Do you think it's common to have a text-heavy read-through version in addition to a high-level presentation format? If yes, how many versions would you have? Would you also prepare an investment memo?
First of all, you will find as many answers to these questions as you can find founders and investors to ask. So, ultimately, you have to do what feels right for you and based on the feedback of the investors you are having conversations with.
Second, https://techcrunch.com/tag/ec-pitch-deck-teardowns/ is a great way to see a lot of decks and some useful reactions and feedback to those decks. (It also helps prove my first point.)
Finally, rather than giving you an opinion about what I think YOU should do, I can only really tell you what I would do if I were pitching right now:
I would have ONE deck.
- The first ~10 slides would be VERY clean but get the whole vision across.
- These are what I would SPEAK over in person.
- Behind that, I would have another 10-20 slides in an appendix
- These would have as much detail as I think anyone would need if I need to answer a LIVE question after the pitch (e.g. jump to a dense table of information to discuss the market in more detail… or a screenshot of the use of funds spreadsheet… etc.)
- The appendix as a whole would also cover all the details that I would want a separate investment memo to cover.
Bonus comments:
- I only share decks via Docsend and require an email to view
- I have a recording of my current pitch on loom that I can share
Bonus Bonus:
The FAQ outline below comes from Jason Shuman of Primary.vc who suggests that you write up as much of this as makes sense, and send to VC’s after your meeting:
𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼
- What we do
- What problem are we solving?
- How is X Working to Solve this Problem in a Unique Way?
- General Knowledge and Background Info
𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗙𝗔𝗤
- What do X Companies do?
- What products do competitors make?
- What is the market size for each product?
- What are the dynamics of the market?
- Who are the largest players?
- How do customers work with those companies today?
- What does churn look like in the industry?
- What multiples do competitors trade at?
𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆-𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 - 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗔𝗤
- What products do you sell today?
- What's your projected revenue?
- How long are your contracts?
- What are the payment terms?
- What are your gross margins?
𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁
- How does your product differ from the competition?
- What features are most frequently used?
- What do your product roadmap look like?
- Why are you prioritizing those features?
𝗚𝗼-𝗧𝗼-𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
- How do you acquire customers?
- What is the CAC by channel?
- How do you calculate CAC?
- What is your productivity per rep?
- How long does it take to ramp sales reps?
- How do you onboard customers?
- What does it cost to onboard customers?
- How long does it take to onboard customers?
- What is customer retention?
- Do you have leading indicators for retention?
- What is your payback period?
- What is your LTV/CAC?
- What is your NRR?
𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗲
- What is the value prop to the supply side?
- How do you acquire supply?
- How do you onboard the supply?
- Do you integrate into the supply sides current systems?
- How do you determine supply side quality?
𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻𝘀
- What is your ACV?
- What are your margins today? In the future?
- What gives you confidence in margin expansion?
- What margins do competitors have?
- What is the industry benchmark for EBITDA %?
𝗠𝗼𝗮𝘁𝘀
- What are your barriers to entry and moats today?
- What are they in the future?
𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻
- What other products do you plan to sell? Why?
- What does future ACV look like?
- When do you plan to roll out other products?
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘄?
- What has changed to make this business exist today?
- Why couldn't X exist before?
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆?
- What hires do you need to make?
- What are your goals for next 3/6/12 month?
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