A friend shared a competitor's pitch deck today.

It's a replica of the one that we made 18 months ago.

I don't mean it's 'inspired by' ours.

It's the same: slide layouts, the case study format, the problem framing, sentence structure. Some of our copy is in there word for word.

(shared some example slides below, zoom in and read it)

And this isn't the first time.

We've watched multiple startups in our space copy almost everything we put out - website design, product renders, messaging, positioning, and sometimes even the core product offering itself.

The deck is just the newest one.

And I get why it happens.

Original thinking is slow and painful. Someone spends multiple weeks getting it right, and it takes a fraction of that time and effort to copy it.

But think about it: a pitch deck isn't just another marketing asset. It reflects the founders' core thinking about the problem, their 'unique lens' on how they see the world.

And if that itself is borrowed, what exactly is being pitched?

So, few questions for fellow builders:

1. Where's the line between inspiration and theft? At what point does 'reference' become 'replica'?

2. How do you think the people who created the original feel when they see their work being duplicated without so much as a credit or mention?

3. What would one say if hardware design was being copied? How is this any different?

As for us, pursuing originality is something we really enjoy. So we'll keep doing it the hard way. Keep zooming in :)… more