How I changed my startups pitch deck to raise $2.3 MILLION
Summary
TLDRThe speaker shares the secret to raising $2.5 million with a concise pitch deck, emphasizing the power of storytelling in fundraising. He details his journey from a failed first attempt to creating a memorable and minimalist deck that intrigued investors. The deck's success hinged on simplicity, a clear narrative, and strategic information presentation, ultimately securing meetings and investment without revealing too much. The speaker's experience in startups and venture capital, coupled with his coaching of other founders, lends credibility to his advice on crafting an impactful pitch.
Takeaways
- đ The speaker raised nearly $2.5 million for their startup with a concise pitch deck, emphasizing the power of a good story in fundraising.
- đ The success was not due to a privileged background or education but rather the ability to craft a compelling narrative.
- đ The speaker's experience includes working at a startup accelerator and a venture capital firm, and they have personally raised millions of dollars.
- đ€ The speaker has helped other founders raise tens of millions of dollars and continues to coach founders, demonstrating a deep understanding of the fundraising process.
- đ The startup's initial idea was to host virtual events for brands and influencers using small group video calls, capitalizing on the shift to remote interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- đ The first pitch deck was ineffective, leading to a realization about the importance of information arbitrage in fundraising and the limited time investors spend reviewing decks.
- đ The speaker's approach to creating a pitch deck involved making it minimalist, easy to read, and memorable, with a focus on storytelling rather than overwhelming details.
- đ The use of a large beauty brand as a customer example in the pitch deck was a strategic move to attract interest and illustrate the startup's potential market.
- đ The 'modern Tupperware party' tagline was used to draw parallels with a successful historical business model and to resonate with investors looking for innovative digital solutions.
- đŒ The team slide was positioned early in the deck to establish credibility and to frame the team as the best fit for the business challenge they were addressing.
- đ The deck used a story format to convey market size and potential, suggesting a massive opportunity that the startup had stumbled upon, which is an appealing narrative for investors.
Q & A
How much money was raised for the startup with the pitch deck?
-Almost two and a half million dollars.
What was the key factor attributed to the success of the pitch deck?
-A good story.
What was the speaker's background in relation to startups?
-The speaker dedicated their life to startups, worked at a startup accelerator and a venture capital firm, raised millions of dollars, and helped other founders raise tens of millions of dollars.
What was the startup's initial idea in July 2020?
-The startup aimed to use small group video calls to host virtual events for brands and influencers.
What was the problem encountered with the first pitch deck?
-The first pitch deck was boring, confusing, and did not effectively convey the startup's value proposition to investors.
What is the concept of 'information arbitrage' in the context of fundraising for startups?
-Information arbitrage refers to the strategic exchange of information between founders and investors, where founders aim to reveal as little as possible to secure funding, while investors seek as much information as possible to make investment decisions quickly.
How long do investors typically spend reading pitch decks?
-Investors spend no more than two to three minutes reading pitch decks if they are interested.
What was the approach taken to make the pitch deck more engaging and memorable?
-The approach included using minimalist design with big, bold text on white slides, focusing on one clear point per slide, and telling a compelling story.
What was the tagline used in the pitch deck and why was it chosen?
-The tagline was 'modern Tupperware party'. It was chosen because it resonated with the concept of Tupperware's multi-level marketing success and was something investors were interested in seeing in a digital format.
What was the significance of the 'beachhead' strategy in the pitch deck?
-The 'beachhead' strategy was used to show investors that the startup understood how to enter the market effectively by focusing on a small, specific area before expanding.
What was the final message of the pitch deck and why was it important?
-The final message was an invitation for investors to help make buying anything an experience. This was important as it aligned with the investors' goal of backing companies that could potentially become very large and successful.
Why is storytelling considered effective in a pitch deck?
-Storytelling is effective because it helps control the narrative, making the information more relatable and memorable for investors, which is crucial for engaging their interest.
Outlines
đ The Power of Storytelling in Fundraising
The speaker emphasizes the importance of storytelling in securing significant funding for a startup, using their own experience of raising nearly two and a half million dollars with a concise pitch deck. They highlight their background in startups and venture capital, having worked at a startup accelerator and a venture capital firm, and having helped other founders raise substantial amounts of money. The speaker recounts the initial failure of their pitch deck and the realization that fundraising is a game of information arbitrage, where the goal is to convey just enough information to pique investor interest without giving too much away. They stress the need for a pitch deck that is exciting, quick to read, and memorable, and describe their approach to creating such a deck, including minimalist design and a clear, singular point per slide.
đ Crafting a Compelling Pitch Deck
This paragraph delves into the specifics of the speaker's pitch deck strategy, starting with the team slide to establish credibility and context. The speaker uses the narrative of building a product for consumers that brands ended up wanting, mirroring the patterns of successful companies like Facebook, Airbnb, and Slack. They discuss the importance of market sizing presented as part of a story to create excitement, and the strategic use of an experiment slide to demonstrate traction and business model viability. The speaker also explains the significance of a 'beachhead' strategy for go-to-market, using a large beauty brand as a case study to show traction and potential. The deck concludes with a clear, concise explanation of the company's value proposition and a call to action that invites investors to be part of a transformative business idea.
đ Positioning for Success in Startup Fundraising
The final paragraph focuses on the concept of positioning in fundraising, explaining how it controls the narrative and influences perceptions. The speaker argues that humans are naturally inclined to understand information through stories, which is why they chose to spin a narrative in their pitch deck. They discuss the importance of making the startup seem exciting and compelling, even if the reality is less so, and the role of positioning in sales, hiring, and product development. The speaker encourages founders to think about how they can position their company more effectively and to tell a great story, concluding with an invitation for founders to reach out for advice and support.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄPitch Deck
đĄFundraising
đĄInformation Arbitrage
đĄStorytelling
đĄVirtual Events
đĄTagline
đĄTraction
đĄGo-to-Market Strategy
đĄBeachhead
đĄPositioning
đĄSocial Commerce
Highlights
Raised nearly $2.5 million with a concise pitch deck under 100 words.
Success not due to wealth or education but a compelling story.
Dedicated life to startups with experience in accelerators and venture capital.
Raised millions personally and coached others to raise tens of millions.
July 2020 saw a shift to a virtual event startup during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Initial pitch deck was ineffective, leading to a rethink on presentation.
Fundraising is an information arbitrage game between founders and investors.
Investors spend minimal time on pitch decks, emphasizing the need for brevity.
Aim for a pitch deck that excites without revealing too much, prompting a meeting.
Adopted minimalist design for clarity and ease of reading.
Used a tagline 'modern Tupperware party' to intrigue investors.
Highlighted team strengths to build investor confidence.
Told a story of accidental success to mirror patterns of successful startups.
Market sizing was presented as a stumbled opportunity rather than a calculated figure.
Shared an experiment that led to significant sales, hinting at business potential.
Emphasized traction gained without a product to signal experienced founder behavior.
Used a customer's payment as a business model reveal, sparking investor curiosity.
Highlighted a 'beachhead' strategy for go-to-market, showing understanding of sales tactics.
Featured a major brand as a customer to add credibility and excitement.
Ended with a clear, reiterated value proposition and a call to action.
Discussed the importance of positioning and storytelling in pitch decks.
Encouraged overselling to appear as an exciting opportunity to investors.
Offered to help other founders with fundraising and positioning.
Transcripts
I raised almost two and a half million
dollars for my startup with a pitch deck
that had less than 100 words it wasn't
because I had a rich dad it wasn't
because I went to Stanford it came down
to one simple thing a good story now let
me show you why it works so well so you
can avoid having another boring pitch
deck that every investor forgets
now I'm no genius but I have dedicated
my entire life to startups and have a
bunch of relevant fundraising experience
I worked at a startup accelerator and
Venture Capital firm I've actually
raised millions of dollars myself
pitched top VC firms like a16z Union
Square Ventures Lightspeed and many
others and I've helped other startup
Founders raise tens of million dollars
and continue to coach Founders to this
day
okay with that said let's get into it
in July of 2020 I decided to quit my job
at a startup accelerator to work on a
company that used small group video
calls to host virtual events for Brands
and influencers it was the height of
covet so companies couldn't engage
customers through in-person stores and
experiences so our startup would find a
cookware company or a beauty brand and
host cooking or beauty classes over
video calls surprisingly this worked
kind of well
so we built a pitch deck and got ready
to raise millions of dollars so we could
be the next billion dollar Tech founders
but we quickly encountered a problem our
first pitch deck kinda sucked and no one
wanted to give us money
it wasn't really worse than most startup
pitch decks in fact it had all the
typical slides you would see it was just
really boring and left investors
more confused than when they started
this is when we realized something
fundraising for startups is a game of
information Arbitrage you as a Founder
are trying to give away as little
information as possible to get money
while investors are trying to get as
much information as possible from you
Founders so they can say yes or no to
investing in your company faster on top
of that investors spend no more than two
to three minutes reading pitch decks and
that's if they're interested in your
company
so we thought to ourselves how can we
write a pitch deck that did a couple
things first how do we write a pitch
deck that gets investors excited but
doesn't give away that much information
so they have to meet with us if they're
intrigued second how do we write a pitch
deck that takes an investor one minute
to read start to finish
lastly how do we write a pitch deck
that's memorable
this is what we ultimately came up with
we realized we were really bad at design
so we went as minimalist as possible big
bold text on white slides this combined
with no more than one clear point being
made per slide made the deck really easy
to read
our Starbucks biggest customer was a
large Beauty brand so we decided to
throw a pair of sexy red lips right on
the title slide so it would lure folks
in and get them to wonder what the
these three dudes were building
our tagline modern Tupperware party was
something a couple investors had told us
our company sounded like
for those that don't know Tupperware
became popular through a multi-level
marketing scheme your grandma would host
lunch parties for her friends and then
at the end would start putting away
finger sandwiches into Tupperware this
caused all of her friends to buy the
plastic containers and many of them
actually began hosting their own
Tupperware parties billions of dollars
worth of Tupperware was sold this way
and investors in 2020 really wanted to
see a digital version of this scheme so
we decided to lean into that deck and
use it as our tagline
next we have our team slide I'm a big
fan of putting your team slide first
that way as the investor reads the rest
of your deck they already know who is
building this company and if you frame
your team's backgrounds in the right way
you can make it seem like your team is
the best possible team to be working on
this problem in our case our Co was the
sales guy I was the startup guy and our
CTO was the crack shot Google engineer
next we establish context and begin
telling our story We Tell investors that
we built huddle for consumers and in the
next slide we tell them Brands ended up
begging for it these opening slides
accomplish two things first they
establish a common pattern investors see
in successful startups most successful
companies like Facebook Airbnb and slack
start as one idea and end up finding
success elsewhere slack built a video
game and then they became where
corporate slaves go to die AKA an
instant messaging platform for work this
is a pattern that investors love and so
we open our deck matching this common
pattern and immediately they're hooked
second it tells them who our company is
selling to which is other companies AKA
Brands this is important because our
video app is actually used by consumers
and Brands but we don't want investors
to be confused by this fact which is a
common problem a lot of startups run
into
slide 5 is our Market sizing slide but
delivered in story format we make it
seem like we once again stumbled into a
massive opportunity but in fact
experiences sell more than 500 billion
dollars of products every year so we're
actually underselling the market which
investors will probably know we bet this
would make them excited in the next
slide we tell investors that we ran an
experiment once again this is our
attempt to match patterns of other
successful companies inexperienced
startup Founders build products without
testing first experienced Founders run
experiments and get traction without
building a product first we use this
slide to signal to investors that we
know how to run an experiment and we set
up the next slide which will tell them
the outcome of the experiment
we then state that the outcome of our
experiment led to fourteen hundred
dollars worth of sales from one huddle
this implies to investors that our
businesses running these so-called
huddles you'll notice that nowhere in
the deck do we say what a huddle
actually is it could be a website it
could be a video call it could be an
advertisement we wanted investors to be
100 clear about what we did and not be
confused about how we did it start of
Founders are often get so hung up in
explaining the how around their business
that investors read a pitch deck and
misunderstand what they do explaining
both what and how in a deck is really
hard so we avoided it completely and
just focused on the fact that we sold
products from huddles we saved the
Nuance of how we were doing this for
when we spoke with investors alive
remember the goal of this pitch deck was
just to get a first meeting
on slide 8 we follow up our fourteen
hundred dollars sold with the fact that
a customer of ours baking steel paid us
15 of the fourteen hundred dollars this
is our business model slide if investors
do back of the napkin math they'll find
that from a single huddle we made 210
dollars if we had just stated this
outright it might seem less exciting but
by delivering these two slides in story
format it leads investors to wonder what
if these guys did a thousand huddles a
day what if they did ten thousand
huddles a day maybe this could be a
really big business and just like that
we made a tiny amount of traction seemed
like a really big deal to investors all
because we delivered the information as
a story
we then say that we started Building
Product immediately this makes investors
think holy these guys got traction
without a product experiencing
successful Founders get traction without
Building Products first once again we're
matching the patterns of other
successful Founders in this deck slide
10 is the beginning of the end of the
deck it frames the fact that all the
other stuff we mentioned before is in
the past and now we're focused on an
exciting future next we have our go to
market slide your go to market is how
you get your product into the hands of a
lot of people it's your sales strategy
it's one of the most important things
investors want to know and it's often
communicated poorly or left out of decks
entirely we use this slide to show
investors that we understand go to
market and we do that by using the term
beachhead the term originates from World
War II when the US and Allied Forces
storm Normandy a beachhead in business
is when you focus resources on a small
area in a market which allows you to
break into the entire market after this
then leads us into our next slide where
we tell them what our beachhead is
this is our sexiest piece of traction
Smashbox is a large Beauty brand owned
by Estee Lauder one of the largest
companies in the world
they really were planning on using
huddle to engage their loyalty customers
and had agreed on paper to pay us three
thousand dollars a month we save this
information for the end of the deck so
that it could act as a finale to our
story had we share this information
earlier it wouldn't have seemed nearly
as exciting to investors
slide 13 states in plain English what we
do this is essentially just reiterating
our tagline which if you remember is
modern Tupperware party we're not
reintroducing any new Concepts here
we're just synthesizing everything we've
alluded to in the previous 12 slides in
one clear sentence and then in slide 14
we say remember Tupperware parties this
ties it all together and after the
narrative we just laid out for them it
makes investors think that we're going
to be the next big social commerce
company
on our final slide we finish by asking
investors to help us make buying
anything an experience this alludes to
the fact that our company can become
really big which is exactly what
startup investors want to hear they only
make money from companies that can
become one billion dollars in size at a
minimum and unlike most decks we don't
ask for a specific amount of money here
because we want investors writing any
check size to be interested in talking
with us
to understand why this pitch deck works
so well we gotta talk about the content
to position
positioning means how do you control a
narrative or get people to think what
you want them to think human beings best
understand information that's relating
stories that's ingrained in our biology
it stems back from when we used to sit
around campfires in our case we didn't
just assume people would understand
facts related on a pitch deck instead we
spun a narrative that made them think
what we wanted them to think and we
didn't expect everyone to buy into that
narrative by the way we just wanted more
people to buy into that narrative than
if we had just built a typical boring
pitch deck the reality with our startup
huddle and the reality of most early
startups is that in the beginning your
business and traction just really isn't
that exciting
in our case huddle had one large company
that agreed to use it but hadn't started
using it yet and we had a couple smaller
companies that had used us and were
selling products but that also wasn't
that great and if we just stated these
facts and slides and built a normal deck
it really wouldn't be that interesting
so instead we used a compelling story to
make us seem like the next big thing and
that may seem misleading but the truth
is every successful startup is great at
positioning and trust me
the pitch is not the time to undersell
what you're doing if anything it's the
time to oversell what you're doing and
make yourself seem like hot
and investors know this by the way they
want Founders who are great at
positioning because great positioning
will help you with sales or hiring great
employees or Building Product so if
you're a startup founder think about how
you can position your company to be more
exciting and compelling and tell a great
story thanks for watching this
is my first video so if you found it
helpful
consider liking subscribing or
commenting below maybe even get in an
argument with me and then at the end we
can become friends and sing kubaya but
more importantly if you're a startup
founder that's trying to raise money
consider reaching out I work with
Founders like you every day and I love
to chat and see if I can be helpful
I can't believe anyone would take me
seriously holy
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