Syneroid just lately raised a $500,000 spherical of funding to deliver one thing midway between microchips and canine collars to market. The corporate is discovering some fascinating slices of the market, however the deck, total, leaves a couple of issues to be desired. We be taught extra from errors than from perfection, so I figured it’d be an amazing one to dive into for this week’s pitch deck teardown!

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We’re in search of extra distinctive pitch decks to tear down, so if you wish to submit your personal, right here’s how you are able to do that. 

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Slides on this deck

All through this pitch deck teardown, you’ll see the corporate known as Syneroid and GPC Good — the corporate’s official title is the previous, however the model they’re utilizing for the pitch deck and its merchandise is the latter. The corporate informed me it raised this spherical at a $3.9 million valuation.

The corporate used a good, 12-slide deck for its pitch, and no data has been redacted or omitted.

1. Cowl slide
2. Drawback slide
3. Competitors slide
4. Resolution slide
5. Aggressive benefits slide
6. Historical past/traction slide
7. Market-size slide
8. Goal markets/go-to-market slide
9. Group slide
10.  Operational financials slide
11.  Ask slide
12.  Contact slide

Three issues to like

Syneroid is coming into a market that’s very simple to know: Misplaced animals are one thing that almost all of us have an expertise with in a method or one other. That’s a bonus in that you simply don’t have to clarify the market intimately. It additionally implies that the corporate is going through a wall of potential opponents whilst it’s attempting to realize traction. That’s a problem, and it’s fascinating to see how Syneroid is tackling it.

Cowl the hole between the perceived and the precise

As a result of the corporate is throwing itself right into a market that’s comparatively nicely understood, its problem isn’t to clarify what it’s doing however how it’s shifting the market ahead. The corporate’s second slide is labeled an “overview” slide, which quickly helps get an image of the general problem this explicit market phase is going through.

An investor possible is aware of not less than a few of this, however these bullets increase (or gently appropriate) any preconceived notions an investor might need, smoothing the delta between their notion of the market and the realities of being in that market. This slide — whereas pretty wordy — does a very good job of ironing out any misunderstandings an investor could have.

Having mentioned that, it additionally brings up some necessary questions. Misplaced pets are only one a part of the problem; stolen pets can have their collars eliminated, and animals that go astray are every so often in a position to shed their collars. Syneroid doesn’t actually tackle both situation.

Nice competitors overview

It’s fairly uncommon to see a startup put its competitor overview entrance and heart, however I feel that was a very shrewd transfer on this case. Once more, this isn’t a deep tech play or a market shrouded in thriller. I think that almost all would-be buyers would have the ability to give you the 2 main opponents. Tackling that head-on does appear slightly defensive, however given the market, I feel it makes plenty of sense on this case. Right here’s how the corporate addressed it:

There are a variety of apparent opponents on this house, together with the commonest ones, current engraved metallic tags or injected microchips, which each have their very own execs and cons. There’s additionally the newest era of GPS-enabled canine collars, similar to those from Fi, Whistle, Fitbark and others, which aren’t addressed on this aggressive panorama.

This slide exhibits an understanding of the aggressive panorama. I like that the corporate selected to deal with this upfront. I feel it’s necessary, and it’s an effective way to get out forward of the obvious pushback from buyers.

Like on the earlier slide, though its presence is encouraging, it raises some questions. I feel an NFC/QR code canine collar is fascinating, however I’m struggling to see how they’re inherently higher than commonplace engraved tags. The precise laser-engraved tag within the picture doesn’t price $15, as listed on the slide, however will be ordered from Amazon — totally personalised — for $4, with 4 strains of textual content on both sides of the metallic tag.

Positive, you may’t “replace” the knowledge, however pet homeowners are in all probability in a position to afford the $4 each time they transfer or change their telephone numbers. You possibly can’t embody location data, however somebody who’s keen to catch a stray pup might be in a position to textual content or name the proprietor with an tackle and particulars. Once more, if the animal is stolen, the thief will merely discard the collar altogether, and at that time, it doesn’t actually matter what’s on the collar. So far as monitoring goes, an Apple AirTag is perhaps a great resolution for these conditions (nevertheless it’s as simple to throw an AirTag into the bushes as some other collar).

This slide exhibits that the founders perceive the challenges with their messaging and positioning, nevertheless it additionally exhibits that its solutions are a piece in progress.

A beast of a market

The pet market, each within the U.S. and globally, is fantastically huge. Buyers know that, however including a reminder can’t damage. You don’t must seize that huge of a market share to construct a really vital enterprise right here.

One of many issues buyers love greater than anything is a big and rising market. Pet wearables positively qualify in that world, and my intestine tells me that good wearables (particularly GPS-type trackers) are going to be the worth driver on that entrance. There in all probability is an area for a product like GPC in there, if it is ready to play its playing cards proper and discover a good beachhead marketplace for its clients. Pricing goes to be essential right here; this will probably be a product for individuals who need one thing fancier than an engraved tag however one thing easier (or cheaper/simpler to make use of) than a GPS tracker.

This slide exhibits the general dimension of the market, which is superior, however I’d have preferred it even higher if the corporate mentioned one thing about what it believes its serviceable market is and the way it’ll go after these clients.

The factor you may be taught from this slide as a startup? Have readability in your market dimension and showcase that it’s huge and trending towards development.

In the remainder of this teardown, we’ll check out three issues Syneroid might have improved or completed in a different way, together with its full pitch deck!