What is bottom-up vs top-down?

Top-down: Industry reports and percentages. Bottom-up: Customer count times price. Always include bottom-up; it is more credible.

How small is too small?

Generally, VCs want to see €1B+ TAM potential. But a focused €500M market you can dominate beats a vague €10B market.

What if we are creating a new market?

Show analogies. What similar markets exist? How big are they? What indicates this new market will be substantial?

Pitchkit

Market Slide in a Pitch Deck

Prove you are in a large, growing, reachable market.

Last updated: 2025-01-07

What This Slide Must Prove

This slide must convince investors that the opportunity is large enough to build a venture-scale company.

Market is large enough for VC returns
Market is growing
You have a path to capture meaningful share
Your target segment is clearly defined

A weak market slide kills deals. If the market is too small, nothing else matters.

What Investors Look For

Criteria used in real pitch reviews:

Bottom-Up Sizing

Build from customers up, not industry reports down.

Clear Segments

Who exactly are you selling to? Can you name them?

Growth Drivers

Why is this market growing? What trends support it?

Path to Access

How will you reach these customers? Is it efficient?

Investors see through inflated TAM numbers. Be credible, not impressive.

Strong vs Weak Signals

Strong Signal

"45,000 mid-market manufacturers in the US. Average contract value: €48K per year. That is a €2.2B SAM. We are targeting the 8,000 with 3+ warehouse locations first, a €384M wedge we can reach through ERP partnerships."

Bottom-up math
Specific segment
Clear entry wedge

Weak Signal

"The global supply chain market is €12 trillion. We are targeting 0.1% for a €12B opportunity."

Top-down only
No segment focus
Arbitrary capture rate

Common Failure Patterns

Top-down only: Industry report numbers without customer-level math.
Too small: If TAM is under €1B, investors wonder about exit potential.
No timing: Why is now the right time to build this?

Quality Criteria

Build from customers: How many customers, at what price, with what retention?
Show expansion path: Start narrow, expand to adjacent segments.
Prove access: How do you reach these customers efficiently?

Target reaction: "This is a big enough opportunity to justify venture investment."

How Pitchkit Helps

Pitchkit market slide builder helps you:

Build credible bottom-up market sizing
Define clear TAM, SAM, SOM
Identify market timing and growth drivers

You get feedback on whether your market sizing is believable.

Build Your Pitch and See How a VC Scores It

Free plan: one pitch, AI scoring, one investor fit check and one email draft. No credit card.

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FAQs

Market Slide by Stage

What is expected changes as you raise more:

Angel Pitch Deck Pre-Seed Pitch Deck Seed Pitch Deck Series A Pitch Deck

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