The Harvard Business School FIELD X deck, authored by Entrepreneur-in-Residence David Chang, is not a traditional startup pitch but a pedagogical framework for the fundraising process. Spanning 30 slides (15 analyzed here), it provides a high-level overview of the venture capital ecosystem, from identifying the correct growth trajectory to understanding the nuances of preferred stock versus convertible debt. The deck emphasizes the 'parallel processing' of investor conversations and the importance of creating urgency through triggering events. While it lacks specific company metrics, its valu…
Key takeaways
- Fundraising is categorized into five distinct phases: Prep, Target, Socialize, Raise, and Close (Slide 10).
- Venture Capital is specifically suited for 'High growth scalable businesses,' whereas lifestyle businesses should seek personal raises or loans (Slide 7).
- The deck highlights a 'skewed return distribution' in VC, noting that investors must 'swing for the fences' to achieve necessary returns (Slide 8).
- A successful raise requires running investor conversations in parallel to create urgency and leverage (Slide 12).
- Convertible debt is defined as having no immediate valuation, but often includes a 'cap' as a valuation ceiling and interest rates under 10% (Slide 13).
- Seed rounds typically require 3-6 months to complete, with diligence for larger raises taking up to 30 days (Slide 15).
- Targeting investors requires filtering by stage, location, industry vertical, business model, investment thesis, and social trust (Slide 11).
- The 'Use of Proceeds' should be balanced between 'How Much,' 'For What,' and 'To Prove' (Slide 9).
Introduction: The Pedagogical Pitch
The Harvard Business School FIELD X deck is a unique artifact in the world of fundraising. It is not a pitch for a single company, but rather a strategic roadmap for the act of fundraising itself. Authored by David Chang, an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at HBS, the deck serves as a 'Fundraising 101' for seed-stage founders. It focuses on the 'why' and 'how' of venture capital, providing a framework that strips away the mystery of the process. Because this is an educational tool, it lacks the traditional metrics, team bios, and competitive analysis found in a standard startup deck. Instead, it offers a high-level view of the investor mindset and the mechanical hurdles of closing a round.
Slides 1-5: The Author's Credibility and Context
The deck opens with a title slide (Slide 1) establishing David Chang's role at Harvard Business School. Slides 2 through 5 function as a visual resume, establishing the speaker's authority through association with major institutions and successful exits. Slide 2 features Cornell University, Slide 3 shows a Goldman Sachs trading floor, and Slide 4 displays the Boston skyline alongside logos for edocs, TripAdvisor, m-Qube, SnapMyLife, and Where. Slide 5, titled 'My Angel Investments,' provides a comprehensive list of direct and syndicate/fund investments, including recognizable names like Amino, Logz.io, and Crashlytics. This section is critical for an educational deck; it proves the instructor has sat on both sides of the table, lending weight to the tactical advice that follows.
Slides 6-8: Defining the Venture Capital Landscape
Slide 6 poses the central question: 'What Obstacles Stand in Your Way?' This transitions into a fundamental lesson on business classification. Slide 7, 'Growth trajectory of your business?', is perhaps the most important slide for early-stage founders. It differentiates between lifestyle businesses (funded by loans), growth-oriented businesses (crowdfunding), and high-growth scalable businesses (venture capital). By doing so, it forces founders to self-select into the VC track only if their model supports massive scale. Slide 8, 'Venture Capital Dynamics,' explains the math behind this selection. It notes a 'skewed return distribution' and the reality that VCs 'must swing for the fences.' This is a blunt reminder that VCs are not looking for steady 10% returns; they are looking for the outliers that can return the entire fund.
Slides 9-11: The Mechanics of the Campaign
Slide 9 addresses the 'Use of Proceeds,' breaking it down into a triad: How Much, For What, and To Prove. It lists standard uses such as building the product, growing the team, and marketing, but the 'To Prove' element is the most vital, as it implies that seed money is meant to reach a specific milestone that de-risks the Series A. Slide 10 outlines the 'Fundraising Campaign' lifecycle in five circles: Prep, Target, Socialize, Raise, and Close. This linear progression is further detailed in Slide 11, 'Target List of Investors,' which provides a checklist for filtering potential backers. The filters include Stage, Location, Industry Vertical, Business Model, Investment Thesis, and a 'Social / Trust Filter.' This suggests that cold emailing is less effective than a targeted approach based on alignment and warm introductions.
Slides 12-15: Closing the Deal and Managing Expectations
Slide 12, 'Raise: Go for the Ask,' focuses on the tactical execution of the raise. It emphasizes parallel processing—talking to multiple investors at once to create a 'domino effect.' This is a sophisticated negotiation tactic designed to manufacture urgency. Slide 13, 'Structure,' provides a side-by-side comparison of Preferred Stock and Convertible Debt. It lists the technical rights associated with preferred shares (liquidation preferences, board seats) versus the mechanics of debt (caps, discounts, interest). Slide 14, 'Valuation & Dilution,' uses a bar chart to show how a $1M seed raise leads to subsequent $6M and $15M rounds, posing the question of what the founder's 'end stake' will be. Finally, Slide 15, 'How Long Does it Take?', provides a reality check. It estimates a 3-6 month timeline and notes that investor availability and diligence requirements are the primary bottlenecks.
What Harvard School FIELD X Does Well
The deck excels at demystifying the 'black box' of venture capital. By categorizing businesses by growth trajectory (Slide 7), it provides a clear rubric for whether a founder should even be pursuing VC. The breakdown of the fundraising campaign into five distinct phases (Slide 10) provides a project management framework for what is often a chaotic process. Furthermore, the inclusion of the 'To Prove' category in the use of proceeds (Slide 9) is a high-level insight that many first-time founders miss—investors aren't just buying a product; they are buying the evidence that the next round will be even more valuable.
What is Missing from the Deck
As an educational template, this deck intentionally omits the specific data that makes a pitch successful. There is no 'Problem' slide defining a specific pain point, no 'Solution' slide showing a product, and no 'Market Size' slide (TAM/SAM/SOM). Most importantly, there are no unit economics or traction metrics. While Slide 14 mentions valuation, it does so in the abstract rather than providing a methodology for how a specific startup should value itself. A founder using this as a guide would still need to build the entire narrative and data layer of their pitch from scratch.
What a Founder Should Copy
Founders should emulate the 'Target List of Investors' filters from Slide 11. Most founders waste time pitching investors who are the wrong stage or vertical; using these six filters can significantly increase the efficiency of a raise. Additionally, the strategy of 'parallel conversations' on Slide 12 is a best practice that every founder should adopt to avoid being 'strung along' by a single VC. Finally, the 'Use of Proceeds' framework on Slide 9—specifically the 'To Prove' circle—should be a staple in every seed deck to show investors exactly what milestones the capital will unlock.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the primary purpose of this deck?
- Unlike a standard pitch deck designed to secure capital for a specific startup, this is an educational deck for the Harvard Business School FIELD X course. It is designed to teach student-founders the mechanics of the venture capital industry, how to structure a round, and how to manage the logistics of a fundraising campaign from start to finish.
- How does the deck define the difference between growth businesses and VC-backed businesses?
- Slide 7 explicitly separates businesses into three tiers: Lifestyle businesses (no big hiring, funded by loans), Growth-oriented businesses (funded by crowdfunding/personal raises), and High-growth scalable businesses. Only the latter category is identified as a fit for Venture Capital, emphasizing that VC is not a universal solution for all startups.
- What specific advice does the deck give on managing investor conversations?
- Slide 12 advises founders to 'talk to your top candidates at the same time' and 'run conversations in parallel.' This strategy is intended to create urgency, using an anchor investor as a 'first domino' to trigger term sheets from other interested parties, thereby giving the founder more leverage in negotiations.
- What are the key differences between Preferred Stock and Convertible Debt according to the slides?
- Slide 13 outlines that Preferred Stock involves board seats, option pools, and liquidation preferences where investors get paid first. Convertible Debt is described as debt that converts to equity later, typically lacking a formal valuation at the time of investment but featuring a valuation 'cap,' a conversion discount, and interest rates below 10%.
- What timeline should a founder expect for a seed round?
- Slide 15 warns that fundraising takes 'longer than you expect,' specifically citing a 3-to-6-month window. It notes that speed is often limited by the founder's ability to find investors and the investors' own calendar availability, with the diligence process alone potentially consuming 30 days for larger rounds.
