Pitch Deck Teardown: Xyte’s $30M Series A Deck

When I was Being a student in the UK, I remember that renting appliances like washing machines and TVs was the norm for some people, especially for students living in short-term accommodation. Israeli startup Xyte (pronounced “excite”) has just raised $30 million, as he sees a return to this type of hardware-as-a-service model as the way forward for manufacturers whose margins are under constant pressure. If it works so well for software as a service, why not hardware?

Xyte let me take a look at his 27-slide deck to see how he did it. Was I excited about Xyte’s deck? Unfortunately no. This 27 slide deck did not contain the information I would need as an investor to make an informed decision on whether or not to invest in it. Let’s break down what I saw.

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Slides in this deck

Xyte’s deck includes 27 slides, some containing redacted information. The deletions relate to its customers and sales figures, which is both fair enough and also makes it a little harder to get a picture of the company as a whole.

1. Cover slide
2. Company overview, including some team details
3. Team Slide
4. Opportunity Slide
5. Opportunity Slide 2
6. Market slide
7. Problem Slide
8. Value Proposition Slide
9. Solution Slide
10. Slide Solution 2
11. Slide Solution 3
12. Slide Dedicated Interfaces
13. Traction slide
14. “Any Sector, Any Size” Slide (Customer Base)
15. Value Proposition Slide
16. Business Transformation Slide
17. Slide “One-Stop Business and Commerce Platform”
18. Customer Study Slide
19. Slide “Pioneer of a new product category”
20. Slide “A single, integrated platform”
21. Team Slide 2
22. Interstitial slide
23. Business model slide
24. Go-to-market slide
25. Slide “Forecasts and driving factors”
26. Investment Summary Slide
27. Closing slide

Three Two things to love

You might think that with 27 slides there would be plenty to choose from for the “three good things” section. Dear reader, I’m not going to lie: I tried hard, I really struggled to find three good things about this deck.

So let’s talk about the two sparks of genius that I was able to spot in this inky void of despair:

Opening Summary

[Slide 2] A very well done slide at a glance. Image credits: Xyte

Xyte’s slideshow, overall, was a fairly disappointing cavalcade of mediocrity. Still, I really enjoyed this one-slide summary from the start.

Although some of the key numbers have been redacted, it presents a lot of important information at a glance that will likely make an investor take note. In fact, I think this slide will become my recommended template for most startups raising money: it’s clear, to the point, and to the point, and it helps set the stage for what’s to come.

Putting it all together

I have a lot of respect for summaries, and this file succeeded not once, but twice. The first sets the stage and the second (below) once again summarizes the same story, but through the lens of an investor.

[Slide 26] A solid summary that brings it all together. Image credits: Xyte

I really like how the team did this. It’s great to illustrate that the company has identified a problem and a go-to-market strategy that makes sense. So good, in fact, that I’m going to look at each of these points separately:

• Huge opportunity: Yes! A startup must reach the “venture capital ladder” to be able to invest. It might have been worth reminding the investor of the true size of the market, but this slightly more abstract summary works well.
• One stop solution: Yes! Including a reminder of what you actually do is great.
• World-class product: I would have loved to see this point backed up by data, to be honest. Is it a world-class product? Maybe, but bring the receipts!
• Validated solution: sure, but don’t forget to include the why. What validates this solution? I suspect the point the company is really trying to make here is related to the next point. . .
• Scalable GTM Strategy: Being able to acquire customers at scale is What makes a startup stop being a startup, And it’s a good thing. For bonus points, I would have reminded investors about the CAC:LTV ratio here, but it’s a very good start.
• Vision: Meh. This is not a reminder of the company’s vision, which is a missed opportunity. Perhaps instead he could have exchanged a summary of the team to remind investors why this is the right team to build this company.

Aside from a few minor tweaks, I think this “Investment Summary” slide does a lot of work, and I’m glad the team chose to include it.

In the rest of this teardown, we’ll look at three things Xyte could have improved or done differently, as well as their full pitch deck!