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How to Make a Deck
How to Make a Deck
Slide 08 · 2 template examples · 2 teardowns

How to make a great go-to-market slide

The specific channel with the specific first customer.

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Formula and examples

How each of our seven deck templates handles this slide, side by side.

The winning sales deck template

Implementation plan

required

De-risk the buy by showing exactly what week 1, week 4, and week 12 look like on their calendar.

Formula

Week 1: [migration + integrations]. Week 4: [first live paycheck run]. Week 12: [full countries live, first quarterly review].

Strong example

Wk 1: Netsuite + Rippling data sync, Nimbus CSM Ravi + Loop's Priya. Wk 4: first Lagos + Warsaw payroll live, 40 contractors. Wk 12: 22 countries live, first QBR with Anna and CFO on Nov 14.

Must have
  • Named owners on both sides (Nimbus CSM + buyer champion)
  • One integration or dependency called out per phase
  • A go-live date the buyer can put in their calendar today
Avoid
  • 'Onboarding takes 2-6 weeks' with no owner or artifact
  • Hiding a required professional-services fee in the appendix
  • Skipping the QBR / review checkpoint
Open template →Learn this slide →
The winning board deck template

Sales pipeline

optional

Named logos in stage-gated columns, with dated commit for the current quarter.

Formula

Commit for [Q]: [$X] across [N] logos. Best case: [$Y]. Named risks: [3 deals + reason].

Strong example

Q3 commit $840K across 6 logos (Loop, Helio, Cascade, Northwind, Vault, Beacon). Best case $1.4M. Risks: Loop (CFO change, Jun 12), Vault (procurement stall since May 30), Cascade (competing with Deel).

Must have
  • Named logos, dated (last-touch or next-milestone date)
  • Commit vs. best-case, not a single 'pipeline' number
  • 3 named deals at risk and why
Avoid
  • A single 'pipeline' number with no logos
  • Renaming a deal to a different stage instead of losing it
  • Skipping this slide two quarters in a row (the board notices)
Open template →Learn this slide →

Weak vs. strong, annotated

Real teardowns of go-to-market slides with hotspots explaining what breaks and what to change.

narrative

'Everywhere, everyone' GTM

One channel, one first customer, one repeatable motion.

Open teardown →
narrative

'We'll hire a VP Sales'

The founder has to prove the motion works before hiring anyone to run it.

Open teardown →

Common mistakes

Patterns that keep showing up across the templates.

  • 01'Onboarding takes 2-6 weeks' with no owner or artifact
  • 02Hiding a required professional-services fee in the appendix
  • 03Skipping the QBR / review checkpoint
  • 04A single 'pipeline' number with no logos
  • 05Renaming a deal to a different stage instead of losing it
  • 06Skipping this slide two quarters in a row (the board notices)

Keep going

Templates
All 7 deck templates
Teardowns
Every weak vs. strong pairing
Audit
Score your deck slide by slide