ML - Pitch Deck Drafting

Malcolm Lewis | PitchDeckCoach.
com
Pitch deck template for

early-stage startups
Updated September, 2023
Malcolm Lewis | PitchDeckCoach.com
How to save and edit this template

Open in Google Slides on your laptop and
use File > Make a copy to make your own personal copy
Slides
1. Cover: What you do. Who you help.
2. Investment Highlights: Summary of your market size, product, traction, team, projections, ask.
3. Team: Why your team is the best team for your problem space and proposed solution.
4. Problem: Your target customer and problem. Current solutions and why they fall short.
5. Solution: Your solution. Benefits inc. solving for current solution limitations. Why now.
6. Product: What it looks like. How it works. Where it fits.
7. Competition: Why/how you’ll win against likely competitors.
8. Business Model: How you make money. Typical transaction/deal.
9. Market: How much money you could make with 100% market share. Logical expansion opps.
10. Traction: Product status + trends for your key metrics (e.g. MAUs, MRR, NRR, etc.)
11. Growth: Your strategies & tactics for finding/closing/retaining customers.
12. Roadmap: How you’ll maintain/extend your product advantages.
13. Financials: 3-4 year revenue projections with explicit assumptions inc. market share.
14. Funding: How much you need now. Use of proceeds inc. specific customer and revenue goals.
15. Investment Highlights Recap: Recap earlier slide.
16. Contact: Who to contact for follow-up questions and meetings.
Important Note
Gleamr is a fictitious startup. All the information in this sample deck
is made up. I created Gleamr when I developed the first version of this
pitch deck template in 2015. I felt that a fully worked example with
sample content for each slide was more useful than a blank template.
Back then, there was no ‘uber for auto details’ hence the positioning.
Enjoy the deck and contact me at pitchdeckcoach.com to book a free

audit of your pitch deck or learn how I can help you take your pitch
deck to the next level in 4 weeks or less.
Your pitch deck goal is to help investors ...
1. Understand your idea
2. Get excited about your idea
3. Love your team
4. Engage with you for more information

(4) doesn’t happen without (2) and (3)
(2) and (3) don’t happen without (1)
You must start by clearly explaining what

your product does and who it helps so that
investors understand your idea
Let’s start.
First up, your Cover slide

Cover Slide
Investor questions you should answer on this slide
● What do you do and who do you help?

● Product category? Target customer? Primary use case and
benefit?
Pro Tips
● Include company name, logo, amount raising, round stage,

approximate date. Keep date current to avoid looking stale.
Include a relevant image to underscore what you do.

The first smartphone
app for on-demand
mobile auto details
Like Uber, but for auto details. Now, consumers get
a professional auto detail on demand.
$2M Seed Round pitch deck ᐧ Q3 2023
1
Investment Highlights
● Why should we invest?

● Is your problem/market big enough? Product/team good
enough? Are we a fit for your industry, ask and investment stage?
Pro Tips
● Provide 5-6 bullets summarizing your market, product, traction,

team, near-term financial goals, funding ask
● Make it easy for an investor to share your investment thesis with
others... and encourage investors to keep reading your deck.
Our investment thesis
$2B US market Robust product Strong traction

For on-demand mobile auto 2 patents pending. 82K+ users, 11K+ detailers,
details. First-mover Responsive web + native iOS $1.5M revenue run rate, 4.8
advantage. and Android apps. star average ratings on
Apple and Google stores
Experienced team $29M in 4 years Raising $2M seed

SaaS and detailing experts Requires 1.5% market share. SAFE, 20% discount, $15M
from Thumbtack, valuation cap.
HomeAdvisor, Yelp, and
SpeedyDetail
Gleamr $2M Seed Round ᐧ Q3 2023 2

Team
● Why is your team the best team for this opportunity?

● What experience do you have solving this or similar problems?
● What experience do you buildings solutions like yours?
● What experience/success have you had with similar startups?
● Have you worked well together in prior companies?
Pro Tips
● Include logos for visual interest and relevance.

Team
We have deep experience in SaaS and auto detailing
Ben Brown Dakota Dean Sara Klein

Co-founder & CEO Co-founder & Chief Product Officer Advisor
Prev. VP Sales, Thumbtack Prev. VP Product, Thumbtack Co-founder, Thumbtack
Ella Ellison Steve Chan Dave Smyth

Community Manager Lead Developer Advisor
Prev. Community Manager, Prev. Senior Developer, Founder & CEO,
HomeAdvisor Yelp SpeedyDetail

Problem
● What problem do you solve?

● Who has this problem?
● What are some of the biggest pain points?
● How is this problem solved today, without your product?
● Why do those current solutions suck?
● How big is this problem?
● Is the problem getting bigger? Why?

Problem
It’s hard for consumers to find a mobile auto detail
Consumers Detailers
Lack an easy way to get a Waste too much time and money
professional, affordable auto finding customers when they’d
detail at their home or office rather be detailing cars
>No single view of all available detailers >Hard to reach ready-to-buy consumers
>Few reviews to guide selection > Low ROI on traditional marketing
>No leverage to negotiate prices > Hard to collect/leverage customer reviews

Solution
● What’s your solution to the problem?

● Is your solution an app, software, a device, or ???
● What are the benefits of your solution?
● How much better is your solution?
● Why is now the right time for your solution?
Pro Tips
● Match solution benefits to the limitations of current solutions listed

in your Problem slide.
Solution
Gleamr is the first app for on-demand mobile details

Like Uber, but for auto details
Consumers Save time Save money Get a great job

Detailers come to Detailers compete Detailers work
their home or for their business hard for great
office reviews
Detailers Save time Earn more Grow faster

Spend less time Spend more time Great reviews +
chasing detailing cars Great prices =
customers More work

Product
● How does your product work?

● What does your product look like?
● Where does your product fit in your customer’s world?
Pro Tips
● Break your product’s primary use case down into 3-5 simple steps
and show the user experience for each step. Add an additional
Case Study slide if you like.

Product
Here’s how our app works for consumers

1 2 3
Browse detailers Compare reviews & prices Book & pay
Browse Compare Book & Pay

screenshot screenshot screenshot
2 patents pending

Competition
● Who are your competitors?

● How will you beat them?
● How sustainable (defensible) are your advantages?
Pro Tips
● List competitive advantages that customers truly care about.

Advantages that will win deals over your competition.

Competition
We win on coverage, traction and user ratings
Gleamr Competitor 1 Competitor 2

Detailer coverage 4x 1x 1x
Consumer traction 4x 1x 1x
4.8 stars 3.4 stars 3.3 stars

Apple App Store Ratings
2.3K+ reviews <100 reviews <100 reviews
4.8 stars 3.6 stars 3.5 stars

Google Play Store Ratings
1.3K+ reviews <100 reviews <100 reviews

Business Model
● How do you make money?

● Do you charge per customer? Per transaction? ???
Pro Tips
● Keep it simple. List all revenue streams if you have more than one.

Business Model
Mobile auto detailers pay us 15% for each job

The average cost for a mobile detail is $75 in the US1
Customer Detailer Gleamr

Pays $75 Keeps $63.75 Keeps $11.25
1. Source [ date ]

Market Sizing
● How big can you get?
Pro Tips
● A bottom-up calculation is best for credibility and explicit

assumptions. Use customer count x ARR per customer.
● List sources for customer counts and other data.
● List the annual revenue opportunity for logical market and/or
product expansions to get to $1B and beyond.

Market
We’re tapping into a $2B market

Bottom-up calculation — US market only
US mobile details per year1 180M
Gleamr revenue per detail2 $11.25
Gleamr annual revenue opportunity $2B
1. Source
2. Business Model slide
Traction
● How much do customers love your product?

● What are your key metrics?
● How fast are you growing your key metrics?
Pro Tips
● Pick metrics that matter. E.g. MAUs and DAUs vs sign-ups. Show
trends over time.

Traction
Consumers & detailers love our app
4.8 stars
1.2K+ reviews
4.8 stars
2.3K+ reviews

Growth Strategy
● How will you reach, activate, and retain users?
Pro Tips
● Break out your strategies and tactics by function: Marketing

(awareness, consideration), Sales (activation), and Customer
Success (retention and growth).

Growth Strategy
We know how to acquire and retain users & detailers
Marketing & Sales Customer Service Product

Acquiring customers Keeping customers Keeping customers
SEO, paid search, paid & Dedicated customer Consumer Product

organic social, influencers service reps for each DMA Advisory Board to guide
consumer features UX
Refer-a-friend discounts Gleamr staffed community improvements
for consumers message boards for
consumers and detailers Detailer Product Advisory
Loyalty programs for Board to guide detailer
consumers & detailers features and UX
improvements
Employee incentive
programs for HR and office
managers Gleamr $2M Seed Round ᐧ Q3 2023 11
Roadmap
● How will you maintain and extend your product and business moat
over time?
Pro Tips
● In addition to major product features and modules, consider

certifications (e.g. SOC) and integrations that might also enhance
your competitive position.

Roadmap
We’ll continue to extend our product advantage
H2 Y1
H1 Y1 User Product H1 Y2 H2 Y2
[ New features ] Advisory Board Portal [ New features ] [ New features ]
Detailer Product
Advisory Board Portal

Financials
● How fast can you grow and how big can you get over the next 2-3
years?
Pro Tips
● Include explicit assumptions for revenue and expense drivers.

INvestors care less about the numbers and more about your
thought process in building the model.

Financials
We’re projecting $29M by EOY4

Detailed model with revenue & expense assumptions on request
We can get to $29M on 1.5% share of our $2B US market opportunity

Funding
● How much money do you need right now? On what terms?

● How will you spend the money?
● What will you accomplish WRT customer and revenue growth?
Pro Tips
● Be as specific as possible on your ask and use of proceeds.

Funding
We’re raising a $2M seed round on a SAFE
Pre-Seed Seed
Built &
Enhance
$2M
launched MVP
platform
$300K
Friends &
Family SAFE
20% Discount
$15M cap
Grew revenue run rate
from $0 to $1.5M in first
9 months Fund next 2 years.
Get to 600K+ users, 18K
detailers, $29M run rate.

Investment Highlights Recap
● None.
Pro Tips
● Repeating this slide from the beginning of your deck reminds

investors what they have read (if they got this far). It also provides
them with a convenient list they can share with their team.

Our investment thesis (recap)
$2B US market Robust product Strong traction

For on-demand mobile auto 2 patents pending. 82K+ users, 11K+ detailers,
details. First-mover Responsive web + native iOS $1.5M revenue run rate, 4.8
advantage. and Android apps. star average ratings on
Apple and Google stores
Experienced team $29M in 4 years Raising $2M seed

SaaS and detailing experts Requires 1.5% market share. SAFE, 20% discount, $15M
from Thumbtack, valuation cap.
HomeAdvisor, Yelp, and
SpeedyDetail

Contact
● Who should we talk to if we have follow-up questions?
Pro Tips
● Include your phone, email, and a link to your LinkedIn profile. Make
sure you (and your team members plus advisors) all update your
LinkedIn profile to match the story in your pitch deck.

Contact
We’d love to tell you more!
Ben Brown
Co-founder & CEO
949-637-1234
ben@gleamr.com

The end. Got questions or
comments? Drop me a line at
malcolm.lewis@gmail.com
And one more thing ...

Do you need help with your
pitch deck?
Book a free pitch deck audit or a free
intro call on pitchdeckcoach.com
Follow me on LinkedIn @ linkedin.com/in/malcolmlewis

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Malcolm Lewis | PitchDeckCoach.

Pitch deck template for

How to save and edit this template

Enjoy the deck and contact me at pitchdeckcoach.com to book a free

Your pitch deck goal is to help investors ...

1. Understand your idea

2. Get excited about your idea

3. Love your team

4. Engage with you for more information

(4) doesn’t happen without (2) and (3)

(2) and (3) don’t happen without (1)

You must start by clearly explaining what

First up, your Cover slide

● What do you do and who do you help?

● Include company name, logo, amount raising, round stage,

Malcolm Lewis | PitchDeckCoach.com

$2M Seed Round pitch deck ᐧ Q3 2023

● Why should we invest?

● Provide 5-6 bullets summarizing your market, product, traction,

Our investment thesis

$2B US market Robust product Strong traction

Experienced team $29M in 4 years Raising $2M seed

Gleamr $2M Seed Round ᐧ Q3 2023 2

● Why is your team the best team for this opportunity?

● Include logos for visual interest and relevance.

Malcolm Lewis | PitchDeckCoach.com

We have deep experience in SaaS and auto detailing

Ben Brown Dakota Dean Sara Klein

Ella Ellison Steve Chan Dave Smyth

Gleamr $2M Seed Round ᐧ Q3 2023 3

● What problem do you solve?

Malcolm Lewis | PitchDeckCoach.com

It’s hard for consumers to find a mobile auto detail

>Few reviews to guide selection > Low ROI on traditional marketing

>No leverage to negotiate prices > Hard to collect/leverage customer reviews

Gleamr $2M Seed Round ᐧ Q3 2023 4

● What’s your solution to the problem?

● Match solution benefits to the limitations of current solutions listed

Gleamr is the first app for on-demand mobile details

Consumers Save time Save money Get a great job

Detailers Save time Earn more Grow faster

Gleamr $2M Seed Round ᐧ Q3 2023 5

● How does your product work?

Malcolm Lewis | PitchDeckCoach.com

Here’s how our app works for consumers

Browse detailers Compare reviews & prices Book & pay

Browse Compare Book & Pay

Gleamr $2M Seed Round ᐧ Q3 2023 6

● Who are your competitors?

● List competitive advantages that customers truly care about.

Malcolm Lewis | PitchDeckCoach.com

We win on coverage, traction and user ratings

Gleamr Competitor 1 Competitor 2

4.8 stars 3.4 stars 3.3 stars

4.8 stars 3.6 stars 3.5 stars

Gleamr $2M Seed Round ᐧ Q3 2023 7

● How do you make money?

Malcolm Lewis | PitchDeckCoach.com

Mobile auto detailers pay us 15% for each job