How to Craft the "Why Now" Slide of your Pitch Deck [A Guide]
- Ink Narrates | The Presentation Design Agency
- Jun 16, 2024
- 6 min read
Updated: Jun 28
A few weeks ago, our client Jono asked us something mid-way through building his pitch deck:
“Why do investors even care about a ‘Why Now’ slide?”
Our Creative Director replied without skipping a beat:
"Because timing is half the pitch.”
As a presentation design agency, we work on hundreds of "Why Now" pitch deck slides every year. And there’s one challenge that keeps showing up no matter the industry, stage, or founder: most founders treat the ‘Why Now’ slide like a vague afterthought. But investors don’t. To them, it’s the gut-check slide. The one that tells them whether your idea fits the moment or not.
So, in this blog, we’re breaking down how to stop fumbling your ‘Why Now’ slide and craft one that actually earns attention.
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.
The reason "Why Now" Slide is Crucial
Here’s the truth most founders overlook: ideas are cheap. Timing is what makes them valuable.
Uber wasn’t the first ride-hailing concept. Stripe didn’t invent online payments. But they nailed their timing. And that’s exactly what investors are trying to read between the lines. They’re not just betting on your product. They’re betting on the moment.
The Why Now slide is your shot at proving the market is ripe, the tech is ready, the behavior has shifted, or the regulation has opened the floodgates. It tells investors: “This isn’t just a good idea. This is the right idea at the right time.”
Ignore this and you leave them wondering, “Why hasn’t this already been done?” or worse, “Why does it even need to exist now?”
What makes this slide tricky is that it’s not about dumping facts. It’s about telling a sharp, specific story of momentum. A story where your startup doesn’t feel early or late. It feels perfectly timed.
And no, “AI is hot right now” or “the industry is growing” doesn’t cut it. Every founder says that. You’re not here to be vague. You’re here to show why this particular window of time won’t stay open for long.
How to Craft the Why Now Slide of Your Pitch Deck
Alright, you’ve nailed the why behind the Why Now slide. You get that it’s not just another slide—it’s your built-in tension builder. Your proof of momentum. Now let’s get practical. How do you actually build this thing without falling into buzzword soup or generic claims?
From working on countless investor decks over the years, we’ve found a structure that works—consistently. It’s not flashy, but it’s sharp. And when done right, it gives your pitch the momentum it needs before the product slide even shows up.
Let’s break it down into four simple parts:
Part 1: Anchor to a Clear Shift
Start with one concrete change that makes your idea not just interesting, but necessary now.
This is your “trigger event.” And no, it doesn’t have to be dramatic. It just has to be undeniably real.
Here are a few examples of how founders we’ve worked with have done this well:
“Remote work is now a default in tech. Collaboration tools built for in-office work are failing this shift.”
“2023’s new banking regulations make it mandatory for lenders to collect and disclose sustainability scores.”
“Gen Z uses search differently—they skip Google and go straight to TikTok or Reddit.”
What’s working in all of these? They’re specific. They point to an actual behavioral or systemic change. And they’re phrased in plain English. No jargon, no ‘synergy of digital transformation’ nonsense.
Your job is to start with this anchor. It’s the lens through which the rest of your deck will be read.
Part 2: Tie the Shift to Your Product’s Timing
Here’s where most Why Now slides fall apart. They’ll name a trend, sure—but then leave it floating in space. No connection to the product. No causality.
You need to bridge the shift directly to your solution. Basically, you’re answering: “Because this is happening, our product is not just relevant—it’s necessary now.”
Let’s build on one of the examples above.
Trigger: Remote work is now default.
Bridge: Video calls and Slack are decent for communication—but they’re poor tools for actually building together. We built a virtual workspace that recreates whiteboarding and real-time team flow.
See how tight that is? The timing doesn’t just help the product. It demands it.
This connection is what gives your Why Now slide weight. Investors aren’t looking for a tech product that happens to fit. They want a company that only makes sense right now.
Part 3: Add Data, but Only the Kind That Hurts
Let’s pause here and be honest: startup decks are drowning in generic stats. “$300B market.” “45% YoY growth.” It’s wallpaper.
Don’t do that.
Instead, use what we call Painful Truth Data. Numbers that create discomfort, tension, or urgency. These are stats that make people go, “Whoa—someone’s going to solve that fast.”
Here are a few examples that have worked:
“97% of retailers still use paper for in-store inventory tracking.”
“Only 2% of African SMEs get approved for working capital loans.”
“80% of energy use in homes comes from four appliances—none of which are currently monitored by smart systems.”
Now, notice what we’re doing here. We’re not saying the market is big. We’re saying the market is broken. These numbers frame your product not as a nice-to-have, but as a fix to a glaring problem that became more obvious due to a shift.
If you can back this up with your own user research, even better. “We spoke to 40 sales teams—32 said they’ve lost deals in the last quarter because of missing customer data.”
That kind of thing doesn’t get ignored.
Part 4: Pre-empt the “Why hasn’t this been done already?”
Every investor will ask this—even if they don’t say it out loud. The Why Now slide is your shot to answer it before they do.
Your explanation doesn’t have to be long. In fact, the more concise, the better. Here are a few common valid reasons:
“The technology wasn’t stable enough until recently.”
“Consumer habits hadn’t shifted yet. They have now.”
“The cost of X has dropped dramatically in the last year.”
“Until this regulation passed, it was a legal non-starter.”
And don’t be afraid to say: “People tried this in 2018. They were early. They were right about the problem—but the infrastructure wasn’t there yet. It is now.”
A quick nod to failed attempts can actually build trust. It shows you’ve done your homework. You know the space. You’re not blindly optimistic.
Just don’t leave this unaddressed. If the idea is truly that good, someone has probably tried it in some form. Acknowledge it. Then explain what’s changed.
"Why Now" Slide Design Tips (Yes, Design Matters Here)
Now that we’ve talked about the content, let’s get tactical about design. Because how your Why Now slide looks has a huge impact on how believable it feels.
1. Avoid a Wall of Text
You’re not writing a blog post. (We are.) You’re building tension in a sentence or two. At most, you want 2–3 short statements, ideally accompanied by bold visuals or stats.
Use whitespace. Let each thought breathe. Give the reader space to digest.
2. Use One Bold Visual
If you can visualize the trigger with a chart or image, do it. A spike in consumer interest. A drop in conversion rates. A timeline showing a regulatory change. One clean, direct visual can communicate more than five bullet points ever will.
If you’re using data, don’t just show a stat—show what changed. That delta is what creates urgency.
3. Lead with aent Bold Statem
Start your slide with a sharp, declarative sentence. Something like:
“The way people shop has changed forever.”
“Outreach is dead. Product-led growth is replacing it.”
“Regulation just unlocked a $20B opportunity.”
You’re not summarizing the idea. You’re declaring your moment.
This becomes the magnetic center of the slide. Everything else—data, images, commentary—should orbit around and support that statement.
If there’s one takeaway we want you to leave with, it’s this: your Why Now slide is not about looking trendy. It’s about telling a story that couldn’t have been told last year—and might be too late to tell next year.
Every great pitch has a narrative arc. And this slide is where the story picks up speed.
You’re standing in front of someone who’s seen thousands of decks. Your idea isn’t enough. Your product isn’t enough. Even your team isn’t enough.
But if you can show that your timing is laser-precise? That this moment is the inflection point?
Now you’ve got something worth betting on.
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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.