Why Market Numbers Just Aren’t Enough for Your Investor Pitch

Size Isn’t Everything…

One of the biggest challenges I see startups struggling with on their pitch deck is what should they say about their market? Where to find the stats? What is their addressable Market?

If you’re not a marketing expert and you’re doing it yourself, this can be daunting. And numbers are only part of the story… While I’m not a marketing expert — I merely tell the story of the market — I’ve written several jillion pitch decks, so here are a few tips for what should be there and how to find it:

  1. Sizing it up — It’s important to know your market size (potential customers) and value (what is the total spend per year?) inside and out. Familiarize yourself with 3 terms — TAM = Your Total Available or Addressable Market (everyone in the world who could potentially use your product), SAM = Your Segmented Addressable Market or Served Available Market (Your target market within the TAM), SOM = Your Share of the Market (what chunk of the SAM you will realistically reach within a few years). To get an investment, these numbers must be pretty big so even if you capture a very modest share, you still are giving them a large ROI.
  2. Who’s Your Market? — How do you know your TAM/SAM/SOM? Here’s an example: One of my clients is in the travel deals industry. So their TAM is all travelers — let’s say we take travelers in the US, and what the spend is in the travel market. Their SAM — last minute travelers — anyone booking travel under 2 weeks before a trip and there SOM — People booking lodging under 2 weeks before a trip, looking for a deal. Each one should have a number and value attached.
  3. Finding the Data — So how on earth do you figure out these numbers? Well if you can’t afford to hire a consultant, the first obvious place is Google. If you can find data from reports by GartnerForresterIDCCBC Insights or any noteworthy Market Research firm, that’s great! Not all reports are free but see if you can get access through a friend studying at college — they often get free access to databases. Another fairly inexpensive way to “DIY” — Fivver is an amazing marketplace that from $5 (and up) you can hire someone to do research for you. Be VERY specific what you’re looking for and you’re bound to get better results.
    1. Feed the FOMO — Numbers are just dandy. But as Reid Hoffman says:

    “Frequently, young entrepreneurs put in slides that show their business’ total addressable market (TAM) to establish some credibility. Problem is, most investors don’t trust the sources of that information, so entrepreneurs aren’t establishing huge credibility by saying they’ve claimed a market with a huge TAM.”

    So what should you be talking about? Trends and opportunities! Why are you a hot investment opportunity now and what backs that up? Look at your competitors — has anyone just been acquired or raised massive funding? That’s great! It can signal to Investors that you are the next hot thing. Is there a quote from a major source like Gartner or Forrester saying that this is the year for a startup like yours? Grab the quote! I recently worked with a company raising their Series B and they had such a quote from one of the big names — it was definitely a nice stamp of approval for investors to see. Investors often suffer from FOMO so this serves to push their triggers.

  4. Don’t Fudge the Numbers — Find real numbers and their sources — don’t make things up because that can seriously harm your credibility. Try to get as precise numbers as possible, but it’s better not to have them all than to make things up.

    The market will be one of the main things that investors grill you on — so make sure you know the basics and get them excited about the things that might not be so obvious.

Clients Say

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    Eva GagnonEva GagnonNudge
  • I worked with Donna last year. She is, simply put, one of the best at corporate storytelling out there. I recommend her regularly to those looking to raise capital, especially when they have a more challenging story to tell. If you want to take your corporate storytelling to the next level, don't hesitate. Work with her. You won't regret it.

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    Leo TrottierLeo TrottierFounder at CleverPet
  • Donna is "the best" startup fundraising pitch coach I've worked with. Women Who Tech has retained her services for each of our Women Startup Challenges where she helps each of our startup cohorts prepare and hone their investor pitches. I highly recommend her!

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  • Donna is absolutely fantastic! We have been working with Donna within week programs in Silicon Valley for Executive MBA of Moscow school of management SKOLKOVO. She is great in transforming 180 degrees your skills and approach to pitching. The students leave the workshop with pure brilliant feeling what and how they should do. Donna is unique, energetic, engaging and super professional. She knows exactly what you need to succeed. And I strongly recommend her workshops for big and small businesses, corporate people, start-uppers and serial entrepreneurs.

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  • Donna is the pitching Jedi, Yoda of messaging and story telling! She helped turn our deck into an incredible story with a touch of “wow”. She has the rare combination of messaging expertise combined with fund raising experience. She is easy to work with and get things done. We highly recommend her.

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    Joe CastonJoe CastonRainmaker - Revenue and Growth Acceleration. Fractional CRO / VP of Sales, and CMO. Founder at PlayMakersX
  • Donna is an absolute pleasure to work with.
    Her knowledge of pitch decks and storytelling combines for an utmost distillation in information for investors.
    The outline of what she presents is second to none and just from a simple phone call with Donna and some follow up we were able to refine our deck to a point that many investors and other entrepreneurs immediately offered to pass our deck along to their contacts.As someone who raised capital before and has constructed a few pitch decks, I can attest to the fact that she brings a different perspective, edge, & insight to the table that the entrepreneur generally doesn't see.

    I HIGHLY recommend Donna's methodology for pitch/sales decks and believe that whether first-time or experienced entrepreneurs, her services will prove to be invaluable!

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    Thanks Donna, great job!
    Olivier

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  • For Donna, finding the story in a pitch is like a logic puzzle. The approach is brilliant. She listens to you tell your story, then guides you through the logical connections. Finally she helps you knit them into a natural story. You retain the authenticity, yet your story delivers your message with a wallop. She shows you the concrete metaphors and guides you around the slippery slopes. At the end of the journey, you've found a story that's your own yet tells the tale you want to tell. She's a remarkable professional. That she's a delightful human being just makes it all magical. I can't recommend her more highly as a corporate storyteller.

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  • Its been a great pleasure working with Donna. Her insight, experience, and advice were instrumental in shaping Flyzen's deck and pitch. Donna shared her perspective on our processes which was eye-opening.
    I highly recommend her to anyone who is looking to improve and shape his/her storytelling abilities, anyone who wants to work on his/her messages, either one-on-one, for a conference or for an investor presentation.

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  • Donna is an expert, guru, professional — all of the above — when it comes to learning the methodology and science behind pitching your business. We've had many high-profile experts host a pitching workshop in our Seed Fund Program (where learning how to perfect your pitch is 99% of the program), and she's been the best by far. Five stars and two thumbs up for you, Donna!  All the best, Keenan

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  • Donna is a Wizard, a magician that can turn any idea into a story, into something that resonates, inspires with a touch of "wow" in the few right places that will catch attention. She brings processes into the way any company needs to build and articulate a message. All done in a fun, creative environment. But there is more... While building the messages, Donna adds so much value in the words she is using, in the questions she is asking that not only she can help build a presentation for any audience, but the outcome and discussion brings so much more, so many new ideas and angles to think about. Very glad I worked with Donna and cannot recommend her enough.

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  • Donna was a big help in defining our sales pitch. She is very professional and she is able to write everything in simple words and she did it in the time she promises. Thank you Donna!

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  • Donna helps crystalize the important messages and get them out succinctly for exec presentations. Exactly what many of us need! And she is so fast and efficient!

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  • Magic Donna. The only one we can trust to perfectly express our vision and ideas in words that anyone can understand.
    Thanks for the great work!

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  • We are a young startup in the IoT and Big Data arena. We worked with Donna as part of building our strategy, storytelling etc. Donna has a very unique ability to sharpen the message, crystalize the exact value proposition and build the right pitch for the company. Donna is super efficient, smart and well experienced.
    Don't miss this opportunity !!!

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    Ran HirschRan HirschCo-Founder of A1C Foods
  • Donna is a magician! In just two hours she was able to convert our deck from a presentation full of facts to an engaging story! We even used it at a pitch competition which we won! She also helped us with our website and a few other projects, I recommend her to all CEOs who want to save themselves tons of time, money and disappointments, and want to learn how to pitch their startup better. Thank you Donna!

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  • I had the pleasure working with Donna for the past several years. She helped my company to create and polish our technological branding and messaging. Our products target big clients in the enterprise cloud solutions space and rely on complex and sophisticated technologies. Donna was able to simplify our technological message and bring it from concept and into writing. Donna was very professional throughout the entire process and I highly recommend working with her.

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