VC Minute
VC Minute
268. Maximum Information in Minimum Words feat. Justin Izzo from Dropbox DocSend
Text your thoughts directly to Rich.
Understanding that you have a very limited amount of time and space to compete for a limited amount of investor attention.
About Justin Izzo
Justin is the Lead Data and Trends Analyst at Dropbox Docsend and trusted insights professional with 15+ years of research and leadership experience. He is the driving force behind DocSend's pitch deck metrics and annual slide-by-slide analysis reports, also hosting pitch deck teardowns to provide founders with actionable next steps. Justin loves designing research and strategies that leverage his unique Ph.D. background in the humanities and social sciences. He has an expert understanding of narrative, language, and culture coupled with a talent for deriving human insights from the social world.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-izzo/
About DocSend
DocSend enables companies to share business-critical documents with ease and get real-time actionable feedback. With DocSend's security and control, startup founders, investors, executives, and business development professionals can build business partnerships that have a lasting impact. Over 30,000 customers of all sizes use DocSend today. Learn more at docsend.com.
About AVL Growth Partners
AVL Growth Partners, founded in 2009, is the leading fractional Finance and Accounting firm supporting organizations in pivoting from growth to scale. AVL brings an experienced team of CFOs, Controllers, and Accountants to your organization, delivering transparent, strategic actions for short and long-term success. Transform your financial approach affordably with AVL, supporting companies coast to coast - get to know AVL Growth Partners at avlgrowth.com. (Sponsored)
About SpringTime Ventures
SpringTime Ventures seeds high-growth startups in healthcare, fintech & insurtech, and logistics & supply chain. We look for founders with domain expertise, forging a path with a truly transformative technology. We only invest in software-based businesses in the USA. We bring a people-focused approach, work quickly, and reach conviction independently. Our initial check size is $600k. You can learn more about us and our approach.
A positive note on which I'd like to end, if founders are putting in enough effort into their pitch decks, they are taking the burden of interpretation off the investors. Anyone who's going to invest in your business, anyone who, has the capacity to make this kind of call has more than enough analytical wherewithal to pick apart the arguments being put forward in your pitch deck. The problem is, they don't have the time, there aren't enough hours in the day for VCs or any investor to do this work. And they don't want to. They can, but they don't want to. So assume investors are well intentioned, but pressed for time. What this opens up for founders is that if you go into your pitch deck trying to convey a maximum of information, and a maximum amount of, intellectual architecture about your business in a minimum amount of words, graphs, and text, you will free up your thinking about your business throughout your fundraise. You won't feel burdened to overshare. You won't feel burdened to, to put in an appendix of 20 slides that realistically, no one's going to get through. Or if they want to get through an appendix like document, they will ask you for it. Put it together on your own time. Don't waste precious time running your business putting together a 20 page appendix that might not necessarily serve you in good stead. If you go into a fundraise understanding that you have a very limited amount of time and space to compete for a limited amount of investor intellect, this becomes a bit less of an overwhelming process than one might think. Provided you have done the hard yards before your fundraise of getting your edits done and putting together a team of folks who doesn't overlap with your founding team, but who can provide you with critical, smart, and distant, feedback about your business. Once you realize that this is all you need to do, and I realize I'm making it sound a lot easier than it actually is, you understand that it's just a few steps, toward getting a meeting. Which then will beget, more in depth and critical conversations about your business, where investors will do the kind of analytical work that they're good at and that they love to do. But they don't want to have to do, before the fact, before even deciding to meet with you about your business. and if you can take the burden off them by creating a snappy pitch deck that doesn't overshare, but that does convey, the broad stakes of your business and your raise at an appropriate amount of critical distance, you stand a great chance because there are investors out there who are allocating capital.
