What is Instructure's primary product according to the deck?

The deck identifies 'Canvas' as the core brand, specifically broken down into Canvas Higher Ed, Canvas K-12, and Canvas International. By 2015, they added 'Bridge' to target the corporate performance and workforce management sectors, signaling a move beyond traditional education.

How does Instructure justify its continued net losses?

The deck emphasizes 'Enhanced Visibility' through multi-year contracts and a growing backlog, which reached $151 million in 2015. By showing a net revenue retention rate over 100% and high customer lifetime value, they argue that current spending on sales and marketing is an investment in highly predictable future cash flows.

What markets does the company plan to enter next?

Slide 7 outlines adjacencies including Performance Management, Workforce Management, Recruiting, and Compensation Management. These represent a $6.4 billion opportunity by 2018, nearly doubling their original TAM in Learning Management.

What are the key financial trends shown in the 2014-2016 period?

Revenue shows consistent double-digit year-over-year growth, while gross margins expanded from 66% to 72%. However, operating expenses also scaled significantly, particularly Sales & Marketing, which accounted for 67% of revenue in Q2 2016, keeping the company in a net loss position.

Who are the key members of the leadership team?

The team is led by CEO Josh Coates (formerly of Mozy and EMC) and CFO Steve Kaminsky (formerly of TriZetto and Ernst & Young). Other leaders bring experience from high-profile tech firms like Microsoft, VMware, and Ancestry.com.

Instructure Pitch Deck (2016): 28-Slide Breakdown

See all 28 slides of the Instructure pitch deck — a 2016 deck — with a slide-by-slide teardown of what the deck does well and where it falls short.

Instructure’s August 2016 investor deck highlights a company in a high-growth phase, reporting quarterly revenue that climbed from $9.5 million in Q2 2014 to $25.8 million in Q2 2016. The deck focuses heavily on the expansion of its product suite, moving from its flagship Canvas Higher Ed product into K-12, international markets, and finally the corporate sector with Bridge. While the company remained unprofitable during this period—reporting a net loss of $12.1 million in Q2 2016—the deck emphasizes long-term value through a net revenue retention rate exceeding 100% and a massive backlog tha…

Key takeaways

Quarterly revenue grew from $9,566,000 in Q2 2014 to $25,890,000 in Q2 2016 (Slide 25).
The company identifies a total addressable market (TAM) growing to $7.8 billion for Learning Management and $6.4 billion for Performance Management by 2018 (Slide 7).
Product expansion followed a clear chronological path: Higher Ed (2011), K-12 (2012), International (2014), and Bridge (2015) (Slide 10).
Deferred revenue increased significantly from $19 million in 2013 to $52 million in 2015 (Slide 16).
Contract backlog reached $151 million by the end of 2015, providing high visibility into future revenue (Slide 16).
Net revenue retention is stated as being greater than 100% (Slide 22).
Gross margins improved from 66% in Q2 2014 to 72% in Q2 2016 (Slide 25).
The management team includes veterans from Mozy, EMC, Microsoft, and VMware (Slide 13).

Instructure Investor Deck Analysis

The August 2016 investor deck for Instructure represents a company at a critical inflection point. Having established dominance in the Higher Education Learning Management System (LMS) market with Canvas, the company was aggressively pursuing a multi-product strategy to capture the corporate and K-12 sectors. The deck is characterized by rigorous financial reporting and a clear narrative of market expansion.

Slide 1: Title Slide

The deck opens with a vibrant, abstract geometric design featuring the Instructure name in bold white typography. It is a minimalist start that focuses entirely on brand recognition without a tagline or specific mission statement on the cover.

Slide 4: Product Overview Video

Slide 4 is a placeholder for a product overview video. In a live presentation, this serves as the transition from the high-level brand introduction to the functional reality of the software. For an investor reviewing the deck asynchronously, this represents a missed opportunity to provide a static summary of the product's unique selling propositions.

Slide 7: Substantial Market Opportunity

This slide quantifies the company's growth potential. It splits the market into two primary categories: Learning Management and Adjacencies. In 2016, the Learning Management market was valued at $5.1 billion, projected to grow to $7.8 billion by 2018. The Adjacencies—which include Performance Management, Workforce Management, Recruiting, and Compensation Management—were valued at $5.5 billion in 2016, projected to reach $6.4 billion by 2018. By citing sources like IDC and MarketsandMarkets, Instructure grounds its $14.2 billion total opportunity in third-party data.

Slide 10: Growth Strategy and Revenue Streams

Slide 10 provides a chronological visualization of the company’s expansion. It shows a 'stair-step' growth model:

2011: Canvas Higher Ed · 2012: Canvas K-12 · 2014: Canvas International · 2015: Bridge (Corporate)

This slide is effective because it demonstrates that the company isn't just guessing at new markets; it has a track record of successfully launching and scaling new revenue streams every 1-2 years.

Slide 13: Innovative Management

The team slide uses a playful, unconventional approach. Each executive is pictured in a 'costume' or humorous scenario (e.g., the CEO with a blowtorch and goggles, the SVP of Product with a milk mustache). While the photos are lighthearted, the credentials listed below them are serious, featuring stints at EMC Corp, Mozy, Microsoft, GE, and Ernst & Young. This suggests a corporate culture that is high-performance but low-ego.

Slide 16: Enhanced Visibility into Future Periods

This is one of the most important slides for a SaaS investor. It tracks two key metrics from 2013 to 2015: Deferred Revenue and Backlog. Deferred revenue grew from $19 million to $52 million, while the backlog (defined as future non-cancellable amounts to be invoiced) jumped from $73 million to $151 million. This data is intended to de-risk the investment by showing that a significant portion of future revenue is already contractually guaranteed.

Slide 19: High Customer Lifetime Value

Slide 19 uses a conceptual graph to illustrate the SaaS business model. It shows the initial 'Customer Acquisition Costs' (CAC) as a negative starting point, followed by a 'Breakeven' point, and then a long-term 'Revenue' line that represents the Customer Lifetime Value. The slide highlights three stages: Acquire, Retain, and Renew. While it lacks specific dollar amounts for LTV or CAC, it reinforces the 'land and expand' philosophy mentioned elsewhere in the deck.

Slide 22: Investment Highlights

This slide serves as a summary of the bull case for Instructure. It lists six pillars: Rapid and Widespread Customer Adoption, Substantial Market Opportunity, Native Cloud-Based Platform, Focused on User-Experience and Simplicity, Solid Revenue Growth, and Enhanced Visibility Through Multi-Year Contracts. Crucially, it includes a footnote stating that Net Revenue Retention is 'Greater than 100%,' a gold-standard metric for SaaS companies indicating that existing customers are expanding their spend over time.

Slide 25: Non-GAAP Income Statement

This slide provides a detailed quarterly breakdown from Q2 2014 to Q2 2016. Key data points include:

Revenue: Grew from $9.56M to $25.89M. · Gross Margin: Improved from 66% to 72%. · Sales & Marketing (S&M): Remained high, at $17.3M (67% of revenue) in Q2 2016. · Net Loss: Increased from $8.0M to $12.1M over the same period.

The financials show a company that is prioritizing growth and market share over immediate profitability, a common strategy for venture-backed SaaS firms in this era.

Slide 28: Free Cash Flow Reconciliation

The final slide in the set addresses cash burn. It shows that Free Cash Flow (FCF) fluctuated significantly, ending Q2 2016 at a negative $10.6 million. The table reconciles net cash used in operating activities with capital expenditures (purchase of property and equipment), providing full transparency into the company's liquidity position.

What Instructure Does Well

Instructure excels at demonstrating the 'predictability' of its business. By highlighting the $151 million backlog and the 100%+ net revenue retention, they move the conversation away from current losses and toward the long-term value of the contracts they are winning. The growth strategy slide (Slide 10) is also a model for how to explain market expansion; it shows a logical progression from a core competency (Higher Ed) into adjacent markets (K-12 and Corporate) rather than a scattered approach.

What is Missing from the Deck

The deck is notably light on competitive analysis. While it mentions the size of the LMS market, it does not name competitors like Blackboard, Moodle, or D2L, nor does it explain why Canvas wins against them technically. Additionally, while the conceptual LTV/CAC slide is present, the actual ratios are omitted. Investors usually want to see the specific CAC payback period in months to validate the efficiency of the Sales & Marketing spend, which was quite high at 67% of revenue.

Founder Takeaways

Founders should study Slide 10 and Slide 16. Slide 10 is a perfect example of how to visualize a multi-year roadmap that feels both ambitious and achievable. Slide 16 demonstrates how to use 'Backlog' and 'Deferred Revenue' to tell a story of stability, even when the income statement shows a net loss. Finally, the management slide (Slide 13) shows that you can inject personality into a deck without undermining the professional pedigree of the team, provided the underlying credentials are strong.

Frequently asked questions

What is Instructure's primary product according to the deck?: The deck identifies 'Canvas' as the core brand, specifically broken down into Canvas Higher Ed, Canvas K-12, and Canvas International. By 2015, they added 'Bridge' to target the corporate performance and workforce management sectors, signaling a move beyond traditional education.
How does Instructure justify its continued net losses?: The deck emphasizes 'Enhanced Visibility' through multi-year contracts and a growing backlog, which reached $151 million in 2015. By showing a net revenue retention rate over 100% and high customer lifetime value, they argue that current spending on sales and marketing is an investment in highly predictable future cash flows.
What markets does the company plan to enter next?: Slide 7 outlines adjacencies including Performance Management, Workforce Management, Recruiting, and Compensation Management. These represent a $6.4 billion opportunity by 2018, nearly doubling their original TAM in Learning Management.
What are the key financial trends shown in the 2014-2016 period?: Revenue shows consistent double-digit year-over-year growth, while gross margins expanded from 66% to 72%. However, operating expenses also scaled significantly, particularly Sales & Marketing, which accounted for 67% of revenue in Q2 2016, keeping the company in a net loss position.
Who are the key members of the leadership team?: The team is led by CEO Josh Coates (formerly of Mozy and EMC) and CFO Steve Kaminsky (formerly of TriZetto and Ernst & Young). Other leaders bring experience from high-profile tech firms like Microsoft, VMware, and Ancestry.com.

Cover slide of the Instructure pitch deck — 2016 — Instructure pitch deck, slide 1 (2016)

Instructure pitch deck: the facts

Company: Instructure
Year: 2016
Stage: Late Stage / Public (Investor Relations)
Slides: 28
Sector: Education Technology / SaaS
Deck type: Investor Deck
Outcome: Publicly Traded (NYSE: INST at time of deck)
Headquarters: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Instructure pitch deck PDF

The full Instructure 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 Instructure pitch deck was used for

This is a 28‑slide Instructure investor relations presentation from August 2016, hosted on Slideshare and labeled as an investor deck, indicating it was used for public‑market and institutional investor communications following the company’s 2015 IPO. The deck showcases Instructure’s transition from a primarily higher‑education learning management system (Canvas) toward a broader multi‑product platform including Bridge for corporate learning, emphasizing SaaS metrics and market‑expansion logic. As a late‑stage/public company in 2016, the deck’s purpose was more likely to support ongoing investor relations, conferences, and secondary offerings rather than a private venture fundraising round. The forward‑looking statements slide confirms it is positioned as an investor presentation with non‑GAAP measures and future‑oriented commentary.

Business model: Instructure is a software company that develops cloud-based learning management platforms, primarily the Canvas LMS for education and Bridge for corporate learning and training.

Industry: Education Technology; SaaS learning management systems.

What happened after the Instructure deck

At the time of the August 2016 deck, Instructure was already a publicly traded company following its 2015 IPO. Over subsequent years, the company underwent a take‑private transaction with Thoma Bravo and later returned to the public markets with a 2021 IPO that raised approximately $250 million in gross proceeds.

Instructure had already completed its first IPO in November 2015, listing shares and raising public‑market capital prior
Following its time as a public company, Instructure later agreed to be acquired and taken private by Thoma Bravo around
Instructure subsequently completed another IPO in 2021, issuing 12,500,000 shares at $20.00 per share, for gross proceed

What the Instructure deck got right

Compelling TAM expansion narrative grounded in product adjacencies. The deck clearly articulates a strategic evolution from serving a niche higher‑education LMS market (Canvas) to offering a broader multi‑product platform that includes Bridge for corporate learning, making its TAM expansion story logically grounded in adjacent use cases.
Strong emphasis on SaaS metrics and growth indicators. As a SaaS‑focused investor deck, it highlights metrics and visualizations related to recurring revenue and growth, providing investors with a structured view of key performance indicators that matter for a subscription software business.
Clear multi‑segment platform positioning. By combining education and corporate learning solutions, the deck positions Instructure as a platform that can serve multiple segments, which helps convey diversification of revenue streams beyond higher education alone.
Transparent regulatory and non‑GAAP disclosures. The inclusion of a detailed forward‑looking statements and non‑GAAP measures slide demonstrates regulatory awareness and sets expectations around the nature of projections and adjusted metrics in a public‑company context.
Combines historical public‑market context with future strategy. The deck is produced for a late‑stage/public audience, enabling it to integrate real market history from the 2015 IPO with forward‑looking strategy, which can increase credibility compared with purely pre‑IPO projections.

What could have been stronger

Heavy reliance on forward‑looking and non‑GAAP metrics. As an investor‑relations deck for a public SaaS company, it leans heavily on forward‑looking statements and non‑GAAP measures, which may obscure a clear, slide‑level reconciliation to GAAP profitability or cash‑flow metrics; the cautionary language on the forward‑looking/non‑GAAP slide underscores this emphasis.
Limited visible detail on segment‑level economics. The deck’s narrative—shifting from a niche higher‑education LMS to a multi‑product corporate platform—highlights TAM expansion but, based on the available description, provides less visible detail on customer acquisition economics and profitability by segment, which sophisticated investors would scrutinize for sustainability.
Objective of the deck not clearly tied to a specific transaction. Because the deck is framed broadly as an investor relations presentation and hosted generically on Slideshare, it is not explicitly tied to a specific capital raise or transaction in 2016, which can make it harder for a viewer to contextualize the exact capital‑markets objective behind the presentation.

How an investor would read this deck

What draws attention

Clarity on how expanding from higher‑education LMS to corporate learning (Bridge) increases total addressable market while maintaining product focus and differentiation.
Quality and durability of recurring SaaS revenue streams, including retention and upsell dynamics across education and corporate customers.
Use and reconciliation of non‑GAAP metrics presented in the deck with GAAP profitability and cash‑flow figures.
Evidence of enterprise adoption of Bridge and cross‑sell from existing Canvas customers to support the multi‑product platform story.
Management’s track record from the 2015 IPO to 2016 in meeting or exceeding the guidance implied in prior forward‑looking statements.

Risks that stand out

Risk that expansion into corporate learning (Bridge) could dilute focus on the core Canvas higher‑education market or increase execution complexity.
Risk that heavy reliance on non‑GAAP measures and forward‑looking statements might mask slower progress toward GAAP profitability or sustainable free cash flow.
Competitive risk from other LMS and corporate learning platforms that could limit the TAM expansion thesis or pressure pricing and margins.
Regulatory and budget‑cycle risk tied to education customers that might affect growth and renewal rates for Canvas.

Questions this deck invites

How do the non‑GAAP metrics cited in the presentation (e.g., adjusted EBITDA, ARR) reconcile to GAAP results in Instructure’s 2016 SEC filings?
What proportion of total revenue in 2016 came from Canvas versus Bridge, and how did segment‑level gross margins and churn compare?
What specific go‑to‑market strategy and sales investment were required to expand from higher‑education into corporate learning, and how did this affect unit economics?
How accurately did the growth expectations and TAM expansion logic presented in the 2016 deck track against Instructure’s actual results in 2017–2019?
Were any follow‑on offerings or secondary share sales in 2016–2017 associated with this deck, and how were proceeds allocated?

What founders can take from the Instructure deck

A public‑company investor deck can powerfully illustrate a TAM expansion story by showing a logical product adjacency—here, moving from higher‑education LMS (Canvas) into corporate learning (Bridge)—rather than claiming unrelated new markets.
Clearly labeled forward‑looking statements and non‑GAAP measures, as seen on the cautionary slide, are essential in public‑market communications and shape how investors interpret narrative versus verifiable performance.
Positioning a SaaS company as a multi‑product platform, not just a single tool, helps frame long‑term growth and upsell potential for investors once the core market begins to mature.
Using investor‑relations decks post‑IPO allows companies to continually update public‑market investors on product strategy and market expansion, even when not raising a new private round.
The contrast between what a 2016 deck projected and subsequent events—such as a take‑private transaction and a second IPO—illustrates why investors should treat forward‑looking narratives as contingent rather than guaranteed outcomes.
Sector‑specific narratives (education plus corporate training) help investors understand both the stability and cyclicality of revenue streams in an edtech SaaS business.

Instructure pitch deck: common questions

What does Instructure’s 2016 investor deck say the company does?

Instructure’s 2016 investor deck focuses on its cloud‑based learning platforms, primarily **Canvas** for education and **Bridge** for corporate learning, positioning the company as a SaaS provider expanding from higher‑education LMS into broader enterprise training and development.

When was this Instructure deck used, and at what stage of the company?

The deck is dated August 2016, nearly a year after Instructure’s first IPO in November 2015, and functions as a late‑stage/public investor relations presentation rather than a private venture fundraising deck.

What was the purpose of Instructure’s August 2016 investor deck?

Based on the Slideshare listing and typical usage of such materials, the August 2016 investor deck was likely used for earnings‑related communications or technology investor conferences, providing updates on growth metrics, product expansion, and market strategy to existing and prospective public‑market investors.

Which products are emphasized in this Instructure investor presentation?

The deck highlights Canvas as Instructure’s core product for higher‑education and K‑12 institutions and Bridge as its corporate learning management system, illustrating how the company intended to grow by extending its SaaS platform into adjacent segments like corporate training.

How does the 2016 deck relate to Instructure’s later IPO and buyout activity?

The deck predates later events such as Instructure’s take‑private transaction with Thoma Bravo around 2020 and its subsequent second IPO in 2021, so its forward‑looking statements reflect management’s expectations at that time rather than these later outcomes.

Sources

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

Instructure pitch deck slides

Instructure pitch deck slide 1 of 28 — Instructure pitch deck — slide 1 of 28

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What each slide of the Instructure pitch deck says

Slide 2

FORWARDING LOOKING STATEMENTS & crructure NON-GAAP MEASURES This presentation and the accompanying oral commentary contain "forward-looking" statements, within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are based on our beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to us. Forward-looking statements include information concerning our possible or assumed future results of operations and financial performance, business strategies, potential growth opportunities and the effects of competition. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts and can be identified by terms such as "be…

Slide 3

INSTRUCTURE — that makes : PEOPLE SMARTER — 2 find import share or ——— mo Ray a or - ° EE = 1 Ey BEET

Slide 5

THE INSTRUCTURE STORY INSTRUCTURE I Recuring (2015 ~85%) I deterred Revenue Non-recurring (2015 ~15%; — Backlog $203M oo. 4 $73.2M $145M DE 05 b | $44.4M $92Mm storie Ed 8M 2012 2013 2014 2015 2013 2014 2015 $5.1 Billion ® Headquartered in Salt Lake City with 800 employees worldwide >100% retention revenue Offices in London, Sydney, Hong Kong, Brazil @ >2,000 customers in 40 countries’ ® Flagship products Canvas & Bridge 94% Customer Support Satisfaction @ 100% native cloud 1As of June 30, 2016

Slide 6

BUILDING SUPERIOR SOFTWARE THAT INSTRUCTURE MEETS EVOLVING CONSUMER DEMAND nN a = 2 5 oO oS -® da AA Consumerized Collaborative ald Mobile Engaging _ 2 mh

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