A good accelerator takes about one applicant in a hundred. Bob is office hours for the other ninety-nine.
Hover or tap any of them. I have a first question for each, and it's the same one I'd
ask you.
What you'd get in the room, without the room
I've read a great many plans. What I do is what the partner at an accelerator does in
office hours: ask where you actually are, tell you what comes next, and say plainly
when the numbers don't add up. I don't write your deck. Nobody worth having on your
side does, and an investor can tell.
Most people I talk to have a job. So the plan runs on Tuesday nights and Saturday
mornings, with a savings target and a quit date that is a date rather than a hope. I
keep the roadmap, book the time in your calendar, and do the admin: the grant search,
the Companies House form ready for you to submit, a shortlist of accountants near you.
You do the thinking. That's the part that has to be yours.
Here is the kind of thing I say.
Pitch deck, version 3, for the dog groomers' booking app
Market 4 of 10
You've quoted a £12bn pet-care market. Your customer is dog groomers in Leeds. Show
me the number that is actually yours. I'd guess under £2m, and that's fine if you
say so.
Traction 6 of 10
Eleven paying groomers is real, and it's more than most decks have. The chart makes
it look like a hundred. Use a table.
Ask 3 of 10
£250k for "growth" isn't an ask. What does the money buy, in months and in
groomers?
Would a seed investor take a second meeting? Not yet. Fix the market slide, add the
churn you're not showing, and put a real number on the ask. Then I would.
Everyone gets in.
Bob is pre-launch and free for now. Leave an email and tell me where you are. You'll
hear from me when it's ready, not from a drip campaign.