Hello, everyone. This is Alejandro Cremades, and today we’re going to be talking about
the best pitch deck for Series A Rounds. Before we get started, make sure that you hit that
Subscribe button, and this way, you will never miss out on any of the videos that we roll
out every week. The Series A Round is one of the most critical
financing rounds that you’re ever going to raise. It’s literally the first institutional
round meaning the very first time that you’re getting venture capital firms to invest in
your business. In today’s video, we’re going to be talking about how to optimize
for it, how to build the best pitch deck, and what are some of the secrets and insights
so that you can get out there and close the round with a bang. With that being said, let’s
get into it! The Series A Round essentially comes after
the Seed Round. The Seed Round is either when you’ve done friends and family, where you
got individual investors, angel investors, super angels, whatever that was. Now, you’re
at the Series A level. This is the time to shine, the time where you have your product/market
fit, where you have the leadership team, where you have the team, where you have the strategic
roadmap, and then also, when you have some validations on the revenue, and perhaps product/market
fit on the business. At this point, these are the venture capital
firms that are coming in to plug in their networks, their access to subsequent rounds,
the access to talent, the access to the money opportunities, or even distribution. Here,
you’re essentially looking at raising anywhere between $5 million to $15 million. That is
essentially a Series A Round, and the expectations are going to be really on the business where
you have been able to validate and when there are clear streams of revenue.
For preparing your Series A, you’ve done some research. You’ve done some research
on websites like Crunchbase, Mattermark, PitchBook. Essentially, those have given you access to
understand who you need to capture, who you need to go after in terms of investors because
when you’re going after investors, you need to make sure that their investment thesis
aligns with your opportunity. That needs to have the right type of financing
cycle. Obviously, here, you’re looking at a Series A, so you want to go after investors
that are doing Series A Rounds. You want to go after investors that are specifically focused
on your geographic location. If you’re in the U.S., and you want U.S. investors, you’re
not going to go to European investors. Right? The same thing with the industry. If you are,
let’s say, in healthcare, you’re not going to go after fintech investors. You want to
go after investors that are specifically investing in your segment, in your industry, and in
your geographic location, and that is what the investment thesis is all about. First
and foremost, you want to prepare this list, these targets, and then what you’re going
to be doing is you’re going to go with your materials after that.
When it comes down to the Series A pitch deck, remember: storytelling is absolutely everything.
The reason why this is the case is because investors that are investing in early-stage,
whether it’s a Series A or whether it’s a Seed Round, they’re not so much going
for historicals because the business doesn’t have enough data to be able to understand
where things are heading. But, at least, you need to show some validations.
That’s essentially what you’re going to be including in your pitch deck, where it’s
going to be all about the future and all about possibilities, all about enrolling them into
the mission, the vision, where things are going, and having them connect with you and
with your team and with what you’re doing because ultimately, they’re investing in
you and investing in helping you build the business. So, typically, a Series A pitch
deck is going to be 15-25 slides. It’s going to have a very nice balance between the images
and then also the text, but again, it needs to be a pitch deck that is able to tell them
where you’re at and where you’re heading as a whole.
Before getting started with the pitch deck, what you want to do is gather all the data.
What this is, is data about your company. It’s data on the market. Maybe you want
to take a look at some reports, some research papers, or studies that have been done on
your segment. Also, about the data of your own business, so you want to take a look at
your credit card processor or tools that you’ve used to understand your lifetime value, your
customer acquisition cost, and other types of metrics that may be of interest for the
investor to review and you’re going to need to include in the pitch deck. So, gather all
the data that you can because data is king, and the more that you have, the more that
you’re going to give that assurance to the investor that you know what you’re doing.
Also, you’re going to need to understand who and how the design of the pitch deck is
going to be done. So once you have the clear structure and all the different slides that
you’re going to be doing, you want to have someone that is able to take it to the next
level from a design perspective. Visuals are absolutely everything when it comes to the
pitch deck and, more specifically, to the Series A.
We’re looking here at literally investors spending two minutes and 41 seconds, 2:41
per presentation, so it needs to come across right away with what’s the point? Have a
nice balance there between the text and the visuals, and in a way in which you’re leaving
the investor touched, moved, and inspired. You can use either an internal designer that
you have working for your business. You can use, as well, a designer that you’re finding
on Freelance platforms like Upwork. Or you can choose an advisory firm like the one that
we have, Panthera Advisors, to really take it to the next level. Now, that’s critical.
Do not try to do it yourself if you’re not an expert in design because, ultimately, you’re
not going to be putting your best foot forward, and you need to make sure that it is coming
across in the best light possible. If you take a look at some of the best pitch
decks out there, whether it is the pitch deck of Airbnb, the pitch deck of Dropbox, the
pitch deck of Uber. Any company that has been extremely successful at raising capital, they
all have certain things in common, and those are the following:
Clarity Focus
Established credibility and capability Conveying the value and fit of the investment
Compelling, fast, and tangible action Now, when it comes to the actual pitch deck,
you always want to include the type of flow and structure that the investor is used to
seeing at a Series A. The slides that you’re going to be including and the order in which
you’re going to be including them is going to be the following:
The Cover Slide The Problem Slide
The Solution Slide The Market Slide
The Product Slide The Traction Slide
The Team Slide The Competitor Analysis Slide
The Financial Slide The Ask Slide
The Thank You Slide During the presentation, you want to use a
lot of bullet points. You want to be straight to the point. You want to make sure, as well,
that whatever text that you’re putting doesn’t go more than three or four sentences. You
can’t afford to be in a position to make them read because then you’re going to lose
people because the attention span is very short.
Think about Apple. Apple, for example, doesn’t include any instructions when you’re purchasing
a product. It’s more like an experience when you’re opening the box, the smell.
That’s the same thing as when you’re putting together a pitch deck. It’s all about storytelling;
it’s all about blowing their minds with you with your story, and that, in a sense,
is what you’re trying to do when you’re doing a Series A Round.
Hit a Like on this video. Leave a comment and let me know what you’re up to with your
business. And also, Subscribe to the channel so that you don’t miss out on all the videos
that we’re rolling out every week. And if you’re raising money, send me an email at
alejandro@pantheraadvisors.com. I would love to help you out with your fundraising efforts.
Thank you so much for watching.