Storeboard Pitch Deck Teardown: A 2018 Vision for Local

Deck Overview and Strategy

The Storeboard investor presentation from February 2018 is a product-centric deck that attempts to bridge the gap between local business directories and social media platforms. The core thesis is that the traditional small business website is an inefficient 'island' that costs too much to maintain and fails to capture community traffic. Storeboard proposes a centralized network where every business has a uniform, feature-rich profile that is easier for consumers to navigate and cheaper for owners to manage.

Slide 1: Title Slide

The cover slide introduces the company name, Storeboard.com, and the tagline 'Innovating Search For Businesses, Products, and Services.' It is dated February 2018. The branding is clean, though the tagline is somewhat generic, focusing on the utility of search rather than the social or community aspects emphasized later in the deck.

Slide 2: The Value Proposition of the Standard Profile

This slide uses a comparison table to contrast a traditional 'Website' with the 'Storeboard Standard Profile.' It identifies six key advantages: navigation, sharing, cost, marketing, interaction, and updates. The deck claims that while websites are 'Time Consuming' and 'Stand Alone Like an Island,' the Storeboard profile is 'Easy,' 'Free,' and 'Part of a Broader Community.' This is a classic 'Old Way vs. New Way' slide intended to establish the necessity of the platform.

Slide 3: Product Features and Freemium Model

Slide 3 provides a visual mockup of a profile for 'Metro Shelving Products.' It lists the components of a 'Complete Profile,' which include descriptions, products, images, videos, blogs, promotions, services, events, PDFs, menus, social links, and 'raves' (reviews). The slide also introduces the business model, categorizing features into 'Freemium' (visibility, reviews, chat, conferencing) and 'Premium' (marketing, vendor, and e-commerce solutions). This slide effectively shows the depth of the product but lacks a clear UI/UX hierarchy.

Slide 4: Customer Feedback and Social Proof

This slide focuses on 'raves' or customer reviews. It features a screenshot of 'Bubbas Handyman Service' in Richmond, VA. A large arrow points to the metric '44 customer reviews or raves.' The dates on the reviews shown are from late 2012 and 2014, which, for a 2018 deck, might suggest a lag in recent data or a reliance on older case studies to prove the concept of social interaction.

Slide 5: B2B Applications and Licensing Traction

Storeboard moves beyond the individual business to show how its technology can be packaged for larger entities. It highlights three applications: Shopping Centers, Directories, and Advertisers. Crucially, this slide provides a hard metric: '16 licensing deals closed in 2014.' It lists logos for COAL, Rock Products, and Lobos Services as partners. This is the strongest evidence of product-market fit in the deck, though again, the data is four years old at the time of the presentation.

Slide 6: Shopping Center and Mall Application

This slide elaborates on the mall-specific use case. It features a directory map and a list of stores (e.g., Grand Central Terminal). The key features highlighted are the ability for consumers to 'View Products on Store Shelves' and for shops to use 'Push Button Notifications' to reach nearby customers. This positions Storeboard as a 'hyper-local' marketing tool, moving it closer to the functionality of apps like Foursquare or Yelp.

Slide 7: Market Opportunity and Valuation Benchmarks

To justify the investment, Storeboard points to the global market of 150 million businesses (23 million in the U.S.). It then lists the valuations of major social platforms as of January 30, 2018: Facebook at $500B, LinkedIn at $26B, and Yelp at $3.63B. The implication is that Storeboard, by combining elements of all three, has a high valuation ceiling. However, the deck does not provide a current valuation for Storeboard itself or a specific financial projection.

Slide 8: Revenue Sources

The final slide in this selection detail six revenue streams. These include Licensing Services, Premium Packages, Social Media Services, Product Sales (a marketplace similar to Amazon), Targeted Advertising (PPC/Impressions), and Affiliate Sales/Joint Ventures. The mention of partners like Regus, Staples, Chase Bank, and UPS under affiliate sales suggests a strategy of targeting the small business back-office spend, though it is unclear if these are active partnerships or intended targets.

What Works in This Deck

Clear Problem/Solution Fit: The comparison table on Slide 2 clearly articulates why a small business owner might prefer a platform profile over a standalone website. It hits on the pain points of cost and technical difficulty.

Diversified Revenue Model: Slide 8 shows a sophisticated understanding of how to monetize a platform. By not relying solely on advertising, Storeboard demonstrates multiple paths to sustainability, including B2B licensing and e-commerce.

Specific Use Cases: The inclusion of the mall application (Slide 6) and the handyman case study (Slide 4) helps investors visualize exactly how the product functions in the real world.

What Is Missing from This Deck

Recent Traction Data: The most specific traction metric provided is from 2014 (16 licensing deals). In a 2018 deck, the four-year gap is a significant red flag. Investors would want to see 2016 and 2017 growth metrics, active user counts, and current revenue.

The Team Slide: The provided slides do not include a team slide. For a platform attempting to compete in a crowded space against giants like Yelp, the pedigree and technical capability of the founders are critical factors that are omitted here.

The Ask: There is no mention of how much capital the company is seeking, the valuation of the current round, or the specific milestones they intend to reach with the funding.

Financials and Unit Economics: While revenue sources are listed, there are no historical financials or projections. There is also no mention of Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) or Lifetime Value (LTV), which are essential for platform businesses.

Founder Takeaways

Update Your Traction: If you are pitching in 2024, do not use 2020 metrics as your primary proof of growth. It suggests the business has plateaued or that you are reusing an old deck without new successes to report.

Avoid 'Valuation by Association': Listing the market caps of Facebook and LinkedIn does not make your startup worth billions. It is better to show your own growth rate and how your specific unit economics will scale to a large market.

Focus on the 'Why Now': Storeboard's argument about websites being 'islands' was strong in 2018, but in the current era of Linktree, Shopify, and Instagram Shops, the competitive landscape has shifted. Founders must explain why their specific aggregation model is superior to the current ecosystem of easy-to-use social commerce tools.