MoBowl Pitch Errors -EvoNexus

MoBowl

Mobile Bowling Lane Booking App

The future is here…

Open-table for Bowling Alleys

MoBowl - consumers

Check availability near you

Book a bowling lane (or pool table, endless possibilities!)

Discounts on lanes & rentals

Share with your friends to join your game

Delivered as a FREE smart phone app & web booking portal

SoMoLo!!!

Viral

MoBowl - merchants

Mobile app & web portal for merchants

You can easily input the availability of your location into the app

Systems exist separate from the in-house solutions and fit seamlessly with your current work environment

Flexibility to discount when needed: weekdays, mid-days, holidays, etc.

Market = HUGE!$5B industry - JUST FOR THE BOWLING PART

7-8K bowling alleys

Avg 8 lanes each

$20 per hour rental

12hrs per day, 330 days per year

Other verticals (pool, darts,

etc.) at least $50B

Competition (?)

Really? NONE.

~Apps for other industries, won’t move into our space

We are too fast,

Have first-mover advnatage

& generate a huge network + following

Show me the MONEY!

Advertising - Free model only

Affiliate Deals- Equipment

- Lessons/training

Merchant Deals- 25% cut for us

Premium App - Get rid of apps- $5 for lifetime

Revenue Share- 10% of every booking

Store - buy MoBowl exclusive

items

Financial ScenariosWorst case

Best caseConservative

case

3 year IRR: 43.7%12.48x multiple

New verticalslaunch

3y2y1y$0M

$10M

$100M

$1B

Breakeven at month 4.5

The (most amazing) TeamAustin Neudecker, M.B.A.

Training to be a professional bowler

MBA from online university

Ex-entrepreneur - sold lemonade in front of house as a kid

Suzy Smith

Social marketing guru

Heavy iPhone app user

100+ tweets per year with over 100 followers

Technology Special Sauce

Innovative application

Solid IP - patent-pending booking technology

Post to social networks as you book!

Amazing & cheap development off-shore to build

Where you come in…Funded by f&f for $150K so far

Raising $1M (closing end of week)

$25M pre-money valuation

Exit for over $200M in 3yrs at 10x multiple

USE of Proceeds:

Build app via outsourcing agreement

Salary for team of 5 (market rates)

Market the hell out of it

Legal fees & repayment of debtUnique & uber-profitable opportunity: IRR ~58%

Now YOU be the judge…

Would you consider investing?

What was GOOD?

What was BAD?

• Structure was ~there• Fairly brief (10 slides), high-level• Enthusiasm?

• Let’s go slide by slide…

MoBowl

Mobile Bowling Lane Booking App

The future is here…

There are a multitude of resources that teach you how to make the perfect

pitch deck for your startup.

This deck takes the opposite approach: meant to illustrate what NOT to do as you craft your message to potential

investors

Open-table for Bowling Alleys

Ok, this slide is ~awesome!

Simple, visual, concise

Easy to understand, used a use-case?

MoBowl - consumers

Check availability near you

Book a bowling lane (or pool table, endless possibilities!)

Discounts on lanes & rentals

Share with your friends to join your game

Delivered as a FREE smart phone app & web booking portal

SoMoLo!!!

Viral

Busy & full of clichés (e.g. SoMoLo, Viral, etc.).

Instead, focus on the unique value proposition in the

description.

Relatively unimportant

Non-essential, assumed

Cliché

Valueless clutter

Cliché

Wait, what’s the problem?

MoBowl - merchants

Mobile app & web portal for merchants

You can easily input the availability of your location into the app

Systems exist separate from the in-house solutions and fit seamlessly with your current work environment

Flexibility to discount when needed: weekdays, mid-days, holidays, etc.

Remove “MoBowl” here. Use FEWER words, and keep it simple.

Change to: “Easy integration”

Change to: “Simple to input availability”

Change to: “Flexibility to discounts as

needed”

How are you solving the Marketplace problem??

Market = HUUUGE!$5B industry - JUST FOR THE BOWLING PART

7-8K bowling alleys

Avg 8 lanes each

$20 per hour rental

12hrs per day, 330 days per year

Other verticals (pool, darts,

etc.) at least $50B

Don’t exaggerate! Market over-estimation is a

common newbie mistake.

Quantification is great, but in this case, the numbers are wrong. This slide quantifies the

size of the entire industry, when it should instead talk about the addressable market.

Focus on the following questions: If the product or service is sold at the proposed price to the target audience of reasonable buyers, how big is that? In this case, how much would bowling

alleys pay for mobile booking services?

Be reasonable. Stick with expansions you can expect to manage in the term of the investment, usually

around ~3 years.

These bullet points are messy and

inconsistent.

Competition (?)

Really? NONE.

~Apps for other industries, won’t move into our space

We are too fast,

Have first-mover advnatage

& generate a huge network + following

Classic mistake: there is ~always competition, most likely it is not direct.

What is fighting for the consumers attention or similar dollars. Mention your (nearest) competitors and show

investors that you have performed your due diligence.

What are the current substitutes???

Speed, 1st mover, traction and virality are all great, but they’re not

sustainable competitive advantages. It’s much better to

emphasize the following advantages, if you have them: locking up exclusive channels,

complex technology that is very hard to replicate, IP (if applicable),

etc.

Again, messy,

inconsistent and typos

Show me the MONEY!

Advertising - Free model only

Affiliate Deals- Equipment

- Lessons/training

Merchant Deals- 25% cut for us

Premium App - Get rid of apps- $5 for lifetime

Revenue Share- 10% of every booking

Store - buy MoBowl exclusive

items

There are way too many business models shown here. Instead, focus on the one, maybe two,

that will be the primary revenue steams – and don’t include the

rest.

Financial ScenariosWorst case

Best caseConservative

case

3 year IRR: 43.7%12.48x multiple

New verticalslaunch

3y2y1y$0M

$10M

$100M

$1B

Breakeven at month 4.5

This slide is just crazyLog scales,

seriously??

Never project a return or

multiple – that’s the investor’s

job.

Worst case is a hockey stick?Strange curves

with justification will make an

investor wary of your judgment

Highly detailed financial projections

+ hypothetical scenario = amateur

The (most amazing) TeamAustin Neudecker

Training to be a professional bowler

MBA from online university

Ex-entrepreneur - sold lemonade in front of house as a kid

Suzy Smith

Social marketing guru

Heavy iPhone app user

100+ tweets per year with over 100 followers

Your girlfriend doesn’t make a

good teammate, for many reasons…

…make sure that your team shows real expertise. Faking it is usually apparent quickly, and if

not, it will be discovered in diligence.

Tries to be somewhat relevant,

but…

Tech company without tech talent? If you’re a tech company, get a

tech member!

No picture? Be consistent!

Use Logos

Technology Special Sauce

Innovative application

Solid IP - patent-pending booking technology

Post to social networks as you book!

Amazing & cheap development off-shore to build

Usually software and business process are not viewed as

incredibly valuable IP, especially if it’s pending.

Too easy to mention

DANGER: Outsourcing long-term (when products

go through constant iterations and need

support) is HARD and viewed negatively!

Where you come in…

Unique & uber-profitable opportunity: IRR ~58%

Don’t try to value your own business, especially $25M.

Pre-launch/development values are rarely over 1-4M depending on your traction. At this stage, MoBowl won’t raise $1 million.

Usually founders get/take very little salary, which is likely in the range of 0-70% of market. Other early teammates

can expect around 70-80% market rates.

Be consistent with numbers, & NO

IRRs!

Funded by f&f for $150K so far

Raising $1M (closing end of week)

$25M pre-money valuation

Exit for over $200M in 3yrs at 10x multiple

USE of Proceeds:

Build app via outsourcing agreement

Salary for team of 5 (market rates)

Market the hell out of it

Legal fees & repayment of debt

What else was missing?

Any last questions?

• Traction• The Product• Milestones to be Achieved (in the ask)

Resources:

Watch YC / TechStars / DreamIt Demo Day videos

My blog: aneudecker.com3 Questions Entrepreneurs Get Wrong

Stop Raising…Please!

+ I will repost the updated version of this deck