Fundraising for Susterra: Pitch Deck Review and VC Best Practices

Company

Susterra is a GovTech company that provides an advanced analytics platform for public finance. Their goal is to help grow the underserved municipal bond market. The platform offers valuable insights using public data and best practices from academia to assess ROI for public benefit programs. Although the industry has been slow to adopt technologies like machine learning and AI, Susterra aims to change that.

Situation

Susterra was gearing up to raise Series Seed funding and turned to Zendog Labs for help with their pitch deck and capital-raising best practices. The Founder and CEO, Nabeel, needed support in refining their broad platform thesis into a focused strategy that would attract venture capital investors. We collaborated on key areas, including structuring the pitch deck, crafting a strong elevator pitch, and accurately sizing the market (TAM, SAM, SOM).

Actions

• Consultation Calls: We held several discussions with the Founder/CEO to review Susterra's positioning and refine their thesis to better appeal to investors and customers. The team initially had ambitious goals but needed to narrow their focus for a clearer investment case.

  Pitch Deck Review: Zendog Labs conducted a thorough review of their pitch deck, providing multiple rounds of feedback. We also provided a 30-page pitch deck template with detailed guidance on crafting a compelling investment narrative. With our experience reviewing hundreds of pitch decks, we quickly identified areas for improvement and helped Susterra enhance their proposition for investors.

  Pitch Simulation: We organized a pitch simulation where Nabeel presented the business to our team, followed by a simulated Q&A session with detailed feedback. These one-hour sessions allowed the founder to practice his pitch, anticipate tough investor questions, and refine his delivery before meeting real investors.

Results

Through our collaboration, Nabeel and his team were able to refine their broad, ambitious goals into a more focused and investor-friendly proposition. Both the pitch deck and verbal pitch improved substantially, making Susterra’s value proposition clearer and more compelling. With a well-honed strategy and a stronger pitch, the company is now well-prepared for successful fundraising and positioned to find product-market fit.

Context

• Capabilities: Executive coaching, venture capital advisory, pitch simulation, pitch deck refinement

• Technologies: Zoom, PowerPoint

• Locations: New York City, New York, United States

• Industries: GovTech