pitch unfairly

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Sequoia, 2008. Pitched unfairly, 2026.

The downturn deck every CEO saved. Same story, same numbers. Rebuilt the way we'd pitch it today.

  • 56 slides
  • Oct 2008
  • Portfolio CEOs
Play the 2026 deck Steal the structure
2008 R.I.P. Good Times

Sequoia

The downturn deck every CEO saved.

Legend
Original craft
Unfair

56 slides→11

It's a live deck. Press start, then scroll or use the arrow keys, or play it full screen.

Play the 2026 deck

Then · 2008 · 56 slides

The original

  1. A tombstone: "R.I.P. Good Times"
  2. "Now what?"
  3. Wall Street: how did we get here? Cheap money, debt, a housing bubble
  4. Home prices: 8% a year from 1998, against under 1% for a century
  5. Main Street: consumers at 73% of GDP, savings gone
  6. From virtuous to vicious cycle
  7. Earnings rolling over, a V-shaped recovery unlikely
  8. Your Street: it is different this time, recovery will be long
  9. New realities: the $15M round at $100M post is gone
  10. Survival: cash is king, get to profitability
  11. Ops review, death spiral, survival of the quickest
  12. The solution, then "Get real or go home"

Original: Sequoia Capital

Now · 2026 · 11 slides

What we changed

  • The headstone is carved, not clip artIt rises out of the ground at dusk and the letters are cut in once. Grave, not goofy.
  • Runway you can cut your way out ofDrag cash, spend, and the cut. The months count live and the line either finds profit or a headstone.
  • Before and after cuts, line by lineEach function shrinks from its old budget to its new one, and $900K a month counts down to $675K.
  • Fifty-six slides became elevenTwenty macro charts collapse into two: home prices and the consumer. The vicious cycle plays as a loop.

Steal the structure

Pitch your company like Sequoia did.

  1. 01The title momentName the new reality in three words people will repeat.
  2. 02The agendaThree acts: how we got here, where we are, what you do now.
  3. 03The causeOne chart that shows what was unsustainable.
  4. 04The exposureShow who is overextended and why demand will fall.
  5. 05The mechanismDraw how the damage compounds, so nobody waits it out.
  6. 06The comparisonSay how this differs from the last downturn, and how long it lasts.
  7. 07New realitiesStrike through every assumption the old plan rested on.
  8. 08RunwayCash, burn, cuts, and the month you reach profit or run out.
  9. 09The cutsBefore and after, function by function, with the total.
  10. 10SpeedShow the cost of cutting late against cutting now.
  11. 11The orderOne line to leave the room with.

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