Great Pitch Decks: Paper Street Inc

The best star­tups have the best pitch decks. They are clear, con­c­ise, and an­sw­er the key ques­tions de­fin­ing their vis­ion. I'd like to share with you the deck from a great com­pany you've pro­bab­ly heard of: Paper Street Inc. They scaled from a local op­era­tion to an industry-disrupting power­house. This is the pre­sen­ta­tion that star­ted it all.

Paper Street’s pre­m­ise is sim­ple: qual­ity luxu­ry be­auty pro­ducts like you’ve never ex­perien­ced be­fore. Our first pro­duct is a bath bar made by local ar­tisans from the fin­est in­gredients.

A new genera­tion of be­auty con­sum­ers is grow­ing up tech savvy, educated, and health-conscious. They have high ex­pec­ta­tions for qual­ity. Their hus­bands work jobs they hate, to buy stuff they don’t need. If you do pilates or be­lieve in homeopat­hy, we’re here to serve you.

We’re partner­ing with the best re­tail out­lets in the na­tion to bring our pro­ducts to mar­ket. We’re start­ing local, build­ing strong per­son­al re­lationships with buy­ers and dis­tributors. Our on­line pre­s­ence is minim­al, to add to the ex­clusiv­ity and mys­tique.

The only thing more fier­ce than the com­peti­tion in the high-end be­auty in­dust­ry is the brand loyal­ty of con­sum­ers. Our mes­sage is that you should­n’t put an­yth­ing on your body that you would­n’t have in your body. Our pro­prieta­ry soap for­mula­tion de­liv­ers a per­fect balan­ce of salt and es­senti­al oils, with­out toxic chem­icals, and a near­ly 100% cruelty-free guaran­tee. Cus­tom­ers tell us that our soaps feel al­most like a part of them.

Our specific blend is pro­prieta­ry, but the “sec­ret sauce” is no sec­ret: only the best and ric­hest. We have pioneered an in­novative sup­p­ly chain like no other, to ac­quire in­gredients at ex­treme­ly low volume pric­ing. It’s be­auti­ful.

The real be­auty of our op­era­tion is its simplic­ity. A small numb­er of qual­ity in­gredients, han­dmade with our timeless pro­ces­ses. Our ar­tisans live on-site, work­ing in shifts. Our fac­to­ry is in the “Paper Dis­trict”, and we’re thril­led to bring manu­fac­tur­ing jobs back to the inner city. As a byp­roduct we also pro­duce glycerine, an im­por­tant chem­ical for the con­struc­tion in­dust­ry. We are cur­rent­ly evaluat­ing our opt­ions for a secon­da­ry busi­ness or even a full pivot.

The most im­por­tant in­gredient is our peo­ple. We tell each other every day: “You are not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the car you drive. You're not the con­tents of your wal­let.”

Our rigor­ous in­ter­view pro­cess is com­plete­ly merit-based, con­duc­ted over three days, and is tailored to each can­didate. Our or­ganiza­tion is flat, and de­cis­ions are made via de­centralized con­sen­sus. Every­one de­cides their own level of in­vol­ve­ment.

We liven th­ings up with re­gular “mis­s­ions” that in­teg­rate our peo­ple with the daily life of the com­mun­ity. We also en­courage per­son­al de­velop­ment and care­er growth with real re­spon­sibil­ity. As the say­ing goes, “stick­ing feath­ers up your butt does not make you a chick­en”. Paper Street al­um­ni have gone on to high posi­tions in law en­for­ce­ment, life co­ach­ing, avia­tion, and hos­pital­ity.

This is where you come in. Fund­ing will allow us to ac­quire more fac­to­ry space in the re­vitalized Paper Dis­trict and grow our staff. With this round of fund­ing we anti­cipate sett­ing up franchises all over the co­unt­ry by the end of Q4. And you’ll never have to see us again.

Tyler Durd­en is the heart and soul of our Pro­ject. He br­ings world-class re­cruit­ing and man­age­ment skills and a wide ex­peri­ence in in­dust­ry.

Marla Sing­er is a part-time ad­visor to the Pro­ject, and pro­vides a keen out­side per­spec­tive. She is ac­tive in com­mun­ity sup­port groups and volun­te­ers to serve meals to her el­der­ly neighbors.

I. M. Jacks spent ten years as a com­plian­ce and li­abil­ity in­ves­tigator for an auto­motive com­pany (a major one!) be­fore sign­ing on as Co­found­er. He and Tyler met by chan­ce when they dis­covered they had the same brief­case.

Q: What’s the total address­able mar­ket?

A: Very clev­er. How’s that work­ing out for you? Being clev­er?

Q: Um, great.

A: Keep it up then.