Pitch Components
Why Now

Explain why this is the right moment for your company to exist and succeed.

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What it is

In a spoken pitch, the Why Now section answers the timing question: why is this the right moment for your product, your market, and your team? Investors hear hundreds of pitches for reasonable ideas. The ones that get funded are the ones where the timing feels inevitable. Sequoia Capital's business plan framework explicitly includes 'Why now?' as a required section, framed as 'why hasn't your solution been built before now?' A strong Why Now points to a recent shift, whether it is a technology breakthrough, a regulatory change, a behavioral trend, or a market inflection, that makes your solution newly possible or newly urgent. Without it, investors wonder why this problem has gone unsolved for so long, and whether it will stay unsolved a bit longer.

Before & after

Before

“The market is growing fast and we think the time is right for our solution.”

After

“Three things changed in the last 18 months: GPU costs dropped 80%, the EU AI Act created mandatory compliance requirements, and enterprise AI adoption hit 65%. That convergence is why our automated compliance layer is landing contracts now, not two years from now.”

When you’ll use it

Justifying market timing after presenting the problem and solution

Answering 'Why hasn't someone built this already?' from an investor

Explaining a pivot driven by a market shift or new regulation

Framing a fundraise around a time-sensitive market window

Positioning your startup in a competitive landscape where incumbents are slow to adapt

Pro tip

Name the specific shift that makes now different from two years ago. If you can't point to something concrete, investors will wait.

Questions & answers

2 questions

What if my idea could have been built years ago?

Then find what changed in distribution, cost, or buyer behavior. Maybe the technology existed, bu...

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How long should the Why Now section be?

Two to three sentences. Name the shift, connect it to your product, and move on. Why Now is a sup...

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Learn more

Sequoia Capital - Writing a Business Plan
Michael Seibel - How to Pitch Your Company

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