Lasse Chor Pitch Deck Teardown

Introduction and Context

This presentation, titled 'Angel Investors 101 ('n' stuff)...', was delivered by Lasse Chor at Aarhus University on November 1st, 2017. Unlike a standard startup pitch deck, this is an educational teardown of the fundraising process itself. It serves as a strategic guide for entrepreneurs, blending high-level theory with practical templates. The deck is designed to demystify the investor mindset and provide a repeatable framework for securing early-stage capital.

Slides 1-4: Setting the Stage

The opening slides establish the speaker's identity and the tone of the talk. Slide 1 provides contact information for Lasse Chor, including a Gmail address and a Danish phone number (+45 26 54 41 53). Slides 2 and 3 use bold, minimalist text to suggest that while some investment experiences are 'bad,' they 'could easily have been avoided!' This creates a hook for the audience, positioning the subsequent information as a preventative measure against common founder mistakes. Slide 4 asks the rhetorical question, 'What did I just tell you?' likely serving as a transition point in a live presentation to ensure audience engagement.

Slide 5: The Startup Lifecycle and the Valley of Death

Slide 5 features a standard industry chart mapping revenue against time. A large red box highlights the early stages of a company's life. This area includes the 'Valley of Death,' the period where a startup is pre-revenue or pre-break-even and relies entirely on external funding. The slide identifies the key players in this zone: Angels, FFF (Friends, Family, and Fools), and Seed Capital. It shows the transition from these early sources to VCs, Acquisitions/Mergers, and eventually the Public Market (IPO). This slide is crucial for founders to understand where they sit in the broader financial ecosystem.

Slide 6: The Pros and Cons of Business Angels

Slide 6 provides a balanced view of angel investors. Pros include their willingness to fund seed and early stages, their openness to all industry sectors, their significant business experience, and a generally short investment process. Cons are listed as potential interference in operations, a lack of follow-on capital for later rounds, and an 'expensive risk premium' in terms of equity. This slide helps founders manage their expectations when approaching individual investors versus institutional funds.

Slides 7-9: The Psychology of the Approach

Slide 7 simply says 'BEFORE...', leading into Slide 8, which compares two questions: 'Do you want to invest?' vs. 'Do you want to follow us?' The deck suggests that 'following' is a much easier 'yes' for an investor, allowing the founder to build a track record before asking for money. Slide 9 uses a meme of a man typing frantically to contrast 'Cold emailing' with 'Networking and introductions.' The visual humor reinforces the idea that cold outreach is often a high-effort, low-reward activity compared to the power of a warm introduction.

Slides 10-12: The Valuation Hurdle

Slide 10 and 11 introduce the concept of valuation using a visual of building blocks. Slide 12 breaks down the valuation process into three actionable steps. Step 1 is 'Do your homework,' which requires a solid spreadsheet, understanding cost/revenue structures, and using discounted cash flow models. Step 2 is 'Do desk research,' looking for public deals and market multiples. Step 3 is 'Ask around,' specifically targeting advisors or investors who are not currently looking at the deal to get an unbiased perspective. This structured approach removes the 'guesswork' often associated with early-stage valuations.

Slides 13-15: Strategic Fundraising Advice

Slide 13 advises founders to 'Raise as little as possible to take you to the next step' and introduces the term 'value inflection point.' This is a core principle of lean fundraising—only taking enough capital to reach a milestone that significantly increases the company's value. Slide 14 emphasizes understanding the investor's fund size and risk profile, while Slide 15 warns founders to 'Avoid getting a "maybe"!' A 'maybe' is often a slow 'no' that wastes a founder's time; Chor encourages getting to a definitive answer quickly.

Slide 16: The 'Never Send' Rule

Slide 16 is one of the most emphatic in the deck, stating: 'Never EVER send pitch deck before the presentation... Send a summary!' It includes a visual example of a one-page executive summary for a company called 'Canopy.' This summary includes a company profile, financial information (showing a $7.75 million pre-money value), management team, key milestones, and a pro-forma income statement. This tactic ensures the founder retains control over the first impression.

Slides 17-19: Timing and Templates

Slide 17 offers a counter-intuitive piece of advice: the best time to look for an investor is 'When you don't need the money!' This provides the founder with maximum leverage. Slide 18 introduces 'The perfect pitch deck' template by Danske Bank / The Hub. Slide 19 shows a title slide for a fictional or example company called 'HappyCamper' with the tagline 'Find your next guest,' dated May 2016.

Slides 20-22: The Anatomy of a Pitch Slide

Slide 20 provides a template for a 'Customer and Market Overview.' It defines two typical customers: the 'intro package' (a camper owner earning extra income) and the 'full package' (a professional renter fed up with booking management). It quantifies the market with specific data: '21m campers in US and Europe' and 'DKK200 million in yearly booking revenue.' Slide 21 is a blank 'Financial overview / metrics' table covering 2013 through 2016e, listing rows for Revenue, Variable costs, Contribution margin, EBITDA, and Liquidity. Finally, Slide 22 uses a rainbow bookend visual to explain that a pitch needs a strong opening and a concluding 'so that's why' statement to tie the narrative together.

What Works in This Deck

The deck excels at process education . It doesn't just tell founders to raise money; it explains the psychological barriers (Slide 8) and the tactical steps (Slide 12) required to do so effectively. The use of the 'Valley of Death' chart (Slide 5) provides immediate clarity on the purpose of early-stage capital. Furthermore, the 'Never Send' rule (Slide 16) is a high-value piece of advice that protects founders from being screened out prematurely. The inclusion of a concrete market overview template (Slide 20) gives founders a clear example of how to balance qualitative customer personas with quantitative market data.

What Is Missing

Because this is a presentation about pitching rather than a pitch for a specific company, it lacks several traditional elements. There is no specific 'Ask' slide detailing how much capital is being raised or how it will be spent. There is no competitive landscape analysis, which is a staple of startup decks. Additionally, while it mentions 'unit economics' in the financial table (Slide 21), it does not provide an example of a completed unit economics slide, which is often the most scrutinized part of a seed-stage pitch. The deck also omits a deep dive into product-market fit , focusing more on the mechanics of the deal than the underlying business model.

Founder Takeaways

Founders should emulate the 'Summary First' approach demonstrated on Slide 16. Creating a high-density, one-page executive summary is a powerful way to get meetings without giving away the entire story. The valuation methodology on Slide 12 is also a best practice; founders often struggle to justify their numbers, and Chor’s three-pillar approach (Homework, Research, Asking) provides a defensible foundation. Finally, the concept of the 'Value Inflection Point' (Slide 13) should be the North Star for any fundraise—founders should always be able to articulate exactly what milestone the current round of funding will buy them, and how that milestone leads to a higher valuation in the future.