This is great. Thanks very much. I’ve bookmarked the page. In response to some of the other comments, the memo is primarily for you. This is the information you need to have at your fingertips and put front and center.
We've forgone the pitch deck for a Lightpaper (neurotech/healthtech). So far the reception has been much better than when we built a pitch deck in the past (though the company is further along as well).
This proposed layout seems to be a copy of the pitch deck, which I've avoided doing. In the "don't give yourself enough rope to hang yourself" theme, I believe the objective is to explain the opportunity more clearly than a deck can, but this might not be the place for business model and GTM.
Investors don't invest based on what your business model or GTM are. Those give them opportunities to pass. Has an investor every said "I hated the market and the vision, but the business model and GTM changed my mind"?
I’m a VC who was a 5x founder, going back to Internet 1.0.. I’ve mentored 400+ other founders over the years. A well-crafted investor deck should provide all the info you want in a “memo”. I know very few VCs who want a written tome. If they are truly interested, they ask detailed questions during the meeting and draft their own memo.
Super interesting read. Would you say a memo + teaser deck are a “first email out” kind of document? Lots of founders are moving away from emailing their decks before they’re asked for one. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
So founders should subsidise the “laziness” of VCs. When it all takes is using AI to summarise notes.
Something I'm working on….@speedrun looks even more impressive when visualized this way! would you guys like it for your own substack?
This is great. Thanks very much. I’ve bookmarked the page. In response to some of the other comments, the memo is primarily for you. This is the information you need to have at your fingertips and put front and center.
most founders only find the gaps in their story when they have to write it out properly. the memo does that, the deck just lets you move on.
reading this asap!
We've forgone the pitch deck for a Lightpaper (neurotech/healthtech). So far the reception has been much better than when we built a pitch deck in the past (though the company is further along as well).
This proposed layout seems to be a copy of the pitch deck, which I've avoided doing. In the "don't give yourself enough rope to hang yourself" theme, I believe the objective is to explain the opportunity more clearly than a deck can, but this might not be the place for business model and GTM.
Investors don't invest based on what your business model or GTM are. Those give them opportunities to pass. Has an investor every said "I hated the market and the vision, but the business model and GTM changed my mind"?
Thank you, such great information. Can you write something similar to this for how to structure a pitch deck?
I’m a VC who was a 5x founder, going back to Internet 1.0.. I’ve mentored 400+ other founders over the years. A well-crafted investor deck should provide all the info you want in a “memo”. I know very few VCs who want a written tome. If they are truly interested, they ask detailed questions during the meeting and draft their own memo.
Super interesting read. Would you say a memo + teaser deck are a “first email out” kind of document? Lots of founders are moving away from emailing their decks before they’re asked for one. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.