Nearby’s 2013 pitch deck for the Startup Underground conference focuses on solving the 'last mile' problem in travel: finding accommodations and venues based on actual transit time rather than geographic radius. The company positioned itself as an Expedia Affiliate Network partner, projecting 223,000 EUR in first-year commission income. The deck is notable for its use of a cartoon mascot, 'Jamie,' to illustrate user pain points and its specific two-phase funding request totaling up to 255,000 EUR. While it identifies a clear UX gap in 2013-era travel apps—the need to toggle between booking si…
Key takeaways
- The product aims to eliminate the manual 'back-and-forth' between booking sites like Kayak and Google Maps transit directions (Slide 3).
- Nearby utilizes an offline database for places and transport to provide commute-based search results (Slide 5).
- The service was active in London and Budapest in 2013, with New York listed as 'coming soon' (Slide 7).
- Revenue is primarily driven by a 3.5% average commission as part of the Expedia Affiliate Network (Slide 9).
- The founders projected 185,000 EUR in income if they captured 1% of London conference travel hotel nights (Slide 9).
- Marketing strategy focuses on B2B partnerships with conference and exhibition organizers (Slide 11).
- The team includes a Software Engineer with travel industry experience and an Online Marketing Specialist (Slide 13).
- The funding ask is split into two phases: 55,000 EUR for the first 6 months and up to 200,000 EUR for the following 6 months (Slide 15).
Nearby Pitch Deck Teardown
The Nearby pitch deck, presented at the Startup Underground (SUU) 2013 conference, is a time capsule of early mobile travel technology. At a time when mobile UX was still fragmented, Nearby sought to bridge the gap between discovery and logistics. The deck is structured around a central character, Jamie, who guides the investor through the user journey, the market problem, and the financial opportunity.
Slide 1: Title Slide
The cover slide is minimalist, featuring the company name Nearby Hotels , the conference name Startup Underground 2013 , and the presenter Adam Nemeth . It also includes a timestamp: Thu Apr 04 2013 . A hand-drawn cartoon character, later identified as Jamie, appears on the right, establishing a friendly, non-corporate tone that persists throughout the presentation.
Slide 3: The Problem Statement
Slide 3, titled How is it handled now? , uses a flow diagram to illustrate a common 2013 user frustration. It shows logos for Hotels.com, Booking.com, Hipmunk, and Kayak inside a bracket. An arrow points from these booking engines to Google Maps transit directions . The text for each hotel is centered in a circle, highlighting the repetitive nature of checking transit times for every search result. The mascot Jamie is shown looking frustrated, emphasizing the friction in the current multi-app workflow.
Slide 5: The Solution and UX Flow
Titled Finding a place locally , this slide provides a step-by-step walkthrough of the app's interface. It starts with a user thought bubble: This place scks. Anything good within 10 minutes? The flow shows the user selecting Bars Within 10 minutes . The app then displays a loading screen for Looking up offline place DB & transport . The final screens show a Nearby Walking result (none found) followed by a Nearby Commute result listing 3 bars with star ratings (e.g., Bar A 4.7 ). The final step shows specific transit instructions: Go to... Take bus 7 Get off at... . This slide effectively demonstrates the core value proposition: commute-based discovery.
Slide 7: Geographic Availability
Slide 7, Available for , lists the current and future markets. The service was already live in London and Budapest . New York is listed as coming soon . The slide also makes a bold expansion claim: more than 90 cities after the first year of production run in case of partnership . This suggests that the technology is scalable, provided they can secure the necessary transit and location data partnerships.
Slide 9: Business Model and Financial Projections
Under the heading Where's the money? , the deck explains its participation in the Expedia Affiliate Network . Key figures include:
3.5% : The average hotel commission for affiliates in the network. · 185,000 EUR : Projected income from a single year if 1% of conference travel hotel nights in London were booked through the app. · 223,000 EUR : Total calculated income through commissions in the first full operational year.
The slide also mentions Location Based Mobile Advertising as a secondary revenue source. A cartoon of Jamie sleeping in a bed accompanies these figures, perhaps implying the 'passive' nature of affiliate income once the user is acquired.
Slide 11: Marketing Strategy
Slide 11, How will it be marketed? , shifts focus from general consumers to a B2B2C approach. The founders plan to target conference and exhibition organizers , positioning Nearby as a tool to handle attendee accommodation. They use Vienna as a benchmark, citing more than 500 conferences a year (Source: Vienna Yearbook 2011) and asserting that London likely has more than twice that amount. This is a focused 'wedge' strategy designed to acquire high-intent users at a lower cost than broad search engine marketing.
Slide 13: The Team
The Meet the team.... slide introduces the two human founders and the mascot:
Adam Nemeth (Software Engineer) : Previously a Technical Architect at Ea (Online Travel Industry) and a Developer/UX Designer at Na Locations & Commerce. The redacted names likely refer to Expedia and Nokia, given the context. · Konrad Berenyi (Online Marketing Specialist) : Previously worked at Index , Ringier , and Origo in the online publishing industry. · Jamie (Cartoon Mascot) : Designed by Aniko Szalay .
This slide establishes strong domain expertise, particularly with Nemeth's background in both travel and location services.
Slide 15: The Ask
The final slide, For this we'd need , outlines a two-phase funding roadmap:
1st Phase (Months 1-6) : 55,000 EUR to hire a team, legalize licenses, and acquire map data. · 2nd Phase (Months 6-12) : 175,000 - 200,000 EUR for ad placements and transport data.
In exchange, the founders offer share of ownership for both phases. The mascot Jamie is shown with his pockets turned out, a literal representation of the need for capital.
What Nearby Does Well
Nearby excels at identifying a specific, high-friction user experience problem. In 2013, the 'tab-switching' between a booking site and a map was a genuine pain point for travelers. By focusing on commute time rather than radius , they addressed how people actually navigate cities. The decision to target conference organizers is a smart, niche marketing strategy that avoids a direct, expensive head-on battle with giants like Kayak or TripAdvisor for general search traffic. Furthermore, the team slide demonstrates clear 'founder-market fit,' with direct experience in the exact industries (travel and location data) required to build the product.
What is Missing from the Deck
The deck is missing several critical components that modern investors would expect. First, there is no Competitive Landscape slide. While they mention the booking giants as part of the 'problem,' they don't address other emerging transit-heavy apps of the era like Citymapper. Second, the Unit Economics are vague. While they cite a 3.5% commission, they do not calculate the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) through their conference partner channel. Third, the Technology slide is light on detail; they mention an 'offline database,' but don't explain how they maintain or sync transit data across 90 planned cities, which is a massive technical undertaking. Finally, the Exit Strategy is omitted, leaving investors to wonder if the goal is an acquisition by a larger travel OTA (Online Travel Agency).
Founder's Guide: What to Copy and What to Avoid
Copy the 'User Journey' storytelling. Using a mascot like Jamie to walk through a specific frustration and its solution makes the product's value proposition immediately clear. It transforms a dry technical feature (transit integration) into a relatable benefit. Copy the phased funding approach. By breaking the ask into two 6-month blocks with specific milestones (hiring/licensing vs. scaling/ads), the founders show they have a tactical plan for the capital rather than just asking for a lump sum.
Avoid the '1% of the market' fallacy. Slide 9 calculates revenue based on capturing 1% of London conference travelers. Investors generally dislike this 'top-down' math because it doesn't explain how that 1% is captured. It is better to show a 'bottom-up' model: 'We will partner with 5 conferences, each has 10,000 attendees, we expect a 10% download rate and a 2% booking rate.' Avoid using 'share of ownership' as a placeholder. While you may not want to put a valuation in a deck, you should be specific about the type of instrument (e.g., Convertible Note, SAFE) or the specific goals that the equity will unlock.
Frequently asked questions
- What was the primary problem Nearby aimed to solve?
- In 2013, travelers had to manually check transit directions for every potential hotel they found on booking sites. Nearby integrated these two steps, allowing users to search for hotels or bars specifically within a '10-minute commute' or walking distance, using an integrated offline database of locations and transport routes.
- How did Nearby plan to generate revenue?
- The company operated as an affiliate. Specifically, they were part of the Expedia Affiliate Network, earning an average commission of 3.5% on hotel bookings. They also mentioned the potential to add location-based mobile advertising to the app as a secondary revenue stream.
- What was the specific marketing angle for the startup?
- Rather than broad consumer marketing, Nearby planned to target conference and exhibition organizers. They cited that Vienna hosts over 500 conferences a year and London likely hosts double that, suggesting a niche strategy where the app is offered to attendees to handle their local accommodation and transit needs.
- What were the technical qualifications of the founding team?
- Adam Nemeth is listed as the Software Engineer with a background as a Technical Architect in the online travel industry and a UX Designer in the location-based services industry. Konrad Berenyi is the Online Marketing Specialist with experience at several publishing and media firms like Index and Ringier.
- How much capital was the company seeking in this deck?
- The deck outlines a two-phase requirement. Phase 1 requested 55,000 EUR to hire a team and secure licenses/map data. Phase 2 requested between 175,000 and 200,000 EUR for ad placements and transport data. In exchange, they offered a 'share of ownership' for each phase, though specific equity percentages were not disclosed.
