MyiArts is a social marketplace platform targeting the visual arts sector, aiming to connect artists, enthusiasts, and cultural organizations. The deck identifies core pain points such as poor promotion for artists and a lack of tailored discovery for buyers. With a claimed 20,000 pre-registered users, the company proposes a four-pronged revenue strategy including premium accounts, marketplace commissions (10-20%), event promotion, and data analytics. While the deck features strong ambassador support and a clear competitive landscape, it lacks specific financial projections, a detailed techni…
Key takeaways
- The platform targets a three-sided marketplace: artists, art enthusiasts, and cultural organizations (Slide 2).
- MyiArts claims to have secured 20,000 pre-registered users prior to the full launch (Slide 4).
- Revenue is generated through four streams: event promotion, premium accounts ($9.90-$19.90), marketplace commissions, and data analytics (Slide 6).
- The team includes a mix of creative and technical roles, led by a Founder/CEO who is also a sculptor (Slide 7).
- Competitive positioning places MyiArts as a bridge between 'Inform/Showcase' platforms like Behance and 'Sale/Curate' platforms like Saatchi Art (Slide 5).
- The deck cites a 2015 Deloitte report stating 47% of art professionals believe online businesses will increase demand for art investments (Slide 10).
- Exit strategies are explicitly mapped out, targeting major tech firms like Amazon, Google, and Facebook as potential acquirers (Slide 9).
- Marketplace commissions are projected to range between 10% and 20% per transaction (Slide 6).
Slide-by-Slide Analysis
Slide 1: Title Slide
The cover slide features the MyiArts logo—a stylized 'm' and 'a'—placed on a physical sketchbook surrounded by art supplies like brushes, paints, and palettes. The tagline is 'Discover your kind of art.' The imagery clearly establishes the creative industry focus, though it leans more toward traditional physical media than digital art.
Slide 2: Art Community Issues
This slide uses a triangle graphic to illustrate the interconnected problems of three stakeholders. Artists suffer from poor promotion and lack of visibility. Art Enthusiasts struggle with discovery tailored to taste and budget. Cultural Organizations need better access to buyers and artists. By placing the MyiArts logo in the center of this triangle, the deck positions the company as the essential connector for the ecosystem.
Slide 3: MyiArts Soul
This slide focuses on the value proposition for Visual Artists . It lists benefits such as showcase/recognition, connection, and revenue. A product mockup shows a profile page on a laptop, suggesting a web-based platform where artists can display work with 'minimal costs' while remaining visible to the other two stakeholders identified in the previous slide.
Slide 4: Traction and Partnerships
Titled 'Who believes in us,' this slide provides the deck's strongest evidence of early momentum. It claims 20,000 Pre-Registered Users . Below this, it lists institutional partnerships including the Arte Institute , Art Attack , The Art Institutes , MIT Media Lab , and Academy of Art University . It also features six 'Ambassadors,' ranging from radio celebrities to audio engineers, intended to provide social proof across different creative sectors.
Slide 5: Competition
The 'Art Community Players' slide categorizes competitors into two groups: Inform / Showcase (DeviantArt, Flickr, Pinterest, Dribbble, Behance, Instagram) and Sale / Curate (Saatchi Art, Artsy, Artspace, Art.com, Artfinder). MyiArts uses a bracket to indicate that it occupies the space between these two categories, implying it offers both social discovery and transactional capabilities.
Slide 6: Business Model
The revenue strategy is broken down into four distinct tiers:
Arts and Events Promotion: Paid advertising for events. · Premium Accounts: Subscription fees of $9.90 for artists and $19.90 for cultural organizations. · Commission on Marketplace: A transaction fee between 10% - 20% . · Data Analytics: Selling insights on market segments and platform trends.
This is a diversified model, though the deck does not specify the projected mix of these revenue streams.
Slide 7: Team
The team slide, titled 'Why us...', introduces four core members. Ivan Braz is listed as Founder/CEO/CTO and a sculptor, which suggests a founder-market fit but also a potential bottleneck by holding three major titles. Dulce Guarda is the Co-Founder/CMO. The slide also lists several advisors and business angels, including Metavallon , indicating some level of early-stage institutional or incubator support.
Slide 8: Contact Slide
A standard closing slide with the company URL, a contact email for Dulce Guarda, and a Portuguese phone number (+351). The call to action is 'If you Like it, Art it!' , which appears to be a branded social interaction term for the platform.
Slide 9: Exit Strategies
This slide is unusually detailed for an early-stage deck. It lists Demand Media, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Facebook as potential acquirers. It also includes a list of 'Investments' in the sector from 2013-2014, citing raises from competitors like Artsy ($18.5M) and Etsy ($10M) . This is intended to show investors that the sector is active and that there is a clear path to liquidity.
Slide 10: Market Context
Titled 'Did you know...', this slide functions as a 'Why Now' slide. It quotes a 2015 Deloitte report and various venture capitalists (Christian Leybold, Christian G. Nagel) to argue that the art market is moving toward transparency and digital investment. It highlights that 47% of art professionals believe online business will increase demand, framing the venture as part of a larger macroeconomic shift.
What MyiArts Does Well
The deck excels at ecosystem mapping . By identifying three distinct user groups (artists, enthusiasts, organizations) and explaining the specific pain points for each, the founders demonstrate a deep understanding of the art world's fragmentation. The inclusion of 20,000 pre-registered users is a significant traction point that suggests market validation before a full launch.
The competitive analysis is also well-structured. Instead of claiming they have no competitors, the founders acknowledge the giants in the space (Instagram, Behance, Saatchi) and clearly define their niche as the bridge between social showcasing and professional curation. This makes the 'why us' argument more credible to an investor who knows the crowded nature of the art-tech space.
What is Missing from the Deck
The most glaring omission is a specific capital ask . While the deck outlines how they will spend money (implied by the business model), it never states how much they are raising or what the specific milestones for that funding will be. There are no financial projections, burn rate estimates, or a breakdown of how the 20,000 pre-registered users will be converted into paying premium members.
Furthermore, the technical roadmap is absent. Given that the platform aims to handle marketplaces, social networking, and data analytics, the 'how' is just as important as the 'what.' With the CEO also acting as the CTO, investors would likely want to see a more robust engineering plan or a dedicated full-time technical lead who isn't also managing the entire company.
Founder Takeaways: What to Copy
Use a Multi-Sided Problem Slide: If your business relies on a marketplace, don't just list the problem for the buyer. The MyiArts 'triangle' approach (Slide 2) is an excellent way to show how your solution creates a virtuous cycle between different user types.
Contextualize the Exit: Slide 9 is a strong example of how to prove a market is 'hot.' By listing recent raises of competitors and specific reasons why a tech giant would want to acquire the company (e.g., 'Entrance in a new market'), you make the investment feel like a calculated risk with a known endgame.
Leverage Ambassadors: If you don't have revenue yet, social proof is your best currency. Listing specific, named ambassadors from relevant industries (Slide 4) helps build the 'trust' that the deck itself identifies as the biggest challenge in the art market.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the primary problem MyiArts is trying to solve?
- According to Slide 2, the company addresses 'Art Community Issues' across three segments. For artists, the problems are poor promotion, lack of visibility, and difficult connections. For enthusiasts, it is a lack of discovery for art tailored to taste and budget. For cultural organizations, it is the 'craving' for new buyers and artists, as well as the need for tailored updates for their customers.
- How does MyiArts plan to generate revenue?
- Slide 6 outlines a multi-layered business model. This includes charging for Arts and Events Promotion, offering Premium Accounts ($9.90 for artists and $19.90 for cultural organizations), taking a 10-20% commission on marketplace sales, and eventually selling data analytics regarding market segments and platform trends.
- Who are the key members of the MyiArts team?
- As shown on Slide 7, the core team consists of Ivan Braz (Founder/CEO/CTO and Sculptor), Dulce Guarda (Co-Founder/CMO and Writer), Pedro Esteves (CTO), and Luís Sousa (Head of UX/UI). The deck also lists several advisors and business angels, including Amit Bhargava and Hitesh Saini.
- What kind of traction has the company achieved?
- The primary traction metric provided is on Slide 4, which claims 20,000 pre-registered users. The slide also lists several 'Ambassadors' from various creative fields (radio, photography, filmmaking) and partnerships with institutions like the Arte Institute and the Academy of Art University to bolster credibility.
- What is the exit strategy for MyiArts?
- Slide 9 identifies three categories of acquisition targets. First, existing marketplaces like Amazon or Demand Media (Society6/Saatchi). Second, large tech ecosystems like Google and Microsoft looking for social platforms. Third, social giants like LinkedIn and Facebook as a means to enter a new vertical market.
