{"id":78755,"date":"2024-03-22T20:20:05","date_gmt":"2024-03-22T20:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/22\/pitch-deck-teardown-protectos-4m-seed-deck\/"},"modified":"2024-03-22T20:20:05","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T20:20:05","slug":"pitch-deck-teardown-protectos-4m-seed-deck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/22\/pitch-deck-teardown-protectos-4m-seed-deck\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitch Deck Teardown: Protecto’s $4M seed deck"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

In an era where data is king and its volume and complexity are exploding, Protecto<\/a> aims to eliminate the long-standing dilemma businesses face between leveraging AI\u2019s power while ensuring data privacy. As the adoption of generative AI tools like ChatGPT skyrockets, wayward data becomes easier to find, process and do naughty things with. Protecto\u2019s APIs are designed to protect sensitive data across the AI life cycle while maintaining its utility.<\/p>\n

The company announced it raised a $4 million seed funding round<\/a> led by Together Fund, with contributions from Better Capital, FortyTwo VC, Arali Ventures and Speciale Invest. This round boosts Protecto\u2019s total funding to $5 million.<\/p>\n\n

We\u2019re looking for more unique pitch decks to tear down, so if you want to submit your own, here\u2019s how you can do that<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Slides in this deck<\/h2>\n

Protecto made redactions to the short-term and five-year goals and to specific details of the near-term product roadmap before submitting its deck to TechCrunch. The timeline for the goals and milestones related to the seed funding round was also redacted. Still, there\u2019s plenty to learn from the 14-slide deck:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Cover slide<\/li>\n
  2. Problem slide<\/li>\n
  3. Urgency slide<\/li>\n
  4. Platform interstitial slide<\/li>\n
  5. Technology overview slide<\/li>\n
  6. Results slide<\/li>\n
  7. Solution slide<\/li>\n
  8. Case study slide 1<\/li>\n
  9. Case study slide 2<\/li>\n
  10. \u00a0Competitive alternatives slide<\/li>\n
  11. \u00a0Team slide<\/li>\n
  12. \u00a0Go to market slide<\/li>\n
  13. \u00a0Roadmap slide<\/li>\n
  14. \u00a0Ask and use of funds slide<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Three things to love about Protecto\u2019s pitch deck<\/h2>\n

    There\u2019s a\u00a0lot<\/em> missing from this deck, but there are some good things to highlight, too.<\/p>\n

    Competitive alternatives<\/h3>\n

    This slide doesn\u2019t talk about direct competitors (there are one or two<\/a>). But the company does a good job showing this information anyway:<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    [Slide 10] Competitive alternatives are a great way to look into competitive landscapes. Image Credits:<\/strong> Protecto<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    Competitive alternatives are businesses, methods or approaches that are different from yours but that satisfy the same customer needs or solve the same problems. For instance, if you run a coffee shop, a direct competitor would be another coffee shop, while a competitive alternative might be a teahouse or a fast-food restaurant that also sells coffee among other beverages. These competitors matter because they represent alternative solutions for your customers, highlighting the importance of understanding broader market dynamics and customer preferences.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Understanding and analyzing these competitive alternatives can be powerful as an additional layer of insight, uncovering potential opportunities for differentiation and helping to identify unmet customer needs. Having said all of that, Protecto should have included direct competitors, but this slide is still a great example of how a startup can explore its position in the market.<\/p>\n

    Helloooo, team<\/h3>\n

    This team slide is so solid \u2014 the only downside is that they put it as the 11th slide:<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    [Slide 11] A rock-solid team slide. Image Credits<\/strong>: Protecto<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    To stand out in a suddenly crowded AI space, you\u2019d best bring receipts that show you\u2019ve got the chops to pull it off. The left-hand side of the slide has too much info (why are funding, product and customers on the team slide?) but the part on the right has a ton of great information.<\/p>\n

    According to his LinkedIn, CEO Amar Kanagaraj spent almost eight years at Microsoft, including a stint in search and AI. CTO Baskaran Alagarsamy spent seven years as a \u201cmanager\u201d at Apple India. I\u2019d have loved to see more detail on exactly what he was managing there (and why this slide says 18 years, while his LinkedIn says seven years), but this is the beginning of a really solid team. If I were investing in this space, a team of this caliber would pique my interest and I would probably set up a meeting.<\/p>\n

    An elegant solution<\/h3>\n

    Privacy and AI can get brain-achingly complicated, fast. I appreciate Protecto\u2019s efforts to simplify it to a point where most people can fathom what\u2019s going on in the tech.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    [Slide 5] Take sensitive, private data. Replace with similar, fake data. Makes sense to me. Image Credits<\/strong>: Protecto<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    Three things that Protecto could have improved<\/h2>\n

    Pitch deck design isn\u2019t usually that important, but the design of this deck is particularly bad. There are also far more serious flaws hidden among these pages.<\/p>\n

    These case studies aren\u2019t case studies<\/h3>\n

    In a 14-slide deck, Protecto wastes slide 4 as an interstitial (it just says \u201cour platform\u201d). It then wastes two slides with the title \u201ccase studies.\u201d However, a more accurate term would be \u201cuse cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    [Slide 8] That\u2019s not a case study. Image Credits<\/strong>: Protecto<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    A full case study would include a lot more information about how successful it was (did the product succeed in removing all the confidential data? How was that measured?), how long it took to integrate, and how happy the customer was with the solution. Slide 9 is another \u201ccase study\u201d that is similar: a use case, not a case study.<\/p>\n

    The headline of a slide is a promise the rest of the slide has to fulfill. In this case, I was let down both times, expecting one type of information and getting another. Proper case studies would have been really helpful in telling the story here.<\/p>\n

    Not a great \u201cuse of funds\u201d slide<\/h3>\n

    Redactions aside, there\u2019s not much here.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    [Slide 14] Almost completely irrelevant information. Image Credits<\/strong>: Protecto<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    The company set out to raise $3 million. The use of funds, however, is so fluffy; every bullet point here makes me want to ask: \u201cBut how do you know it is working?\u201d<\/p>\n