How to adapt your pitch deck in the C-crisis

VC recommendations to Founders

 

Given the C-crisis and recession VCs can give some recommendations to Founders which will improve their position in the pitching & fund-raising process:

1. Find the funds that continue investing activities.

To save yourself a lot of time and efforts, you can immediately take advantage of these 2 options:

Information on external funding options in Bulgaria

Information on external funding options outside Bulgaria.

We will provide information on which are the EU VCs and angel investors who continue with their investment activities despite the current crisis. 

1. Know that all funds are pursuing the higher quality companies now.
2. Understand that if public markets are down 30 %, private valuations will drop even more. Focus on profitability; curtail ambitious regarding valuation.
3. Focus on and explain how your customers will buy even in downturn. How will you grow your customers in a recession?
4. How does your business look different in the post-corona world? Where are the opportunities? How will you overcome and deal with your threats? Address key risks upfront.

To better assess the coming and ongoing changes and make a sound SWOT analysis of your business, check out our Scenario Planning Series, and particularly, the 3 parts of ‘The Corona Crisis PESTLE, or Trends we see now that will affect us in the future’.  

1. Next, show how you implement the effects of the crisis within your business plan. Don’t miss the opportunity to show your business-savvy mindset and display at least 3 Business Scenarios and corresponding Financial Modelling. Present your company as resilient as possible. And be as resilient as possible.
2. Plan for it to take a lot longer and valuations to be a lot lower.
3. Explain what changes will last after the crisis and how your startup will address those permanent changes?
4. How and why you are investing in the long term, while taking advantage of the current change in environment?
5. Highlight tangible revenue traction. Be honest about your revenue and growth projections. If you can show sales success in this low period, highlight this. Has there been any change in the type of deals you are detecting? 
6. Why in a recession you are a must-have?
7. Show how you have responded to the C-crisis and how you are helping people. This speaks a lot for you and your team.
8. Consider a pivot to ‘immunize’ your business model, but don’t be way over reactive.

We can hugely support your pivot. Find out how here.

1. More referrals are happening now, as well as more proactive outreach to startups. Funds are more proactive toward existing companies that might want additional funding. 
   
   

Which industry verticals will benefit long-term the crisis?

Anything remote: remote learning, tele-medicine, remote parties, remote productivity, remote community

Delivery/logistics, grocery/retail tech/staples, online/e-commerce

Internet infrastructure, cyber security, telco

Conference/collaboration, e-sports.

Biotech/personalized medicine/health

Any sectors that are focused on long-term change: Robotics, AI, Quantum Computing, Autonomy, Automation

Crisis always strengthens in the end.

This post contains our own recommendations based on information from the VC and Founder Sentiment survey completed by NfX in April 2020.

 

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