Why now
Name the specific shift (regulatory, technological, or behavioral) that makes this solvable now and not five years ago.
Sequoia's business plan template frames timing as a distinct, brief section; compressed to stage time this runs about 10-15 seconds, one causal sentence tying a market shift to your window.
- One named shift with a date or trigger event
- A causal link from the shift to why your solution is newly possible
- Why incumbents couldn't have built this before the shift
- Generic claims like 'the world is going digital'
- Multiple unrelated trends stacked on one slide
- Timing arguments with no specific date or trigger
- The 'shift' described has been true for over a decade
- No causal link is drawn between the shift and the product's timing
- The slide describes a trend but not why it enables this specific business
- Citing a trend everyone already knows without a specific trigger date
- Failing to explain why incumbents missed this window
- Treating why-now as filler instead of a load-bearing argument
- · Can I name a specific year or event that triggered this shift?
- · Would this pitch have been impossible to make three years ago, and can I say why?
Since [specific trigger/date], [shift] has made [capability] possible for the first time.
"Remote work is changing everything about how businesses operate."
"Since 2023, contractor headcount at US startups grew 38% while banks still take 9 days to settle a cross-border wire, opening the gap Nimbus Payroll fills."
A dated statistic plus a named incumbent failure explains why this is solvable now, not in 2018.
Quick quiz
1. What makes a why-now slide credible rather than generic?
- ○ Citing a well-known industry-wide trend
- ✓ Naming a specific trigger, date, or statistic that causally connects to your product's timing
- ○ Comparing yourself to a famous prior startup
- ○ Mentioning that the market is growing
A dated, specific trigger shows the founder understands exactly why this window opened, not just that change exists.
2. Which why-now line is strongest?
- ○ The world is becoming more remote and global every day.
- ✓ Since 2023, contractor headcount at US startups grew 38% while bank wires still take 9 days.
- ○ Technology keeps advancing rapidly.
- ○ Now is a great time to build in this space.
It names a year, a growth statistic, and a specific incumbent bottleneck.