We love presenting and PowerPoint is akin to oxygen for us. We breath it everyday and use it every chance we get. Sure there is canva and other web apps that help making designing and changing our perception on slide shows unique, but is it really? That is when i came across this literal “pitch” but what caught my eye was the investments it garnered in 2 years.
Taken from Business wire:
About Pitch
Pitch is the collaborative presentation software for modern teams. With a focus on real-time collaboration, smart workflows, and intuitive design features, Pitch makes it fast and delightful for teams to create and deliver beautiful presentations, and easy for anyone to find inspiration from templates crafted by experts. Tens of thousands of teams have made the switch to Pitch, including top brands like Intercom, Superhuman, and Notion. Founded in 2018 by the team behind Wunderlist, and powered by a team of over 100 thinkers, makers, and storytellers, Pitch has raised over $135 million to date. To learn more and create a free account, visit pitch.com
Even the pitch for the PITCH hits the mark on lack of collaboration when creating slides. They state
At Pitch, we think it should be easy for teams to communicate complex ideas in simple and digestible terms. That’s what great presentations do best.We founded Pitch with the goal of building the first complete platform for presentations, and the mission to enable every team’s best thinking.When we do that, more founders will win backing for world-changing ideas, stronger storytelling will scale world-class companies, and more teams everywhere will find togetherness.
Perhaps it will give the class the opportunity to try it out and see if the Pitch real helps with collaboration. #makePowerPointhistory
Check out the video on how it works.
I am on the fence whether or not I would invest in this. Let’s discuss.
I was sold on their video. It really showed their intention on how the software should work and how a team can collaborate by using their individual strengths. They demonstrated the user interface, user experience, and workflow of the platform. Also, their video cleverly told a story about each individual and their contribution to the overall story. It was well done.
How does this venture compare to PowerPoint, Keynote, and Google Slides. I have used Google Slides to collaborate with others, and use it in my classroom. I use Keynote a little more than PowerPoint personally. Their pitch says that it is easy to collaborate and is easy to use, but would a team use a new platform to give a presentation? How easy is it to insert it into their overall work flow? If they’re all using Microsoft Teams, let’s say, why would they move one aspect of their workflow when they’re using a whole office suite? Looking through their plans they offer integration for Google Analytics and Sheets. What if a user used Shopify and wanted to integrate their analytics? I don’t see
Innovators such as the founders of Instagram, Kevin System and Mike Krieger, the founder of Zoom, Eric Yuan, and the Slack Fund are investors. They have $135M of funding. 120 team members, with 21 positions open, and the job openings shows that this venture is going to grow.
Tough for me to decide because those backers hold some weight, so they must see potential for growth and a worthy return. I’m not sold because fo the saturation of that market with Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, and Google Slides. I have decided no.
Great product, and definitely a software for modern teams. If I was to invest in Pitch, the first question that comes to mind is, how unique is Pitch relative to other available collaborative presentation software that is in the market today? The pitch video was great in outlining all the features of PITCH, including sharing, commenting, tracking progress, delegating work, gorgeous templates, status report, and the ability to work from any device. However, it did not present a unique feature that distinguishes it from the likes of Google Slides, Keynote or PowerPoint. I think most or even all of the Pitch features are available today and investors usually look out for the peculiar problem a product solves.
I am not sure if I see the uniqueness of Pitch, and would pass on investing in the product.
I think that I would invest in this venture. I did some google searches for presentation software and there are a lot of them out there. After looking at information on them I realized that this is about focusing to a need and specific customer base. This software, to me, represents a precision targeting for a specific customer which I think could be powerful. There are ton of these types of tools out there but many of them seem to lack focus and represent limited visual differentials and features. What this tells me is that there is room for diversification for options within the presentation software market. Imagine a world where all presentation were created using the limited formatting options of Google slides, or the slide transitions and themes found in PowerPoint, or the zooming transitions found in Prezi! These are all powerful and useful tools, but options need to exist especially in the target audience that Pitch is attempting to access. If a venture pitch is a 5-8 minute, which relies on salesmanship of the presenter, then one may assume that there is some room for the choices on how the venture and the presentation may be perceived by the investors. I think if you are wanting to stand out from other venture presentations, any edge you can get for enhancing positive impressions can help move the venture forward. This is where options in the market have space to exist. A quick search on PowerPoint presentations presents estimates of about 30 million presentations created each day. This is a high number but also reveals the market potential. By simply being a fully functional participant in the menu of presentation options you can stand out by simply being a little different. Pitch has all the requisite features to be a viable option for venture presentations. So, with that in mind the potential for pitch to offer a product that stands out is there simply because it is capable and meets needs, but more importantly is not the overused, repetitive, presentation tools that have been seen billions of times before. Impressions can mean a lot, so standing out is what Pitch is offering to customers. Yes, I would invest in this venture.
Yes, I would invest in Pitch but conditionally.
The software is highly collaborative and it beautifully facilitates the workflow. I like the idea the Pitch provides the features of leaving comments, assigning slides, tracking progress, sharing reactions, and even hopping on a quick video call. We cannot deny the extra distinctive features of this innovation. As far as I know, all the other similar software lacks most of many of the previously-mentioned features. This app fills the gaps and facilitates communication among the team workers as it promotes accuracy and liability.
Compared to Powerpoint and Google slides, Pitch has a higher review rate of 93.4 for small-business (Google Slides’s is 40.5). Although the market is rich, and to compete against the current titans of the area, apps need to provide something profound. However, the myriad of extra features simply makes the software more desirable, especially that it is rated as highly user-friendly.
On the flip side, many say that there are not plenty of templates available and the fact that it is in the beta casts some doubts on how sustainable it could be. However, I find no problem with that.
Therefore, with all the fancy features and the constant upgrades, I say Pitch can potentially overthrow the leading apps, especially in the small-business setting.
I would like to invest the Pitch. There are three reasons support my decision.
For starters, they have a sizable potential user base. We can’t stop creating PPT to present our work, whether we’re studying or working. PPT has become second nature to most people. Pitch is built on this foundation to create innovative ideas that can be edited and shared in the form of a group.
Second, creating an account is incredibly simple and there are no geographical limits. Pitch does not have as much funding as Google slides, but it is unrestricted by the firewalls of certain countries, such as China, which has a large market. In order to access Google slides in China, users will need a VPN, but Pitch has no restrictions. To some extent, Pitch is easier to use by users all over the world in today’s remote workplace setting.
Finally, the entire operation page is quite straightforward and maintains the familiar user interface as PPT and users can quickly learn how to use each function. There are also numerous designs that are both elegant and functional. Users can assign tasks and cooperate on editing with their teammates. Pitch’s feedback that may be marked to peers is also a great feature. As a result, I’m interested in investing in this business.
This is great feedback. While I do know there are so many different apps on collaboration from kanbans to canva, this is unique in a way that allows participants to interact via video, visually and directly in one space. I know from experience, this would be useful for small teams and groups.
As stated in an article https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/01/pitch-a-presentation-startup-from-wunderlists-founders-raises-30m-more-to-take-on-powerpoint/
“We invest in fast-growing companies with big market potential, and Pitch is in a strong position to create a great product in a market that’s ripe for change. The demand for Pitch is already clear by the thousands of companies who have expressed interest in the limited preview,” Joshua Kusher from Thrive Capital said in a statement. “We believe in Pitch both because of the product vision but also because of the team.
It comes down also to the value of team members and entrepreneurs in how they work for their customers with their product.
Wow. There is a solution to teamwork adversities that fill in a market gap, and the video illustrates many aspects, such as the solution itself, differentiation, and marketing. Moreover, approaches the competency of venture and competitors lightly. It is unclear about the investment and even less the possibilities of gain, but my instincts guide me to invest in this venture.
No, I would not invest in Pitch.
There is a level of passion in the pitch and the design of the product warranted further investigation, but that is where this venture falls apart for me. Since this was originally posted and because our cohort has a particular focus on AI, the seemingly lack of keeping pace with AI in their platform is one of the driving factors into why I would not invest in this company. A quick search onto their website lists the only AI that is currently implemented on their platform is for editing and cropping images. Of course, additional features can be added later, but the rate at which AI is being integrated into similar tools indicates they are not offering similar functionality and value as their competition.
An example of how a competitor has outpaced Pitch is the comparison to Canva. As an EVA who frequently uses Canva, it is very similar in functionality to Pitch but already uses AI in a multi-faceted approach. For example, a user can upload a single media file and Canva will generate a custom slide deck based on the uploaded media’s design, or a user can generate content for their presentation with a prompt within the chatbot feature. If the most attractive feature for Pitch is it offers video conferencing during collaboration, I do not believe it is unique enough to overtake others in the market. There are low cost workarounds to this, such as Canva, PowerPoint, and Google Slides integrating into existing collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams, and for smaller organizations, the same functionality can be used in free Zoom account.
While the design is sleek, I would pass on this venture.