Problem and Why Now Slides for a Pitch Deck
The first slides decide whether an investor keeps reading. A broad industry statistic won’t do it. One specific customer, a costly and frequent pain, a non-obvious insight and a real reason this is possible now will.
What should the problem slide show?
The problem slide should show one type of customer, the workflow they struggle with today, what it costs them in time, money or lost deals, and why it’s urgent now. Sequoia’s business plan guide puts it simply: describe the customer’s pain and how they address it today. Explain why the current approach fails. If the customer has a workaround that’s good enough, investors will spot it.
What does a strong problem slide look like?
The numbers on a problem slide should come from your own research, ideally the interviews you ran during customer discovery. A cost you measured beats a market report every time.
What is the insight slide?
The insight slide explains the non-obvious reason existing tools or manual work fail, then shows how your product changes the outcome. It answers the question ‘why hasn’t someone solved this already?’ before an investor asks it.
The insight also sets up the competition slide: if your insight is real, it explains why alternatives keep failing.
What counts as a real why now?
Why now is the market or technology shift that makes your company possible today when it wasn’t a few years ago. ‘AI is growing’ is not a why now; every company can say it.
| Weak why now | Stronger why now |
|---|---|
| AI is transforming every industry | Models can now draft from a company’s own documents and cite the source, which wasn’t reliable before |
| Remote work is here to stay | Field teams now carry phones on every job, so data can be captured at the source |
| Compliance is getting more important | A new rule takes effect next year and buyers are already budgeting for it |
| The market is huge and growing | Mid-market companies now sell to enterprises without enterprise-sized teams |
Specific pain beats big markets.
One customer with a costly, frequent problem is more convincing than a large number from an analyst report.
Where should the evidence come from?
Use what you learned from customers: how often the problem happens, what it costs, what they have tried. If you already have customers, the traction slide and customer evidence will carry more weight than any problem statistic. Write each opening slide as a claim, using the slide title templates, and size the opportunity on the market size slide.
Frequently asked questions
What should be on the problem slide of a pitch deck?
One customer type, their current workflow, what the problem costs them, why it is urgent and why today’s workaround fails.
How do you show a problem is big enough?
Show how often it happens and what it costs each customer, then size the market separately on the market slide.
What is a why now slide?
The slide that explains which market, regulatory, behaviour or technology shift makes your company possible now.
Is ‘AI’ a good why now?
Not on its own. Name the specific new capability and why it changes the cost or quality of solving this problem.
Should the problem slide include statistics?
Use numbers from your own customer research where you can. One measured cost beats several industry statistics.
What is the insight slide?
The slide that explains the non-obvious reason current solutions fail and how your approach changes the outcome.
Should I put my founding story in the deck?
Keep it short and tie it to founder-market fit on the team slide. Open with the customer’s problem instead.
Sources & further reading
Standards and platform rules change. These sources let you verify the current requirements directly. All screens shown are mock-ups of fictional products.