The case

The customer need

Does a customer need this, and how does the deck show it?

What to look for

• The customer named by job title and kind of organisation, not "businesses" or "enterprises".
• The problem in the customer's terms: what it costs them today in money, time or risk.
• What the customer does about it now, including doing nothing and building it themselves.
• Evidence that it is a need and not a liking: conversations counted, a design partner, a pilot with a price, a payment. For a product bought self-serve: people who sign up, come back and pay. Sequoia's test is that customers "need to be willing to pay for the solution". First Round says it has "intentionally used 'need' and not 'love'".
• What the customer gains once the problem is solved, as a figure where the deck has one.

A strong answer

The deck names the customer, says what the problem costs them, and shows evidence a reader can check: a count of conversations with what was learned, named design partners, or customers who pay, named or counted. The need would be there if the product were not.

A thin answer

The deck describes the technology or a trend and leaves the reader to work out who needs it. The customer is "enterprises" or "everyone". The evidence is a market report, or praise with no commitment behind it.

How it weighs, by round

Before the company exists

The first thing to establish, and it needs no company. The evidence is conversations with the people who would buy, counted, with what they said. UK investors asked in 2005 ranked the ability to satisfy a customer need first of 42 factors, ahead of who owns the IP and how well it is protected.

Pre-seed

Revenue is not expected. Y Combinator says 40% of the companies it funds "are just an idea". What is expected is an urgent problem and people who have it. Sequoia's test at this stage is "a set of design partners": first customers who want to build the solution with you.

Seed

Early evidence that customers want it: the product in use, pilots that turn into contracts or sign-ups that turn into paying accounts, first payments. First Round's first level of product-market fit is three to five customers, for a company that sells through a sales team.

Series A

The numbers answer this now. Retention and paying customers show the need, and this reading only checks that the story and the numbers agree. Point Nine adds one thing the numbers do not show: "Strong customer references".

Where it comes from SourcesBVCA and Library House, 2005Creating Success from University Spin-outsSequoia Capital, undatedThe Arc PMF Terrifying Questions FrameworkFirst Round, 8 April 2024Levels of PMFY Combinator, undatedFrequently Asked QuestionsPoint Nine, 30 September 2023What does it take to raise capital, in SaaS, in 2023? (the 2023 SaaS Funding Napkin, Christoph Janz)

The founders and why they fit this problem

Why are these the people to solve this problem, and what have they already done?

What to look for

• What each founder has done that bears on this problem: worked in the customer's industry, done the customer's job, or built this kind of system before. Point Nine looks first for "Special insights into a problem based on industry/domain expertise".
• Who builds the product and who wins customers, by name (for a product bought self-serve, who runs growth), and whether the people on the slide can build what the deck describes.
• What the founders have built or shipped together, and how long they have worked together.
• Whom they have won over: customers, early hires, partners. Point Nine looks for a team that "Can get people on their side".
• Whether everyone named as a founder is full-time on the company.
• The one thing this team is unusually strong at.
• Not read: character, background, age, or the name of a university or employer. A credential counts only where it bears directly on the problem. Michael Seibel of Y Combinator: "You don't need to mention your GPA or that you once worked at Google."

A strong answer

The team slide ties each founder to this problem through something they did: years in the customer's industry, the system they built, the customers they brought in. It shows the product can be built by the people named. One strength stands out, and the deck says what it is.

A thin answer

The team slide is logos and job titles. It lists where the founders studied and worked and never says what that has to do with this customer or this product. Nothing shows work done together. A team is never thin because of who the founders are. It is thin when the deck does not connect them to the problem.

How it weighs, by round

Before the company exists

The question is who will leave their post to do this full-time, and who will lead the business. Oxford University Innovation: "investors will usually expect at least one founder to join the company full-time".

Pre-seed

The team is the bet. Andrew Chen of Andreessen Horowitz: "Pre-seed - Bet on the team". There is little else to read, so this reading and the insight carry the case. Point Nine looks for insight into the problem and "Product/tech expertise to build the product".

Seed

Still the first thing investors weigh, and now read from what the team has done. Point Nine: "Team has shown that it can build fast with a small team and can iterate quickly based on new insights".

Series A

The numbers carry the case, and the founders are read through them. The question becomes whether they have hired well. Point Nine's Series A row reads "Built a high-performing tech team" and "Recruited 2-3 excellent ICs in product/marketing/sales". An IC is an individual contributor: someone who does the work and does not manage others.

Where it comes from SourcesPaul Graham (Y Combinator), 2013How to Convince InvestorsPoint Nine, 30 September 2023What does it take to raise capital, in SaaS, in 2023? (the 2023 SaaS Funding Napkin, Christoph Janz)Y Combinator, 19 July 2016How to Pitch Your Company (Michael Seibel)Andreessen Horowitz, 30 May 2016Startups and Pendulum Swings Through Ideas, Time, Fame, and Money (a16z Podcast, Marc Andreessen and Balaji Srinivasan)Andreessen Horowitz (a16z speedrun), 23 September 2025Andrew Chen's "Dinner Party Jerk" Test: Why Founders Need to Pitch Themselves HarderOxford University Innovation, undatedCompany structure and ownership

The insight

What do the founders know about this problem that others do not know, or do not yet believe?

What to look for

• One sentence that says what the founders have seen and others have missed. Seibel's test: "A unique insight is specific and doesn't contain complicated language."
• Where it came from. Seibel: usually "multiple conversations with customers, deep analysis of current products in the space, and often personal experience".
• Why existing products and large companies have not acted on it.
• How the product follows from it.
• For an AI company, what stays yours as the models improve. Point Nine asks: "What makes you win vs. OpenAI and other foundational models, as well as incumbents in your space?"

A strong answer

The deck states the insight in a sentence a stranger could repeat, shows where it came from, and the product follows from it. The reader learns something about the customer or the market they did not know.

A thin answer

The deck says the market is large and the product is better, faster or cheaper. The same slide could open a competitor's deck. Or the insight is that AI can now do the task, which every competitor also knows.

How it weighs, by round

Before the company exists

A researcher's insight is usually about the technology. The one an investor looks for is about the customer: what the research makes possible that a buyer needs and cannot get today.

Pre-seed

With the founders, this is the case. Sequoia's first question at this stage is "What is my company's right to exist?", and it says "Great companies are built on a founder's authentic insight about a market opportunity."

Seed

Still weighed, now beside evidence. Early use and first customers should be what the insight predicted. If they are not, the deck should say what changed.

Series A

The insight shows as the reason the company will win. Point Nine's Series A row reads "Team has strong reason why they will win", with growing confidence that the position can be defended.

Where it comes from SourcesY Combinator, 19 July 2016How to Pitch Your Company (Michael Seibel)Sequoia Capital, undatedThe Arc PMF Terrifying Questions FrameworkPoint Nine, 30 September 2023What does it take to raise capital, in SaaS, in 2023? (the 2023 SaaS Funding Napkin, Christoph Janz)

The market and why now

Is the market large enough to build a big company in, and why is this the moment?

What to look for

• The market counted from the bottom up: how many customers of the kind named, times what each would pay in a year, with the assumptions on the slide. For a product bought self-serve the count can start from demand: how many came looking, signed up and paid. Seibel prefers this because the top-down way risks "not narrowing down the customer enough". Paul Graham: "Founders think of startups as ideas, but investors think of them as markets."
• The first part of the market the company will win, and the path from there to a large one. Sequoia calls the first part the "wedge or entry point".
• Why now: what has changed in technology, cost, regulation or how buyers behave that makes this possible or urgent today and did not three years ago.
• Who else is after it: other companies, the customer building it themselves, and large suppliers adding it to what they already sell.

A strong answer

The deck counts customers and multiplies by a price. It names the first segment and how the company grows out of it. It gives a dated reason why this is the moment, and it names the alternatives a buyer has.

A thin answer

One large figure from an analyst report, with no link to the customer named earlier. No reason the company could not have been started five years ago, or the only reason given is that AI exists. "We have no competitors."

How it weighs, by round

Before the company exists

A rough count is enough: how many organisations have the problem and what it costs each of them. The aim is to learn whether this is a company, a licence or a piece of research.

Pre-seed

Signs of a large opportunity. Point Nine: "Strong indications of a large opportunity, e.g. based on user interviews". Precision is not expected. A believable path is.

Seed

Point Nine looks for a "Compelling strategy to get into a large TAM over time". TAM is the total addressable market: what the company would sell in a year if every possible customer bought. Show the first segment being won and the route out of it.

Series A

Point Nine's Series A list has both "Large TAM" and a convincing "why now". The sizing should now be built from your own customers and prices.

Where it comes from SourcesPaul Graham (Y Combinator), 2013How to Convince InvestorsY Combinator, 19 July 2016How to Pitch Your Company (Michael Seibel)Sequoia Capital, undatedThe Arc PMF Terrifying Questions FrameworkPoint Nine, 30 September 2023What does it take to raise capital, in SaaS, in 2023? (the 2023 SaaS Funding Napkin, Christoph Janz)Balderton Capital, 28 February 2022What a venture capital firm is looking for at Seed and Series ABVCA and Library House, 2005Creating Success from University Spin-outs

How much has been done in the time

How much has the team got done, and in how long?

What to look for

• Dates. Seibel asks: "What is the ratio between what you've done and how long you've been working on it?" So look for when work started and when each thing since was done: the first prototype, the first user, the first payment, each release.
• What was built and which customers were won. Seibel counts "product development and customers first" and fundraising and business development deals "a distant second".
• How many people and how much money it took.
• What was learned and changed on the way: a version dropped or a segment switched, with the reason.
• The trend and not only the latest figure. Y Combinator: "a monthly or quarterly graph is better than a summed up annual number".

A strong answer

The deck gives a start date and a dated list of what was shipped and who was won since. The list is long for the time, the people and the money. A reader can work out the pace without asking.

A thin answer

No dates anywhere. Progress is a list of awards, programmes joined and partnerships announced. Or the dates are there and show a long time for little. Y Combinator: "the longer they've been around, the more they have to have done".

How it weighs, by round

Before the company exists

There is no company clock yet. What counts is what you have done since you decided to look into this: customers spoken to, a prototype used outside the lab, the conversation with the university started.

Pre-seed

The pace of learning stands in for revenue. Unusual Ventures: "At this stage, investors don't expect revenue; they expect a high rate of learning."

Seed

Releases and customers against dates. Point Nine looks for "Resourcefulness, ability to get a lot done with a small team".

Series A

Speed is in the growth figures now, and investors read them against the company's age. Andreessen Horowitz, on AI companies: "startups looking to raise venture capital need a strong velocity story".

Where it comes from SourcesY Combinator, 19 July 2016How to Pitch Your Company (Michael Seibel)Y Combinator, undatedHow to build a great Series A pitch and deckAndreessen Horowitz, 6 June 2025What "Working" Means in the Era of AI AppsPoint Nine, 30 September 2023What does it take to raise capital, in SaaS, in 2023? (the 2023 SaaS Funding Napkin, Christoph Janz)Unusual Ventures, 19 September 2026Startup Pitch Deck: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building One

How the likely doubts are chosen

After the five readings, name the two or three things an investor is most likely to doubt. Reid Hoffman tells founders: "Steer into your investors' objections." He expects "one to three issues that are potentially problematic for your financing". Choose them in this order.

First, a reading that is thin where the stage puts the weight: the customer need and who will work on it full-time before the company exists, the founders and the insight at pre-seed, the customer need and early demand at seed, the story against the numbers at Series A.

Second, a claim the whole case rests on with nothing shown behind it. Third, something the deck leaves out that a first read will notice: no customer named or counted, no competitor, no dates, nobody full-time. Do not make a doubt of something that does not fit how the company sells: a product bought self-serve has no named accounts, no pilots and no sales team to show.

Write each doubt as the question an investor would ask, give the slide, and say what would answer it. Never more than three. A doubt is about the case as the deck makes it. It is never about the founders as people.