How Founders Can Pitch Like Sacks Thinks: Clarity, Metrics, and Moats

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If you want to raise from David Sacks—or anyone who thinks like him—there’s one thing you need to understand:

“The best founders pitch with clarity, show real metrics, and build moats by design.”

In this post, I’ll break down the Sacks-style pitch framework every founder should use—whether you’re raising Seed or Series B.

It’s not about buzzwords. It’s about signal.

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How Founders Can Pitch Like Sacks Thinks: Clarity, Metrics, and Moats

1. What Sacks Looks for in a Pitch

Here’s how David Sacks (Craft Ventures) filters pitches:

✅ Can I understand the product in 30 seconds?
✅ Is there proof of usage or revenue?
✅ Does this wedge into a real market?
✅ Is there founder-market fit?
✅ Are the unit economics viable?

Fluff kills. Fast clarity wins.

2. Start With the Problem—But Don’t Linger

Sacks hates 10-slide “problem deep dives.”

He wants:

1 sharp sentence about the pain
Who feels it
How often it happens
What’s broken about current solutions

Example:

“Procurement teams waste 15 hours/week managing RFPs manually—we automate that down to 15 minutes.”

3. Show the Wedge, Not the Whole Vision

Sacks loves focused founders.

Instead of pitching a vague platform, pitch a tight wedge:

✅ Specific persona
✅ Painkiller use case
✅ Clear GTM channel

“We start with onboarding automation for remote-first HR teams, then expand to payroll and compliance.”

That’s how you earn the right to go bigger later.

4. Your Product Explanation Should Pass the Tweet Test

If you can’t describe your product in a single sentence, don’t expect a term sheet.

Craft Ventures filters for:

Simplicity
Sharp messaging
Founder-level articulation

Examples Sacks loves:

“Slack for customer support”
“Stripe for crypto payments”
“Zapier for LLM workflows”

5. What Metrics Sacks Actually Cares About

Early-stage metrics Sacks expects:

MRR / ARR growth
Retention (logo + revenue)
Burn multiple
CAC payback
Activation rate
Usage frequency

Show these in table form, not just bar charts.

Want extra credit? Show cohort retention.

6. Burn Multiple > CAC/LTV

Sacks popularized the Burn Multiple:

Burn Multiple = Net Burn / Net New ARR

This tells him how efficiently you're buying growth.

✅ <1x = elite
⚠️ 1–2x = healthy
❌ >2x = red flag

If you're burning $1M/month but only adding $300K in ARR… good luck.

7. The 10–50–100 Rule

Sacks evaluates traction in 3 levels:

$10K MRR = PMF signs
$50K MRR = Repeatable GTM
$100K MRR = Series A readiness

Don’t pitch like a $100K company if you’re at $10K.

Show milestone realism.

8. Sacks Wants to See Your Moat—Now

A common mistake: “We’ll build a moat later.”

Sacks wants to know:

✅ How do you become the tool for this problem?
✅ What data advantage do you compound?
✅ How will usage → lock-in over time?
✅ Why can’t OpenAI or Stripe just rebuild this?

If you can’t defend it, it’s not a venture business.

9. What to Leave Out of Your Pitch

❌ TAM slides with $100B+ markets
❌ AI mention with no actual use
❌ Hiring roadmap with 40 roles pre-revenue
❌ Vanity press
❌ Competitor matrix with only green checkmarks for you

Sacks calls this “VC catnip.” It doesn’t work on him.

10. Use This Pitch Structure Instead

Here’s the Sacks-style pitch outline:

One-liner: What you do
Problem: Sharp pain, specific persona
Solution: Product demo or clear feature set
Why now?: Timing, tech, regulatory, etc.
Traction: Metrics that matter
Moat: Why you win long term
GTM: How you grow
Team: Founder-market fit
Asks: Round size, timeline, use of funds

11. What a Sacks-Backable Founder Sounds Like

You don’t need to be flashy.

But you do need to be:

✅ Metric-literate
✅ Obsessive about your user
✅ Operationally credible
✅ Quick to learn, fast to act
✅ Calm under pressure

In other words, an operator, not a TED speaker.

12. Crafting Your Slides: Founder Tips

Use black text on white (no fluff design)
Start every slide with a sentence summary
Include real product screenshots
Bold key numbers
Cap at 10–12 slides max

The goal: signal speed and focus.

13. Sacks on Storytelling vs. Metrics

Sacks isn’t anti-story.

He just wants the story wrapped in proof.

“The best founders tell a big story—but it starts small, with metrics that scream signal.”

So yes, you can sell the vision—but anchor it to what’s already working.

14. Related Capitaly Posts

15. FAQs

1. What’s David Sacks’ favorite pitch format?
Short, clear, metric-driven decks with a working product.

2. Does Craft Ventures fund pre-revenue startups?
Rarely—usually wants early usage or traction.

3. How much do moats matter at Seed stage?
They matter a lot. At least have a plan for one.

4. Is burn multiple more important than ARR?
Yes, especially post-PMF. It shows growth quality.

5. What makes a great founder intro email to Sacks?
Concise, metrics-forward, demo link, clear round size.

6. Should I talk about AI in my pitch?
Only if it’s core to the product—not just for hype.

7. What’s the biggest red flag for Sacks in a pitch?
No clear user persona, fuzzy traction, or arrogant founder posture.

8. Can first-time founders raise from Craft?
Yes—if they’re domain experts or show extreme operator potential.

9. Does Sacks invest outside of SaaS?
Yes—fintech, marketplaces, defense tech, crypto infra.

10. Should I cold email or get a warm intro?
Warm is better. But a cold email with real traction can work.

16. Final Take

Sacks doesn’t fund decks.

He funds founders who can explain, measure, and defend what they’re building.

If you want to pitch like Sacks thinks, don’t overcomplicate it.

Clarity = I get it
Metrics = It’s working
Moats = It’ll keep working

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