text: IVS’ pitch competition LAUNCHPAD was founded in 2007 with the intent to give startups a platform that could catapult their businesses to success, and since then, about 400 startups participated in the pitching competition. Among them, some all-stars have emerged, such as WealthNavi, MoneyForward, Crowdworks, Wantedly, and Bengo4 — many of which are now part of our portfolio.
  Previously, we had looked at the deck that cloud based accounting giant freee k.k. used to win IVS LAUNCHPAD 2013. We also checked out the winning decks of luggage storage platform ecbo and paperwork-reducing SaaS KAMINASHI.
  This time, we’re featuring the deck of the winner of IVS2021 NASU LAUNCHPAD, SHE founded by Eri Fukuda, which provides a career support service for working women.
  Our comments: As we have emphasized in the last few posts within this series, the visual and the word choice of the first slide are very important. This is a good example where one phrase introduces the overall ethos of the company and is very clear about who the target audience of the service is.
  Try to avoid squeezing in too many lines about the features or details about the service in the first slide to keep from overwhelming your audience.
  Our comments:These last four slides here are the “hook” that attracts the audience. The lighthearted tone at the beginning of the hook softens up the audience, but joking aside, SHE quickly launches into the best side of their traction at the beginning of a pitch to show that they mean business.
  Our comments: The charts and infographics here are visually cohesive and very on brand. They’re also originally designed to SHE’s aesthetic, instead of using the screenshots from the reports issued by other companies.
  Our comments: If the problem you’re trying to solve has been around for a long time, then you should, as this slide does, be providing a strong answer to the question of why is it hasn’t been solved yet.
  ↑ demo video. (Not included in this article)
  Our comments: In the actual pitch, here is where the demo video comes in, but we will keep it out in this article. It’s a very outstanding demo. Within a minute and a half, the founder of SHE, Fukuda has introduced various features while maintaining a steady pace. She showed not only the user interface, but also how students and coaches are using it.
  Our comments: It’s great to show the overall traction of the company, but like what these two slides do, it is easier for the audience to understand the impact of the service by showing some case studies. For example, if you provide a B2B productivity tool, you should share how much time has one of your clients reduced after adopting the tool.
  Our comments: Towards the end of the pitch, although you don’t need to reveal everything, it’d be great if you can share some insight into your “secret sauce,” AKA your competitive advantage against non-obvious entry barriers. It’d be even better if you can share some KPIs that can back you up, such as the high conversion rate the SHE has shown.
  Our comments:SHE is the company with the most traction among all the companies we have analyzed in this series, and it is great that they managed to show not only a snapshot of the latest year, but also growth over several years.
  Our comments:This is a common point among all winners of LAUNCHPAD, that at the end of the pitch after they talk about the market size and business expansion plan, they speak about their passion and communicate their vision. Every winning pitch does more than articulate to the head — it must also speak to the heart.
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  Announcing IVS2021 LAUNCHPAD NASU Finalists
  IVS LAUNCHPAD is one of the largest pitch competitions in Japan, and over 400 startups have stood on the LAUNCHPAD stage. The first IVS LAUNCHPAD was held in 2007 and over 5,000 startups have applied for an opportunity to pitch to an esteemed panel of judges over the years.