The Three-Slide Believer Pitch
What you do, your non-obvious insight, then proof — built for believers, not objectors
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 90%
A minimalist pre-seed pitch structure that filters for investors ready to believe rather than trying to answer every objection. Three slides: plainly state what you do, state the non-obvious thing you know, then offer proof points. Use it for early fundraising before there's meaningful traction or data.
Origin
Maples watched founders collect advice from 20 people, most of whom weren't believers in the different future, and build a bloated 'Franken-deck' anticipating every objection — which buried the one thing a ready believer needed to hear. He distilled the antidote into three slides, mirroring his own Floodgate fund-one pitch.
Core principles
- 01It's fine if most investors don't like your idea — find the ones prepared to move and make sure they know why
- 02The insight slide is the anchor you return to when objections or competitors come up
- 03Don't take your sales pitch and rehost it for every audience
How to run it
- 1
Slide one: say what you do as if I know nothing
State plainly what you do so the listener immediately understands. 'We're Airbnb, we let you rent an extra room in your house' — not 'a marketplace for unused residential housing space.'
Pro tip Avoid the VC-bait abstraction ('marketplace,' 'residential real estate'); clarity beats sounding hot.
Watch out If the listener is 10-15 minutes in and still doesn't know what you do, you've failed slide one.
- 2
Slide two: the non-obvious thing you know
State the insight that isn't obvious. If they don't buy it, nothing else will make sense and you can give them their time back.
Pro tip Frame it as a belief to agree on, e.g. Floodgate's '500,000 is the new 5 million... there will be a new category called seed funds.' Then you can always return to it when competitors or objections arise.
- 3
Slide three: proof points
Offer whatever should cause belief that your insight is valid — customers, great founders, or something that has already happened.
In the wild
Maples told LPs there was a gap between angels ($250k checks) and VCs ($5M checks), that '500,000 is the new 5 million because of lean startups,' and that a new category of seed funds would emerge. If an LP didn't believe that, nothing else mattered; if they did, he could always return to the insight when they raised competitor objections.
→ The insight anchored the whole pitch and pre-qualified believers.
Common mistakes
Building a Franken-deck to answer every objection
Anticipating every objection from non-believers obscures your core message so the ready believer can't tell what you were trying to say.
Leading with yourself
Opening with 'we're Acme AI, located in SF, funded by X and Y' talks about you, not how you make the listener a hero.
Taking advice from non-believers
People who don't believe in the different future give generic startup advice that pulls your deck off-message.
Is it for you?
Best for
Pre-seed / pre-traction founders raising from a small set of potential believers
Not ideal for
Later-stage raises where traction, metrics, and detailed diligence dominate the decision
From the transcript
“slide one you say what you do as if I literally know nothing”
“I think your second slide ought to be here's the thing we know that's not obvious”
“if you if you set the context of what your Insight is you can always come back to it when they bring up competitors”
“before you know it you have what I call a Franken de”
From the episode
Pattern Breakers: How to find a breakthrough startup idea
Mike Maples, Jr. (Founding Partner at Floodgate, ex-Product