Demystifying the Go-To-Market Slide

**Watch Brett’s Guide to a Seed Stage Pitch Deck for an overview of all slides in your deck**

It’s time to tackle another piece of a seed pitch deck — the Go-To-Market (GTM) slide. Some startups fail to include this slide in their deck, costing them another great opportunity to differentiate your company and allow potential investors into your head. The best GTM slides help visualize how you plan on bringing in revenue, sales and marketing strategies. It can also show an investor how you’re thinking about your Ideal Customer Profile (and that you’re thinking about it at all!)

Throughout the first several posts about an early stage venture pitch deck you should be starting to notice a pattern. We’ve talked team and market opportunity slides. A common thread is that your deck and pitch should bring me into your head! How are you thinking about operations, your view on the market opportunity, all the way to your plan to take over the world. An investor wants to understand your mindset because we are investing in you! It isn’t about a small snapshot of where you’re at today. Great entrepreneurs provide extreme levels of transparency to potential investors because it helps assure that the ones that do invest are aligned on the mission and how to attack the opportunity from the beginning.

Customizing Your GTM Slide for Your Startup

Here’s the thing — there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to GTM. Just like your startup, your slide should stand out and tell your unique story. Whether you’re just starting your journey or gaining traction, tailor your GTM slide to reflect your startup’s stage, style, and vision. This slide is an opportunity for you to stand out! What is special or unique about how you are planning to acquire customers? Do you have an interesting hack? A viral opportunity? Amazing channel partners? A unique way of driving inbound leads? Or are you going more traditional through paid digital acquisition or direct sales team scale up? If you have something special about how you are or can acquire customers you should make it stand out!

Laser-Focused Targeting

Who’s your bullseye? Are you aiming for the big players, the smaller niches, or something in between? Break it down so investors know you’ve done your homework. Go beyond just talking about company sizes — dive into the specifics of the individuals who’ll be your biggest fans (your ICP). Don’t let the concept of ICP intimidate you, just remember that for B2B startups, it isn’t just the type of company that you are selling to but also the person(s) making the purchase decision and the user of your widget in that company. Who is your champion? Show that you’ve got a solid game plan for winning them over. If you are still early in this journey, portray how you will test different market segments to discover who your bullseye is! Have a plan and be laser focused on figuring that out.

Harnessing the Power of Network Effects

Imagine this: your customers are so thrilled with your product that they’re spreading the word like wildfire. Or if you are a B2B startup and your core customer brings their suppliers or customers onto the platform. If this starts to happen for your company you need to talk about it, in-fact, you should shout it from the rooftops! It is special and will differentiate you! Remember, investors might not connect the dots themselves, so it’s up to you to highlight how you’re creating a ripple effect.

Final Thoughts

Remember, your GTM slide should show off your unique advantages in how you understand and acquire your customer. Maybe you have figured out a unique PLG strategy, perhaps you have an amazing content advantage, or maybe your early direct sales efforts are converting at rates above industry averages. These are just a few examples of the ways a strong GTM can differentiate you.

At the very least, the slide is the embodiment of your customer acquisition strategy. It is your roadmap to turn your intentions into actions. Prepping this slide isn’t just for investors, it should also help you document and share your GTM internally. If you don’t have a plan to figure out who your core customer is and then acquire that customer, how are you going to take over the world?