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One of the things that I work with many of my portfolio companies on is storytelling in their pitch decks.
But it can be a frustrating process - even for people who are great at presentations. And here’s why…
Read on >>
But it can be a frustrating process - even for people who are great at presentations. And here’s why…
Read on >>
1) If you don’t know an investor, you have just 10-30s to make an impression via your deck or blurb.
Most VCs are seeing hundreds or thousands of decks *per month*. @HustleFundVC our startup funnel looks like this:
1000 decks reviewed -> meet ~50-100 -> invest in 7-10 per mo.
Most VCs are seeing hundreds or thousands of decks *per month*. @HustleFundVC our startup funnel looks like this:
1000 decks reviewed -> meet ~50-100 -> invest in 7-10 per mo.
2) In other words, most companies *won’t get a mtg*, so you don’t have a chance to explain things that aren’t already in the deck.
Everything that is compelling about your company must be *in the deck* to maximize your chances of getting a mtg.
Everything that is compelling about your company must be *in the deck* to maximize your chances of getting a mtg.
3) This is why when I work with portfolio companies, we will often do multiple iterations of a story to get it to a strong pt where we believe other investors will take the mtg.
A compelling deck is clear, concise, and differentiated.
A compelling deck is clear, concise, and differentiated.
4) I think founders who are good at presentations can get their decks to be clear and concise with some iterations.
But differentiated - this is where inside baseball matters. How do you know if you’re differentiated compared to all the other startups a given investor is seeing?
But differentiated - this is where inside baseball matters. How do you know if you’re differentiated compared to all the other startups a given investor is seeing?
5) This is where I spend the most time with our founders. Some ideas are being done by so many founders that investors are jaded. Other ideas that were exciting 2 years ago burned investors.
Weaving the needle on the mkt landscape is so important.
Weaving the needle on the mkt landscape is so important.
6) How do you weave the needle if you don’t have investors already who can help guide you through this?
A couple of ways
A) If you cold-email investors and hear they don’t want to take a mtg because your space is “too competitive” or “not differentiated”, you have your answer.
A couple of ways
A) If you cold-email investors and hear they don’t want to take a mtg because your space is “too competitive” or “not differentiated”, you have your answer.
7) B) The jiujitsu move in crowded spaces is to address that it’s crowded and say that everyone else is doing things all wrong and how your approach is differentiated.
I’ll give you a few examples.
I’ll give you a few examples.
8) Here are a couple of pitches that I commonly see that are super crowded areas:
-mental health platforms
-Generative AI writing tools
@HustleFundVC we’ve invested in these areas yrs ago so we’re not adding to our portfolio the 1000th company doing this…unless…
-mental health platforms
-Generative AI writing tools
@HustleFundVC we’ve invested in these areas yrs ago so we’re not adding to our portfolio the 1000th company doing this…unless…
9) you can explain what is wrong w/ the others…
E.g. for a mental health platform, I’ll typically see pitch decks that read:
Problem slide: Billions of ppl worldwide are struggling with mental health…
Solution slide: We’re a mental health platform.
This is NOT compelling.
E.g. for a mental health platform, I’ll typically see pitch decks that read:
Problem slide: Billions of ppl worldwide are struggling with mental health…
Solution slide: We’re a mental health platform.
This is NOT compelling.
10) That approach will not get you any meetings. The jiujitsu move is to say:
Problem slide: There are 1000s of mental health platform companies. But they are ALL doing it wrong because of ABC.
Solution slide: We approach mental health by doing DEF which no one is doing.
Problem slide: There are 1000s of mental health platform companies. But they are ALL doing it wrong because of ABC.
Solution slide: We approach mental health by doing DEF which no one is doing.
11) Another example:
Problem slide: Generative AI has become so popular that there are hundreds of generative AI writing platforms now. But they all fail to do X.
Solution: We are different because we do Y and don’t do X.
Problem slide: Generative AI has become so popular that there are hundreds of generative AI writing platforms now. But they all fail to do X.
Solution: We are different because we do Y and don’t do X.
12) If you are in a crowded space (which most businesses are), you are much better off acknowledging that an investor has likely seen 100s or 1000s of companies doing what you do.
And even though it’s crowded, the others have a bad take & your differentiated take is way better
And even though it’s crowded, the others have a bad take & your differentiated take is way better
13) Keep in mind, it may take you 20 iterations of your deck to carefully weave the needle on the narrative. You don’t want to burn too many potential investor leads with a bad story.
The right approach to outreach is to test a deck on some investors, get their feedback, & tweak
The right approach to outreach is to test a deck on some investors, get their feedback, & tweak
14) Even for @HustleFundVC when we raised our fund 1, our first narrative was horrible.
It basically said
-Hi we’re @ericbahn & Elizabeth
-we’ve worked together & went to fancy schools & worked at fancy places
-we’ve invested in a lot of hit startups
-Pls invest in our Fund 1!
It basically said
-Hi we’re @ericbahn & Elizabeth
-we’ve worked together & went to fancy schools & worked at fancy places
-we’ve invested in a lot of hit startups
-Pls invest in our Fund 1!
15) Guess what - that story was horrible! Do you know how many funds are out there with the same narrative?
2 ppl who worked together and invested together in hit startups and also have worked at other fancy places and went to other fancy schools?
Like 100s of VC funds.
2 ppl who worked together and invested together in hit startups and also have worked at other fancy places and went to other fancy schools?
Like 100s of VC funds.
16) our v1 story sounded good *only to us* because we hadn’t yet seen all the other decks that other VCs were presenting.
But once we started getting feedback that it wasn’t differentiated, we changed our story.
But once we started getting feedback that it wasn’t differentiated, we changed our story.
17) Namely:
“There are 1000s of microfunds who seem similar to us & invest.
But they are all doing it wrong. Here’s what they are doing wrong in their investing.
Here’s our investment approach & why it’s totally different.”
That’s how we raised our fund — 20 iterations later
“There are 1000s of microfunds who seem similar to us & invest.
But they are all doing it wrong. Here’s what they are doing wrong in their investing.
Here’s our investment approach & why it’s totally different.”
That’s how we raised our fund — 20 iterations later
18) You only get one shot on goal though. So you will burn a lot of leads on your earlier story-iterations that are not good. You probably won’t get a mtg again w/ those burned leads.
This is why you want to minimize wasted leads as much as possible.
This is why you want to minimize wasted leads as much as possible.
19) Most startups (and funds), though, don’t think about this. Everyone just wants to rush their decks and be done with it to get back to the business.
But you can’t get pitch mtgs without a compelling story.
But you can’t get pitch mtgs without a compelling story.
20) So even if you don’t have a lot of direct competition, ultimately, you are competing for mtg slots w other startups (or funds) who have a more compelling story than you do.
This is why nailing that differentiated narrative is so impt. So you can get that strong shot on goal.
This is why nailing that differentiated narrative is so impt. So you can get that strong shot on goal.
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Mike Maples, Jr @m2jr
·
Feb 16, 2023
This thread is amazingly good.