Analyzing A Pitch Deck

As a VC a major component of our success will be determined by our ability to analyze/source leads. This involves reading the pitch deck carefully and having a macro and granular approach. Focusing on the problem, product, market, team, domain experience in addition to the underlying assumptions the founder/ startup is operating under. Then following up with the startup to resolve any missing information/ additional questions.

Today in one of my weekly fellow meetings we discussed and analyzed a pitch deck from a lead one of my colleagues brought in. To avoid disclosing too many details we’ll say is a B2B media company offering a transcription and summaries of videos.

Questions

1. Has anyone on our team taken the time to interact with the product or service?

2. If there are problems with the MVP, what is missing exactly? What is the company doing to address it?

3. If you use the product 100 times how many times will it work? How is customer satisfaction handled?

4. Are there any maintenance costs associated with the product?

5. Are there collaboration tools?

6. Are there any additional functionalities or qualities that customers might find valuable about the product?

7. What is the actual need for the service/ product?

8. Explain the sales cycle/pipeline

9. What is the 5-year outlook for this company?

10. What does the average customer look like?

11. Are there any founder conflicts?

-The point is not to simply kill the deck. It’s to understand the assumption the founder/startup is working from. We must be thorough and detailed to decide if the deal is worth funding. It’s also important to remember that venture is a sales game, will investors support this idea?