Do you really need a competitive landscape slide in your pitch deck?

Some startups don’t show a competitive landscape slide in their pitch decks “as other stuff is more important”- or don’t spend much time thinking about it and how to present it apart from the classic low-high/cheap-expensive 2D matrices.

That’s a turn off for many investors, who use this slide to start answering the questions: How will this startup differentiate itself in the market? What’s the secret sauce that will stop other deep-pocketed players eating their lunch?"

At the end of the day, for investors to part with their money and time to help you grow, you have to convince them that you can deliver value to customers at a price those customers are willing to pay, better than anyone else in the market (plus potential entrants) – and that's defensible.

It’s a tough thing to do and requires thinking about not only the competitive landscape today and in future, but also the dimensions of customer value, your business model and the unique attributes of your team/assets. So how do you go about it?

Some tips & tricks! 💡

✅ Do your homework: “We don’t have any real competitors,” is a statement on which we, personally, would end a meeting (and we did! 😈). Every business has competition for a customer’s time and money, even if it is doing nothing or saving for a holiday versus buying something today. Do the market research, understand your customers’ needs and pain points in depth and think creatively about what your competition is today and in future. Ask what would Google do in this market?

✅ Look beyond your sector for trends: You can learn about how the competitive landscape in your chosen sector might evolve by researching more advanced markets. Cross-industry competition is also increasing exponentially, so can you gain insights, e.g. about business models, from other sectors?

✅ Always look through the customer’s eyes: When constructing a competitive landscape slide, to compare your startup to competitors, use dimensions which reflect the types of value you are creating for customers and/or their pain points, e.g. takes a lot of time/little time; easy to use versus requires training. Don’t just list the various features you/the competitor offers as this does not communicate what customers value.

✅ Identify areas of unique differentiation: Be clear about how you can differentiate your firm against competitors, again in the eyes of the customer. Is it value that they cannot find elsewhere, a unique way of delivering this or an innovative business model? The aim is to demonstrate not just how you can carve a potentially lucrative niche in your chosen market, but also defend this over time.