Dropbox Preseed Deck Breakdown

This pitch deck has 17 slides. A few key things to pay attention to:

1. Focus on the problem (I always tell you guys, make sure the villain is scary or nobody will care about your solution, they nail this!)

2. Unique Value Proposition (They do a great job of explaining why they are different and how much better they are).

Slide 1: Introduction

We talk a lot about the importance of setting the perspective. That one-liner under your company name is often overlooked but it’s truly the first chance you have to tell an investor what you do or how you help. They nail theirs! Make sure you are paying attention to yours.

Slide 2: Problem (1/3)

I often advocate for multiple problem slides and you’ll see this strategy executed perfectly in this deck. I want to draw your attention to the image used. It is intended to evoke an emotional response. Either you think, “Hey thats me, I want to fix this,” or you think “That looks horrible, that person really needs to get organized.” Either way, you instantly see the value in “organized files” and have an emotional connection with the problem.

Slide 3: Problem (2/3)

Here they continue to ANIMATE the problem and bring it to life. I’d always recommend at least 2 problem slides so that one can explain the problem while the other animates it.

Slide 4: Problem (3/3)

This is a tactic I like to employ. By mentioning the ways that your competitors and/or potential customers are trying to solve the problem you indirectly demonstrate the demand for your product to investors while still animating the problem.

One of the biggest concerns investors have is whether your problem is really one people will NEED a solution for, this indirectly puts that question to bed. Very strategic way of influencing an investor.

Slide 5: Future Vision

On Sunday I sent an email (here) talking about the importance of showing what the future will look like once your product is widely adopted. This is key because it creates a story that has movement. Investors can see the transformation from customers who are struggling to striving.

Slide 6: Product

Two points to note:
1. No rush to get to the product slide. Most founders try to get to this in the first four slides. Focus on the problem over the product!
2. Show the value proposition, not the features. Listing a bunch of features is just confusing. Showing the value allows this slide to fit into your wider narrative.

Slide 7: Demo

When you finish the natural arc of any story your social status is low and people won’t pay attention to you. This applies whether you are at the bar with friends and everyone wants you to shut up after your story so they can chat or in a boardroom. It’s basic psychology. Using a Demo allows you to advance your pitching without “hogging the spotlight”. Instead of you continuing to speak you are allowing the product to do the speaking and reengaging investors mentally with a dopamine hit from getting to see/use the product.

Slide 8: Why Now?

An overlooked slide. Most purchases/investments are made because they need to be made immediately. If an investor can just wait 6 months to choose to invest then they will. It makes logical sense, they will have more data and less risk. You need to explain why now so that they understand this is a company with a window of opportunity. This slide also must explain why nobody has done this before. Often if it’s such a great idea investors will wonder why you are the first to tackle it. Showing why the opportunity didn’t exist previously can tame these concerns.

Slide 9: Competition

If you use the strategy we saw in the third problem slide of showing current ways the problem is being solved then you need to dedicate at least 2 slides to showing how you are better to those alternatives and existing competitors. If there is another way to solve the problem investors need to know you are far and away the best solution to even consider investing. (Every strategy comes with a risk, it’s about knowing how to mitigate those risks)

Slide 10: Competition

Here we can see another competition slide that is focused specifically on corporate competitors and not just all possible ways of solving the problem.

Slide 11: Competition

Again here, the team understood the need to differentiate themselves after showing that there was existing competition and solutions to the problem.

Slide 12: Execution Ability

Here we see the team start to explain why they can win and why they can execute. They are pitching themselves and why investors should believe that they can deliver on their promises.

Slide 13: Execution Ability

This is a great example of how a TEAM slide needs to be focused on execution ability. The information is specifically to show what they have done that shows that they can perform.

Slide 14: Business Model

Always explain how you will/can make money even if you aren’t monetizing, this is a business, not a project.

Slide 15: Product Explainer

This isn’t necessary and the placement towards the back but not at the end is really telling about how Dropbox wanted this slide but knew it wasn’t key. For any wrestling fans, think of your second-to-last content topic as the second-to-last match on a card. It’s generally the match where people go to the bathroom or get a breather before the main event. Talk about something that isn’t key but that you feel could be “Cool”.

Slide 16: Traction

We all know that traction is key. Personally, I wouldn’t leave it till this late but the company had a very strong narrative and wanted to end on a high. I don’t think this is a poor strategy (maybe not optimal).

Slide 17: Traction

A quote to backup the content from the last slide. Today we know that word of mouth and referrals were the key to Dropbox’s success at the time this would have been important to validate that strategy.

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Liam Gill

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