Contently Pitch Deck (2014): 14-Slide Series B Deck

Contently’s Series B deck is a masterclass in narrative-driven fundraising, focusing on the transition from a talent marketplace to a comprehensive enterprise SaaS platform. By 2014, the company had established a network of over 20,000 vetted journalists, which they framed as their primary 'unfair advantage' and the entry point for owning the entire content value chain. The deck successfully balances high-level vision—positioning themselves as the 'technological plumbing' for brand publishing—with concrete SaaS metrics, showing a clear path from marketplace spend to high-value annual contract…

Key takeaways

• The deck positions content marketing as the #1 digital priority for brands in 2013, citing a $44 billion spend by early adopters (Slide 2).
• Contently identifies the 'talent gap' as the primary friction point, noting that 74% of brands struggle with creating original content (Slide 3).
• The platform is defined by two pillars: a network of 20,000+ vetted journalists and a cloud-based content creation SaaS (Slide 5).
• The company uses a 'Github-like' analogy to describe their journalist community, emphasizing data-rich profiles and portfolio 'clips' (Slide 6).
• Pricing is transparently stated as starting at $3k-$20k per month for the end-to-end cloud workflow (Slide 7).
• The 'unfair advantage' is explicitly tied to the talent network, arguing that the content value chain must start with creation (Slide 12).
• The team slide highlights significant industry pedigree, including a CCO from Columbia Journalism and Wired Magazine (Slide 13).
• The deck outlines a clear roadmap from Series A (2012) to Series B (2013), moving from a talent network into international expansion and distribution (Slide 11).

Frequently asked questions

What was Contently's primary value proposition in this deck?

Contently positioned itself as the 'Brand Publishing Cloud.' Their value proposition was twofold: providing access to a vetted network of over 20,000 professional journalists and offering a SaaS workflow tool to manage the creation, approval, and distribution of that content. They aimed to solve the #1 challenge for brands—creating high-quality original content at scale—by providing both the talent and the 'technological plumbing' required to function like a traditional publisher.

How did Contently justify its 'unfair advantage'?

According to Slide 12, Contently's unfair advantage was its talent network. They argued that because 'everyone needs talent,' owning the supply side of the marketplace allowed them to control the beginning of the value chain. By starting with creation, they could naturally pull customers into their SaaS workflow and eventually into distribution, making their platform the central hub for all brand publishing activities.

What were the key financial metrics highlighted?

While specific dollar amounts are redacted on Slide 8 and 9, the deck emphasizes 'Gross Revenue' run rates and 'SaaS MRR.' It specifically highlights the 'Annualized value of customers closing in Q4' and distinguishes between SaaS Revenue and Marketplace Spend. This distinction is crucial for investors to understand the margin profile of the business, as SaaS revenue typically carries higher multiples than marketplace pass-through spend.

Who were the key people behind Contently at the time of the Series B?

The leadership team featured a mix of tech and media expertise. CEO Joe Coleman had experience with CashCrate, CTO Dave Goldberg brought a background from UPenn and Duke, and CCO Shane Snow provided the media 'DNA' with experience at Columbia Journalism and Wired Magazine. The deck also listed high-profile advisors like Scott Belsky (Behance) and Dharmesh Shah (HubSpot), signaling strong ties to both the creative and SaaS communities.

What was the 'Secret Sauce' or 'Secret Plans' mentioned in the deck?

The deck uses 'Secret Plans!' as a placeholder on several slides (10, 11) to indicate future product expansions. While the specifics are hidden, the context suggests these plans involved deeper integration into the 'Distribution' phase of the value chain and potentially new 'Multimedia Talent' categories. This is a common tactic in Series B decks to show a massive 'What's Next' without revealing the exact product roadmap to competitors.

Contently pitch deck: the facts

Company

Contently

Year

2014

Stage

Series-B

Slides

14

Sector

SaaS

Contently pitch deck PDF

The full Contently deck is embedded on this page and can be read slide by slide in the browser — no download or account required. Each slide is covered in the breakdown above.

What the Contently pitch deck was used for

This deck is Contently’s 2014 Series B pitch used to raise $9M to scale its Brand Publishing Cloud, a SaaS platform plus talent network that helps brands act like publishers. The company positioned itself at an inflection point, evolving from a journalist marketplace into an end‑to‑end enterprise content marketing cloud. The deck emphasizes Contently’s network of 20,000+ vetted journalists and a cloud-based content creation workflow as the core of its defensible moat. Funds from the 2014 Series B were earmarked to grow the freelance network, build new tools for its 20,000+ freelancers, and expand software that helps marketers measure ROI on sponsored content.

Business model: Contently provides a "Brand Publishing Cloud" that combines a large vetted network of freelance journalists with cloud-based content marketing SaaS to help brands plan, create, manage, and analyze high-quality sponsored and editorial content at scale.

Year

2014

Raising

Series B equity financing

Raised

$9M

Lead investor

Jackson Square Ventures

Investors

Sigma Prime, Sigma West, Lightbank, Contour Venture Partners, Dave Lerner, Founder Collective, NYC Seed, Jackson Square Ventures

Founded

2010

Founders

Joe Coleman, Shane Snow, Dave Goldberg

Headquarters

New York City, New York, USA

Industry

Content marketing SaaS / marketing technology

Round: Series B growth round in early 2014, building on prior seed and Series A funding.

Total funding: Approximately $18.2M total funding, with the largest round a $9M Series B in January 2014.

Use of funds as presented: Grow Contently’s freelance journalist network, build new tools and a "Github-like" community for its 20,000+ freelancers, expand its cloud-based content marketing software, improve publishing workflow, and enhance ROI measurement capabilities for marketers; Bloomberg also notes plans to more than double staff.

What happened after the Contently deck

After the 2014 Series B, Contently continued to build out its Brand Publishing Cloud, expanding both the freelance journalist network and the SaaS platform for enterprise content marketing. The company remained a private, venture-backed firm, reportedly growing to around $18.2M in total funding and an estimated >$50M ARR by 2024, while continuing to serve brands through its talent network and soft

• Closed a $9M Series B round in early January 2014, bringing total funding to roughly $11.7M at that time.
• Expanded its freelance network to over 27,000 freelancers by early 2014, supporting sponsored content for major brands l
• Used Series B capital to grow staff (more than doubling headcount) and enhance publishing and analytics software for mar
• Subsequent data sources indicate Contently went on to raise approximately $18.2M across multiple rounds and to reach an

What the Contently deck got right

• Compelling two-pillar product narrative (network + SaaS). The deck frames Contently’s product as a **two-pillar platform**—"World’s largest network of vetted, magazine-quality freelance journalists" plus "Cloud-based content creation software as a service"—giving a clear, memorable explanation of how talent and SaaS combine into a single value proposition.
• Large vetted journalist network as a defensible moat. Contently’s network of **20,000+ vetted journalists** is emphasized as an "unfair advantage" and the starting point of the value chain, reinforcing a strong moat tied to quality talent that competitors cannot easily copy.
• Clear, ambitious vision anchored in third‑party validation. The deck uses the **"technological plumbing"** metaphor, supported by a Forbes quote, to explain how Contently aims to underlie all great brand publishing on the web and even traditional publishing, making the long-term vision concrete and ambitious.
• Strong framing of community structure and data as product asset. By presenting the journalist community as a **"Github-like" network** with data-rich profiles and portfolio clips, the deck conveys sophistication in how talent is organized and surfaced, suggesting an analytical, product-led approach rather than a simple marketplace.
• Transparent enterprise SaaS pricing in the deck. The deck reportedly includes **transparent pricing** of $3k–$20k per month for the end‑to‑end cloud workflow, which signals confidence in enterprise positioning and helps investors understand revenue potential per logo.
• Direct articulation of market leadership and unfair advantage. Slides explicitly articulate that Contently already **leads in market penetration** because “Everyone needs talent, and we have the talent network,” directly addressing why they can win the category and making the competitive advantage legible.

What could have been stronger

• Lack of quantified SaaS and financial traction in the deck. The available teardown notes and OCR do not mention concrete **financial metrics**—such as ARR, growth rate, margins, or unit economics—despite Contently being a SaaS business raising a $9M Series B, which may leave investors guessing about the underlying business performance.
• Network moat is asserted but not analytically defended. While the deck leans heavily on having 20,000–27,000+ journalists and a "Github-like" community, it does not clearly present **barriers to entry** beyond the network size; there is limited discussion of why competing platforms or agencies could not replicate a similar network over time.
• Enterprise integration and implementation story is underdeveloped. The deck frames Contently as building the "technological plumbing" under all brand publishing, but there is little explicit detail (in the teardown text) about **integration with existing marketing stacks, analytics platforms, or CMS tools**, which are often critical for enterprise adoption.
• Pricing is shown without quantified ROI or case studies. Pricing is presented as a transparent $3k–$20k per month range for the cloud workflow, but the deck (as described) does not tie this pricing to **customer ROI, case studies, or benchmark outcomes**, limiting the ability to evaluate whether the price is justified by measurable impact.

How an investor would read this deck

What draws attention

• Evidence that the journalist network is truly **vetted and differentiated**, including quality controls, matching algorithms, and retention metrics for the 20,000+ creators.
• Clarity on Contently’s **transition from marketplace to SaaS**, including the relative contribution of software vs. services to revenue and margins.
• Understanding how the "Brand Publishing Cloud" fits into the broader **marketing technology stack**, including integrations with CMS, marketing automation, and analytics tools.
• Verification that enterprise clients (e.g., American Express, PepsiCo) are using the platform at **meaningful, recurring contract sizes**, consistent with the $3k–$20k/month pricing stated in the deck.

Risks that stand out

• Dependence on a large freelance network introduces **two-sided marketplace risk**: if freelancer engagement or quality drops, the value of the SaaS platform to brands diminishes materially.
• Enterprise marketing budgets are cyclical; during downturns, brands may cut discretionary content marketing spend, pressuring Contently’s recurring revenue and contracted content volumes.
• The defended moat is largely the scale and curation of the journalist network; over time, **specialized agencies, other marketplaces, or in-house content teams** could erode this advantage if Contently’s software is not sufficiently differentiated.
• Regulatory and reputational risk around **native advertising and sponsored content** (e.g., disclosure rules, platform policies) could impact demand for Contently’s core use case.

Questions this deck invites

• What portion of Contently’s 2013–2014 revenue came from **software subscriptions vs. managed services or content fees**, and how was this mix evolving at the time of the Series B?
• How does Contently ensure **quality and compliance** in sponsored content across its network of 20,000–27,000+ freelancers, and what are the rejection/rewriting rates from enterprise clients?
• What were the **customer acquisition channels and payback periods** for Contently’s target enterprise customers, and how did this compare to other marketing tech companies in 2014?
• How sticky is the platform: what were Contently’s **logo and revenue churn rates** in the year leading up to the Series B, particularly for customers on $3k–$20k/month plans?
• Which direct and indirect competitors were most frequently encountered (agency models, pure SaaS content tools, marketplaces), and how did Contently’s blended talent + SaaS approach win in sales cycles?

What founders can take from the Contently deck

• A clearly articulated **two-pillar product story**—talent network plus SaaS workflow—helps investors understand how a marketplace can evolve into a higher-margin, defensible software business.
• Positioning around a vivid metaphor like the "**technological plumbing**" for brand publishing can make an abstract SaaS platform feel concrete and inevitable, especially when reinforced by third-party quotes from outlets such as Forbes.
• Anchoring the moat in a large **vetted expert network (20,000+ journalists)** and describing it as a "Github-like" community shows how community structure and data can become a defensible asset, not just a number.
• Including **transparent pricing bands** ($3k–$20k/month) in a Series B deck can build credibility and signal confidence in the go-to-market model, especially for enterprise SaaS.
• Showing how the company is at an **inflection point**—moving from marketplace matchmaking to owning the entire content value chain via software—can justify a larger growth round aimed at category leadership.
• Explicitly tying use of funds to **product roadmap and network expansion** (tools for freelancers, ROI measurement for marketers) illustrates a clear path from capital to capability to competitive advantage.

Contently pitch deck: common questions

What funding round and amount was this Contently pitch deck used for?

The deck was used for Contently’s **Series B** round in early 2014, in which the company raised **$9M** in new financing. Multiple sources (including Contently’s own announcement, Forbes, Bloomberg, and funding databases) confirm that the January 2014 raise was a $9M Series B.

Who invested in Contently’s 2014 $9M Series B round?

According to Contently and press coverage, the 2014 Series B was backed by investors including **Sigma Prime**, **Sigma West**, **Lightbank**, **Contour Venture Partners**, **Dave Lerner**, **Founder Collective**, **NYC Seed**, and **Jackson Square Ventures**. Some sources list overlapping or slightly different sets of investors, but these names are consistently associated with the Series B in January 2014.

What does Contently’s Series B pitch deck say the company does?

In the Series B deck and related coverage, Contently describes itself as the **“Brand Publishing Cloud”**, combining the **world’s largest network of vetted, magazine-quality freelance journalists** with **cloud-based content creation software as a service**. The value proposition is to give brands both the talent and the “technological plumbing” needed to run always-on publishing programs similar to traditional media companies.

How large was Contently’s journalist network at the time of this deck?

Forbes reported that Contently had a network of **over 27,000 freelancers** by early 2014, while the teardown of the deck repeatedly references **20,000+ vetted journalists** as the figure used on the slides. The deck itself positions this talent network as Contently’s main moat and unfair advantage versus other content marketing tools.

What was Contently raising money for in the 2014 Series B round?

Contently stated that the Series B funds would be used to **grow its freelance network**, **build new tools for its 20,000+ freelancers**, and **expand content marketing software features, including ROI measurement for sponsored content**. Bloomberg added that the company also intended to **more than double its staff** and improve its publishing software with the new capital.

Sources

Funding and outcome facts on this page were researched on 2026-08-22 from the pages below.

• We Just Raised $9 Million – Here’s Why | The Freelancer, by Contently
• Contently Raises $9M in Series B Funding
• Contently Raises $9 Million To Build 'The Plumbing For...
• 'You Can't Do Business Without a Fire Pole': An Oral History of Contently's 2014 So Far - Contently
• Contently: Funding, Team & Investors | Startup Intros
• Contently - Raised $18.2M Funding from 13 investors - Tracxn
• Contently Pitch Deck - Business Insider
• The Talent Network — 10000+ vetted creators

Contently pitch deck slides

What each slide of the Contently pitch deck says

Slide 1

Powering The Brand Publishing Cloud (logos of clients) (logos of clients)

Slide 2

Contently It's 2013. Content marketing is the #1 digital priority for brands.

Slide 4

"Contently is building the technological plumbing that could one day underlie all great brand publishing on the Web (and a lot of traditional publishing as well)." -Forbes

Slide 5

8 u r Be ox THE _— [1 | w= TIME -—] Mm Platform: World's largest network of TI [FT vetted, magazine-quality pr iavll Slate RL oun freelance journalists. More than 20,000 journalists with data-rich profiles. hr == EE : Cloud-based content - Fanon vescay creation software as a - — service. f » . * yy J av 5 “Contently is the ? best platform for high-end pe publishing,” says == End-to-end content creation suite.

Slide 12

We already lead in market penetration because: Everyone needs talent, and we have the talent network. Our unfair advantage: The value chain starts with creation.

Slide text above is read directly from the Contently deck PDF embedded on this page.

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