (describe problem), or, the opportunity for (XYZ) has not yet been adequately understood or addressed], etc.”
SLIDE 1: PROBLEM / OPPORTUNITY
BEN WIENER
© 2025 I v1.01
[A: Alternatives Grossly Inadequate] Before introducing your solution, succinctly list all of the current alternatives and how they all fall short. Beyond competing companies, this slide must present the alternative ways of solving the problem or addressing the opportunity you presented on Slide 1.
SLIDE 2: Current solutions grossly inadequate
BEN WIENER
© 2025 I v1.01
[R: Radically differentiated solution] Describe the functions, features and benefits of the solution. Highlight not just what the solution does, but how it is radically different from the inadequate current alternatives described on the previous slide. Your goal on this slide? Show how your solution is 10x better than all of the current solutions described on the previous slide.
SLIDE 3: SOLUTION
BEN WIENER
© 2025 I v1.01
5. What about shorter pitches?
4. Trouble with the 10-slide limit?
3. "Send me a deck”?
2. 10x Better? Really?
1. Why Not “Why Now”?
BEN WIENER
© 2025 I v1.01
Let’s answer some Questions You May be Thinking at this Point
Time Out!
Describe your “secret sauce,” without disclosing any proprietary intellectual property or business secrets that require confidentiality.
BEN WIENER
© 2025 I v1.01
The solution’s “secret sauce”
SLIDE 4: How it Works
Who are the customers and what business model will you use to generate revenue from them? (Per unit? Per month? Per user? Value-based? Etc.) Will you sell directly to customers, or through channels? If through channels, describe or give examples. For an inception-stage startup, you are not expected to know (yet) or quote your product pricing in your deck.
BEN WIENER
© 2025 I v1.01
A brief description of the intended business model
Slide 5: Business Model
A brief description of the intended business model
Describe what categories or sub-market channels or customers will you target first, and why? You must demonstrate an understanding of:
- Market and customer segmentation
- Projected sales cycles for each type or segment of customer
- Which segment or type(s) of customers you are most likely to be able to capture with your minimal resources
BEN WIENER
© 2025 I v1.01
slide 6: Go to Market
Founder Roles and supporting evidence of Credibility and Ability
[T: Traits and Skills] On this slide, in your text (and/or your narrative) you must address the following:
- Does the Team have Founder/Market Fit?
- What are the allocated roles among the team members - give evidence that the Team members have three necessary “personas” for their roles (“Hustler, Hacker, Designer”). What prior experience or capabilities show that the Team has the credibility and ability to execute the needed tasks?
- List Advisors or Board Members only if doing so directly supports the case for the Team’s credibility and ability. Investors are primarily interested in the founding team.
BEN WIENER
© 2025 I v1.01
slide 7: Team
Forward-looking projections
Describe the financial, development and commercial milestones you plan to achieve in the coming years. (Five years is ideal.) There are multiple legitimate ways to visually present this information. For this slide, just keep the data concise and focused. Investors will probably gloss over a table with many numbers in tiny boxes, but you should be prepared to provide a separate, detailed financial projection spreadsheet upon request.
BEN WIENER
© 2025 I v1.01
slide 8: Projections & Milestones
What’s been accomplished up to now
Show the startup’s accomplishments and achievements to date, on a backward-looking timeline: What’s been done, over what period of time? If the startup has already raised capital, list the amounts and timing of those prior raises.
BEN WIENER
© 2025 I v1.01
slide 9: Status and Timeline
Ask for Money
Summarize the key H.E.A.R.T. “reasons to invest”
- There’s a lot at stake
- The current alternatives are not adequate
- We have the game-changing, paradigm-shifting solution that’s right for our market
- We have the right team in place
Don’t forget to state how much you are seeking to raise, and what next-round funding milestone you hope to reach with those funds.
BEN WIENER
© 2025 I v1.01
slide 10: Summary and Call to Action
Share this playbook with other founders:
generate your H.E.A.R.T. PITCH
Found this helpful? Buy us a coffee ☕️
Buy The Book
10/20/30 Pitch Deck with H.E.A.R.T. Elements: Slide 1: Problem / Opportunity
- H: Hypothesis / Belief Statement
- E: Enormous Stakes
Slide 2: Current Solutions Grossly Inadequate
- A: Alternatives Grossly Inadequate
Slide 3: Solution
- R: Radically Differentiated Solution
Slide 4: How it Works Slide 5: Business Model Slide 6: Go to Market Slide 7: Team
- T: Traits and Skills
Slide 8: Projections & Milestones Slide 9: Status & Timeline Slide 10: Summary & Call to Action
The Body and H.E.A.R.T. of the Perfect Pitch
BEN WIENER
© 2025 I v1.01
recap
- Geoffre y Moore, Crossing the Chasm
| post
- Guy Kawasaki 10/20/30 Rule video
- The Hacker, Hustler Hipster founding team personas
- Jeff Bezos, final Amazon shareholder letter, April 2021
- Ben Horowitz, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, pg. 179
- Andy Rachleff Interview
- Jag Duggal Interview
- Howard Marks Memo
- DocSend Video on Pitch Length
- VC Pitch Deck Survey
- This Playbook was designed by Design For Decks. They help startup founders create professional, head-turning, fund-raising slide decks. Over $3B has been raised with decks they’ve designed.
- Video credits: Benny Goldman | Eli Ben Ze'ev, MoonSong Media
- Audio by ElevenLabs
BEN WIENER
© 2025 I v1.01
credits & Resources
- Getting too technical
- Assuming the investor understands what you already understand or have learned
Some Common mistakes on the How it Works slide:
Design For Decks are experts in pitch deck design (link at the end of the Playbook) and they helped create this Playbok. Throughout the Playbook you’ll find these text box popup icons — click on them to find helpful “Pro Tip” insights from Design For Decks.
Pro Tips from Design For Decks
“The primary thing that any technology startup must do is build a product that’s at least ten times better at doing something than the current prevailing way of doing that thing. Two or three times better will not be good enough to get people to switch to the new thing.” Ben Horowitz, The Hard Thing About Hard Things “Differentiation is Survival and the Universe Wants You to be Typical” Jeff Bezos’ final instruction in his final Amazon shareholder letter, April 2021
10x Better / Differentiation is Survival
Size matters in venture capital, because VCs need outsize returns. VCs are not just looking for winning startups that can return profit on that specific investment; rather, VC fund economics require investments that can potentially return profit for the entire fund. You must represent the size of the market opportunity accurately with relevant facts or figures. If you can’t find relevant figures for your TAM, do your best to estimate the TAM size using bottom-up calculations.
Enormous Stakes
Unless there’s a very strong reason, do not invent a new business model from scratch, or plan to adopt one that’s not appropriate for or familiar to your target customers.
A common mistake on the Business Model slide:
Many consider “Why now?” the key question in a pitch, often warranting its own slide. In our model, it should be addressed—explicitly or implicitly—within the first three slides. The answer may lie in a newly emerged problem or opportunity (Slide 1), recent failures of existing solutions (Slide 2), or the newfound feasibility of your product or technology (Slide 3).
"Why Now?"
If you’re struggling to fit everything on one slide — try harder. You really want to try to include only the most important things on the slide. If it still doesn’t fit, then you have our reluctant permission to add a second slide. The ten-slide rule is our religious belief, but it’s not an orthodoxy. We strongly recommend only one idea per slide.
