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[Slide 6] Well that’s how you compete: They have given up.Image Credits: PhageLab
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[Slide 9] Yeah, that’ll get their attention.Image Credits: PhageLab
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[Slide 17] So does it work?Image Credits: PhageLab
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[Slide 7] Ruh-roh.Image Credits: PhageLab
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[Slide 20] Cool cool cool.Image Credits: PhageLab
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[Slide 23] Okay?Image Credits: PhageLab
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As a species , we have a problem . Bacteria are becoming more and more repellent to antibiotics . Makes sense : Antibiotics kill off all the bacteria they can , but the remaining ones that somehow pull through continue to rise and spread . estimate which gene they all have in common ? That ’s right , the one that makes them resistant to antibiotic .
We ’ve have it off this for years , but or else of speed up , the work on newfangled antibiotic drug is slowing down importantly . Why ? capitalist economy : It ’s really expensive to develop novel drug , and once they ’re developed , it ’s heavy to make a lot of money on them .
PhageLabwants to get to the deliverance with a different approach shot : using a bacteriophage ( short for “ bacteriophage ” ) . Phages are a type of virus that infect bacterium and kills them . Unlike traditional antibiotics , phages can be designed to direct very specific bacteria , and that permit us utilise them to kill only the bacterium you do n’t want ( say , salmonella ) , while your bowel bacteria stay more or less intact .
Of of course , the cognitive process is not without downsides . One of the rationality broad - spectrum antibiotic work so well is that doctors often do n’t know precisely which bacteria are wreaking havoc , and if you have a phage that lash out only a handful of bacterium , that could pose a challenge .
Still , I roll in the hay phage in general , and the estimate behind PhageLab is pretty rad . The squad shared their pitching deck with me , so let ’s see what the company showed investor to raise its $ 11 million Series A cycle .
We ’re looking for more unequaled pitch decks to bust down , so if you want to submit your own , here ’s how you may do that .
Slides in this deck
The page numbering on the deck is wonky ( Page 1 is labeled 1 , but pageboy 3 is mark 2 ) so keep in head that when I refer to chute number in this teardown , I ’m refer to the page number of the PDF , not what ’s on the slide themselves . The final slide is Sir Frederick Handley Page 26 of the PDF , but it is labeled 32 , so it ’s clear that some slides were deleted from the deck of cards before PhageLab share it with me . The company says the use of monetary resource slide has been removed , but it ’s not alone clear what else was deleted .
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Still , let ’s review this deck as if this were the full tale and see where that fill us .
Three things to love
There ’s some truly fantastic storytelling in this deck .
So what about big pharma?
Startups in this space always have to interest about the big pharma company . They can definitely outspend you , so the motion is how you ’re going to outsmart them .
This slide goes a farseeing room toward answering that : The business case for developing new antibiotic is plummeting , which opens the door for PhageLab .
That makes the urgency clear . . .
I do have a affair or two to say about how the company outlines its problem financial statement , but sloping trough 9 made me pick up my breath . If we are 25 age away from this Last Judgement scenario , it ’s obvious that there ’s a huge chance for startup that can make a substantial impact in this distance . It ’s potent storytelling .
That’s a hell of a promise of success
Bacteria are pretty cloudy , so where do you even begin ? It seems to me like PhageLab necessitate itself : What ’s a bacteria that everyone bonk exists , knowswhereit exists , and is often in the medium ? Salmonella fits the flier nicely . The company has done its research and reckons it can absent salmonella completely — a immense and obvious welfare for food provision chain .
In the rest of this teardown , we ’ll take a look at three thing PhageLab could have improved or done differently , along with its full delivery deck !
Three things that could be improved
This deck of cards is very , very long . Most successful slide pack of cards these daylight have 16 slides , and PhageLab could probably have shortened this deck of cards to say the full tale in 16 to 18 swoop as well .
Okay, I get it. It’s a problem.
I ’m stumbling over the sheer number of problem slides . slide 3–9 all get over various face of the problem , and they do so in a passably hyperbolic “ omg this is a disaster ” direction :
PhageLab could have shortened its deck of cards importantly here by reducing this part to two slides : The problem slue itself ( what ’s the job ? ) and the problem shock slide ( what take place if we do n’t solve this problem ) . We get it , it ’s a Brobdingnagian problem and people are live to die . It ’s good storytelling , yes , but there ’s no real benefit from getting striking about it .
Them’s some pretty buildings
Whenever I turn with startup as a pitch coach , I make them defend every playground slide . Is itreallynecessary ? What part of the story does this reinforce ? Will an investor choose to invest because the slide is here and might they prefer not to if it was n’t ? playground slide 20 does n’t pass that sniff test . Yes , you have offices in three countries , but we do n’t demand pictures of them . This slide is a bit of a waste .
Erm . . .
leave what I say about the slide with the buildings . Thisis a waste of a slide . “ scientific discipline work and we can essay it ” sounds like it has to be a mistranslation or a misunderstanding of some sort . Ofcoursescience works . That ’s what scientific discipline does .
I want to take note that PhageLab also uses “ skill works and we can prove it ” on its website as a motto of sorts . unluckily , it just is n’t a very just slogan . It could be used by literally any inauguration .
Some judicious pruning of this lurch deck would have plump a longsighted elbow room . In fact , I created an eight - sliding board variant of this deck of cards ( just by delete superfluous slides ) that has 90 % of the impingement of the original .
The full pitch deck
Haje’s drastically shortened deck
In addition to these eight slides , I ’d add in the Ask , Use of Funds , and Team slides and call it a day .
If you desire your own pitch pack of cards teardown featured on TC+,here ’s more information . Also , fit outall our Pitch Deck Teardowns and other pitching advice , all collected in one handy place for you !
