What does it take to create a winning pitch deck that gets your startup funded?
Whether you are still at seed stage, or are preparing for a follow up series of funding, a lot of your success is riding on a few slides. Not long ago I covered the pitch deck template that was created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel (see it here) where the most critical slides are highlighted. Moreover, I also provided a commentary on a pitch deck from an Uber competitor that has raised over $400M (see it here)
Let’s take a look at the early stage pitch decks from some of the hottest companies that have successfully raised big money, and see what we can learn from them. Remember to click on the pictures if you want to review the full pitch deck.
Uber
Uber has a nice sleek and clean pitch deck as you’d expect. The deck dives deep into detail of vehicle types and mile per gallon. All plans that seem to have been left behind after the company got funded. It’s a reminder not to box yourself in with specific strategies and tactics you’ll almost inevitably take a detour on later.
- Dollars raised so far:$22B across 18 fundraising rounds
- Number of slides in deck: 25
- Early investors included: First Round, Benchmark, and Menlo Ventures.
Of special note: At the time Uber created this deck in 2008 it projected the overall market being worth $4.2B annually. It has raised over 5x that in funding.
In May 2018 Uber’s CEO said the company was on track to go IPO in 2019.
WeWork
WeWork may prove to be one of the most underrated companies from its early days. Going beyond simply providing coworking space the company is now in the residential apartment market and education.
- Dollars raised so far: $1.7B
- Number of slides in deck: 37
- Recent valuation: $20B
- Early investors included: Benchmark
Of special note: SEC filings showed WeWork owed $18B in rent as April 2018
Tinder
For a startup banking on looks to generate big profits (with a little help from gamification) Tinder’s early pitch deck seems to be a bit of an eye sore. Though with 8 billion matches reportedly made on the site so far, it’s a hot app people seem to be addicted to.
- Number of slides in deck: 10
- Recent valuation: $3B+
- Sub-Organization of Match Group
Of special note: Was originally named Match Box
Snapchat
This deck appears a little meaty and heavy on text for what snap stands for as an app. Yet, the company has undeniably appeared to be one of the fastest growing and an app best loved by celebrities.
- Dollars raised so far: $4.6B+
- Number of slides in deck: 14
- Early investors included: Lightspeed, Benchmark, IVP.
Of special note: Kylie Jenner is credited with knocking out $1.3B in Snap market value following a negative Tweet about Snap’s new redesign.
Buzzfeed
This deck was used when Buzzfeed had just 700k unique monthly views. Many of which were likely to clickbait content which the company later took down as it attempted to become a more serious news source.
- Dollars raised so far: $500M+
- Number of slides in deck: 21
- Recent valuation: $1.7B
- Early investors included: Hearst, RRE, NEA, and Andreessen Horowitz.
Of special note: Buzzfeed shows off an extensive list of team members in this deck, yet, notes all content at the time was handled by just 2 editors, with a monthly burn rate of $60k.
Foursquare
We don’t hear much about Foursquare anymore, but the founders certainly deserve credit for leveraging this deck into millions of dollars.
- Dollars raised so far: $155M+
- Number of slides in deck: 15
- Recent valuation: $600M+
- Early investors included: Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures.
Of special note: Goes beyond basic positioning statements to use competitors as references more than once. It’s good to liken your startup to something investors already know, but be careful that you are actually differentiating yourself and show a need for what you are bringing to market.
Airbnb
This pitch deck shows a great use of user testimonials and ‘use cases’ on one slide that are easy to understand. Interestingly this deck is far longer than the CEO’s famous one page business plan to dominate the hospitality space.
Perhaps more amazing is that Airbnb has accomplished all this while technically being illegal, just as Uber was when it started out, and many of today’s cannabis startups were before recent legislation.
- Dollars raised so far: $4.4B in thirteen funding rounds
- Number of slides in deck: 13
- Early investors included: Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, and Andreessen Horowitz.
Of special note: Airbnb did a great job of highlighting 3 value propositions or problems solved in one simple slide. A feat not normally recommended, unless you want to confuse potential investors.
Summary
This reviews of the best pitch decks for getting notable startups funded reveals several common traits.
They all seem to have slide counts falling between 10 and 25 slides. Many of these companies original names changed after they got funded. Like UberCab, AirBed&Breakfast, or Match Box.
Don’t overlook the fact that most of these host companies were born in some of the toughest financial times our country has experienced (2008-2011). They’ve also continually raised money in 4 to 7, or more funding rounds.
None of these pitch decks are perfect, but they worked in conjunction with other factors, like getting in front of the right investors. As you will be able to find with the profiles of investors they onboarded, you will see that very early on they were able to convince top tier investors.
If you’re looking to get funded find the investors, and with an even better deck you may raise more money, in less time and achieve even more.
