Design & Launch of VenturePredict
š - 2021: Launched VenturePredict:Ā AutoPitchDeck - a tool which helps startup founders quantitatively analyse their idea - & generates a beautiful pitch deck - sharable to any device instantly.
š - 2021: Launched VenturePredict:Ā AutoPitchDeck - a tool which helps startup founders quantitatively analyse their idea - & generates a beautiful pitch deck - sharable to any device instantly.
When I learned that startups have a 90% failure rate a few years ago - I created a simple algorithm which can evaluate any startup holistically - and assign it score of 1-5.
For founders - strong and weak areas become apparent.
And investors would find it useful to be able to quickly compare startup applicants - at scale.
But also, it's time to profoundly change the ecosystem.
From information asymmetry - to transparency & sharing.
From us-them mentality - to we are all partners thinking.
A new startup ecosystem.
ā
Welcome to VenturePredict. š
At the time IĀ was working at another startup and was responsible for creating, updating, more Pitch Decks (& their versions) than I can remember.
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The amount of time &Ā energy spent on fundraising activities was concerning..
It was almost like there was competition between fundraising efforts & working on the business.
I later learned we were not the only founders facing these problems..
When I learned that startups have a 90% failure rate a few years ago - I decided to look through the literature on startup success models / startup analytics.
Most tools relied on models that took in large amounts of low quality data (from large startup databases).
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So i created a simple algorithm which can evaluate any startup - and assign it an "investment readyness" score of 0-5.
For founders - strong and weak areas become apparent. Investors get access to quantitatively screened startups - which can be then compared - at scale.
Over time, Machine Learning to optimise success predictors - as this new database matures.
Here is a driver-tree representation:
At the time IĀ was working at another startup and was responsible for creating, updating, and sending more Pitch Decks (and their versions) than I can remember.
Creating new slides, tweaking the structure / design, and updating + emailing multiple versions - took away lots of time from the team.
It was almost like every week we would be working towards a new version of the deck. Then emailing them. And waiting...
We needed to spend less time on the fundraising, and more on our company!
I later learned we were not the only founders facing these problems.
Life is too short for bad software, and
As founders, we need something to help us get funding 100x faster.
But also, it's time to profoundly change the ecosystem.
From information asymmetry - to transparency & sharing.
From us-them mentality - to we are all partners thinking.
A new startup ecosystem.
ā
Welcome to VenturePredict. š
Give anyone with a great startup idea an amazing launching platform, showcasing their idea beautifully connecting them with investors ā and helping them realise their dream! š
Fundraising 100x faster.
Late in 2020, I met a friend Sergey for a cup of tea to discuss these ideas. āļø
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By mid-2021, Sergey, (now co-founder) & IĀ have launched a beautiful new tool for founders...
www.venturepredict.com
After great initial feedback,
we decided to set our next goal launching on ProductHunt.
So we're currently preparing for our 1000-user Beta launch!
Sign-Up for out Beta! š Nov 2021
Create a tool which would produce a beautiful, investor-ready pitch deck magically - and offer guide-rails on how to grow the startup in real-time.
Startup Process Based on the Lean Startup & Customer Development Model:
Validate Problem > Create Prototype > Validate Prototype > Grow Early Subscribers wait list> Launch MVP > Measure, Learn, Get Feedback > Re-Launch > Iterate
After numerous conversations, demos & pitches to founders & investors, IĀ was certain that this product must be built!
Our product is based on latest thinking in theĀ UX space:
Attract, Engage, Delight.
1. Great Landing Page encouraging a quick analysis of what they want to achieve.
2. Allowing them to play with the product early for free!
3. Giving them a 'wow!' moment on completion of their task (as soon as possible)
4. Making them feel like a 'Hero' - & sharing that success with others - is built into the product (& our philosophy)
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IĀ created early prototypes with pen &Ā paper, then in Sketch, then switched to Figma.
After that - I skip creating lo-fi mockups. And go straight to high fidelity prototype - with draft copy, draft images, and all. (Never Lorem Ipsum. Ever!).
This allows me to get the best quality feedback early-on - which means I'll be moving much faster towards getting the v1 launch right.
As we were building AutoPitchDeck 1.0 Sergey came up with the idea of having a current version of user flows on a wall. I loved it! That way the path taken by the user was even more prominent to us.
And it also served as a part-time project management tool: Hand-drawn screens were replaced by real product screenshots as the app was developed. To do notes pointed out next changes. Future ideas would be placed below the 'current' middle row.
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As Sergey and I started working closer towards launch - I switched from working on prototypes in Figma to creating production-ready code via Webflow.
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This allowed us to move Ā 10x faster then a Figma-Dev handover. This is mainly because Webflow generates reliable front-end code export - with responsiveness built-in.
This also reduces any guess work for developers.
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Flexibility in tooling has allowed us to learn, grow, and do better as a team! š¤
Pen &Ā paper sketches remain to me the most efficient way to get an idea down.
After team discussions I usually create wireframes in Figma, linking them to produce a compelling prototype of a user flow.
I always create real copy, real images, Ā (Never Lorem Ipsum!)
This helps me to get the best quality, richest feedback early-on!
Mobile Responsive
Dashboard Design
With Auto-Generated "Key Takeaway" Text
Videos on landing pages can increase click-through rates by as much as 80%.
(Also I studied film & 3D animation at uni)... so decided to make myself useful:
First Product Video Made:
ā Ā Not too happy with the results or aesthetic.
š„ So I created another several versions...
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š Here is the current product preview video - aimed to bring early users onboard:
š Much better feedback - as this version shows the complete product from start to finish.
With a product-led growth philosophy (and a 0 budget) paid advertising was out of the question. So we knew - we need to be where our users are:
1/ Startup Events (in-real-life)
2/ Online Startup Communities (FBĀ Groups, Reddit Communities, HackerNews, etc.)
After lockdown easing in QLD - we had the chance to attend a number of startup events, meet amazing people which got us a few some early sing-ups.
Next, we tried Facebook Groups. I joined:Ā Brisbane Startups, Sydney Startups, Melbourne Startups, Growth Hackers Australia, and a few other groups.
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After trying a few different versions..
This is the FB post which resonated most with our audience:
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Ā Result: 53 signups over 3 days from 1 post
Super-happy with the result, we decided to nurture these signups!
š Next up, is engaging in 1:1 interviews - (as we build out our Beta).
We want to get to the first 10 users who š the product. And we are going to do that by helping them reach their goals.
Then scale to first 100.
We believe this is the optimal approach to reach Product-Market-Fit early.
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So stay tuned for more!!
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