What is the primary product focus of Instructure according to this deck?

The deck highlights two main product lines: Canvas and Bridge. Canvas is their established Learning Management System (LMS) serving Higher Education and K-12 markets. Bridge is their newer corporate offering focused on workforce management, compensation, and recruiting. The growth strategy slide (Slide 10) shows Bridge as the most recent and significant expansion of their Total Addressable Market (TAM).

How does Instructure demonstrate financial health and predictability?

Instructure uses two primary metrics for predictability: Deferred Revenue and Backlog. Slide 16 shows that by December 2016, they had $76M in deferred revenue and $213M in backlog (future non-cancellable amounts). This visibility into future periods is paired with a net revenue retention rate of over 100%, indicating that existing customers spend more over time.

What is unique about the management slide in this deck?

Slide 13, titled 'Innovative Management,' eschews traditional corporate headshots for playful, themed photos. For example, the CEO is pictured as a welder, and the SVP General Counsel wears Mickey Mouse ears. Despite the visual humor, the text emphasizes serious professional backgrounds at companies like Microsoft, GE, Ancestry, and EMC Corp.

Is the company profitable based on the 2017 data provided?

No, the company was not yet profitable on a Net Loss basis as of Q3 2017. However, Slide 25 shows a clear trend toward narrowing losses. Net loss as a percentage of revenue improved from 44% in Q3 2015 to 19% in Q3 2017. Their operating loss followed a similar trajectory, suggesting they were scaling into profitability.

How does the company visualize its unit economics?

Slide 19 uses a 'High Customer Lifetime Value' graph to show the relationship between Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) and revenue. It illustrates a clear breakeven point early in the customer lifecycle, followed by a long-term 'Cumulative Contribution' that continues to rise through retention and renewal phases, though specific dollar amounts for CAC are not listed on this specific slide.

Instructure Pitch Deck (2017): 28-Slide Breakdown

See all 28 slides of the Instructure pitch deck — a 2017 deck in EdTech — with a slide-by-slide teardown of what the deck does well and where it falls short.

This 2017 investor deck from Instructure (the company behind Canvas) serves as a masterclass in post-IPO or late-stage reporting. It focuses heavily on the expansion from educational technology into the corporate sector via their 'Bridge' product. The deck is notable for its extreme financial transparency, providing nine consecutive quarters of Non-GAAP income statements and free cash flow reconciliations. While the initial slides focus on market opportunity and growth strategy, the latter half is a data-heavy validation of their business model, showcasing a deferred revenue climb from $32M t…

Key takeaways

The company identifies a $5.1 billion market opportunity in workforce management, compensation, and recruiting as of 2018 (Slide 7).
Growth strategy is visualized as a step-ladder, moving from Canvas Higher Ed (2011) to Canvas K-12 (2012), International (2014), and Bridge (2015) (Slide 10).
Management uses non-traditional, humorous photography to signal company culture while listing high-tier pedigree from EMC, Mozy, and Microsoft (Slide 13).
Deferred revenue grew from $32M in 2014 to $76M in 2016, providing significant predictability for future periods (Slide 16).
Backlog, defined as future non-cancellable amounts to be invoiced, reached $213M by the end of 2016 (Slide 16).
The business maintains a net revenue retention rate of greater than 100%, a critical SaaS health metric (Slide 22).
Revenue grew from $20.9M in Q3 2015 to $42.9M in Q3 2017, representing consistent quarterly scaling (Slide 25).
Operating loss as a percentage of revenue improved significantly from (43%) in Q3 2015 to (19%) in Q3 2017 (Slide 25).

Executive Summary and Brand Identity

Slide 1: Title Slide

The deck opens with a vibrant, multi-colored geometric pattern of overlapping circles. The brand name INSTRUCTURE is centered in white, bold sans-serif typography. There is no tagline or mission statement on the cover, relying entirely on brand recognition.

Slide 4: Product Overview Video

This slide is a placeholder for a video demonstration. It features the company name in a light grey box. In a live presentation, this serves as the transition from high-level branding to functional product proof. The inclusion of a dedicated video slide suggests that the software's user interface is a primary selling point.

Market Opportunity and Expansion Strategy

Slide 7: Substantial Market Opportunity

Instructure quantifies its expansion into corporate sectors. The slide identifies a $5.5 Billion opportunity in 2016 and a $5.1 Billion opportunity in 2018 for specific adjacencies: Performance Management, Workforce Management, Compensation Management, and Recruiting. Footnotes cite IDC and MarketsandMarkets as sources, providing third-party validation for these figures. The visual uses two grey semi-circles to represent the market sizes, though the 2018 figure is curiously lower than the 2016 figure, likely due to a narrower definition of 'Workforce Management' in the later projection as noted in footnote 4.

Slide 10: Growth Strategy

This slide presents a chronological 'step' chart of product launches. It starts with Canvas Higher Ed in 2011, followed by Canvas K-12 in 2012, Canvas International in 2014, and finally Bridge in 2015. The headline 'New Products + New Markets = Expanded TAM' clearly communicates their strategy of horizontal expansion. By 2017, all four revenue streams are shown as active and layered, suggesting a diversified income base.

Leadership and Predictability

Slide 13: Innovative Management

This slide features six key executives: Josh Coates (CEO), Steve Kaminsky (CFO), Matt Kaminer (SVP General Counsel), Mitch Macfarlane (COO), David Burggraaf (SVP Engineering), and Jeff Weber (SVP People and Places). The photos are intentionally humorous—featuring props like welding torches, milk mustaches, and bicycle helmets—which serves to highlight a unique corporate culture. However, the professional credentials listed underneath are formidable, citing experience at Microsoft, GE, VMware, and Mozy.com .

Slide 16: Enhanced Visibility into Future Periods

This is a critical slide for institutional investors. It breaks down two forms of future revenue. Deferred Revenue is shown growing from $32M (2014) to $76M (2016). Backlog , which they define as future non-cancellable amounts to be invoiced, grew from $113M to $213M in the same period. This 2x to 3x growth in contracted future revenue demonstrates a highly predictable and stable business model.

Business Model and Investment Highlights

Slide 19: High Customer Lifetime Value

This slide provides a conceptual graph of the SaaS business model. It plots 'Cumulative Contribution' against 'Lifetime.' A blue line representing revenue starts below the axis (representing Customer Acquisition Costs ), hits a Breakeven point, and then continues an upward trajectory through 'Acquire,' 'Retain,' and 'Renew' phases. While it lacks specific dollar values for CAC or LTV, it communicates the efficiency of their retention engine.

Slide 22: Investment Highlights

A summary slide using six icons to reiterate the core pitch: Rapid and Widespread Customer Adoption , Substantial Market Opportunity , Native Cloud-Based Platform , User-Experience Focus , Solid Revenue Growth , and Enhanced Visibility . Most importantly, it notes a Net Revenue Retention Greater than 100% , which is the gold standard for SaaS health, indicating that expansion revenue from existing customers outweighs churn.

Financial Performance

Slide 25: Non-GAAP Income Statement

This slide provides an exhaustive quarterly breakdown from Q3 2015 to Q3 2017. Key data points include:

Revenue: Grew from $20.9M to $42.9M. · Gross Margin: Improved from 68% to 72%. · S&M as % of Revenue: Decreased from 61% to 49%. · Operating Loss: Improved from ($9.1M) to ($8.3M), showing significant operating leverage as the loss percentage dropped from 43% to 19%.

This level of detail is typical for a public company or a late-stage private company preparing for an exit.

Slide 28: Free Cash Flow Reconciliation

The final slide in the teardown addresses cash flow. It shows the inherent seasonality of the EdTech business. For instance, Free Cash Flow was a positive $39.7M in Q3 2017, but a negative ($31.2M) in Q1 2017. This transparency helps investors understand the company's cash needs and the timing of their collections cycle, which is heavily weighted toward the start of the academic year.

What Works and What is Missing

What Works: The deck is exceptionally strong on financial validation. By providing nine quarters of data, Instructure proves that their growth isn't a fluke but a sustained trend. The clear distinction between deferred revenue and backlog provides a sophisticated view of their 'moat' and future stability. The use of culture-focused management photos is a bold choice that likely resonated well in the 2017 tech climate, humanizing a data-heavy presentation.

What is Missing: The deck is light on competitive analysis. While it mentions market size, it does not explicitly name competitors in the LMS (like Blackboard or Moodle) or the corporate space (like Workday or Cornerstone). Additionally, while the 'Bridge' product is mentioned as a growth driver, there are no specific case studies or logos of corporate clients to prove traction in that new segment. The 'Ask' is also omitted in this version of the deck, which is common for general investor relations presentations versus specific fundraising rounds.

Founder Takeaway

Founders should study Slide 16 and Slide 25. The way Instructure presents predictability (Backlog vs. Deferred Revenue) is exactly how high-growth SaaS companies should communicate their value to sophisticated investors. Furthermore, the 'Growth Strategy' ladder on Slide 10 is an excellent way to show how a company evolves from a niche product into a multi-market platform without losing its core identity. Finally, the financial transparency on Slide 25 shows that you don't need to be profitable to be an attractive investment, provided you can show a clear, data-backed trend of narrowing losses and improving margins.

Frequently asked questions

What is the primary product focus of Instructure according to this deck?: The deck highlights two main product lines: Canvas and Bridge. Canvas is their established Learning Management System (LMS) serving Higher Education and K-12 markets. Bridge is their newer corporate offering focused on workforce management, compensation, and recruiting. The growth strategy slide (Slide 10) shows Bridge as the most recent and significant expansion of their Total Addressable Market (TAM).
How does Instructure demonstrate financial health and predictability?: Instructure uses two primary metrics for predictability: Deferred Revenue and Backlog. Slide 16 shows that by December 2016, they had $76M in deferred revenue and $213M in backlog (future non-cancellable amounts). This visibility into future periods is paired with a net revenue retention rate of over 100%, indicating that existing customers spend more over time.
What is unique about the management slide in this deck?: Slide 13, titled 'Innovative Management,' eschews traditional corporate headshots for playful, themed photos. For example, the CEO is pictured as a welder, and the SVP General Counsel wears Mickey Mouse ears. Despite the visual humor, the text emphasizes serious professional backgrounds at companies like Microsoft, GE, Ancestry, and EMC Corp.
Is the company profitable based on the 2017 data provided?: No, the company was not yet profitable on a Net Loss basis as of Q3 2017. However, Slide 25 shows a clear trend toward narrowing losses. Net loss as a percentage of revenue improved from 44% in Q3 2015 to 19% in Q3 2017. Their operating loss followed a similar trajectory, suggesting they were scaling into profitability.
How does the company visualize its unit economics?: Slide 19 uses a 'High Customer Lifetime Value' graph to show the relationship between Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) and revenue. It illustrates a clear breakeven point early in the customer lifecycle, followed by a long-term 'Cumulative Contribution' that continues to rise through retention and renewal phases, though specific dollar amounts for CAC are not listed on this specific slide.

Cover slide of the Instructure pitch deck — Late Stage / Public 2017 — Instructure pitch deck, slide 1 (2017)

Instructure pitch deck: the facts

Company: Instructure
Year: 2017
Stage: Late Stage / Public
Slides: 28
Sector: EdTech / Enterprise SaaS
Deck type: Investor 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 Instructure’s **November 2017 investor deck**, a late-stage/public-company presentation filed after its 2015 IPO and used to communicate strategy and performance to public-market and institutional investors. The company positions itself as a dominant LMS provider in Higher Ed and K–12 via Canvas and as an emerging player in corporate learning via Bridge. The deck highlights a strategic push beyond education into an estimated **$5.1 billion workforce management / corporate learning market**, framing a transition from pure high growth toward greater operational efficiency. As a public EdTech/enterprise SaaS company with a market cap crossing $1 billion in 2017, the deck serves more as a growth and strategy story for public shareholders than a traditional private fundraising pitch.

Business model: Instructure provides **cloud-based learning management platforms** for academic institutions and companies worldwide, primarily through its Canvas LMS for education and Bridge for corporate learning.

Year: 2015
Investors: Public-market shareholders on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker INST after the 2015 IPO.
Founded: 2008
Founders: Brian Whitmer, Devlin Daley
Headquarters: Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Industry: Educational technology (EdTech) / Enterprise SaaS learning management systems

Round: Public company financing via IPO (completed prior to the 2017 deck).

Raised: Approximately $81 million gross proceeds in the initial public offering completed in late 2015.

Total funding: Approximately $90 million in venture capital raised prior to the 2015 IPO, including a $30M round in 2013 and a $40M pre-IPO round in 2015.

Use of funds as presented: IPO proceeds were used to fund continued growth of Canvas in education, expansion of Bridge in corporate learning, and general corporate purposes, as described in contemporaneous IPO coverage and company statements.

What happened after the Instructure deck

Following the narrative laid out in its 2017 investor deck, Instructure built on Canvas’s strong adoption in education while attempting to grow its Bridge and workforce offerings; it remained unprofitable for several years but sustained revenue growth and ultimately underwent strategic ownership changes, including a take-private transaction led by private equity, after its time as a public company

Instructure completed an **initial public offering on the NYSE (ticker INST)** in late 2015, raising approximately $81 m
By 2017, the company reported crossing a **$1 billion market cap**, with later coverage citing a market capitalization o
The company continued to grow Canvas’s footprint across higher education and K–12, becoming a leading LMS by enrollment
Subsequent years saw multiple ownership changes, including a move from public markets into private equity ownership, ind

What the Instructure deck got right

Public-market validation and scale. Instructure entered 2017 as a **public company with significant scale**, having IPO’d on the NYSE in 2015 and later crossing a $1B market cap, which lends credibility and maturity to the narrative presented in the deck.
Dominant position in education LMS. The company’s **Canvas LMS** had become a leading platform in U.S. higher education by enrollment and was widely adopted across K–12 and international markets, giving the deck a strong proof point around product-market fit and defensible market position.
Compelling workforce market expansion story. The deck frames a clear **adjacent growth opportunity** in a quantified $5.1B workforce management / corporate learning market, building on the earlier launch of Bridge and investors’ interest in corporate learning solutions.[existing_article_excerpt]
Strong historical revenue growth trajectory. Historical data in filings and coverage show **consistent revenue growth** from 2012 through the IPO period, which underpins the deck’s transition narrative from high growth toward improving operational efficiency.
Regulatory-compliant disclosure of forward-looking content. The inclusion of a dedicated **forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures** slide demonstrates regulatory awareness and transparent framing of projections, which is important for public-company investor communications.
Long execution track record supporting the narrative. The deck is backed by a decade-long story, from founding in 2008 through Canvas’s launch in 2011 and eventual IPO in 2015, giving investors a **longitudinal view of execution** rather than a short-term growth spike.

What could have been stronger

Unclear specific fundraising objective. The 2017 deck is an **investor relations presentation for an already-public company**, so it does not clearly specify a target raise amount, transaction type, or explicit capital needs, which makes it less actionable as a traditional fundraising pitch for new capital.
Profitable path framing vs. sustained operating losses. While the deck highlights moving from high growth to operational efficiency, public filings and coverage show that Instructure remained **loss-making for years after its IPO**, with growing net losses alongside revenue growth, raising investor questions about the timing and realism of a rapid profitability shift.
Workforce market opportunity more conceptual than evidenced. The expansion into a **$5.1B workforce management market** via Bridge and related products is ambitious, but available coverage focuses far more on Canvas’s dominance in higher education than on proven traction in corporate learning, suggesting that the deck may lean heavily on market sizing rather than demonstrated corporate wins.
Heavy use of forward-looking and non-GAAP metrics. The deck necessarily contains **forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures**, as explicitly disclosed in its forward-looking statements slide, which can reduce comparability and may leave conservative investors wanting more reconciled GAAP metrics and concrete unit economics.

How an investor would read this deck

What draws attention

How Canvas’s dominance in higher education and K–12 converts into durable, recurring subscription revenue and strong net retention metrics in a competitive LMS landscape.
The credibility of Bridge and workforce-focused offerings to capture a meaningful share of the **$5.1B workforce management / corporate learning market**, beyond theoretical TAM slides.
Evidence that operational efficiency initiatives can materially narrow losses without slowing top-line growth, given the company’s history of rising net losses alongside revenue expansion.
The strategic rationale and timing for any future strategic transaction (sale, take-private), given subsequent ownership changes and private equity interest.

Risks that stand out

Intense competition in LMS and corporate learning markets from incumbents and new entrants could erode Canvas’s share and limit Bridge’s ability to scale in the workforce segment.
Persistent operating losses despite strong revenue growth increase dependence on capital markets and heighten the risk of shareholder pressure or strategic transactions not fully aligned with long-term product vision.
The pivot into workforce management and corporate learning may stretch focus and resources away from the core higher education and K–12 segments that underpin the company’s brand and revenue base.
Heavy reliance on forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures may lead to misalignment between investor expectations and ultimately realized financial performance.

Questions this deck invites

What were Instructure’s GAAP revenue growth, gross margin, and operating margin trends in the years immediately preceding and following the 2017 deck, and how did those compare to the non-GAAP figures presented?
How much ARR and how many paying customers did Bridge and other corporate/workforce products contribute by 2017, and how did churn and expansion compare with the Canvas education segments?
What specific go-to-market motions, partnerships, or channel strategies underpinned the claim to capture part of the $5.1B workforce management market, and how much of that strategy was executed by 2019–2020?
How did the mix of education vs. corporate revenue evolve after 2017, and did the corporate segment ever reach meaningful scale relative to Canvas?
What changes in cost structure or operating discipline occurred between the IPO and the subsequent take-private transaction, and how do those validate or contradict the efficiency narrative in the 2017 deck?

What founders can take from the Instructure deck

A public-company investor deck can successfully function as a **strategic narrative tool**, showing how a dominant position in one segment (higher education and K–12 via Canvas) can be leveraged to enter adjacent markets (corporate learning and workforce management).
Explicitly quantifying a **new target market size** (e.g., a $5.1B workforce management market) helps investors understand the upside beyond the company’s existing core segment, but it works best when paired with clear evidence of traction in that new market.
As companies mature, investor decks often evolve from purely growth stories into **balanced growth-plus-efficiency narratives**, signaling attention to profitability and operational discipline in addition to top-line expansion.
Public-company decks need to clearly distinguish **forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures** from historical GAAP performance, both to comply with regulations and to maintain investor trust.
A strong brand and product footprint (Canvas in education) can be a powerful asset in storytelling, but decks must also show how that strength translates into sustainable economics and diversification rather than relying solely on adoption metrics.
For late-stage and public companies, investor decks double as **ongoing expectation-management tools**, shaping how existing shareholders perceive strategic pivots (like expansion into workforce markets) and future transactions.

Instructure pitch deck: common questions

What is Instructure’s 2017 investor deck and where did it come from?

Instructure’s 2017 investor deck is a 28-slide presentation published on Slideshare in November 2017 that outlines its strategy, financial trajectory, and market opportunities as a publicly traded EdTech and corporate learning company.

What products does Instructure focus on in this deck?

Instructure is best known for **Canvas**, a cloud-based learning management system used by colleges, universities, and K–12 school districts, and **Bridge**, a learning platform for corporate and workforce development.

Was the 2017 investor deck used for a private funding round?

By 2017, Instructure had already gone public on the NYSE under the ticker **INST** in an $81 million IPO in late 2015; the 2017 deck is aimed at public-market investors and analysts, not a private venture round.

What main growth story does Instructure present in the 2017 deck?

The deck emphasizes Instructure’s dominant position in education and its expansion into a **$5.1B workforce management / corporate learning market**, aiming to show how these segments can drive future revenue growth and margin improvement.[existing_article_excerpt]

How was Instructure performing in public markets around the time of the 2017 deck?

According to Instructure’s own company overview, it **hit a $1 billion market cap in 2017**, and contemporaneous coverage reported its stock trading in the mid-$40s with a market capitalization of over $1.5 billion, indicating the deck was presented during a period of strong public-market performance.

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

Instructure pitch deck slide 2 of 28 — Instructure pitch deck — slide 2 of 28

Instructure pitch deck slide 3 of 28 — Instructure pitch deck — slide 3 of 28

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What each slide of the Instructure pitch deck says

Slide 2

FORWARDING LOOKING STATEMENTS & NON-GAAP MEASURES INSTRUCTURE 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 "…

Slide 3

Slide 5

THE INSTRUCTURE STORY INSTRUCTURE I Recuring (2016 ~88%) ww I octorred Revenue [5 Non-recurring (2016 ~12%) $110.9M Backlog iE 289M 465% EDI \ +70% | sis s4a.4m an $26.1M ll fai] $113M 73m i IB = =u = i BH BE = B= $7.7 Billion 2013 2014 2015 2016 2013 2014 2015 2016 ® Headquartered in Salt Lake City with 1,000+ employees worldwide >100% retention revenue Offices in London, Sydney, Hong Kong, Brazil ® >3,000 customers in 50 countries’ ® Flagship products Canvas & Bridge 90% Customer Support Satisfaction @ 100% native cloud 1As of September 30, 2017

Slide 6

BUILDING SUPERIOR SOFTWARE THAT INSTRUCTURE MEETS EVOLVING CONSUMER DEMAND mM a Ls 2 A z Ane [SE] Consumerized Collaborative addi Mobile Engaging Ui TEE DEE

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