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- ๐จ Pitch Deck Data Insights & How to Master the Competition Slide | #7
๐จ Pitch Deck Data Insights & How to Master the Competition Slide | #7
Alexander Valtingojer
November 30, 2023
Good morning, fellow founder! ๐
Welcome to another edition of FounderForge. Your Europe-focused startup digest - just because we do things a little differently here! ๐บ๐ธ ๐
If you missed our last issue, you can still read it at the link below! ๐
Today's topics are all about pretty slide decks:
A Data-Based Look at Pitch Decks ๐จ
How to Master the Competition Slide ๐ฅ
๐ Data Dive: The Science Behind Pitch Decks
99% of all pitch decks contain too much content that no one will ever read. ๐
The average early-stage pitch deck in 2023 consists of 16 slides.
While the average time spent on a pitch deck is about 2 minutes.
That's roughly 8 seconds per slide. ๐คฏ
Take an honest look at your own deck. Is it possible to get to what you want to say within 2 minutes?
Source: DocSend
And if you thought that VCs spend more time on the deck of companies they like, you were wrong. โ
It hardly matters if you are successful or not - we all get just two minutes of attentionโฆ
Source: DocSend
With that in mind, do we really need 16 slides in an early-stage deck?
Guy Kawasaki once said that a pitch deck should have no more than 10 slides - and we believe he is right.
A pitch deck is just a door opener. ๐ช
A tool to give potential investors a first idea of what you are trying to build.
Everything else will be shared later.
The perfect pitch deck structure
With limited attention, it is even more important to put the right information in the right place. โ
Source: DocSend
Surprisingly, the traditional problem/solution introduction is not the one successful pitch decks use.
Remember: storyline > fixed structure
Source: DocSend
And you know what always helps?
Having an actual product (ideally with paying customers) instead of an elaborate pitch deck. ๐
Source: DocSend
DocuSign, an analytics tool for documents, regularly shares its latest data insights around pitch decks.
If you want to learn more about the data of pitch decks, follow the link below. ๐๏ธ
๐ Founder's Toolkit: How to Build a Good Competition Slide
Does your current competition slide look like this?
Source: Stackfix
Or this?
Source: Stackfix
Then it's about time this newsletter landed in your inbox. ๐ฅ๏ธ
Two weeks ago, Valentin and Alex attended the annual Sigma Squared Summit in Lisbon. ๐ต๐น
One particular session was with venture capitalists George Robson (Sequoia), Felix Haas (10x Founders) and Videesha Boeckle (ฤltitude).
Guess what they said was the #1 thing that turns them off in a pitch deck?
A competition slide like the one above.
No need to worry. We're not here to blame, we're here to help (hell, we made the same mistake ๐คฆ).
So let's get our hands dirty and fix your competition slide!
First things first ๐
Before we get into how a proper competition slide should be structured, we should talk about the purpose of this slide in the first place.
Yes, this slide is about differentiation - what makes you different from your competition?
HOWEVER, nobody cares about differentiation unless it is MEANINGFUL.
This meme explains it in detail. ๐
Source: An Unknown Meme Legend
A differentiator is only relevant if it is critical to success in your market and/or creates defensibility.
How to do it right โช๏ธ
The best competition slides outline 3 things:
Your differentiation (less is more - focus on what matters)
Why it's critical to success in your market
How it builds up defensibility over time
And before you ask, NO, 2 & 3 are never implicit.
Below is a great template and example of a good competition slide. ๐
Source: Stackfix
Source: Stackfix
There are literally 1000 other ways to structure this slide.
The key is to not only show your differentiation but why it matters.
Main source: https://www.stackfix.com/blog/competition-slides (this article was also part of our Founder's Library in issue #5 ๐)
๐ Founder's Library: Curated Resources
A collection of random reads that the FounderForge team enjoyed.
How to Grow Your Startup to 1,000,000$ ARR by Justin Ferriman
Why You Should Add Friction to Your Onboarding by Ben McRedmond (interesting take)
What Actually Happened at OpenAI by Chris Skinner (in case you wondered what last week was all about ๐)
How to Sell Your Business? by Stephen Moore
Startupsโ Mistakes in Trying to Copy Big Companies by STAY SAASY
๐ Meme of the Fortnight
How VCs look at pitch decksโฆ and I spent 2 hours aligning the title ๐ฅฒ
๐ค Your Thoughts on Today's Edition
That's all for now!
If you find this newsletter valuable, share it with a friend!
Cheers,
The Founders Blacksmith ๐
Issue #7 | 30. November 2023