How to Make Your Startup Stand Out in a Crowded Market, According to Investors | TechCrunch

At TechCrunch Disrupt, three investors took the stage to dissect what makes – and breaks – a pitch deck. Jyoti Bansal, a founder turned investor; Medha Agarwal of Defy; and Jennifer Neundorfer of January Ventures shared with the audience their candid views on what works in a pitch deck – and what doesn’t.

Their biggest annoyance? Buzzword overload.

The more a founder uses AI in their pitch, Agarwal says, the less AI the company is likely to use. “The people who are doing things that are really innovative will talk about it, and it’s built in, but it’s not the core of their pitch,” she told the audience.

Bansal, who founded and sold several companies before becoming an investor, boiled down investor expectations into three key questions. First, he wonders if there’s a market big enough to address. Does the Founder’s Idea Have the Potential to Become a Big Business? And is the problem he or she solves actually worth solving?

The second thing investors want to know is why this The founder is the one who should build the company. “There must be something unique about you,” Bansal told the audience, adding that this included having special members on the founding team or having special skills. “Why win? If the problem is interesting, there will be twenty other companies trying to solve it, so why win and what are your chances?”

The third thing investors want to see, Bansal says, is some validation. “Customer traction,” he said. “Validation can be the first feedback from customers, turnover or something like that, but also a form of validation.”

These three questions, Bansal noted, all lead to the ultimate litmus test: Can this become a billion-dollar company?

The panel also discussed how AI startups can differentiate themselves as the space becomes saturated. Bansal emphasized the importance of domain expertise and a clear competitive strategy. Neundorfer said the companies that catch her attention are those that enable new behaviors rather than simply incrementally improving an existing process.

Agarwal gave the founders more tactical advice, telling them to explain how AI technology enables their product; formulate clear go-to-market strategies; and show how their business will be more efficient than the established companies.

It’s also very important to be honest about what competitors are out there, she added. Some of you “lost some credibility with me because you didn’t have it on your slide,” she told the founders in the audience.

Finally, the investors shared advice on navigating the rapidly evolving landscape. Agarwal urged the founders to stay abreast of developments in the industry. Neundorfer recommended staying connected to founder networks to share tools and insights.

Bansal’s advice was simpler: “Focus on building your product.”