Pitching investors for funding is no easy task. In this presentation, I give tips on how to strategically approach investors, angels and venture capital funds, with style and success. Note: there are example slides from my past decks used to raise $10M in venture capital, but the numbers have been changed.

1. Tristan Pollock
EIR &Venture Partner
THE ART OF THE
TWEET ME! @writerpollock

2. HOW WE RAISED $9M

3. AND HOW WE’LL MAKE THAT
$25M

4. THE DECK
[1]

5. 3 TYPES OF DECKS
1. Demo Day or Pitch Event
• 2 minutes
• 5-6 slides
2. Email
• High level
• 8-10 slides
• Warning: This will get forwarded
3. Investor Meeting
• 10-20 slides
• Use an appendix

6. ALL DECKS SHOULD BE
1. Visual
• Show, not tell. Don’t make people read.
2. Simple
• A slide should be understood in 1-3 seconds.
3. Sweet
• Add contact info so people can give you $$$

7. YOUR STORY
[2]

8. TELL ‘EM
It’sYOUR story. You know your biz the best.

9. DOs DON’Ts
1. Create slides first
2. Be a one-pitch pony
3. Forget the 20-1 rule
1. Tell a strategic story
2. Know your secret sauce
3. Pass the 60-second test

10. PITCH = DECK + STORY
1. Grab your audience’s attention
2. So simple a caveman could understand
3. Keep energy high with easter eggs
4. Be confident and guiding, but listen and observe
5. Only use the time you need
6. End on a high note.
7. Don’t share everything.Your job is to get people excited.
[3]

11. 9 STEPS TO PITCH
1. Talk, don’t pitch
2. Know who you are talking to
3. State what you do simply
4. Traction, traction, traction
5. Product benefits
6. Business model
7. Team
8. Summary
9. Call to Action

12. YOUR PITCH DECK
(MY APPENDIX)

13. Retail space on demand.

14. TEAM
Give me an idea of your ability to deliver as a team and
surround yourself with amazing talent.
Note: There is no “right” order of slides. It depends on your story.

15. TRACTION
Show me that it works.

16. $0
$150
$300
$450
$600
March Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
Key
Storefront seed
projections
Storefront 2013
performance
Airbnb: first 9
months
$4.5M
GMV
2,000
Bookings
GMV:
Gross merchandise volume
(000’s)
launched
NYC
launched
website
holiday
2013
9-Month Performance

17. Thomas Korte
Founder, AngelPad
Shelby Clark
Founder, RelayRides
Yulie Kim
VP of Product, One Kings
Lane
Robert Stephens
Founder, Geek Squad
CTO, Best Buy
Dev Tandon
Founder, Etsy Wholesale
Laurie Miller
Head of Retail, Nike
Apple, JC Penney
Advisors

18. VISION
Small visions don’t get funded.
Big visions need a small start.

19. “Airbnb of Retail”
World’s largest marketplace connecting merchants
of all sizes with the best retail space

20. MARKET & COMPS
Show me you understand your market and competition.
How will you win?

21. $17B
Rent
Payment
Total Short-term Market
$30B
Store
Logistics
$102B
Merchandise
Sales
$149B

22. 5M
Spaces
(booths, malls, stores)
25M
Merchants
(1-100 employees)
16M
rentals
Short-term Rental Market

23. PROBLEM
Convince me that this is a BIG problem and market. I
need to FEEL the Pain.

24. MILESTONES
Show me you have metrics and goals for the company
and yourself

25. $0
$4
$7
$11
$14
$37M
GMV
$4.7M
Revenue
2014 Roadmap
20142013
10totalcities
8,350listings
6,727bookings
$4M
GMV
GMV (MM’s)

26. GO-TO-MARKET
Show me you are thinking deeply about customer
acquisition.What’s your beach head?

27. City Launch Playbook
0 4 8 12 16Weeks
Launch
300spaces
1,000merchants
Launch
300spaces
1,000merchants
Launch
300spaces
1,000merchants
Steady State
25%merchantsbook
$1MGMV
Space
Onboarding
Community
Manager
*support services include marketing, SEM, and growth/BD, and VAs
8 weeks 16 weeks
Merchant
Onboarding

28. SOLUTION
How does your product solve the problem in a unique/
different way.

29. SpacesMerchants
Network of verified
merchants and spaces

30. REVENUE
Show me you are thinking about building a real
business.

31. Building a 100-year company
Network
Marketplace
Stage 3: Analytics & Data
2013
2014
Platform
2015 Q1
Analytics & Data
2015 Q4
Implications:
• Dynamic pricing for space
• Predictive modeling for
location selection and
merchandising
• Optimal distribution
channels for products
Focus:
• Offline data via Consumer
app, POS, Bank accounts
Risk Reduction:
• Financial and
concentration risk
Product augmentation through pareto risk diminishment
Roadmap:

32. THE ASK
Show me you have a clear plan for what do do with
investor money.

33. 10 FUN-DRAISING PRINCIPLES
1. It’s a Full-Time job.
2. A compressed timeline isVERY important.
3. Pitch over 100 investors.
4. You’ll close < 10% of the investors you talk to.
5. FOMO.
6. Traction over all. Grow fast or die.
7. Create urgency.
8. The fundraising environment is always changing
(e.g. Q1 to Q2; geography).
9. Don’t over optimize valuation.
10. It’s not real until money is in the bank.

34. MY GIFT TOYOU
1. Pitch Deck Guidelines
• bit.ly/PITCHDECK
2. Silicon Valley Etiquette
• 500.co/silicon-valley-etiquette
3. Fundraising Timeline
• bit.ly/fundraisingtimeline
4. 500 Startups Decks
• slideshare.net/500startups

35. ALWAYS BE CLOSING
A-B-C

36. EMAIL ME! TRISTAN@500.CO