The Pitch Deck Competitor Slide

Rarely done well, how to nail the crucial messaging of how you will win.

The way most startups talk about competitors in their pitch decks is underwhelming. It has become a bit of a box-ticking exercise that doesn’t add any real value to the story. It’s also a missed opportunity to deliver key messages about your unique position in the market — the factors that set you apart and illustrate why you will win.

In around 70% of pitch decks investors are provided with a standard 4-quadrant competitor matrix. Around 80% of these use generic axis labels like faster-slower; bigger-smaller; cheaper-expensive that are weak descriptors of advantage.

Investors are looking for companies that have a unique view of the world and a standout offer for customers. They may lose confidence if you are unable to articulate this. If you craft your competitor dialogue using your unique view as the basis, your pitch deck will say “See, no-one is doing this like we are”. Brilliant.

Here’s a couple of tips to help you showcase your competive advantage throughout your pitch deck:

• Focus on how your value proposition to customers is better than anything else out there, rather than than how your product is better. Make your analysis less about product features and more about solving customer pain points. How specifically, not generically, are you changing the paradigm for customers?
• Highlight the areas of your business model that unlock value. If you have a better way of reaching, onboarding, servicing and keeping customers explain why it’s so groundbreaking and how it works.
• When you are crafting your messaging take a “we will win because we do, think, know, are or believe ………..” perspective. Impress your audience with your unique world view.

One more thing to keep in mind. In the startup sector we are inventing new things that there is often no direct competition for, but don’t let that fool you. Competition is everywhere. There are always substitutes. Doing nothing and buying nothing being the most common.

Mastering the competitor narrative is about communicating the very essence of your unique view, your unique offer and your unique way of winning against all odds. Get this right and it won’t just be your offer that stands above others in the market — it will also be your company.