Decibels – a hearing enhancement technology company. I had never seen this deck nor know anything about the company before seeing this deck.
Where this deck fails is that there is a discrepancy between the problem the company Decibels is attempting to address, and the problem the product Decibels is attempting to address. This is a very common issue in pitch decks and typically occurs when a founder invents a product BEFORE they think about starting a company. As such, many founders will attempt to ‘reverse engineer’ a company mission from that product – whereas, in fact, they’re simply making the product they want. Which is absolutely fine btw!! – never be embarrassed to simply say “I’m building a company around a problem I have. Simple.”
Of course, this is simply a reaction to a pitch deck. There are hundreds of other factors at play – including me simply getting the wrong impression, or not understanding it properly. Nonetheless, it’s a helpful exercise for everyone to learn from!
After this cold read, I got to learn more about the company Decibels. And even though this pitch deck didn’t pass the ‘cold read test’ – the company truly is worth of a ‘one to watch’. Excellent founder, excellent problem – just not well positioned in this deck is all.