In our free time, we like to come up with fun, fake pitch ideas – to provide engaging and constructive examples of high-level startup pitch decks. First, we shared a walkthrough of Dumm Glasses. This time, it’s Totler. We are going to deconstruct this deck slide-by-slide, providing a few anecdotal examples of intentional design and content. This is part 1 of a series of Totler-focused blog posts – covering pitch deck through legal process (e.g., term sheet, cap table, and exit waterfall pro forma examples).
Cover Slide
Totler is the future channel for pre-pre-professional networking! On this slide, we simply include the name, logo, tagline, and sample app screens for the next big LinkedIn alternative among the infant population – Totler.
Mission Slide
We are evening the playing field for infants – super important! We include Totler’s mission statement on this slide alongside an image of a stork dropping the app into the baby’s hands. Look how delighted this baby is to finally have an alternative to LinkedIn!
Problem Slide
Wow, this is a very pervasive and significant challenge for infants and their parents! On this slide, we raise some main problems faced by very young children – it is hard to differentiate, making it hard to get placed into high-quality pre-schools. We include a few stats to support the problem statement and make note of the long-term implications.
Solution Slide
Thank goodness we have Totler now! With the ‘Problem’ slide teeing up the current state context, we then jump into the solution – the Totler offering. This slide shows a partial-screen mock-up of the app, intentionally not getting into the more detailed mock-ups to keep this slide introductory. The left and right callouts highlight a select number of core or foundational features of the app, which is sufficient to voiceover so one gets the general idea of the concept.
How it Works Slide
I obviously want this for my child – how do they use this app?! Here we dive into the main functionality of the app – keeping the flow succinct and limited to a few core screens. We keep the steps to a contained number (four here) to convey simplicity – too many steps in a process and it begins to feel like there is overwhelming friction. A laundry list of features here would also distract and make the concept harder to digest. Interested VCs will download the app, closely consider the UX, and more after an intro conversation. One thing added here, however, are numbers to enable voiceover of an example user journey when talking through this slide.
Case Study Slide
I’m impressed with Tommy Two-Teeth – his work with Sloppy Dogs Treehouse was commendable! Speaking of example user journeys, good user case studies can help investors understand the value prop and ROI of a newer product or service. Here, we included an example user story for Tommy Two-Teeth, using a Situation, Solution, Impact framework. The Totler profile on the right helps to humanize Tommy and his situation, while also showcasing user content in greater detail. Case studies aren’t always needed in a pitch deck (as several can be included in backup materials or the appendix instead), but these can be particularly helpful useful in highlighting large enterprise account wins (and then make the case that these are repeatable) or a core user segment for an early-stage product.
Traction Slide
So it’s not just Tommy! We put the traction slide after the user example to demonstrate applicability to a larger number of Totler users and other potential users in Tommy’s demographic. This includes both a timeline with milestones by quarter and current state data points below. We mention growth, conversion, and retention – a reminder that investors are likely to ask for cohort analysis of your user or customer base in diligence.
Revenue Model Slide
And it’s not just babies who are paying! Once we’ve established users and partnerships with pre-Ks, we get into the nuts and bolts of how Totler actually makes money. This slide shows and explains the pricing for different user types / revenue streams and summarizes revenue mix for one period. One could also show revenue mix over periods to demonstrate validation of one aspect of the revenue model (or diversification thereof). Given this stage of the business, it is helpful to convey that there are multiple paths to significant revenue generation.
Differentiation Slide
This is way better than LinkedIn for the 0-6 age range! For some differentiation slides, a company may want to group sets of competitors instead of singling out specific ones – this is what we’ve done here. This may be a more helpful approach when there is a very limited set of companies going after the target market or demographic with this kind of offering. Such is the case for Totler and the toddler demo.
Market Size Slide
Whoa, that’s a large and promising market opportunity! Tommy agrees! On this slide, we take a bottom-up approach to sizing the market opportunity – first via pre-K referrals only, then adding in premium subscriptions for the US market. Then, we 10x the market upon Totler’s global expansion. For the bottom-up analysis, we make sure to denote how many children and/or households this constitutes. Ultimately, we are indicating that this is a $1bn+ market opportunity if Totler scales with the existing offering and revenue models in place.
Growth Plan Slide
This could be a rocket ship! This growth slide doesn’t get into timing specifics (we have other growth slides that do). Instead, it simply identifies four ways Totler could increase depth and breadth of the offering to create stickiness and increase addressable market. While there is certainly room for credit score innovation, there is probably a better authority to support that endeavor.
Team Slide
Totler has a strong founding team, led by Anita Knapp! This team slide strikes the balance of featuring the management team and also noting advisors and investors in a single slide. A few bullets support the statement that this team is experienced. These bullets could easily be exchanged for company and university logos; same thing goes for the investors.
Funding Need Slide
Let’s put some fuel on the fire! This slide declares the overall fundraise target and four use of proceeds areas and relevant milestones in those areas. This is sufficient for most pitch decks, versus a detailed breakdown of company use of proceeds or list of all the initiatives the team is working on in the background.
Financial Projections Slide
Did Stephan James prepare these financials? Looks good! This is another five-year projection that displays revenue and EBITDA in chart form. We’ve included three call-outs below the charts that speak to financial inflection points in the business over this timeline. This adds nuance to the page without overcrowding the chart visually. Note that margins will decline in the middle years to build scale – at which point the business is expected to become profitable.
End Cover Slide
Anita Knapp after this presentation! This is a simple end cover slide with a screen mockup and the CEO’s contact information included. We do not know what company operates 1-800-NAP-NEED and apologize for any resulting calls.
If you’ve made it this far – thank you for indulging us. We hope this was engaging and informative, especially for startups developing or redeveloping their pitch deck. No one format, design, or pitch flow is a perfect template – as startup executives, advisors, and investors are all different people with different stories to tell and interests in supporting those journeys. Our goal is to provide fun examples and get you 80% of the way there quickly!
If you are interested in downloading the PPT slides for Totler or exploring our other Fun Fake Pitch concepts and pitch deck templates, sign up for a free trial of Ridge today. You can also download the Totler PDF below and share as you wish!
We’ll have more on Totler – notably a cap table pro forma and exit waterfall example – as a part of this blog series.
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