Although there are two industries that generate huge profits, movies and games have traditionally been largely ignored by venture capitalists. This is a little surprising to many. Venture capitalists are known for their keen eye for high-growth opportunities, primarily betting on the next big thing in technology startups, healthcare innovation, and the digital space. But as Deadline reports, Newzoo said movies earned $33.9 billion last year, and global gaming revenue was $184 billion. Still, the proposition of investing in movies takes venture capitalists far from the calculable metrics of SaaS platforms and the relatively predictable risks of biotech.
Games and movies can be hit or miss, and traditional venture capital investment theory hardly accepts this kind of unpredictability.
I've always been particularly interested in pitch decks in the gaming industry, so I was excited when SuperScale threw their hat into the ring. The company is committed to making marketing your game easy, and considering that good marketing is one of the crucial differences between so-so results and big hits, it's a pretty fun way to do it. That piqued my curiosity.
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This deck slide
The company submitted 22 slides, but “customer details and customer stories that were not approved for distribution have been redacted,” the company said.
Cover slide Problem slide Solution slide Macro market size forecast slide Market size forecast slide Market size slide (2027) Target customer slide Platform gap slide Mechanism slide Market segmentation slide Business model slide Case study slide Competitive situation slide Business plan gap slide 5-year plan Overview slide Question slide Fund usage overview slide Overview slide Team slide Inter-appendix page slide Company history slide Closing/contact slide
Three things I love about SuperScale’s pitch deck
SuperScale has an incredibly sophisticated deck that gets the point right. 22 slides may seem like a lot (the optimal length for a slide deck these days is about 16 slides), but this slide has several insert slides and an appendix that are Not very important.
Let's take a look at some that actually work.
create your own market
[Slide 5] This will definitely catch the attention of investors.Image credit: Superscale
Gaming is a huge market and investors don't need to be convinced of that. The question is, how do you get a slice of that very tasty digital pie? Superscale is taking an interesting leap of faith here. This number is a projection for 2027 rather than talking about today's numbers. But this slide is near the beginning of the deck. It would certainly be very interesting if SuperScale could make a solid argument for being part of a machine that grows the game by 10%.
It's bold and brazen storytelling. Of course, the company currently requires you to share your plans and provide receipts, but this is a good way to quickly pique investor interest.
new lease of life
[Slide 7] Superscale promises to pursue two markets.Image credit: Superscale
As a game optimization company, SuperScale has an interesting approach, and this simple slide contains some smart promises. So what if we could significantly increase the profitability of games that are already out there? SuperScale's model is that we can improve the profitability of games that are already out there at a stage in the game publishing cycle where basically every dollar that comes in is a bonus. The aim is to breathe new life into the game. This deck isn't a big deal, but I can see it being a very powerful sales technique for game studios. If you're going to succeed in legacy games (basically without risk), wouldn't it be wise to integrate? Will he have SuperScale in the new game?
This is very smart and investors will understand.
That's how I put it together
Design and barely readable text aside, the content of this slide is great.
[Slide 18] of course.Image credit: Superscale
I love a good summary slide. We provide all the thoughts and takeaways investors need to get excited about investing. That's a great approach.
Three things SuperScale could have done better
Overall, this is one of the best pitch decks I've ever seen, but there are a few things that made me go “meh.”
Wait a minute, how big is your team?
When a company raises around $5 million, I typically assume a team of 10-15 people. This team's slide was a bit of a surprise.
[Slide 19] That's a big team.Image credit: Superscale
Placing this slide at the end of the deck makes you question how serious this startup is. When you have 5 business units and his 70+ team members, the rest of the deck becomes a mess. There are question slides, but no surefire way to use the funds. You can't sustain a team of 70 people without significant revenue. The company spends so much time talking about 2027 and its five-year plan, but how much profit it makes is completely hidden.
There is some information about earnings, but only in the form of case studies.
[Slide 12] Blink and you'll miss it, but this slide contains some important business metrics.Image credit: Superscale
Did you notice? SuperScale earned $6 million from EA, Zynga, and Fingersoft. An additional $1.5 million will come from NimbleBit.
While that's impressive, it's a terrible way to show off this level of traction. A good traction slide will display these numbers not as a total, but as a revenue graph that shows how much and how fast your revenue is increasing over time.
Why is Superscale raising money?
It's puzzling why the company has raised about $5 million, even though sales are showing well.
[Slide 16] what?Image credit: Superscale
This slide makes little sense. In slide 12, the company said that he had $7.5 million worth of revenue from the case study customers alone. How many customers do you have? I don't know. How much income do you have in total? I don't understand. And what are you going to do with that money? Well, there's a slide for that.
[Slide 17] Will it raise money for a five-year runway?Image credit: Superscale
This slide has no value. The company says it's building an M&A machine, hinting at plans to acquire rights to legacy games and possibly grow it. That's great, but it requires a concrete plan.
There is also an internal contradiction here. The company says it needs $5 million to reach its goal, but will “continue to invest organically” by reinvesting profits.
In the M&A space, $5 million is little money, so I'm very interested to see who the acquisition targets will be and how the company envisions these acquisitions contributing to its bottom line.
Tell a consistent story!
SuperScale seemed like a great investment opportunity when I first read it, but once I started poking and prodding at the deck, it started to make less and less sense. It seems that the company wants to acquire other companies (gaming?). He has a staff of 70 people, but he has raised only $5 million. They don't share their past successes or how they plan to find the future success they need.
I think a better way to tell this story holistically is to tell the end-to-end story consistently.
We bought game A for B dollars. Invested $C into the game's growth infrastructure. I invested D dollars in marketing the game. With just $C+D invested, the game's earnings went from $E to $F. As you can see, we made $X in profit on this project, and we predict that this playbook will work for games with this particular profile. We want to build a portfolio of 30 games, so we are raising 30*($B+$C+$C). This then becomes a self-sustaining business with a repeatable strategy and business model.
That story makes sense to investors.
full pitch deck
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