Module 06 · The fundraising deck~17s dwell · weight 7
Competition
Show you understand the landscape and have a defensible wedge. Underrated by founders, scrutinized by investors, they spend ~17 seconds here.
Include
- Who you really compete with, including the status-quo workaround
- Why you win for a specific segment (not on every axis)
- Your durable advantage: data, distribution, cost, or workflow lock-in
- The one thing you deliberately don't do
Cut
- 'We have no competitors'
- A 2x2 rigged so you're alone top-right
- Ignoring the incumbent workaround (usually Excel + email)
- Rating every competitor worse on every axis
Red flags a reader notices
- 'We have no competitors', reads as naivety
- Every competitor worse on every axis (transparently rigged)
- No mention of the status-quo tool most customers use
Pitfalls behind them
- The 2x2 axes are chosen so you're alone in the winning quadrant.
- The 'status quo workaround' (Excel, email, in-house tools) is missing entirely.
- Every competitor is scored worse than you on every axis, transparently rigged.
60-second self-test
- · Is the incumbent workaround (the tool 60%+ of prospects actually use today) on the slide?
- · Can you name one axis on which a serious competitor legitimately beats you?
Template
[Incumbent A] owns [segment]. [Incumbent B] owns [segment]. Most customers still use [status quo]. We win [our segment] because [durable advantage].
Weak
"We have no direct competitors."
Strong
"Deel & Remote.com own enterprise EOR. Rippling owns US-first mid-market. 63% of remote-native software cos still stitch a US EOR + Wise + a spreadsheet, that's our wedge, and we win because Nimbus is one vendor of record in 40 countries, paid from Slack."
Names real incumbents by segment, names the real workaround (EOR + Wise + spreadsheet), and states a defensible wedge in one line.
Quick quiz
Pick an answer. Nothing is graded, and correct answers stay hidden until you choose.
1. Saying 'we have no competitors' usually signals…
2. The strongest competition slide includes…