51 days to go: final stage calls & high-impact pitch deck changes
51 days to go: final stage calls & high-impact pitch deck changes
A recap of week twenty five as a full-time Founder.
Hey there 👋🏾,
For those of you who are short on time, here are the sections of the newsletter you can skip ahead to…
Win🏅: In final conversations with an investor based in our growth market
Loss🤕: 1x fund and accelerator aren’t taking us through to the next stage
Lesson💡: Not all investors will be transparent or have the best intentions (and how to protect yourself)
Hack 💥: Why you should add a customer journey slide to your pitch deck
Resources 📚 : A guide to SAFE notes, how to pitch to VCs and more
🎯 Objective
Prepare for investor calls / make another round of deck amends
Having not one, but two 4x day working weeks (because of the Easter bank holiday here in the UK), led to days packed full of phone calls last week. My Reclaim calendar said I spent 18 hours in meetings or calls 😅. The bulk of that consisted of:
5x pitch/deck feedback sessions (with four mentors and one VC)
3x investor pitches (one final stage and two first stage)
3x podcast interviews (two with celebrity hair stylists and one with an amazing Founder)
Plus the usual team catch-ups and advisory calls.
That said, we made leaps and bounds with both the investor calls and much of that was thanks to the feedback that had been applied to our deck (more on that in the wins) 👌🏾.
As always, I appreciate feedback, so feel free to leave comments or reply to this email with your thoughts.
🔋 Progress recap & highlights
Biggest wins
WIN 1️⃣: In final conversations with an investor based in our growth market 🗺️
A few months ago, I launched an email series targeting investors based in locations we eventually want to branch out to. Mainly, the USA, Canada, Africa and South America.
That automation helped me book some calls with a few investors in these regions and, after pitching to someone last week, we’re now discussing terms. This is great progress for a few reasons:
We may have an investor who really understands one of our core markets: this will go a long way in helping us expand into these regions when we’re ready.
They may be able to introduce us to other Angels in the region too: allowing us to gain more knowledge, and expertise on the hair market and consumer behaviour/experiences.
I’ve said this before but, the more calls I book, the more I realise that cold outreach works. It allows you to speak to people who, otherwise, you may never have had an opportunity to meet and can help you build a solid global network.
When you target investors who live in parts of the world where the problem you’re solving is felt strongly (and they may have personally experienced or seen it) you increase the chances of your emails being opened, your deck being seen and booking in a call.
If you want to know where I gathered the emails for my automations, check out one of my last newsletters, otherwise feel free to reply to this email with any questions👌🏾.
TIPS FOR INVESTOR OUTREACH: If you're targeting investors who are in regions that you have yet to penetrate, have a slide in your deck that shows where you want to target in the future so they can better understand where they can add value. WIN 2️⃣: Celebrity textured hair stylist agrees to help us grow in NYC and LA 📍
As we start to expand to NYC later this year, it’s important that we (a) find some incredible stylists to join the platform and (b) look for opportunities to grow organically to reduce the cost of marketing.
While we have a waitlist of US stylists and are about to launch a podcast and newsletter to help with customer and stylist acquisition, we now have a celebrity stylist (with a strong presence in LA and NYC) who is willing to advocate for Mane Hook-Up.
Progress like this puts us in a better position to have conversations with investors and helps us iron out our growth plans.
P.S. We’re launching the Mane Hook-Up podcast in a few weeks. You can sign up here if you want to hear all of the latest episodes.
TIP FOR INFLUENCER MARKETING & PARTNERSHIPS: When you're reaching out to influencers in your industry (and don't have a huge budget), make it crystal clear that there is something more to be gained. WIN 3️⃣: Gathered feedback from 4x mentors and 1x VC ✍🏾
Another week, another round of amends to our pitch deck 😆.
If you had asked me 6 months ago whether I’d finished making changes to the deck, I would have said yes. Now that I know better, I understand that this is a living document that will constantly change.
Last week, I got another round of feedback from the mentorship program I took part in, plus a VC sent me a tonne of notes on my pitch. Given feedback is a rarity in the fundraising world, I jumped at the opportunity and made another round of amends. Here’s what I focussed on:
Spending less time explaining the problem 💇🏾♀️: given I’ve created a product for a very niche community, I wanted to be sure that investors really understood the problem… to the point that I over-explained it and had to dial this back. If you’re going through a similar experience, remember to use your appendix for other core information you’d like to share.
Turning the problem and solution slides into customer journeys 🚗: more on this in the hacks section, but this was hands down some of the best feedback I have received. By turning the problem/solution into a journey I can show what people experience now vs. what they experience with Mane Hook-Up. It makes the impact of our platform super clear.
Adding more valuable information to our progress slide ✨: we’ve been featured in 20+ publications (including Vogue) and have several partnerships with Black-owned hair brands. I had this listed on the achievements page but have now added logos of the major publications to make sure the visual impact is also there.
Showing off what our team has done in the past 😎: again, logos make a difference. I’ve added the logos of where our team has worked in the past (e.g. Nike, EY, GUESS) and logos of the companies the team has built and sold/exited to visually show our credentials. Finally, I’ve featured the roles that we’re currently recruiting/onboarding so investors can see how well-rounded the team is.
Outlining the product roadmap 🗺️: to offer some insight into what we’re working on now and what features are coming next (as well as what can be monetised).
Spoiler alert; I used the new deck yesterday and an investor told me that they had no constructive feedback as I answered all of their questions, so it looks like applying this feedback is working 🙌🏾.
TIPS FOR YOUR PITCH DECK: If you get recurring questions about risks and growth, tackle this with a slide. Many investors will appreciate that you've thought about this ahead of time and it shows how dedicated you are to solving the problem.WIN 3️⃣: Invited to a virtual pitch week and a start-up boot camp in the US🔥
Fundraising can often feel like an uphill battle, so it means a lot when I’m invited to events or brought into certain opportunities. That happened twice last week as an Angel and a fund invited me to a pitch week and boot camp.
Both of these events will give me some time to meet new founders and investors as well as sharpen my pitch, which is a bonus. I’m still waiting to iron out some details, but I’ll keep you posted as both opportunities progress.
WIN 4️⃣: Automations update 🤖
I launched a new set of automations a couple of weeks ago, and have been monitoring how they perform. The email list is smaller than the others that I have acquired in the past, but the engagement is gradually improving:
Performance so far
💃🏾 449 people added to automations
📧 104 people have opened my emails (11% increase WoW)
🖱️ 9 clicks on our pitch deck (80% increase WoW)
↩️ 6 people have replied so far (50% increase WoW)
I’ll continue to include the automation updates in the newsletter until the final batch has been sent but if anyone has questions about how to get started, just reply with your questions and I’ll see what I can do to help!
Other wins this week:
Invited to 1x start-up program and an accelerator
Completed 2x podcast interviews with incredible stylists and have been referred to 5x more.
4x calls were booked with investors at various stages this week.
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Biggest L’s 🤕
LOSS 😩: 1x fund didn’t think we were a great fit & 1x other isn’t accepting UK-based founders
After a week of no losses, I had a couple last week 😢.
A fund that I was pretty keen on (as they offer a lot of support as well as funding) said we aren’t the right fit for them. On the upside, I also received a tonne of useful feedback that I’ve since applied to my deck and it has helped us with investor conversations. Even so, considering they ticked so many boxes it made me feel a bit deflated, but onward and upwards!
I also got feedback from a US-based accelerator that won’t be able to take us on as they only accept founding teams based in the US (e.g. one founder could be in Australia, but another would have to be in the States to take part). While it’s the first time this has happened, for a moment, it made me consider going down the path of looking for a co-founder. Mainly as this would (a) help us to maximise and grab the opportunities that come our way and (b) allow me to offload some of the workload that comes with fundraising.
But, the more I thought about it, the more I realised it would be far from wise to search for a co-founder just because we’re fundraising. Searching for a co-founder is a process that requires a lot of thought as it changes the entire dynamic of the team and business. Even though some investors prefer businesses with at least two founders (as that minimises their risk), it’s not the kind of relationship I want to walk into for convenience. Should I find a co-founder one day, I want it to happen because we have what it takes to make Mane Hook-Up even more successful than I could have alone.
TIPS FOR BOUNCING BACK: It's normal to feel a bit low after a 'no' or a 'not now' from investors. If you're feeling deflated, do something that will energise you (e.g. talk with the product team, reach out to customers). Shifting your focus the problem you're solving and the impact can help to dull the pain and help you to focus on something far more productive. 💡 Lessons learned
Quote of the week
Knowledge isn’t power until it is applied.
— Dale Carnegie
LESSON 👩🏾🏫: Not all investors will be transparent (or have the best intentions)
Considering I’ve been speaking to investors for a few months, the bad calls have been few and far in between (which is a blessing). But last week, I ended up in a call that really didn’t serve my team. While it wasn’t a great experience, I have learned a tonne and want to share in hopes that you don’t fall into this mouse trap🪤.
The interaction started when I got a positive reply to a cold email and booked a call. It was pretty even keel, I gave an insight into who we are and what we do, and they expressed an interest in supporting the product and investment. I’ve noticed more and more product and funding VCs cropping up, so it wasn’t unusual to hear.
We booked a second call, but this time the conversation was heavily focused on our product, the market, how their existing systems could intertwine with our own and potential partnerships they had tried to secure in our niche in the past. When we tried to steer the conversation back to funding, the answers were pretty fluffy, lacked detail and felt more like a diversion than anything else. I asked for clarity on where we were in their process but still couldn’t get a concrete answer from them.
After the call, I had a detailed debrief with one of my advisors and we realised a few things:
They probably dangled the investment carrot, but had no real interest in putting money in 🥕: this can happen when investors are keen to get more insight into a market they’ve been curious about for a while.
Our product was interesting because they could enter new markets should they support the build: there are more and more VCs cropping up that both invest and help Founders build a product (which is great). But on the flip side, some will want to integrate products they have already built and potentially gain from your audience base. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but you don’t want to be in a situation where their products are so entwined with your own that it’s impossible to separate the two entities.
Doing due diligence on the investors we speak to is key: asking the right questions (sooner rather than later) can help you to avoid landing in these calls but you’ll probably have one or two slip through the net and that’s fine. Learn from it and move on to the next 🙏🏾.
With all of that in mind, here are a few things you can do to protect your best interests just in case you come across these kinds of interactions:
Share a link to your pitch deck & other core documents: the beauty of sharing a link is that you can switch it off if you think an investor is just gathering market research from your team. If anything, it will give you peace of mind.
Ask what their funding process looks like and where you are right now: most investors will give you a rough idea (e.g. it’s a 3-step process and will take 6 weeks). If they can’t answer clearly, it’s a sign that they either aren’t interested or don’t have the funds to deploy right now.
Ask to speak to a company in their portfolio: this will help you to get a more balanced view of what they’re like as a VC or Angel. If they aren’t interested in connecting you to someone in their portfolio (or get offended), I’d take that as a bit of a red flag.
As I said, this kind of interaction has been a rarity for me, so don’t let it spook you into believing that all investors will operate like this. But it’s helpful to bear in mind that some do, so you can identify the signs early and walk away without giving too much away.
Remember to come into every conversation with a clean slate and not judge the person you’re speaking to now because of one bad interaction.
TIP FOR PAUSING OR ENDING INVESTOR CONVERSATIONS: If you're worried an investor doesn't have your best interests at heart, you should consider walking away from the conversation. Politely but clearly say that you're building relationships with investors who are actively deploying capital and believe that their organisation isn't aligned with your own. Leave the door open by saying they're welcome to reach out should their situation change.💥 Hack of the week
How to create a customer journey in your pitch deck
In the ‘wins’ section, I mentioned getting some great advice from a VC who suggested we display the customer journey on our ‘problem’ and ‘solution’ slides. I found this helpful for a few reasons:
You can clearly show how your product fixes an ongoing problem
Investors can see the consequence of your solution not existing
Visually, this is much easier to digest than a few bullet points of stats and facts
I started by sketching all of the steps out on a piece of paper to make sure the journey made sense and the steps were in the correct order (plus, you should logically be able to see how one step leads to another). Try to include these stages in the journey: the problem, the current solution, the result and the consequence. Everything else is a bonus and provides readers with additional context.
If you’re not sure how to build a customer journey like the one above, I use Slidebean for my pitch deck presentations, and they have a ‘timeline’ design feature that allows me to build simple journeys into my deck. Other deck builders like Pitch are also easy to use, but if all else fails you can create an image in Canva and insert it into your presentation.
📚 Resources
If you made it all the way to the end of this newsletter, you deserve a reward. So here’s a list of the best resources I came across last week to help you with your raise.
Fundraising
Pitch the way VCs think: Guillermo Flor shares some tips on how to improve your deck and pitch in a way that impresses VCs from the get-go.
A founders guide to SAFE notes: Kevin Jurovich explains the different types of notes and what Founders should consider (especially as 89% of pre-seed rounds in 2024 were raised using them).
3 out of 4 start-ups make it to an M&A exit: David Hauser explains how start-ups can set themselves up for an acquisition that works.
Community-led investor making $125k investment in pre-seed platforms: Jeanine Suah is looking for founders to invest in over the next 6 months. Link to her form in the post!
Questions founders should be asking VCs and Angels: Jonathan Crowder gives some advice on what founders should be asking investors to make sure it is a two-way conversation.
General advice
Identifying if revenue is a false positive: Asif Ahmed explains how revenue can be a false positive even when you’re making $1m in ARR.
Why you need a financial model: Another one from Asif, this time on financial models and why start-ups at all stages need them.
🧰 Founder’s toolbox
Anyone who knows me knows that I love finding tools, apps and systems to add to my arsenal. Here’s a list of the best tools that I found last week.
ORCA: connect with active investors
What’s it for: A platform that connects start-ups with investors and investment opportunities.
How it helped: I’ve used this platform to apply for some great pitching competitions and start-up profiles to help Angels and VCs discover your round. A lot of the content on the profile can be lifted from your deck to save time, plus you can embed a product demo link to give people a better view of what you’ve built to date.
Price: Free, you gain credits by inviting other start-ups to the platform (and can use those credits to connect with investors).
Questions? 🤔
Feel free to drop any questions in the comments below! Until next week,
J x
P.S. Here are some of my other posts:
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