What content should an investor deck have?
When a startup approaches an investor in search of financing, it usually does so by delivering a document that summarizes the project. This document is usually called an investor deck, and it is not just any document. Its objective is very similar to that of a CV in a job search process: The objective of the CV is to get an interview, while the objective of the investor deck is for the investor to ask for more information. Do you know what content the investor deck should have?
The investor deck is made up of several slides or chapters (usually between 10 and 15, although occasionally a slide can have more than one page), it is the first impression that the investor has of the project, and it must be carefully designed to avoid being discarded in the future. barely 4 minutes that the investor will dedicate to it.
Although the format of the document is important, what is essential is its content, and on this there are no written rules. There is, however, a certain consensus on what the minimum content should be.
The investor deck tries to explain the project with the minimum level of detail, while offering enough information to convince that it is a viable and interesting project. The question is, what is a viable and interesting project?
We think that a startup project is defined by the concurrence of several aspects, which in logical order are the following:
- Una market opportunity, generated by a need that is not well resolved or that can be better resolved,
- Una solution that provides advantages over available solutions,
- A consistent business model to put that solution on the market,
- A consistent business plan that measures the flows of income, costs and expenses and shows that the execution of the business model can be done profitably,
- And a team able to carry out that business plan.
Each of these aspects raises a question: Does the market opportunity really exist? Is the solution viable and does it provide a differential value with respect to the available alternatives? Is the business model consistent? Does the business plan make reasonable assumptions and are its results attractive? Does the development team have the combination of experience and knowledge required for this particular project?
The questions to answer
Dado que el investor deck pretende transmitir al inversor que existe un proyecto viable en el cual es interesante invertir, cada una de esas cinco preguntas debe ser respondida en el documento. Si alguna de ellas se queda sin respuesta, o si la respuesta no es convincente, la conclusión del inversor será que el proyecto no está maduro, o que no está bien planteado, o simplemente que no le convence. En ese caso, lo descartará y no volverá a mirarlo.
Consequently, the minimum content of an investor deck is determined by these five questions, which must be answered in several slides:
- Problem to solve / Opportunity
- Value proposition / Solution
- Competition Analysis
- Business Model (Way of bringing the solution to the market)
- Business plan
- Team
To these six slides we must add a seventh, which derives from the Business Plan and refers to the needed financing. Ultimately, the objective of the investor deck is to convince an investor to invest in the project, so you have to tell him how much is needed, in what terms and in exchange for what.
Does that minimal content solve any investor deck? No. The content of the investor deck depends on each project. There are several additional questions whose answer is more or less relevant depending on the characteristics of the project. For example, if the target market already has established competitors, it will be convenient to talk about the differential advantage that will allow it to overcome the entry barriers that surely already exist. On the other hand, if it is a new technology to solve a problem that currently has no solution, it does not make sense to talk about a differential advantage and in that case there is no need to present a slide talking about it. If an investor deck is 15 pages long and the analyst spends less than 4 minutes, that's less than 16 seconds per page.
The other slides
In the second level of content, the pages that may or may not be added depending on the project, the one dedicated to the validationIn most startups, the proposed solution is innovative, and the investor will have doubts about its viability, so if we have third-party validation, mentioning it will always add value. When we talk about validation we are not only referring to the technical feasibility of the solution, but also to the commercial validation; ; that is, to clear up the doubt of whether there are enough potential customers willing to buy our product or service at the price at which we want to sell it.
Lastly, and thirdly, there are slides that we will include or not, depending on the characteristics of the project. These slides address questions that will no doubt be asked at some point in the investment process, but are not essential to arouse investor interest. These slides may refer, among other things, to technical details of the solution or product, the milestones and KPI's that are intended to be achieved, the use of funds raised or details of the business strategy. Here the criterion is to ask if any of these aspects may be critical for the investor to decide if the project seems well resolved. If not, we think it is better not to include them. That does not mean that they are not ready, just that they are not included in the investor deck.
Keep in mind that there are many investors, each with their own criteria and preferences. If we asked 10 of them for the minimum content of an investor deck, we would surely get 10 different answers. Our method is not designed to satisfy everyone, because that is not possible, but rather to offer the majority of them the answers to the most common questions asked by all investors, which are those that derive from the logic of the process. investment.
English (UK) 
Español