My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
The Investor Pitch Narrative Arc
A 16-slide sequence that builds investor confidence by answering their core questions in logical order: Are you credible? Is the problem big? Does your solution make sense? How big can this get? Is it working? How are you different?
How It Works
Each slide builds on the previous one to create mounting evidence and excitement. Early slides establish credibility and problem scope, middle slides show solution and market size, later slides prove traction and differentiation.
Components
Title slide with compelling one-liner
Credibility slide (if you have accomplishments)
Problem slide with big numbers and personal story
Current inadequate solutions
Your solution with beautiful product imagery
Big vision anchored to successful companies
Traction with hero chart
Differentiation (others do X, we do Y)
Trend alignment
Why now timing
Why you team slide
Unit economics
Milestones and use of funds
Pot sweetener good news
Call to action
When to Use
When raising any round of funding from angel to Series A. Most effective for B2B SaaS, consumer apps, and healthcare/wellness companies with clear unit economics.
When Not to Use
Don't use for deep tech or research-heavy companies that need technical explanation first. Skip if you have no traction or credibility to show.
Anti-Patterns to Avoid
Example
“Insomnia app founders use this to position as 'Calm/Headspace for insomnia' in $200B market, leading with bestselling author credibility, showing 75M Americans affected, proving telemedicine regulatory changes create timing, demonstrating $100/session economics with 3-month payback.”
Related Knowledge
Create a problem slide that makes investors immediately understand the scale and urgency of what you're solving
Investor reads your problem slide and thinks 'wow, this affects way more people than I realized and I can see why they c
Clearly communicate your competitive advantage in a way investors immediately understand
Investor finishes reading and thinks 'ah, I see exactly how this is different and why that difference matters'
solution_first_pitching
Lead With Credibility Rule
When you have meaningful accomplishments, put them as slide 2 to establish that you're worth listening to before diving into your business details.
Save Good News for the End
Take 15% of your good news and hold it back until the final slides to create a positive lasting impression and additional momentum.
Anchor Your Vision to Recognized Winners
Position your company as 'we're doing what [successful company] did for [known market] but for [your bigger market]' to help investors quickly understand the opportunity size.