Thinking About Thinking

I love meeting with new companies.  To me, it’s the oxygen of this business and the most energizing aspect of the job.  That being said, the one thing that can take the energy right out of an introductory meeting is the obligatory 20-40 slide company pitch deck that drags on and on.  Personally, I prefer a more conversational meeting in which slides are used to launch conversations, rather than claim the entire conversation, about various important topics relevant to the business.  Therefore, I thought I’d provide a general framework for a succinct 10-slide pitch deck that should be more than sufficient for an introductory investor meeting.  Keep in mind that given Volition is a technology growth equity investor, this is more geared towards companies with some revenue and customers rather than a pure start-up.  But, I do think there are principles that are portable across different stages.

The 10 Slide Pitch Deck (in no particular order):

1.  The Problem Statement. This is the problem the company solves.  What is the problem, why is it such a high priority for whoever has it?  Why does this problem have to get solved?

2.  How You Solve The Problem.  This gets to what the company does.  Why do you have unique knowledge of the problem, how do you solve the problem, and why is that a differentiated / defensible approach?

3.  The Customer.  This gets to who the target customer is specifically.  The more detailed and segmented this is, the more credible I find it to be.  I’d rather hear, “The chief compliance officer at hedge funds with $100M+ in assets” than “financial services companies”, as an example.  Then provide examples of actual customers.  How many of those target customers out there actually have the problem you articulated?

4.  The Value to the Customer.  This gets to the return on investment.  How much does the customer have to pay (what is the pricing model), and why is it clearly worth it to them to pay it.

5.  Actual Use Cases.  Now that you’ve established the problem, solution and value in concept – let’s talk about it in reality.  If there’s only one primary use case, given an example of a real customer with a prototypical use case.  If there are 2 or 3 common use cases, let’s hear example of all of those.

6.  The Product.  This can go anywhere in the presentation, but if it’s at this point, I’m probably more than eager to see the product in action.  A live demo is always best.

7.  Competitive Position.  Who else out there is also trying to solve this problem, and why are you better positioned to succeed?  Why are you going to win your segment?  This is a great chance to talk about win-rates against competition, etc.

8.  Financial Overview.  A simple slide with historical and projected (to the degree you have them) income statement, balance sheet, and cash flows.  A couple of bullets on financing history and ownership breakdown are helpful.

9.  Other Key Metrics.  This is your opportunity to brag with the actual data that you consider leading indicators for your business.  Maybe it’s retention rate, lifetime value/CAC, upsell dynamics, customer or transactional growth, etc.

10.  Management Team.  Who are the people behind this company?  Don’t just put logos of past companies, but titles/roles, companies, and key achievements for each exec at their prior companies.  Also worth noting if there are any key hires you want to make.

Every company is different, but hopefully this provides a helpful framework to organize a simple pitch deck.  Don’t feel the need to address every sub-question with actual content on the slide.  You can always talk to the details during the presentation.  Often times, less is more when it comes to slide content.

My suggestion in terms of order is to start with the strongest aspect of the company.  If the management team is the strength, lead with it.  If the financial performance is the strength, by all means, lead with that.  If you’ve got a breakthrough product, start with a demo.  But, creating momentum in the meeting right out of the gate is always a good idea.

I’m probably missing something important, but hopefully this is helpful in getting readers pointed in the right direction.