Pitch Memo Guide

General thoughts

• When completing this guide, do not lose sight of the big picture: convincing someone to give you something.
  • People typically only give something when they will receive something in return.
  • It’s easier to convince people to give you something when you appeal to their emotions with an easy to follow narrative.
• Goal of this guide is to create a compelling story around:
  • A problem.
  • Your solution to said problem.
  • Your execution of said solution.
• How to use:
  • Create the outline for your pitch.
    • Outline will be used to create key headlines and the associated graphics.
  • Transform your outline into a story by creating key headlines that are each paired with a graphic.
    • Headlines will be used as the foundation for your pitch deck.
  • Build your pitch deck.
    • Pitch deck is a story about a problem, a solution to said problem and your execution of said solution.
    • Ideally, creating the pitch deck is as easy as copying and pasting headlines and associated graphics.
• Good luck with the pitch and please reach out if Cove can be of assistance!

Steps

• Outline
  • Your Company / Logo / Tagline.
    • Goal: introduce company.
    • Focus: keep description of company simple and short.
  • Your Vision.
    • Goal: your most expansive take on why your new company exists.
    • Focus: show investors the future.
  • The Problem – what are you solving for the customer – where is their pain?
    • Goal: covey problem is real (pain reliever > vitamin), affects numerous people/businesses (more > less) and worth solving (can make money).
    • Focus: convince investors the problem is real.
  • The Customer – who are they and perhaps how will you reach them?
    • Goal: show who your ideal customer is.
    • Focus: explain why they are your ideal customer.
  • The Solution – what you have created and why now is the right time.
    • Goal: convey your solution to the problem and answer why this has not been done before.
    • Focus: show the concrete benefits of your solution and that there was a real change that occurred that allowed for this problem/solution backed up by insights.
  • The (huge) market you are addressing – Total Available Market (TAM) >$1B if possible. Include the most persuasive evidence you have that this is real.
    • Goal: convince investors your market is HUGE.
    • Focus: make sure the market is as big as reasonably possible i.e. expect to show how you came up with market sizes.
  • Market Landscape – including competition, macro trends, etc. Is there any insight you have that others do not?
    • Goal: show how you are different (better) vs. competitors.
    • Focus: how that difference will allow you to win vs. competitors.
  • Current Traction – list key stats / plans for scaling and future customer acquisition.
    • Goal: show product validation.
    • Focus: show one metric.
  • Business model – how users translate to revenue. Actuals, plans, hopes.
    • Goal: show (expected) business model and how that impacts key metrics e.g. growth, product margins, acquisition costs.
    • Focus: keep it simple.
  • Team – who you are, where you come from and why you have what it takes to succeed. Pics and bios okay. Specify roles.
    • Goal: convince investors you are the right team to solve this problem.
    • Focus: show how each member is critical.
  • Fundraising – Include what you have already raised and what you are planning to raise now. Any financial projections may go here as well. You can optionally include a summary product roadmap (6 quarters max) indicating what an investment buys.
    • Goal: tell the investor how much money you need and what it gets you.
    • Focus: show how the money will get you ready for your next fundraise and/or to achieve another milestone.
  • Summary – 3-5 key takeaways (market size, key product insight, traction).
    • Goal: simple summary of deck highlights.
    • Focus: keep it simple.
• Headlines + Graphics
  • Write key headlines that sum up your story (business), which will be used as slide titles in the pitch deck.
  • Each headline should be accompanied by a compelling graphic that confirms the headline.
  • Your headlines and graphics should come from the outline you created in the prior step.
  • You should have max 20 headlines.
  • North Star = why is X% of your equity worth $Y?
  • Make sure headlines craft a story that induces attention vs. a news article that induces boredom.
  • Remember, specific beats generic every time and the story needs to be crisp.
• Slide Deck
  • Create your slide deck with the created headlines and graphics.
  • In terms of slide order:
    • You can follow the outline above, which is industry standard.
    • You can start with your most compelling / unique headlines + graphics.