Top 10 things you feel are essential to include in a Startup's Pitch Deck.
1. Has the business model hypothesis been tested
I'm working on testing my idea of automating innovative, high-quality marketing websites for startups.
Freelancers and Digital Agencies are out there doing similar work. Plenty of content manage systems out there try to do the same thing. I'm sure there's room in the market for another.
I've worked in content management my whole career and never found a tool that works for me.
2. What is the ‘unfair’ advantage
I believe my commercial and open-source development experience are my biggest advantage.
I'm an entrepreneur myself and work 80-hour weeks for the last 5 years, building my skills in both business and technology.
Being an entrepreneur myself, I can empathise with the needs of other entrepreneurs.
Passion for open source and collaboration allow me to make wonderful, long-lasting industry connections.
"Content is King - Code is Queen".
3. Is there a ‘compelling’ need
Every business needs a website. Some businesses hire external Digital Agencies to build websites. Other businesses build websites themselves.
Every small business marketing website I have worked on have plenty of issues. Small businesses don't want to spend resources making the web a better place, they want a website that works.
4. Identified market and channel strategies
Utilising social channels to share content that would be relevant and helpful for entrepreneurs. Also connecting in person at networking events, Co working spaces and start up incubators.
5. Is the business lean, mean and able to ‘pivot’ with opportunities
As a sole trader, the business is small and since I'm bootstrapping I like to keep things low cost.
I can be pretty mean, I'm not a fan of how big companies get slow and complacent and constantly look for better ways to do their business.
Build working on a variety of projects, I'm always happy to change stuff up. I like to fail fast, so I can move onto the next project.
6. The team’s experience and capabilities to execute
I'm a web developer working 80-hour weeks for the last 5 years, building my skills in both business and technology with commercial full-time work and open-source contributions.
I have built plenty of bespoke marketing websites for big brands like Tourism Queensland and Uber.
Passion for open source and collaboration allow me to make wonderful, long-lasting industry connections.
7. Passion and commitment of founders to hang in during tough times
I don't think I will be walking away from my personal freelance branding.
I have worked plenty of tough agency jobs where I've been on call and called back into the office in the middle of the night to fix emergencies. Furthermore, I'm uncertain if there is much out there that would turn me away at this point.
8. Articulated ‘use of funds’ linked to milestones
- Design $2,000 - $5,000 per project
- Developer $1,000 - $5,000 per project (10 - 50 hours)
- Project Manager $200 per project
- Domain name $20 - $400 per year
- Server Hosting $20 - $4000 per month
Total: $3,240 - $14,400 per project
9. Realistic valuation
Based on the hours I spent writing code in it, which is in the hundreds of hours.
200 * 98 = 19,600
Also, a couple of thousand dollars of capitalisation for assets and other costs.
Total $22,600 AUD
10. Follow-on investment strategies
I'm bootstrapping the business and looking for mentoring rather than funding.
Top 3 most annoying things to see in a Pitch Deck
- Too many market statistics
- Over valued
- Don’t really understand their market and channels to market
The #1 slide a Startup Pitch must have and is often left out.
- Value proposition