Presentations · Glossary
What is a competitive landscape slide?
A competitive landscape slide shows the alternatives a customer already has and where a company sits among them. It usually takes one of three forms: a two by two matrix placing competitors on two axes, a table comparing features or outcomes, or a petal chart grouping competitor categories around the company. Its job is proving the founder understands the market.
No competition is the one claim an investor is certain is false, because every customer is solving the problem somehow today. The landscape slide shows how, and why that is about to change.
Nuwan Madhusanka · Co-founder
5 min read · Published
| Format | Best when | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Two by two matrix | Two dimensions genuinely decide the purchase, such as price and depth | Axes chosen so the company sits alone in the top right corner |
| Feature or outcome table | Buyers compare on several specific criteria | Rows cherry picked, every tick in the company's column |
| Petal or category map | The company draws customers from several adjacent categories | Looks busy and proves little about winning |
| Status quo comparison | The real competitor is doing nothing or a spreadsheet | Underestimating how comfortable the current way is |
What investors want to learn from it
The slide answers two questions at once: does the founder know who else is solving this problem, and is there a credible reason customers will choose this company. Sequoia Capital's guide to pitching asks founders to name their direct and indirect competitors and to show they have a plan to win. Geoff Ralston's seed fundraising guide for Y Combinator describes the equivalent section as the market landscape, including competition and macro trends, and asks whether the founder has an insight others do not. Guy Kawasaki's ten slide list includes competition as one of the ten topics a venture capitalist cares about. All three treat it as a test of understanding, not a victory lap.
Direct, indirect and the status quo
Direct competitors sell a similar product to the same buyer. Indirect competitors solve the same problem another way, such as a consultancy instead of software, or a general tool stretched to fit. The status quo is often the strongest of all: a spreadsheet, a manual process, an agency or simply living with the problem. A useful landscape includes all three, because a buyer comparing options does. Leaving out the status quo makes a slide look like a list of logos rather than an account of the customer's actual decision.
How to choose the format
A two by two matrix works when two dimensions really drive the purchase, and those dimensions are ones buyers would name, not ones invented to isolate the company. A table works better when buyers compare on several concrete criteria, and it becomes persuasive when it includes a row where a competitor wins. A petal chart, with the company at the centre and surrounding categories of competitors as petals, suits a company pulling customers from several adjacent markets. When the main rival is inertia, a simple two column comparison of the current way against the new way often lands hardest.
Common mistakes
The first is the empty top right quadrant with only the company in it, which experienced readers discount immediately. The second is a table of ticks where the company wins every row, including rows chosen because only it has that feature. The third is naming only weak or obsolete competitors and leaving out the one every investor knows. The fourth is stale information, such as a competitor's old pricing. The fifth is too many logos, which proves the market is crowded without explaining how to win it. The sixth is disparaging competitors, which makes the founder look defensive. An honest row where a rival is stronger, with the reason it does not matter to the target buyer, builds more credibility than a clean sweep.
Keeping it defensible
Every claim about a competitor on the slide should be something a reader could verify from the competitor's own website or public information, and it should be dated in the speaker's head, if not on the slide. Prices, features and positioning change. Before each investor meeting, check the two or three competitors most likely to come up, because being corrected on a rival's pricing mid pitch undoes the credibility the slide was built to earn. Keep a short private note of where each claim came from and when it was checked, so a question in the meeting can be answered with a source rather than a guess.
Where it shows up in the product
Comparison is one of the best stocked slide roles here, with 31 templates. Matrix slots come in 3 kinds: a two by two quadrant, a three by three axis grid and a SWOT, and a quadrant matrix can switch to SWOT and back from the inspector. A table slot grows to 20 rows and 8 columns. The angel pitch example on this site compares four hatcheries on what a grower actually asks, with the barriers to entry in the last row. In the editable PowerPoint export, matrix artwork stays a picture but its labels become native text boxes that can be corrected.
Questions people ask
Should I name competitors on the slide?
Yes. Investors will know the main players, and leaving them off suggests either ignorance or evasion. Name direct competitors, group indirect ones into categories, and include the status quo. Keep the tone factual. If there are dozens of small players, show the categories and name the two or three a buyer is most likely to consider.
Is a two by two matrix a good idea?
It can be, when the two axes are dimensions buyers really use to choose and the placement of each competitor would survive their scrutiny. It becomes a bad idea when axes are invented so the company alone occupies the best quadrant. If you cannot pick honest axes, use a table instead.
What if there are no direct competitors?
Then the competition is whatever customers do today: a spreadsheet, a consultant, a general tool or nothing. Show that comparison, with what the current way costs. A market with no direct competitors either is new, which needs explaining, or has been tried and abandoned, which needs a reason this attempt is different.
Where does the competition slide go in a pitch deck?
Usually after the market and business model, and before the team and the ask, so the reader already understands what the company sells and to whom. Some decks place it straight after the solution when differentiation is the main argument. Either position works if the slide ends on why this company wins.
How much detail belongs on the slide?
Enough for the reader to see the decision a buyer faces: four to six options and four to eight criteria is usually the ceiling for a readable table. Keep a fuller competitive analysis for the appendix or the data room, where an investor doing diligence can read it at their own pace.
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