Open Forest Protocol Deck Breakdown

Slide 1: Introduction

Strong opening slide with a great opening line to describe the business. While the sentence might not mean much to you, it connects with social-minded investors that they would have targeted.

Slide 2: Perspective Framer

A key theme in my newsletter, coaching and consulting, is the importance of providing context around your company. You can’t just describe WHAT you are building. You need to show WHY.

This slide provides the context for the rest of the pitch. It tells you why you should care, who the product provides value to and how it can improve the world.

You can see themes here that people love:
- The Many vs The Few
- Democratization
- Equal Opportunity
- Environmental Good

These get investors looking at the deck based on its social impact (which they need to care about, or they are a bad person) instead of the financial opportunity. This is what companies like WeWork and Theranos did so well to raise without strong products.

Slide 3: The Problem (1/2)

As we do more of this breakdown, I hope you are noticing a trend: Most successful companies have more than one problem slide.

To get someone invested in your company, it needs to solve a BIG problem they care about. One slide often isn’t enough to create a villain in the investor’s mind that they care about beating.

Also, note the use of the rule of threes here; they describe the market as Exclusive, Expensive and Slow. Now, those are three clear things they can solve.

Slide 4: Potential (2/2)

The second problem slide doubles down on the WHY. That first slide is enough to explain the problem that the solution solves. What it doesn’t do is tell you WHY that matters.

A great way to think of your two problem slides is this: one is the pain being felt, and the other is the diagnosis of why that pain is being felt.

In this slide, we see that most. Restoration areas can’t access MRV (the pain); in the previous slide, we see it because MRV is reclusive, expensive and slow (the diagnosis).

Most founders only have the “diagnosis” slide. The truth is NOBODY cares about healing arthritis; what they care about is getting rid of the pain it causes. If you pitch a solution to arthritis, it’s infinitely more powerful if you mention the pain it causes and how that will be relieved.

Slide 5: Market (1/2)

While labelled “The Opportunity” this is truly a market slide. Opportunity slides should only exist when pitching a vitamin. When you have a painkiller, then there is already a market, so you focus on the market and how it will grow, not on “opportunity” which is less quantifiable.

That aside, this is a great way of using the principles I used in trend stacking and combining them earlier in the pitch with the traditional market slide.

Slide 6: Market (2/2)

A more traditional market slide here shows the size of the market over time.

Slide 7: Solution

Again, I’ll highlight that, like in the Airbnb or Dropbox decks’ the solution is NOT a top 5 slide. Take your time to explain WHY people should care about your solution before explaining WHAT it is.

This slide also does a great show of explaining WHAT without distracting from WHY. By immediately tying them together, you keep the high-level narrative going without switching an investor’s brain from social (storytelling) to rational thought (analysis).

Slide 8: Competition

“Challenging the Status Quo” is a great title that continues their narrative here of disrupting a massive space that has blocked out the little guys.

Slide 9: Product

Clearly explain how your solution works in practice. Investors NEED to understand what they are investing in.

Slide 10: Traction

Their ecosystem is really just a social way of showing traction.

Slide 11: Team

A very unique way to show their team slide. It uses a format often used on the competitor slide. This is perfectly executed. It will slightly shock investors and get them to take a second look, which will help them digest the information. A risky strategy executed perfectly!

Slide 12: Closing Slide

No “Thank You”. A nice collaborative message that reminds the investor of the WHY of the company. Perfect ending. I'm not a huge fan of having a Head of Growth instead of the CEO as the contact, but otherwise, from a deck-building perspective, this is great.

Are you looking to grow your business? Here is how I can help:

📱 Book a Strategy Call to get 1:1 feedback on your pitch, pitch deck and/or fundraising strategy. (If you need general startup advice, then reply to this email, and I’ll let you know if/how I can help.)

Onwards and Upwards,

Liam Gill