How to Make the GTM Slide [Pitch Deck go-to-market slide]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- Dec 31, 2023
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 29
Kate, one of our clients, asked us a sharp question while we were designing her pitch deck’s go-to-market slide:
“How much detail is too much detail on a GTM slide?”
Our Creative Director replied, without missing a beat:
“If the investor needs a cup of coffee to understand it, you’ve already lost them.”
As a presentation design agency, we work on a lot of go-to-market slides throughout the year. And through that, we’ve noticed one thing: most founders treat the GTM slide like a bullet-point checklist instead of a story about how they’ll win.
In this blog, we’ll break down exactly how to make a GTM slide that doesn’t just check the box but makes the investor believe you’ve figured out your growth engine.
In case you didn't know, we specialize in only one thing: making presentations. We can help you by designing your slides and writing your content too.
Why the Go-to-Market Slide Matters
Let’s get this out of the way. The go-to-market slide is not filler. It’s not a formality. And it’s definitely not a place to dump a few marketing channels and move on. This slide is where you prove you’ve thought beyond building a product.
Because here’s the truth: no one invests in just a product. They invest in a product that gets adopted. And adoption doesn’t happen magically. It happens through a smart, intentional GTM strategy.
We’ve seen founders obsess over product features, market sizing, and business models, only to toss in the go-to-market slide like a last-minute group project. That’s a mistake.
Your GTM slide tells the investor one thing: do you know how to get people to care?
It’s where your product meets the real world. It's how you plan to attract, convert, and retain users. It's what makes your shiny tech idea feel like an actual business.
And let’s be honest, investors have seen hundreds of decks. They’ve heard every variation of “we’ll do digital marketing and hire salespeople.” If you give them a vague GTM plan, they’ll assume the rest of your execution is just as vague.
So if you're thinking, "We'll just figure it out once we raise," don’t be surprised when the raise doesn’t happen.
This slide is your chance to show confidence without saying, “we’re confident.” You do that by being clear, specific, and grounded in how distribution will work — not in theory, but in action.
How to Make the GTM Slide [Pitch Deck go-to-market slide]
Now that we’ve established the go-to-market slide is not the side salad of your pitch deck, let’s talk about how to actually build one that works.
We’re not going to give you a “template.” You’ve probably seen enough of those already. Instead, we’re going to walk you through how we think about GTM slides when we work on them for our clients — including Kate.
Because if you want your slide to stand out, it can’t just look good. It needs to reflect your thinking. And if your thinking is vague, your slide will be too.
Here’s what needs to happen:
1. Decide what your GTM story really is
This is the part most people skip. Before you start designing the slide, ask yourself this:
What’s the real insight behind how we’ll reach and convert customers?
It’s not about listing channels. It’s about showing why those channels make sense for your product, market, and buyer.
Think of it like this: every go-to-market strategy is built on a few assumptions. Your job is to be crystal clear about what those assumptions are and why they hold up. For example:
Is your product low-cost, self-serve, and aimed at busy professionals? Then your GTM likely leans toward product-led growth, content, and SEO.
Is it a high-ticket B2B solution that requires multiple stakeholder approvals? Then you’re talking outbound sales, partnerships, and perhaps an enterprise marketing strategy.
Are you targeting a niche, underserved community that already talks to each other? Then maybe your unfair advantage is network effects or embedded distribution.
One of our clients built a fintech tool for gig workers. Instead of listing Facebook Ads and Google Search (which most people do by default), they built partnerships with delivery platforms and ran incentives within Reddit communities where those users already hang out. That story, when visualized well, made sense.
You want your slide to feel inevitable. Not hopeful. Not “spray and pray.” Inevitable.
2. Choose the right format (based on clarity, not trend)
Here’s where a lot of founders go wrong: they copy the GTM slide format from a deck they saw on Twitter or Product Hunt.
We get the temptation. You see a polished deck from a funded company and think, “We should do it like that.” But here’s the problem: their GTM might be totally different from yours. Copying their format won’t help you unless your distribution model is similar.
So instead of jumping into design, ask:
What do I need to prove to make our go-to-market plan believable?
What format helps me do that as quickly and clearly as possible?
Here are three formats we often use, depending on the story:
Option 1: The Funnel Format
Best for product-led growth or digital-first models. You break down the steps from awareness to retention, showing exactly how users will move through the journey. Works well if you have clear metrics or traction at each step.
Option 2: Channel Breakdown Format
Good if you’re using a mix of channels (e.g., paid, organic, outbound, partnerships). Here you show each channel, what role it plays, and how it connects to your goals. Each box or column has 3 things: the channel, the tactic, and expected outcome.
Option 3: Timeline Format
Best for staged GTM plans. Maybe you’re launching with one ICP, testing messaging, or planning a phased rollout. This format lets you show strategy evolution: Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 — each with different focus areas. Works well for B2B or complex markets.
You don’t need to get fancy. You need to get clear.
3. Support with evidence (yes, even early-stage)
This is where we usually get pushback.
“But we haven’t launched yet.”
“We don’t have data.”
Fine. But you still have something.
Maybe you ran a waitlist. Maybe you did early customer interviews. Maybe you ran a $200 test campaign or joined a bunch of Slack groups and learned how users talk about their problems. Whatever you did — bring it in.
Even anecdotal evidence helps. What doesn’t help? Slides filled with buzzwords and no logic.
Let’s take an example.
We once worked with a client building a SaaS tool for independent therapists. Their GTM plan wasn’t built around traditional ads. Instead, they used private Facebook groups where therapists shared resources, partnered with continuing education platforms, and created a free worksheet download that got shared in niche communities.
Did they have massive traction? No. But they showed:
How many groups they tested
Which one gave the best engagement
How many people downloaded the worksheet
The conversion from download to trial
Suddenly, that GTM slide felt real. Tangible. Not theory.
You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to show that you’re doing the work to figure it out. That’s what gives investors confidence.
4. Avoid the “laundry list” trap
If you take one thing away from this blog, let it be this: more channels ≠ more strategy.
In fact, listing too many channels often backfires. It makes you look like you’re trying to cover all bases instead of focusing on what actually works.
We’ve seen GTM slides with 8+ marketing channels. SEO. Paid ads. Influencer marketing. Affiliate. LinkedIn outreach. Cold calling. Partnerships. The whole circus.
When we ask the founder, “Which one is your main bet?” — they either can’t answer or say, “We’re doing all of them.”
That’s not a strategy. That’s panic.
The best GTM slides have focus. One or two channels that are dialed in. A reason those channels make sense. A plan to scale them. That’s it.
Remember, the GTM slide isn’t your to-do list. It’s your growth thesis. Keep it focused.
5. Make the slide about confidence, not decoration
Finally, let’s talk about design.
Yes, it needs to look good. Yes, it should be clean and on-brand. But more than anything, the design should help your thinking shine through.
We often see slides that are visually pretty but intellectually empty. Lots of icons. Fancy colors. Zero clarity.
When we redesigned Kate’s GTM slide, we stripped away the fluff. We used a simple funnel format: Attract → Engage → Convert → Retain.
For each stage, we added:
The main channel being used
The exact tactic (with examples)
An early signal or metric, if available
What success looks like at that stage
No jargon. No padding. Just signal.
And here’s what happened: when she presented it to investors, that slide sparked questions.
Good questions. The kind that show investors are interested. One even asked her to walk them through her cost per acquisition math.
That’s the goal. You don’t need applause. You need engagement. You want the investor to think, “This person has actually thought this through.”
The best GTM slides do just that. Not because they look fancy, but because they’re built on real thinking.
Why Hire Us to Build your Presentation?
If you're reading this, you're probably working on a presentation right now. You could do it all yourself. But the reality is - that’s not going to give you the high-impact presentation you need. It’s a lot of guesswork, a lot of trial and error. And at the end of the day, you’ll be left with a presentation that’s “good enough,” not one that gets results. On the other hand, we’ve spent years crafting thousands of presentations, mastering both storytelling and design. Let us handle this for you, so you can focus on what you do best.