Imagine you’re into trading trading cards, like Pokémon cards. Now, think of Venture Capital investors as people who are looking to buy certain types of cards to add to their collection. But here’s the catch: each investor has a specific list of cards they want, and they won’t be interested in cards that don’t match their list.
These investors write down their rules for what kinds of cards they want to buy in something called an “investment thesis.” This list includes things like the size of the card market,
The qualities they want in the card’s creator, the themes of the cards, where the cards come from, how much of the card they want to own, and even how much money they’re willing to spend on each card.
Now, imagine you have a bunch of cards you want to sell. If you try to sell a beginner-level Pokémon card to someone who only collects advanced and rare cards, they won’t be interested, right? Or if you offer a super rare and valuable card to someone who only wants to buy basic cards, they’ll also say no.
It’s the same with investors and their “pitch decks.” These are like presentations that show off the cards you have for sale. If you show a pitch deck about a new video game card to an investor who’s only interested in cards related to tech gadgets, they’ll feel like you’re wasting their time.
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Just like if you show a pitch deck about a cool tool for making games to an investor who’s looking for new toys, they won’t be interested either.
So, as a general rule, it’s important to match your pitch deck to the right investor. Just like you wouldn’t offer a rare Pokémon card to someone who only likes sports cards, you wouldn’t want to show your ideas to investors who aren’t interested in what you’re selling.
That way, you’re not wasting anyone’s time and you have a better chance of finding someone who’s excited about your “cards” (or ideas) and wants to invest in them!
Navigating Investor Preferences
Have you ever played a card game, like collecting decks of special cards? These cards represent different ideas or projects that people want to invest in, kind of like when you save money for something cool you want to buy.
Now, when these people, who are called venture capitalists (VCs), look at these card decks, they need to decide which ones are worth investing their money in and which ones aren’t so good.
It’s like picking the best cards for their collection. But sometimes, there are so many decks of cards to look at that it can be really hard and time-consuming for the VCs to decide.
Deckmatch: Revolutionizing VC Decision-Making
There’s this new thing called Deckmatch. It’s like a helper, sort of like a robot or a computer program, that can look at these card decks and help the VCs decide which ones are worth considering and which ones aren’t.
This Deckmatch thing is getting really good at this, and it just got a bunch of money (€1 million) to make it even better and help VCs all around the world.
This person named Walid Mustapha, who helped create Deckmatch, said that a big part of the value (or the good stuff) in this process is when the helper robot can say “yes” or “no” to a card deck based on certain rules.
Like, if the idea behind the deck makes sense and is interesting, or if it’s something new and different from other ideas.
Right now, the helper robot can do about 60% to 70% of the job that a real person (called an associate) does when they look at these card decks.
But over time, the helper robot could get even better and become really good at it, almost like a real associate. So, it’s like the robot is learning and becoming more helpful as it goes along.
Turning Chaos into Order: Organizing Pitch Deck Data for VCs
There’s a company that’s working on a project. In the first step of their project, they’re taking information that’s not organized and making it organized.
This information is usually found in a presentation called a “pitch deck.” They’re turning this messy information into structured data that can be used to help investors (VCs) make decisions.
The company has big plans. They want to gather more information than just what’s in the pitch deck. They want to estimate things like how big the market is and how fast it’s growing, using artificial intelligence.
They also want to connect to other sources of information to help with investment analysis.
The CEO of the company, Léo Gasteen, compares the information in the pitch deck to a single piece of a puzzle. They want to find more puzzle pieces from the internet to complete the picture.
They’re asking questions like, “What can we find on the internet? What kind of picture can we create?” They want to take the organized data and put it into the system that the VCs use, which is called a CRM system. The company is focusing on making a tool (product) that can be easily used by connecting to other systems through an API (a technical way for different systems to talk to each other).
Expanding Horizons: AI-Powered Insights for Investment Analysis
The company has been testing its project with a small group of about 60 VCs to show that it works well and adds value. They plan to use the money they get from investors to improve their artificial intelligence and machine learning technology.
They also want to make their tools for analyzing data better and make their systems more efficient. They also plan to grow their operations, meaning they want to do more and help more people.
The company is starting by helping VC firms (investment companies) with their pitch decks, but they have plans to use their technology in other fields like finding people for jobs and buying things for a business.
A Vision for Data-Driven Decision Making in Venture Capital
The CEO believes that in the future, decisions in fields like venture capital (investing in new companies) will be made using data. This will free up time for important things like making decisions and building relationships.
They also mention that the venture capital industry has gone through big changes in how it works, and they want to help push these changes further. They’re grateful to their investors for supporting them, and they’re excited to improve their product and grow their team.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the analogy of trading cards aptly illustrates the significance of aligning pitch decks with investor preferences. Just as investors seek specific cards to enhance their collections, they seek tailored projects to invest in.
Deckmatch emerges as a transformative tool, streamlining VC decision-making through automation. The endeavor to organize pitch deck data into structured information echoes the pursuit of efficiency. The potential of AI-powered insights in investment analysis brings new dimensions to the venture.
Ultimately, the vision of data-driven decision-making signifies an evolving venture capital landscape. As the industry embraces change, the journey continues, supported by investors’ enthusiasm and the promise of growth.
