{"id":49128,"date":"2023-10-27T13:00:50","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T13:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/27\/pitch-deck-teardown-aethers-49m-series-a-deck-techcrunch\/"},"modified":"2023-10-27T13:00:50","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T13:00:50","slug":"pitch-deck-teardown-aethers-49m-series-a-deck-techcrunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/27\/pitch-deck-teardown-aethers-49m-series-a-deck-techcrunch\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitch Deck Teardown: Aether&#8217;s $49M Series A deck | TechCrunch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"speakable-summary\"><span class=\"featured__span-first-words\">Aether\u2019s pitch deck<\/span> is a real head-scratcher. The company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.webwire.com\/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=309595\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">says<\/a> that it raised almost $50 million to \u201cextract lithium from previously inaccessible reserves.\u201d That makes sense: Lithium is a valuable, hard-to-get resource that is being used by the bucketload in batteries and other electronics. But, the pitch deck relegates this use case (which is the smallest opportunity in the deck) almost to footnote status.<\/p>\n<p>It makes for some really interesting reading and storytelling, so let\u2019s dive in and see if we can spot what happened and how.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>We\u2019re looking for more unique pitch decks to tear down, so if you want to submit your own, <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2022\/04\/28\/submit-your-pitch-deck-for-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here\u2019s how you can do that<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2>Slides in this deck<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Cover slide<\/li>\n<li>Mission statement slide<\/li>\n<li>Vision slide<\/li>\n<li>Solution slide 1<\/li>\n<li>Solution slide 2<\/li>\n<li>Product slide<\/li>\n<li>Value proposition slide<\/li>\n<li>Potential use cases slide<\/li>\n<li>Technology challenges slide<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 Competitive advantage slide<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 Traction slide<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 Results slide<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 Go-to-market strategy slide<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 Technology advantage slide<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 Scaling slide<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 Target markets slide<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 Product lines overview slide<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 Product line 1 slide<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 Product line 2 slide<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 Product line 3 slide<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 Summary slide<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 Ask and use of funds slide<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0 Thank you slide<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Three things to love<\/h2>\n<p>I\u2019ll be honest here: I don\u2019t really understand what the company does. Perhaps I\u2019m just not deep tech enough to fully appreciate how biotech works. On the other hand, I\u2019m firmly of the opinion that if you can\u2019t explain your business to a five-year-old, there\u2019s something wrong with your storytelling.<\/p>\n<p>Still, Aether did get a few things right.<\/p>\n<h3>A bold setup<\/h3>\n<p>Straight out of the gate on slide 2, the company plants the seed for a huge vision:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2619378\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2619378\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">[Slide 2] Setting up a bold vision for the future. <strong>Image Credits:<\/strong> Aether Bio<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>If there\u2019s anything you could put on a slide to catch my attention, this would be pretty high on the list. Yes, I do want to imagine that future. There\u2019s a risk here, of course: Is the company going to be able to fulfill the promise it makes?<\/p>\n<h3>Hella competitive advantages<\/h3>\n<p>I caveat this by saying that I don\u2019t really know what the existing technologies are, and if I were looking at this deal more closely, I\u2019d have to talk to a bunch of industry experts to see how these types of data sets are currently generated. On face value, however, this slide is impressive:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2619393\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2619393\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"breakout size-full wp-image-2619393\" src=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pitch-deck-teardown-aether-slide-7-of-23.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"577\" srcset=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pitch-deck-teardown-aether-slide-7-of-23.png 1200w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pitch-deck-teardown-aether-slide-7-of-23.png?resize=150,85 150w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pitch-deck-teardown-aether-slide-7-of-23.png?resize=300,169 300w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pitch-deck-teardown-aether-slide-7-of-23.png?resize=768,433 768w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pitch-deck-teardown-aether-slide-7-of-23.png?resize=680,383 680w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pitch-deck-teardown-aether-slide-7-of-23.png?resize=50,28 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2619393\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">[Slide 7] If true, I wouldn\u2019t want to be Aether\u2019s competitors. <strong>Image Credits:<\/strong> Aether Bio<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Any company that can genuinely show it is 20x faster and 1\/10th of the price per sample, and 1\/50th of the initial investment of existing technology is flashing a huge, neon \u201cdisrupting the industry\u201d sign alongside its pitch. Again, I\u2019d want to verify the claims, but this will absolutely capture my attention.<\/p>\n<h3>Addressing the challenges head-on<\/h3>\n<p>The little I do know about companies in this space is that there are tremendous challenges involved with bringing synthetic bioproducts to market. It\u2019s refreshing to see Aether address some of those challenges head on.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_2619400\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2619400\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"breakout size-full wp-image-2619400\" src=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pitch-deck-teardown-aether-slide-13-of-23.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"577\" srcset=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pitch-deck-teardown-aether-slide-13-of-23.png 1200w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pitch-deck-teardown-aether-slide-13-of-23.png?resize=150,85 150w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pitch-deck-teardown-aether-slide-13-of-23.png?resize=300,169 300w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pitch-deck-teardown-aether-slide-13-of-23.png?resize=768,433 768w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pitch-deck-teardown-aether-slide-13-of-23.png?resize=680,383 680w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pitch-deck-teardown-aether-slide-13-of-23.png?resize=50,28 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2619400\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">[Slide 13] \u2018yeah, we know this is hard, but here\u2019s how we are mitigating the issues. <strong>Image Credits:<\/strong> Aether Bio<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>From this slide, you can learn how to tackle some of the reasons VCs may have been burned in the past in this space, and explain how you are different.<\/p>\n<p>This is similar to how companies building in the medtech microfluidics space put a \u201cHere is how we are different from Theranos\u201d in an appendix slide. It\u2019s tongue-in-cheek, but you <em>know<\/em> the question is going to come up so you may as well be prepared for it. Elegantly done!<\/p>\n<p>In the rest of this teardown, we\u2019ll take a look at three things Aether could have improved or done differently, along with its full pitch deck!<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2023\/10\/27\/sample-series-a-pitch-deck-aether\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aether\u2019s pitch deck is a real head-scratcher. The company says that it raised almost $50 million to \u201cextract lithium from previously inaccessible reserves.\u201d That makes sense: Lithium is a valuable, hard-to-get resource that is being used by the bucketload in batteries and other electronics. But, the pitch deck relegates this use case (which is the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-49128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}