The demo-day deck.

About 2 minutes to read. The highlight walks the deck at the pace a first read moves; click a slide for its notes.

Slide by slide

What goes on each slide

1. 0101Cover

   Cover

   [Company]: [what you do] for [whom]

   e.g. "Acme: fills the appointments clinics lose to no-shows"

   What goes on it

   • The name and one line a stranger could repeat
   • The round and the date and the accelerator

   Leave it off

   A tagline that sounds like a brand and explains nothing.

   99% of accelerator decks that went on to raise have oneusually about slide 1 of 13about 10 words on itSee it in Airbnb (slide 1), Gusto (slide 1), Replit (slide 1)

2. 0202Problem

   Problem

   [Who] lose [what] every [period]

   e.g. "Clinics lose 18% of appointments to no-shows"

   What goes on it

   • Who has the problem, in one line
   • What it costs them, in money or time, with a number
   • How they cope today

   Leave it off

   A problem only you have noticed, or one sized in adjectives.

   46% of accelerator decks that went on to raise have oneusually about slide 4 of 13about 48 words on itSee it in Airbnb (slide 2), Replit (slide 5), Alloy (slide 3)

3. 0303Product

   Product

   [How it works] in [n] steps

   e.g. "Connect, predict, refill: live in an afternoon"

   What goes on it

   • One screenshot or the flow in three steps
   • What the customer does and what the product does

   Leave it off

   Every screen you have built.

   72% of accelerator decks that went on to raise have oneusually about slide 6 of 13about 47 words on itSee it in Airbnb (slide 6), Replit (slide 4), Alloy (slide 13)

4. 0404Traction

   Traction

   [Metric] up [x] in [period]

   e.g. "ARR up 8x in a year, to $168k"

   What goes on it

   • One chart of the metric that matters, over time
   • Retention or repeat use beside it

   Leave it off

   Cumulative charts, vanity numbers, and no dates on the axis.

   35% of accelerator decks that went on to raise have oneusually about slide 7 of 13about 35 words on itSee it in Apollo (slide 15), Beam (slide 12), Flux (slide 3)

5. 0505Market

   Market

   [n] [customers] pay [amount]: a $[size] market

   e.g. "230,000 clinics at $4,200 a year: a $1B market in the US"

   What goes on it

   • The market bottom up: customers you can reach times what each pays
   • Where you start and where it leads

   Leave it off

   A top-down TAM from an analyst report with no route to it.

   64% of accelerator decks that went on to raise have oneusually about slide 7 of 13about 50 words on itSee it in Airbnb (slide 4), Apollo (slide 2), Beam (slide 4)

6. 0606Business model

   Business model

   [Price] per [unit], paid back in [time]

   e.g. "$350 a clinic a month, paid back in under two months"

   What goes on it

   • Who pays, how much and how often
   • Margin, and payback on acquiring a customer if you know it

   Leave it off

   Five revenue streams. Show the one that matters.

   19% of accelerator decks that went on to raise have oneusually about slide 8 of 13about 29 words on itSee it in Airbnb (slide 7), Apollo (slide 11), Cedar (slide 5)

7. 0707Team

   Team

   [Why this team] wins this market

   e.g. "Ran a 60-clinic group; built scheduling at scale"

   What goes on it

   • The founders, and the one thing each has done that matters here
   • Key hires and advisers only if they change the odds

   Leave it off

   Logos of every employer and degree.

   45% of accelerator decks that went on to raise have oneusually about slide 8 of 13about 46 words on itSee it in Coinbase (slide 12), Airbnb (slide 11), Apollo (slide 4)

8. 0808The ask

   The ask

   Raising [amount] to reach [milestone] in [months]

   e.g. "Raising $2.5M to reach 150 clinics and $1.2M ARR in 20 months"

   What goes on it

   • The amount, and the runway it buys
   • The milestones it reaches, which set up the next round
   • Use of funds in three lines at most

   Leave it off

   An amount with no milestone, or "$1M to $3M".

   17% of accelerator decks that went on to raise have oneusually about slide 9 of 13about 48 words on itSee it in Beam (slide 10), Arcus (slide 2), Front (slide 23)

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