Sequoia Pitch Outline
Sequoia Capital's widely used outline for a business plan and pitch deck. It asks founders to cover purpose, problem, solution, timing, market, competition, model, team, financials and vision, in that order, as a short and clear story.
When your sessions feel disjointed or participants lose focus
Your meetings or sessions need better pacing, clearer transitions, or more engaging sequences to keep participants engaged.
Investor and startup pitches, internal innovation pitches and demo days.
Company Purpose
One clear sentence on what the company is for.
Problem
The customer's pain, how it is handled today and where that falls short.
Solution
The core insight and what makes the value proposition different.
Why Now
What has changed that makes this possible or urgent today.
Market & Competition
Who the customer is, how big the market is, the alternatives, and how you will win.
Business Model & Financials
How the company makes money and the numbers that show it can work.
Team & Vision
Who is building it, and what the company will have built in five years.
Creates natural rhythm and momentum that keeps energy high throughout.
Use the phases as the running order of an investor pitch, internal venture pitch or demo day talk, giving Problem and Solution the most time. Add a Q&A block after Team & Vision.
- 1Vary the pace between high and low energy activities
- 2Use clear transitions between sections
- 3Build complexity gradually throughout
- 4End with actionable takeaways
- Investor pitches
- Internal venture pitches
- Demo days
- Pitch-coaching workshops
- State the purpose in one sentence
- Lead with the customer's problem
- Explain why now
- Show a plan to win against alternatives
- End on the team and the vision
- Sequoia lists ten sections; this row groups market with competition, model with financials, and team with vision to fit seven phases
- Built for startups; adapt the financials for internal or non-profit pitches
- Short pitches cannot cover every section in depth