It’s Sunday again. That Sunday. Pitch Deck Sunday. :)
We already covered the 101, team slides, advisor slides, finances and design. Now let’s talk about your business model slide.
You have a business model, right? Or at least you pretend to have one? If you don’t and you believe you can get by, by using a variant of the “we’ll figure it out” phrase you better have stratospheric growth and already millions of users.
Here’s the thing about your business model slide in your pitch deck: If you spend time to make it clear, concise, easy to understand and grasp — I am so much more likely to believe that you have at least a foggy clue about what you’re doing. If you, in contrast, do what I see so many startups do and give me a single bullet, hidden on one of your other slides which reads something like “Freemium Model” and that’s it… well… that’s a strong indicator that you haven’t thought about this a whole lot, that you are essentially clueless about your business and that I really shouldn’t trust you with my money.
With that being said: How does a great business model slide look like? It really depends on what your business model is (or you believe it is to be precise — as these things tend to change). What I would look for is a clear expression of your model, the underlying assumptions and the way the model works out. Often this can be neatly expressed in an info graphic — showing where and how the money comes in, how the value chain looks like and what the margins are alongside the chain. Here’s an example — it’s not perfect yet much better than simply expressing your model as “we take a 25% margin”.
Spend some time on your business model slide. Make it clear and concise. The litmus test is: Show someone who doesn’t know anything about your company just this one slide and ask them to explain back to you your business model. If they get it and they get it in its entirety you are off to the races.
Happy Sunday everyone!
P.S. I am always happy to give 1:1 advice on your pitch. Just email me. :)