How to build a killer investor presentation (aka "VC pitch deck") for raising venture capital. Part of a 3-part lecture series given at General Assembly in San Francisco by Nathan Beckord, Founder of VentureArchetypes and FounderSuite.com. Contains pitch hacks, pitch deck examples, pitch archetypes, and minimal viable pitch, as well as numerous tips and tricks.
General Assembly Class: Insiders Guide to Seed Stage Pitching
Raising Startup Capital - The One Thing
1. Raising Startup Capital
Session 1- The Pitch
Nathan Beckord @startupventures
General Assembly
San Francisco
September 20, 2012
2. HELLO.
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Follow us on Twitter at @GA_SF for the latest news
on classes, courses, and events in San Francisco, and
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Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
2 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
3. Hi. My name is...
Nathan
Beckord,
CFA.
Principal,
www.VentureArchetypes.com
• My
Job:
Startup
CFO,
Advisor,
and
BD
Guy
• 100+
Startup
clients
over
the
past
eight
years
• E.g.
Kickstarter,
Clicker,
Autonet,
Zerply,
GetHired,
etc.
• Clients
have
raised
over
$98
million
in
seed
capital
and
achieved
5
exits
• Example:
I
ran
financial
modeling
for
Clicker.com,
which
raised
2
rounds
of
VC
and
sold
for
$100m
in
3
years.
• Previously:
Technology
ValuaXon
|
Investment
Banking
|
Venture
Capital
• Chartered
Financial
Analyst
(CFA)
and
MBA
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
3 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
4. Why this matters
From
VentureHack’s
“Pitching
Hacks”
PDF
/
Book:
h<p://
venturehacks.com/pitching
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
4 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
What are we doing here? Ultimately, we are telling stories so we can successfully raise money at favorable
terms and valuation.
What form does our story take? In the form of our pitch.
5. The Full Pitch Package
Written
• A one sentence (or sentence fragment) tag line
• A one or two paragraph email introduction to the business
• A 'one-pager' overview or teaser
• A 2-3 page executive summary
• a slide deck specifically designed to be handed out
• A thoughtful, comprehensive business plan: either (a) a traditional 10-20 page written plan, or (b) a carefully
prepared and annotated 'business model canvas'
• A finished (or prototype) marketing brochure
Live
• A one sentence description
• A 30 second elevator pitch
• A 5 minute 'quick pitch'
• A 15-20 minute angel/VC PowerPoint/Keynote pitch deck
• A sub-15 minute foolproof product/site demonstration
Online From
David
Rose’s
answer
on
Quora:
h<p://www.quora.com/
• A functional public web site
Venture-‐and-‐Investor-‐Pitches/
• A short video pitch What-‐materials-‐or-‐soIware-‐
should-‐I-‐use-‐to-‐pitch-‐a-‐VC
• A dedicated, controlled access, investor-relations web site
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
5 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
If you have nothing but time on your hands, here is the full list of pitch materials for you to work on...your Tag
Line, your Email Intro, your Teaser, your Exec Sum, Elevator Pitch, Business Plan, Pitch deck, Video, etc.
This will pretty much cover every possible situation.
But... youʼre busy startup founders-- so weʼre going to focus on the easiest to create, most commonly used,
and most versatile option, the pitch deck.
6. What is this...‘pitch deck’ you speak of?
Pitch
Deck
≠
Business
Plan
Pitch
Deck
=
Business
Plan
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
6 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
So what is a pitch deck? In the “olden days,” i.e., like 4-5 years ago, we would draft an entire, thorough 20-30
page business plan, which is a deep dive into the business, and is what weʼd send along in advance of a
meeting, or use as leave behind. Then, weʼd distill that down to a super high level, crisp and simple, slide
deck to use during the live meeting.
Now, no one reads or writes business plans anymore. Yet you still need something to send ahead, and that
will be sent around the office of the VC, among the partnership. And it has to stand on its own and be
complete, and tell the entire story without your voice-over narration, so they can read it by themselves. So the
pitch deck, in this context, is now the business plan.
So essentially, you should have two different pitch deck—the deck for sending and circulating, and then what
you show them in the office. The main difference is level of detail.
Just a few tips for the deck you'll be sending: i) make it small file size, ii) have a screen shot in lieu of demo; iii)
avoid builds, iv) use white background; v) Use PDF if desired; vi) pack it full of pithy soundbites that the junior
analyst can plagiarize when she does her write up for the senior partners.
7. What is your “one thing?”
“those
guys
were
killing
it-‐-‐
rocket
ship
trajectory
growth”
“they
had
a
really
clever
solu9on
to
a
vexing
problem”
“I
don’t
remember
what
they
did,
but
the
team
was
bankable-‐-‐
A-‐players
all
the
way!”
Q:
what
makes
you
excepXonal?
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
7 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
So letʼs talk about how to build a pitch deck. We start by figuring out what is the single most unique,
compelling piece of your story.
Or, in other words, If you strip everything away...what will investors remember about you a week or two later?
In short, what makes you exceptional?
8. Are you exceptional?
“investors
are
trying
to
find
the
excep%onal
outcomes,
so
they
are
looking
for
something
excep9onal
about
the
company.
Instead
of
trying
to
do
everything
well
(trac9on,
team,
product,
social
proof,
pitch,
etc),
do
one
thing
excep%onal.
As
a
startup
you
have
to
be
excep9onal
in
at
least
one
regard.”
-‐-‐Naval
Ravikant,
Angel
List
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
8 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
Hereʼs a quote by Naval Ravikant of Angel list, on the importance of being exceptional in at least one area.
9. Let’s talk about...
Pitch Archetypes
From
Jason
Shen’s
blog
h<p://
www.jasonshen.com/2012/eleven-‐
compelling-‐startup-‐pitch-‐archetypes-‐
with-‐examples-‐from-‐yc-‐companies/
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
9 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
Ok letʼs now look at a couple ways to frame your “one thing” and tell your story by way of several “pitch
archetypes”
these archetypes are important, because how you frame your business and how you guide the discussion has
a big impact on how people react, what they retain and what message they will share with other investors.
Excertped from the excellent blog at: http://www.jasonshen.com/2012/eleven-compelling-startup-pitch-
archetypes-with-examples-from-yc-companies/
10. Archetype #1
Problem / Solution
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
10 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
This is the classic Sequoia outline, and probably accounts for 85% of the decks out there. Youʼve found a
valuable, rich pain point to solve. Painkiller vs. vitamin.
Itʼs Classic, itʼs familiar, but itʼs not always as relevant to web 2.0...is there really a pain point solved by social
checkins?
Weʼll look at the outline in a few moments.
11. Archetype #2
Traction Story
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
11 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
Traction-- “Pitching the numbers”...Iʼm a numbers guy, so this gets me excited.
Here, we are focused on growth and rate of growth (slope of line) as way to validate your vision; what youʼre
actually doing becomes secondary. e.g. Fab.com
Bonus points if you can demonstrate the LTV > CAC. Online retail, gaming, etc. Then pouring money in
becomes a no-brainer and it makes sense to dump as much in as you can profitably spend.
As Paul Singh of 500S says, “Traction is the new intellectual property.” Thereʼs a direct correlation between
the strength of your traction story and the speed at which you raise funding.
Further reading: http://betashop.com/post/14249821547/behind-the-scenes-how-fab-raised-40-million-with-a
and http://www.slideshare.net/brendanbaker/how-to-communicate-traction-to-investors-with-brendan-baker-
and-hiten-shah
12. Archetype #3
“X for Y”
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
12 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
“X for Y”-- applying a proven model to a new market or application. You see this a lot now, and it can be
combined with Problem / Solution.
Here, X is the established model (e.g. Airbnb) and Y is the new market that the model is being applied to (dog
boarding). DogVacay.
Thus, X must be successful, Y must be large. The metaphors you use should also be well-known.
Risk of overuse. A variation on this is what I call the Hollywood Pitch, which is a mashup of two different
scripts. “Jurrassic Park meets Dirty Dancing”
13. Archetype #4
“Scratched Your Itch”
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
13 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
“Scratched your itch” (aka Personal Story)-- youʼve solved something that was vexing you. A lot of technical
companies get started this way, like Heroku or Dropbox or Github. Or, for example, Iʼm starting a company
called FounderSuite.com ...
Good if you know problem intimately + itʼs universal + VC has experienced it
Bad-- if too niche or specific.
14. Archetype #5
Crystal Ball
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
14 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
Crystal Ball (aka Evolution next / skate to where the puck will be / connect the dots / converging trends)--
Here, you walk investor through how a market has evolved, and where it will be. e.g. semantic web, cloud biz,
mobile biz.
Itʼs pretty compelling, as youʼre showing investors a peek into the future, and they love this stuff. So itʼs easier
to get a meeting vs. some of the other formats. The harder part is convincing them you have the solution,
<AND> you are flexible enough to execute around 1000 minefileds that are completely hidden...tech shifts,
user behaviour, legislation, etc.
15. Archetype #6
Wouldn’t it be cool...
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
15 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
Wouldnʼt it be cool if: describe something fun and interesting. Get investor to imagine with you...get a couple
cool use cases / anecdotes.
e.g. Zaarly, TaskRabbit: “Wouldnʼt it be cool if you could easily hire someone to wait in line at Apple store for
new iPhone?”
Uber: Wouldnʼt it be cool is you could hail a taxi from your phone and watch it drive toward you?
16. More Pitch Archetypes
Consumerification
New Biz Model of Enterprise
The Pivot Dream Team
Breakthrough Service at
Tech Scale
Further
Reading:
hJp://www.jasonshen.com/2012/eleven-‐compelling-‐startup-‐pitch-‐archetypes-‐with-‐examples-‐from-‐yc-‐companies/
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
16 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
New biz model: Taking leveraging existing tech, and innovating in how youʼre monetizing. E.g. Sunrun,
GMAC, Square
Consumerifciation of Enterprise (Yammer, Asana, etc)...win by cheap software that continually gets better.
Dream team: assembled scientists with rare knowledge. Or, team with mega homeruns....banking on history
repeating itself.
Service at scale-- Wave doing SMB accounting or 99Designs doing cheap design.
Breakthrough Tech (w/bmodel): literally invented something that can be patented. A new solar film, or touch
screen interface.
Pivot-- Weʼve tried several things, and now somethingʼs working. Twitter, PayPal. PayPal famously had 5
pivots...cryptography for handheld devices, then a way to beam $$ among Palm Pilots, then emailing money,
then they merged with an online bank, etc. The archetype is explaining what you did to run into a dead end,
what you learned from that, and what new direction that set you off on.
17. Minimal Viable Pitch
What
you’re
doing
(and
why)
Who
you
are
What’s
going
on
(tracXon
/
growth)
What
you
want
$
(and
why)
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
17 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
So now that Iʼve given you several different ways to frame it, here is the minimum set of information to cover in
the first meeting. I really want to drill into you the importance and value of keeping it short and simple.
Minimal = elegance.
Think of your first VC meeting as a first date... Keep in mind, this first meeting is really just a mutual-screening
process, to see if thereʼs mutual interest. in going on a second date.
Plus, you only have an hour...so this “uber-minimal” approach-- just focusing on most important things-- helps
you avoid “rat holes” that are very easy to fall into if you present too much info. Common ratholes are: i) too
deep into tech or product; ii) too much on competitive landscape.
And then finally, when you tell investors upfront that there are only 5 slides as opposed to 30, youʼll instantly
notice increased engagement on the part of the potential investors; this is important.
18. MVP (minimal viable pitch) Message:
What
you’re
More
people
than
ever
(78M!)
have
dogs.
They
✓
Problem
✓
Market
size
&
Trends
doing
&
why spend
$2bln/yr
pugng
dogs
in
kennels
but
it’s
✓
SoluYon
/
Product
expensive
&
dogs
hate
it.
We
are
“airbnb
for
dogs.” ✓
Clear
&
big
Vision
Samir-‐
VP
Engr,
prev.
@Adobe;
Samantha-‐
Designer,
✓
Solid
Team-‐-‐Hacker,
Hustler,
Designer
Who
are
you prev.
@Apple,
NYU;
Stewart-‐
Stanford
MBA;
✓
Pedigree,
Experience
✓Peer
reference
/
Advisors:
Steve
Blank,
Andrew
Chen.
“social
proof”
What’s
going
POC
in
SF,
NY,
Atlanta
(now);
Adding
3k
members
&
✓
Thesis
Validated
✓
TracYon
/
Growth
on
120
boarders
/
week
via
events,
AKC
partnership,
✓
MarkeYng
Plan
select
GOOG
ads.
Avg.
booking
$55
x
7%
=
$3.85
✓
Bus.
Model
✓
Momentum
What
you
$4m
Series
A
@$16m
pre
to
hit
6
more
geo.
mkts ✓
Sensible
UOF
✓
Strong
Future
Vision
want
Burning
$75k/mo.
Cash
Flow
B/E
@
2k
bookings
/
✓
Economics
Scale
✓
Path
to
Profitability
week
(2013).
LTV
>
CAC
($145
vs.
$33). ✓
RealisYc
ValuaYon
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
18 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
Here is a simple framework. Note that each of these could easily be a standalone slide, in 40 point font...add a
title, add a clever image or a supporting chart or diagram, and youʼre done. Killer MVP.
To note, I intentionally did not include a competition slide, as that can be a rathole. Make them ask about it,
make them bring it up. But def have a thoughtful analysis and appendix slide to answer.
19. Sequoia’s Outline
1. Company Purpose 6. Competition
Define the company/business in a single declarative sentence. List competitors & competitive advantages
2. Problem 7. Product
Describe the pain of the customer (or the customer’s customer). Product line-up (form factor, functionality, features,
architecture, intellectual property).
Outline how the customer addresses the issue today.
Development roadmap.
3. Solution 8. Business Model
Your company’s value prop. to make the customer’s life better.
Show where your product physically sits. Pricing, Revenue model
Provide use cases. Average account size and/or lifetime value
Sales & distribution model
Customer/pipeline list
4. Why Now
Set-up the historical evolution of your category.
Define recent trends that make your solution possible.
9. Team
Founders & Management
Board of Directors/Board of Advisors
5. Market Size
Identify/profile the customer you cater to.
Calculate the TAM (top down), SAM (bottoms up) and SOM.
10. Financials
P&L, B/S, Cash flow
Cap table, The deal
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
19 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
Now letʼs match up the MVP we just did with Sequoiaʼs classic outline...our MVP nails almost everything on
Sequoiaʼs ten-slide deck outline.
20. 500 Startups’ Criteria
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
And not only does it hit the highlights with Sequoia, but also with small funds like 500 Startups. Product /
Solution, Biz model, distribution, traction and team.
21. And It Works!
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
21 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
And it really works! Also, airBnBʼs simple deck http://tiffanyk.com/post/10611384492/the-original-airbnb-pitch-
deck-honored
22. Show and Tell Time!
Let’s take a look at a few
decks...
Acme
5-‐Slider
Airbnb
early
days
Dress
Rush
Speakeasy
Everest
CSS
Piffle
Piccsy
Popsurvey
Manpacks
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
22 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
First letʼs start with the minimalist theme. Hereʼs the 5-slide deck referenced in that TC post: http://
www.slideshare.net/timyoung/magic-5663116
Hereʼs another that is nice and bare bones--- AirBnB: http://tiffanyk.com/post/10611384492/the-original-airbnb-
pitch-deck-honored Good: Problem / Solution and Market Sizing for a new, unknown market. Very simple,
lots of whitespace.
Some nice online design inspirations: http://investors.dressrush.com/ http://investors.getspeakeasy.com/
http://investors.evr.st/ http://pitch.csspiffle.com/#intro http://piccsy.com/investors/ http://www.slideshare.net/
DeckFoundry/popsurvey-deck http://www.slideshare.net/500startups/manpacks
23. But what about... (nuts & bolts)
File
type?
Format
/
Build?
Length?
Tone?
Online?
Angel
List?
ConfidenKality?
Data?
Room
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
23 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
File type: PPT, Keynote, Prezi.
Formatting: minimal. White background if it will be a printed / bplan version.
Builds: as few as possible (they are distracting).
Length: 5 slides for minimalist, 10-12 for Guy Kawasaki / Sequoia, and 15-25 with appendix for full plan (feel
free to go crazy in the appendix).
Tone: Depends. Confident is good, without being cocky. Thoughtful / reflective / aware if youʼve pivoted.
Serious if enterprise.
Online: Use https://speakerdeck.com/, slideshare.com, or bit.ly Dressrush has an explanatory guide to doing
this: dressrush.tumblr.com/post/12506021124/dressrush-online-pitch-deck.
Angel List: Absolutely. This is pretty much a requirement these days. In your deck, link through to your AL
profile.
Confidentiality: Assume everything you send over will be shared. Sanitize as needed, or give them access to
data room.
Data room: Almost no one does this, but it can save you from 1000 emails asking for stuff that should have
been put in a data room.
24. Presentation Hacks
File
type? Friendly
Fire
Format
/
Build? Performance
Length? Memorize
Audience
Tuning
Tone? Don’t
Forget
the
ConversaKonal
Online? ASK!
Laptop
Demo Angel
List?
Live
Demo ConfidenKality?
Early
Bird Sharing
Data?
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
24 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
Early bird: arrive 10 minutes early, the VC will probably arrive 10 minutes late; donʼt be rattled.
Live Demo: this usually occurs about half way through the deck, after you've established "what" and "why"
and "who." Tips: be mindful of time (3 mins!) and don't get lost in product.
Laptop demo-- assume the projector bulb burns out, Internet connectivity will fail, etc. Be ready to run a demo
off your laptop if you can. Plus it creates a more intimate setting if you're sitting side-by-side, looking at your
screen.
And, be prepared to completely ad-lib it (w/o slides) by telling a story / conversation. This can be powerful.
Tuning: Know your VC. were they finance guys? Sales guys? Founders or product guys? Who else have
they invested in?
Memorize: practice it, hours per day, until it becomes conversational.
Itʼs a Performance-- use movement, dramatic emphasis, walk around, use emotion, elongated pauses etc.
Friendly fire: practice your pitch with your attorneys, friends, advisors, startup founders, c-list VCs.
And finally, youʼre selling, youʼre asking for money. Go for the close! Ask for it!
25. First steps to get started (do it tonight!)
Draw
or
storyboard
it
by
hand
Or
Dras
an
outline
in
Word
or
Pages
Or
Build
Xtles
and
headers
of
each
slide
Or
Find
an
exisXng
deck
and
modify
it.
Then...
Add
simple
images
or
pictures
to
accompany
text
Create
diagrams,
charts
that
support
the
slide
topic
Sparingly
add
addiXonal
detail.
PracXce!
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
25 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
Draw or storyboard it by hand. Put the computer away and sit down at a clean, empty desk with 10-12 pieces
of blank paper and a pen and simply draw rough diagrams for each slide. This spurs creativity, and you can
re-order the paper slides into the perfect storyline. Then, fire up the MacBook and start creating a digital
version.
Draft an outline in a Word or Pages file. Begin with one of the standard pitch deck formats as suggested by
Sequoia or Guy Kawasaki (e.g., Problem / Solution / Team / Market - etc.) and then add one key concept that I
want to convey on each slide as a sub-bullet. This forms the basis of the "story arc" that the deck will take, and
then add more color and detail to each later.
Headers and titles: If the storyline is already pretty clear, then with a blank Keynote or PowerPoint build a set
of 10-12 slides starting with just the headlines. In some cases, I'll also do a set of sub-titles, too. Then the rest
of the slide expands on these concepts, or better yet, represents them as images or diagrams.
Pull up an old deck: there are many, many good decks now online (see my Quora answer on the topic) and
many concepts can easily be recycled. Just be sure to make the look, tone, and feel consistent to avoid
"Frankenstein" decks.
26. KISS
Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
26 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012
27. Raising Startup Capital -- The Pitch GENERAL ASSEMBLY
27 Nathan Beckord @startupventures Sept. 20, 2012