Transcription
Welcome to DocSend's Perfect Pitch video series, where we put our research and data to work, to help you fundraise. I'm Justin Izzo, and I run research here at DocSend. Today's video is on the differences between pre-seed and seed stage decks.
Now, the data we're gonna look at comes from DocSend's 2021 fundraising research survey. Let's dive in.
Looking at the numbers first, we see that pre-seed and seed decks aren't that dissimilar. They have the same number of deck sections, they're about the same length, seed stage decks might be slightly longer on average, but the real differences in the average VC time spent at each stage. Pre-seed stage decks average nearly a minute longer. And this may be because pre-seed companies are inherently riskier for investors, so they might want to spend more time on these decks, give them a little bit extra scrutiny and make sure they're making a wise investment.
Now let's look at a deck breakdown, starting first with pre-seed decks. You'll see that successful pre-seed decks from our research tend to start with a purpose, problem and solution section, and they link these three important sections to a "Why Now?" slide, giving investors an idea of why now is the right time to invest in their company, their product or solution. You'll also note that the competition section is tucked here at the back, which, it differs for seed decks, which we'll turn to now.
Seed stage decks start similarly with purpose, problem and solution sections. But here, instead of the "Why Now?" slide, they put their market-size section first, this is for successful seed decks that raised a round of funding. The "Why Now?" slide tends to happen fifth, if it happens at all. And here, the competition section is moved to the middle of the deck. This may be because slightly later-stage companies, seed versus pre-seed, may have more to say about their market landscape than companies at the very earliest pre-seed stage.
So what are some takeaways from this? First, nail your deck order. You can easily match the order of slides in your deck to your round and follow what successful companies that have come before you tend to do to attract investors. Second, ask if the "Why Now?" section is right for you. Not all companies include this. In fact, we see it more at the pre-seed than at the seed stage, but if you have a pressing reason why your company's solution is right for investors at this point in time, you might want to indicate it. Finally, we see that successful companies often include a section on financials in their decks. If you're a pre-seed company that can show meaningful projections, not necessarily pie in the sky stuff, or a seed stage company with some kind of financial track record, it may be in your best interest to do so.
To dive deeper into the data, visit docsend.com/perfectpitch.