pitch unfairly

Cheat Codes · Pitch decks

Snapchat, 2013. Pitched unfairly, 2026.

Ten seconds, then gone. Facebook wanted it anyway. Same story, same numbers. Rebuilt the way we'd pitch it today.

Template: Series A pitch deck

  • $13.5M Series A
  • 60M snaps a day
  • Said no to $3B
Play the 2026 deck Read the real story Steal the structure
2013 Series A pitch deck

Snapchat

Ten seconds, then gone. Facebook wanted it anyway.

Legend
Original craft
Unfair

The story→12 slides

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

Play the 2026 deck

The Snapchat pitch deck, slide by slide

Every slide opens the live deck right where it is.

  1. Snapchat deck, slide 1: Send a photo. Ten seconds later, it's gone. 01Send a photo. Ten seconds later, it's gone.
  2. Snapchat deck, slide 2: Every photo you post goes on your permanent record. 02Every photo you post goes on your permanent record.
  3. Snapchat deck, slide 3: A photo you can't keep is a photo you'll actually send. 03A photo you can't keep is a photo you'll actually send.
  4. Snapchat deck, slide 4: You get ten seconds with this snap. Then it's gone for good. 04You get ten seconds with this snap. Then it's gone for good.
  5. Snapchat deck, slide 5: Grown-ups guessed what it was for. Teenagers already knew. 05Grown-ups guessed what it was for. Teenagers already knew.
  6. Snapchat deck, slide 6: Snaps a day went from about 2 million to 60 million in nine months. 06Snaps a day went from about 2 million to 60 million in nine months.
  7. Snapchat deck, slide 7: Half the people who install it use it every day. 07Half the people who install it use it every day.
  8. Snapchat deck, slide 8: Facebook copied us in December. A week later we outranked the copy. 08Facebook copied us in December. A week later we outranked the copy.
  9. Snapchat deck, slide 9: Teenagers are turning the camera into the way they talk. 09Teenagers are turning the camera into the way they talk.
  10. Snapchat deck, slide 10: Ten people run 60 million snaps a day. 10Ten people run 60 million snaps a day.
  11. Snapchat deck, slide 11: We're raising $13.5 million to keep up with 60 million snaps a day. 11We're raising $13.5 million to keep up with 60 million snaps a day.
  12. Snapchat deck, slide 12: Facebook slid in with about $3 billion. Snapchat said no. 12Facebook slid in with about $3 billion. Snapchat said no.

Then · 2013

How it really went

Read the real storyTechCrunch on the Benchmark round, February 2013
  1. Spring 2011: Evan Spiegel pitches disappearing photos as a Stanford product design class project; classmates call it a bad idea
  2. July 2011: the app launches on iPhone as Picaboo; it is renamed Snapchat a few months later
  3. Early 2012: teenagers find it; a Lightspeed partner hears about it from his daughter at the kitchen table
  4. April 2012: Lightspeed leads a $485,000 seed round
  5. October 2012: about 20 million snaps a day, and an Android app
  6. December 2012: video snaps ship; Facebook launches Poke, a near copy, which tops the charts and then sinks
  7. February 2013: Benchmark leads a $13.5M Series A; 60 million snaps a day, a team of ten
  8. November 2013: Snapchat reportedly turns down an all-cash offer from Facebook of about $3 billion

Now · 2026 · 12 slides

What we changed

  • The demo is a real snapTap to open it, watch ten seconds run out, and it is gone. You can send another, but you cannot get that one back.
  • The growth chart scrubsDrag from launch day to the pitch and watch snaps a day climb from about 2 million to 60 million, with Facebook's copy marked on the way.
  • The skeptics get a slideThe class that called it a bad idea and the press that called it a sexting app sit next to the teenager who already knew.
  • It ends on the noA kicker slide jumps nine months ahead: 400 million snaps a day and a reported $3 billion offer, opened and declined.

Steal the structure

Pitch your company like Snapchat did.

  1. 01 One-line promise Show the product's one rule in a sentence and a picture.
  2. 02 Problem Name the pressure everyone feels and nobody says out loud.
  3. 03 Insight The counterintuitive bet, set side by side with the old way.
  4. 04 Live demo Let the room use the product for ten seconds.
  5. 05 Objections Put the skeptics on the slide, then the user who proves them wrong.
  6. 06 Traction One usage number, plotted over time, with the milestones marked.
  7. 07 Engagement Prove the habit: daily use, opens a day, retention.
  8. 08 Competition Show the biggest player copying you, and what happened next.
  9. 09 Why a company Explain why this is a new behavior and not a feature.
  10. 10 Team How few people are carrying how much load.
  11. 11 The ask The amount, the lead, and the two things the money buys.
  12. 12 Kicker Leave them with the stakes: what this is worth if it works.

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