👋🏾 Hi friends!

Wow, crazy how quickly a week can go by. And last week was crazy, it started off with a 5 hour drive down to Cornwall (and back) to see my daughter graduate from uni. And it’s ended with a flight to Italy a couple of days ago where I’ll be camped out for the rest of the summer.

And I can confirm, it is HOT 🥵 out here, and not the good kind.

I think I may have to do a bit of a deep dive into what's happening in the world of climate tech at the moment because - as most of us know - we cannot carry on like this.

But in the meantime, if you want to find out why I love the acronym KISS, my top tips for building out a pitch deck, an easily digestible overview of cash flow statements and a lowdown on what’s been happening in the wonderful world of tech, keep reading…

Remember, if you have any feedback or if there’s something you’re desperate to see me include, just reply to this mail or ping me online - I’m very open to conversations.

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With that said, let’s get into it.

KISS

If you didn’t know already, KISS stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Over the last number of years, there has been an almost desperate desire for founders to seek out VC funding. And there has been a lot of ink spilt already (and no doubt I’ll spill more yet!) on the pros and cons as well as what you need to ‘look’ like as a business to raise venture at all.

But this one tweet from Andrew Gazdecki, founder of Acquire, is what everything boils down to.

How can did I add value?

Now, my business is to help people (and their companies) however I can, mainly focussed on what they need to do to get the most out of their capital (and how to raise more if they need to).

But the reality is that most startups neither have a need for, nor should be paying money for a CFO - fractional or otherwise - until they have raised a decent amount of cash and have broken ground on their business model and started generating some revenue.

So I always try to give to those founders (or CFOs looking for advice) advice freely as much as I can; whether that’s on if they should raise a round right now, how to change how they work and move to a fractional career path, or to simply give them feedback on their proposition.

Just last week, a founder was looking for a resource that could help them refine their pitch deck which I was more than happy to do for them.

Now, clearly, I’m not going to go into the detail of this particular deck and where I felt it could be improved (or indeed what was working really well), but I think it’s worth taking a moment to consider the anatomy of a good pitch deck.

I’ve been on both sides of the table and have worked with a tonne of founders on their decks over the years. Whilst I don’t think there is a template that everyone can simply copy and paste, I do think there are some universal truths when building out a pitch deck - and for me, these are them:

• The deck is not the pitch. Your deck is a way to get a meeting in order to pitch, it isn’t the entire pitch itself.

• Follow a narrative. If your deck doesn’t tell a story, it’s not doing its job. And human beings respond to emotion.

• Traction up top. If you’ve got it, then flaunt it. Don’t bury progress at the back, it shows you can execute. In a market like this one, traction matters above all else.

• What’s the problem. Don’t give a solution in search of a problem, identify an actual pain point that users want solved.

• What’s your solution. How does your solution resolve the problem? It needs to be a painkiller, not a vitamin.

• (Why now). Occasionally there may be some event that has precipitated a desperate need for a solution (think healthtech during the pandemic).

• Why YOU. Ultimately ideas are irrelevant - it’s execution that matters. You need to be able to articulate why you and your team will win the market.

• Opportunity. Even with a great team and a decent product, it all comes down to market. This quote from Andy Rachleff - formerly of Benchmark Capital says it all:

• The Ask. Be clear what you’re asking for and for what. But don’t sweat putting in a financial model (especially at early stage) or a valuation - deals are negotiated, never set.

• Keep it concise. Too many founders try to throw every data point, every article and every quote that they think will ‘convince’ an investor. Wrong. It just adds clutter. Instead use bullets and (where appropriate) graphics to tease the investor into wanting to know more (remember, The deck is not the pitch).

Obviously every deck and every proposition is different so there will be areas where you spend more time (maybe the market isn’t obvious), and others where you have to spend less (you’re a second time founder and know what you’re doing).

But it never hurts to give yourself the best chance at making an impact.