Cineroid is up recently. A $500,000 round of funding to bring something between a microchip and dog collars to market. The company is finding some interesting market segments, but the ship, in general, leaves a few things to be desired. We learn more from mistakes than from perfection, so I thought it would be great to dive into a week of Peach Duck teardowns.
We’re looking for more unique pitches to break down, so if you’d like to submit your own, here’s how to do that.
Slides on this floor
In this Pitch Deck breakdown, you’ll be looking at the company known as Cineroid and GPC Smart – the company’s official name is the former, but the brand name and products they use for Pitch Deck is the latter. The company told me it raised this round at a price of $3.9 million.
The company used a strict 12-slide deck for the soundtrack, and no information was reduced or omitted.
- Cover slide
- Problem slide
- Competition slide
- The solution slider
- Competitive advantages slide
- Story/drag slide
- Market size slide
- Target Markets/Go to Market Slide
- Group slide
- Practical financial slider
- Ask for a slide
- Contact slide
Three things to love
Cineroid is tapping into a very easy-to-understand market: missing animals, something most of us have experience with in one way or another. This is the advantage of not being able to explain the market in detail. This means that the company is trying to attract, but competitors are facing the wall. That’s a challenge, and it’ll be interesting to see how Cineroid tackles it.
Cover the gap between the real and the real
[Slide 2] An overview slide does a great job of bringing investors up to speed. Image Credits: GPC Smart Accounts
Because the company is throwing itself into a relatively well-understood market, the challenge isn’t explaining what it does, but how it’s moving the market forward. The company’s second slide is titled the “Overview” slide, which provides a quick overview of the overall challenges facing a particular market segment.
An investor is likely to know at least some of these, but these bullets add to (or gently correct) any preconceived notions an investor may have, bridging the gap between them. Awareness the market and the The facts of being in that market. This slide – while full of words – does an excellent job of clearing up any potential confusion an investor may have.
Having said that, it also brings up some important questions. Lost pets are only part of the problem; Stolen pets will have their collars removed, and stray animals can have their collars dropped. Cineroid doesn’t really address either situation.
Great tournament overview
It’s rare to see a startup put a competitor’s overview front and center, but in this case I think that’s a very smart move. Again, this isn’t a deep technology game or a market shrouded in mystery. I bet most investors can come up with two main contenders. Fighting that front seems a little defensive, but from a marketing perspective, I think it makes a lot of sense in this case. Here’s how the company handled it:
[Slide 3] Addressing the competing options in this sliding deck may be an unusual but good move in this case. Image Credits: GPC Smart Accounts
There are several clear competitors in this space, including the most common, existing engraved metal tags or implanted microchips, both of which have their own advantages and disadvantages. There’s also the latest generation of GPS-enabled dog collars, such as from Fi, Whistle, Fitbark, and others that haven’t been seen in this competitive landscape.
If the animal is stolen, the thief simply drops the collar, and at that time, what is on the collar does not matter.
This slide shows an understanding of the competitive landscape. I love that the company chose to address this first. I think it’s important, and it’s a great way to get ahead of the very obvious pressure from investors.
Like the previous slide, although its presence is encouraging, it raises some questions. I think NFC/QR code dog collars are interesting, but I’m struggling to see how they’re inherently better than standard engraved tags. The exact laser-engraved tag in the photo does not cost $15 as listed on the slide, but can be ordered from Amazon – completely personalized – for $4, with four lines on each side of the metal tag.
Of course, you won’t be able to “update” the information, but pet owners may be able to pay $4 every time they change their phone number. You can’t include location information, but someone willing to adopt a stray puppy can probably call or call the owner with the address and details. Again, if the animal is stolen, the thief simply discards the neck completely, and at that time, what is on the neck does not matter. As far as tracking goes, Apple’s AirTag can be a good solution for those situations (but it’s just as easy to throw an AirTag into the bushes as any neck).
This slide shows that the founders recognize the challenges in their messaging and positioning, but the answers are a work in progress.
Market beast
The pet market is incredibly large, both in the US and globally. Investors know that, but it doesn’t hurt to add a reminder. No need to hold That’s big Market share to build a very important business here.
[Slide 7] Hellooooo market size. Image Credits: GPC Smart Accounts
One of the things that investors love more than anything else is a large and growing market. Pet wearables definitely qualify in that world, and my gut tells me that smart wearables (especially GPS-type trackers) will be a value driver on that front. There could be a place in there for a product like GPC if it can play its cards right and find a good offshore market for its customers. Pricing becomes critical here; This will be a product for people who want something simpler (or cheaper / easier to use) than a GPS tracker than an engraved tag.
This slide shows the total size of the market, which is impressive, but I would have liked it more if the company had said something about what the company believes its service market is and how it goes after its customers.
What can you learn from this slide as a beginner? Be clear about your market size and demonstrate that it is large and growing.
For the remainder of this tear, we’ll look at three things that Cineroid could improve or do with the full pitching floor.
