Elokenz Pitch Deck Teardown: A Minimalist Approach

Introduction and Branding

Slide 1: Title Slide

The deck opens with a minimalist title slide featuring the Elokenz logo—a purple speech bubble containing a lowercase 'e' followed by the company name in a bold, black sans-serif font. The bottom of the slide includes the Twitter handles for the two founders: @jicelavocat and @alwaysonholidays. There is no tagline or mission statement on the cover; it relies entirely on visual branding.

The Problem Space

Slide 2: Market Problem

Elokenz identifies the 'Market problem' as two recurring issues for bloggers: Uncertainty and Long-term motivation . The slide uses a stock image of a signpost with multiple directions (Who, When, What, How, Which, Whose) to represent the confusion content creators face. This slide is high-level and emotional rather than data-driven, focusing on the psychological state of the user rather than market size or financial loss.

Slide 3: Content Marketing Value Chain

This slide provides a conceptual framework for the product. It breaks down content marketing into four cyclical steps: Plan (Who, What, Why), Create (Engaging, Shareable, Optimized), Distribute (On Site, Platforms, Social), and Analyze (By Topic, By Author). This serves to show where the software will intervene, though it does not yet specify which parts of the chain Elokenz automates.

Slide 4: Mission Statement

The mission statement bridges the problem and the solution. It states: 'Elokenz empowers content-marketers with a dedicated Analytics tool that guides them all along the Content Marketing Value Chain by providing smart directions (uncertainty) and checkpoints (motivation).' This slide explicitly links the product features (analytics/checkpoints) back to the problems identified on slide 2.

The Solution and Product

Slide 5: Demo

Slide 5 displays a mockup of the Elokenz dashboard on a laptop screen. The interface shows 'Deck Management' with cards for different article groups. Metrics visible in the mockup include '70% increase visitors' and '40% new visitors,' along with a line graph showing 'Partages cette semaine' (shares this week) for Facebook and Twitter. The UI appears clean, using the brand's purple and white color palette.

Business and Competition

Slide 6: Business Model

The business model is a straightforward SaaS subscription plan. It lists three price points: 0€ for Individual bloggers, 39€ for Freelancers, and 99€ for Agencies and Startups. The slide does not detail the feature differences between these tiers, but the segmentation suggests a volume-based or seat-based pricing strategy common in the marketing tech industry.

Slide 7: Competition Radar

This slide attempts to map the landscape of content marketing tools. Elokenz is placed on the far left under the label 'Innovation.' The radar includes three 'circles' of competitors. Circle 1 includes tools like Raven, BuzzSumo, and Scribe. Circle 2 features heavyweights like HubSpot, Google Analytics, Buffer, and Hootsuite. Circle 3 includes specialized tools like Traackr, TapInfluence, and BuzzStream. The slide notes that 'Authors should be assisted (guided) to act smarter in daily content marketing tasks,' suggesting that the competitors are either too broad or too automated, whereas Elokenz is 'guided.'

The Team

Slide 8: The Team (Professional)

The team consists of two people. Jean-Christophe Lavocat is credited with Dev, Marketing, and SEO. Fanny Arles is credited with Design, Marketing, and 'Rédaction web' (web writing). This slide establishes that the core competencies required to build and market a SaaS tool are covered by the founding pair.

Slide 9: The Team (Personal)

In a move typical of early-stage 'sprint' or 'demo day' decks, slide 9 provides personal details about the founders. Jean-Christophe is described as 'Tech/Science, Expat, Extreme sports, Doberman owner.' Fanny is described as 'Graphic arts, Future expat, Brunch addict, Cat lover.' While these details do not provide professional validation, they are intended to build rapport with the audience.

Future Outlook

Slide 10: Objectives

The final content slide outlines three phases of growth. Phase 1 (End of Le Grand Sprint): 2,500 signups, 300 WAU (Weekly Active Users), and 10% monthly growth. Phase 2 (End of 2015): First paying users. Phase 3 (End of 2016): Seed or Serie A. This slide provides the only hard metrics in the deck, though they are targets rather than historical performance data.

Slide 11: Closing Slide

The deck concludes with a repeat of the title slide, featuring the logo and the founders' social media handles. There is no 'Contact Us' slide with email addresses or a phone number, nor is there a specific 'Ask' regarding the amount of capital they are looking to raise.

What Works and What is Missing

What Works: The deck is visually consistent and extremely easy to read. By focusing on the 'Content Marketing Value Chain,' the founders demonstrate a clear understanding of their users' workflow. The pricing model is simple and aligns with industry standards for 2015, making the path to revenue easy for an investor to visualize. The competition radar is well-populated, showing that the founders have done their homework on the crowded MarTech landscape.

What is Missing: The most significant omission is the lack of current traction data. While slide 10 sets targets, the deck does not state how many users or how much revenue the company had at the time of the presentation. There is no 'Ask' slide; we do not know how much money they are raising or how they plan to spend it. Furthermore, the deck lacks a 'Market Size' (TAM/SAM/SOM) slide, which is usually necessary to justify a 'Serie A' goal. The product demo is limited to a single screenshot, leaving the actual 'smart directions' and 'checkpoints' mentioned in the mission statement largely to the imagination.

Founder Takeaways

Focus on the 'Why': Elokenz does a good job of identifying a psychological pain point (lack of motivation) rather than just a technical one. Founders building tools for creators should note how this helps differentiate a product in a saturated market. Milestone Clarity: Slide 10 is a model of clarity for early-stage startups. Instead of vague promises, it sets specific numbers (2,500 signups) and specific dates (End of 2015). Even if a founder hasn't launched yet, showing exactly what the 'win' looks like for the next 6-12 months is helpful for investors. Personalization: While not for every deck, the 'Personal' team slide (Slide 9) can be effective in a pitch competition setting where the audience sees dozens of companies and needs a 'hook' to remember the individuals behind the software.