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Pitch by Sid Sijbrandij

GitLab YC Demo Day Pitch

Transcript

Highlights

Delivery

Pitch

Jargon

Uptalk

Hi, I'm Sid, and I'm the CEO of GitLab. GitLab is how companies work on software together. Today, more than one hundred thousand organizations use GitLab. The logos you see are paying customers. Companies like Apple and Disney use GitLab because we ship more relevant features at a faster rate. We can do this because we're open source. Our users are developers, and they contribute the features they want to use every day. And because they are the end user too, they know exactly what to build, and they can build it quickly. Our competitor, GitHub, has two hundred and seventy employees. GitLab has eight hundred contributors, and that is why GitHub Enterprise has been playing catch up to our feature set. And because our contributors are not on our payroll, we've been able to bootstrap this into a profitable company with a team of ten people. GitLab is much more affordable for customers. Customers love that we're able to combine more features with a better price, and that is why we're already over an annual run rate of one million dollars. Wow. We're growing really fast, and history shows that open source beats closed source. Movable Type got replaced by WordPress. Windows Server lost to Red Hat Linux. And GitHub is being replaced with GitLab. We're GitLab. We're how companies work together on software. Dimitri and I would love to talk to you. We'll be in these purple shirts. Thanks.

Pitch Summary

Your pitch quickly establishes GitLab as a credible, fast-growing open-source company, with unusually strong customer and revenue proof. The energetic delivery makes the competitive story memorable, but the pitch needs more context about the customer problem and how the business makes money.

Pitch Anatomy

9 core elements investors expect, plus 4 optional ones (How It Works, Why Now, Vision, Roadmap) that only some pitches need.

Differentiation takes 36% of your pitch

To cover

Optional

Add these only if they fit your pitch.

Suggested version

241 → 391 words (+62%)

Framework: Pitch Structure

Hook → Problem → Solution → How It Works → Market → Traction → Differentiation → Business Model → Team → Ask → Vision

Hook

Open source is replacing closed-source software. More than one hundred thousand organizations already use GitLab, including paying customers like Apple and Disney.

Problem

[Not covered in the original pitch. Add the specific problem software teams face when collaborating, such as slow development, disconnected tools, or expensive platforms.]

Solution

GitLab is how companies work on software together. It gives development teams an open-source platform for collaborating and improving their software.

How It Works

Our users are developers, so they help build the product they use every day. First, they identify a feature they need. Then they contribute that feature to GitLab. Because they are also the end users, they know what to build, and they can build it quickly.

Market

Our target market is the organizations that build software. [Add the size of this market and the specific customer segment you are pursuing first.]

Traction

Today, more than one hundred thousand organizations use GitLab, and the logos you see are paying customers. We have built GitLab into a profitable company with a team of ten people, and our projected yearly revenue at the current pace is already more than one million dollars. [Replace “growing really fast” with a specific growth rate.]

Differentiation

GitLab is open source, which gives us a larger contributor base and a faster way to develop relevant features. GitHub has two hundred and seventy employees, while GitLab has eight hundred contributors. Because our contributors are also users, GitHub Enterprise has been playing catch-up to our range of features. We also offer customers more features at a better price. Open source has replaced closed-source products before, and GitHub is now being replaced with GitLab.

Business Model

Companies pay for GitLab, while our contributors are not on our payroll. [Specify whether customers pay per seat, by subscription, or through another pricing model.] This structure helps us offer more features at a better price and has supported a profitable business.

Team

I’m Sid, the CEO, and Dimitri and I lead a team of ten people. [Add your founders’ relevant experience, prior accomplishments, and why this team is especially suited to build developer software.]

Ask

Dimitri and I would love to talk with investors about [insert the specific funding, partnership, or customer opportunity you want]. Please find us after the pitch by looking for the purple shirts.

Vision

Our vision is for GitLab to become the open-source standard for how every company works on software together.

Message Clarity

5 jargon terms, 2 complex sentences found

Jargon

ship— release