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We've seen all sorts of presentations from startups over the years. But
none as succinct, yet as effective as one we saw a few days ago.
The Seattle company in question is one that pitched us a few years ago. At
the time, we loved the team, but thought they seemed to be remarkably
unfocused. So, rather than have our money burned in a "bumping into trees"
exercise, we passed. Now they were back - with laser focus - and it
showed.
Before the presentation started, the CEO told us he only brought seven
slides. And oh, by the way, they were all in 30 point type! My immediate
reaction was, "This guy must have his stuff together!" Rather than death by
PowerPoint, he was planning to subject us to a real discussion, where the
knowledge of the management team was the foundation, not the slides. And the
goal was interaction with potential investors, not to baffle us with BS.
They did not disappoint. Picture this:
- Slide 1: Company name, their thesis in three words, the opportunity
in nine
words
- Slide 2: Their secret sauce - in about five bullet points
and a total of 15
words
- Slide 3: Why their customers see their value - in three
bullet points and a
total of 30 words
- Slide 4: Their customer traction - in four
bullet points and about 40
words
- Slide 5: Customer traction graph (essentially proof points
for slide 4)
- Slide 6: Revenue forecast for last 2, next 8
quarters - with justification
in less than 10 words
- Slide 7: Profit model - in three bullet
points and about 20 words
That was it. We talked for an hour, and had to end the session with
all of
us still fully engaged.
How different that is than the standard pitch where we see slide
after
wordy slide while the CEO or other members drone on, and by the end of
the hour
half the room has mentally checked out.
Now, to be fair, besides a crisp presentation, this team also had a
powerful one. Having bumped into trees as we expected them to, they had
their
eyes open. So when a customer started pulling them in a direction they
hadn't
initially expected, they were ready to engage, understand, and
generalize that
opportunity to a broad market.
We've still got work to do to find out more here. But as an initial
meeting, it doesn't get much better than this. In fact, I dropped a
quick email
to our lead partner on the deal that simply said, "Nike (company name)" -
or in
other words "Just Do It!".
Next time you think about pitching a potential investor, see if you
can
condense your pitch down to something under 10 slides, using something
north of
24 point type. If you can, you'll stand out. If you can't - maybe you
need
more focus.
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1) Name and market opportunity (in 12 words)
2) Management Team (2) with 3 bullets each
3) What we do 4 bullets in 2 areas with 2 photos
4) Why in 3 main bullets & a picture of us & competition
5) How we will get there in 5 bullets
6) Markets in a table that builds in the way we will attack each segment
7) Financial Results in 6 bullets and a cash flow chart showing +ve after 14 months
8) Rewards/Risk: The deal in 8 bullets
9) Contact info
This just seems right! Good post