For angels and early-stage funds
Reading a pitch with research beside it
How angels and early-stage funds use a scored, cited report on the idea behind a deck.
The SeedBasis team · · 1 min read · Markdown version
A deck is written to persuade. The market slide uses the biggest number anyone published, the competition slide leaves out the rival with the most reviews, and the timing slide skips the three startups that tried the same thing in 2019. None of that is dishonest. It is just what decks are for. Reading one well means looking at the same idea from the outside.
The same idea, researched from the outside
Run the idea from a pitch through SeedBasis and, about an hour later, there is a report built from public sources rather than the founder's slides: the problem in customers' own words, the market with the arithmetic behind each estimate, the competition with prices and reviews, whether it can be built, timing, and the earlier attempts and what became of them.
What to read first
- Six scores: problem, market, competition, feasibility, timing and prior attempts, each from 0 to 100 with the sentence behind it.
- What it depends on: the conditions the idea needs to hold, each with its status and what would settle it.
- Where the sections disagree: when two parts of the research found different things, both are shown.
- The two-page summary: ready to keep with your screening notes.
Every finding carries its source and a confidence, so it is clear which numbers come from a filing and which from a vendor's own blog.
A note on the questions
A report asks a few questions about the person behind the idea, such as budget, time and what they already have. When the idea is someone else's, answer with what the deck tells you. Nothing about the founder is assumed beyond those answers.
What it does not do
It is research, not investment advice: it says where the evidence stands, never whether to invest. It does not assess the team, and it cannot see anything that is not public.
Comparing several pitches? Run a report on each and set them side by side on the comparison page. The use cases say more.