This week, we are taking a look at a pitch deck from Rypplzz (pronounced “ripples”), a spatial tech startup that recently raised $3 million. Rypplzz uses radio waves to provide location tracking, as they are supposed to be more accurate and easier to work with than GPS. Venues such as museums and sports venues can use its technology to guide visitors through their space or provide information based on their location.
I have to admit that this deck didn’t set me on fire, so I was a little surprised by its success. However, it’s worth exploring what could be improved here, so let’s dig!
We’re looking for more unique pitch decks to tear down, so if you’d like to submit your own, here’s how you can do so.
It slides into this deck
Reading Rypplzz’s nine-slide deck might leave you a little surprised. First, it doesn’t have much of the information you’d expect to see in a deck used to raise $3 million. There is no transparency about the team, no problem they are facing, no business model or pricing information, no competitive analysis, and no email to contact the CEO. As you’ll see below, the deck fails to answer many of the questions an investor would ask. As I’ve said before: Your deck is only one part of the fundraising puzzle.
The deck is also heavy, weighing in at 33MB — an awful lot for nine slides. As a rule of thumb, a pitch deck should never exceed 20MB because many email servers don’t like large attachments.
Here are the slides on the deck, minus some client names the company developed:
- Cover transparency
- Product overview
- How does it work
- Augmented Reality Industry Disruption
- Market applications
- Physical security and cyber security
- Current GTM partners/customers
- Investment proposal
- Close slide
Three things I didn’t completely hate
I’m not going to sugarcoat this: I honestly tried to find three good slides that had useful information in an accessible format. This section is usually called “Three Things I Love”, but that wouldn’t be entirely honest in this case.
However, it wasn’t all bad.
Investigating some use cases
[Slide 6] The text here is as legible as a doctor’s handwriting. Image credits: Rypplzz
There’s a lot to contend with on this slide: The text is almost unreadable against the cluttered background, and the center panel doesn’t make much sense to me. Maybe a voice could have helped, but the slide decks could stand on their own most of the time. You won’t always have the luxury of being able to talk a potential investor through your deck.
That said, I enjoyed the two side panels here. Painting a picture of how a customer might use the product is a great way to help investors visualize the various ways the new technology can be applied.
Product overview
[Slide 2] Taking a closer look at the product. Image credits: Rypplzz
Rypplzz’s deck lacks clear problem transparency, which would be helpful in explaining the problem space in which the company sees itself operating. All together. Sure, some companies can pull this off effectively, but I’m not sure that’s the case here.
Although this slide explains what the product is and its capabilities, it is not a complete product slide. Investors often look for details such as the product’s unique features, its stage of development and how it differs from the competition. Enhancing a product slide with these details can raise the tone and make it more compelling.
I like the simplicity of this slide though. It’s short, sharp and to the point. It makes me wonder Why but they did. It’s great that the product can be useful for “multiple industries”, for example, but it would be a great opportunity to share some examples.
The request and use of the funds
[Slide 8] Straight to the point. Image credits: Rypplzz
I love the clarity of the question here: Raising $3 million — no nonsense, no beating around the bush.
Of course, the “use of funds” part of this slide leaves a lot to be desired. It’s too blurry:
- “Fulfillment of existing installation contracts”: Be specific. How many? How much revenue will be unlocked once these contracts are fulfilled?
- “Take advantage of immediate opportunities”: This is so vague and generic that literally every startup that has ever created a deck could add this to their playing field. What opportunities? Why; How does this de-risk the company and drive growth?
- “Stand on infrastructure”: Well, obviously.
- “Additional Patents”: Fine, but how many and why?
In the rest of this teardown, we’ll take a look at three things Rypplzz could have improved or done differently, along with his full pitch deck!
