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The pitch deck the 28-year-old cofounders of a vegan skincare brand used to raise $1 million in 2 weeks
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- Connie Lo and Laura Burget, both 28, are cofounders of Canadian skincare brand Three Ships Beauty.
- They used 4,000 Canadian dollars, or around $3,128, of their savings to start the company in 2017.
- Here’s the pitch deck they used to raise $1 million in two weeks from the CEO of Dyson and others.
In 2017, Connie Lo and Laura Burget were frustrated by expensive skincare and confusing labeling and decided to take manners into their own hands by creating their own vegan skincare brand right at their kitchen table.
The duo, now both 28, pooled together 4,000 Canadian dollars, or around $3,128, of their savings to launch Three Ships Beauty. Their first product was coconut- and essential oil-infused makeup remover wipes, which they made in Lo’s apartment and sold at farmer’s markets in Toronto.
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During the day, the duo worked full time in corporate sales, and during evenings and weekends, they brainstormed ideas and packaged products until 3 a.m. By September 2018, they’d quit their jobs, moved production to Lo’s parents’ basement, and expanded the line to 18 products.
The brand became a fast favorite with magazine editors and retailers, but when the pandemic hit, the retail shops selling their stock closed, shipping costs rose, and then the bestselling Radiance Day Cream went out of stock, as one of the ingredients came from Italy.
They needed funding — luckily, in August 2020 their application to “Dragons’ Den” (the Canadian version of “Shark Tank”) was accepted. After a successful pitch, they took millionaire Jim Treliving’s offer of 350,000 Canadian dollars, or around $273,738, but ultimately decided to turn it down, go it alone, and seek funding elsewhere.
They started pitching to VCs they’d met at trade shows, approached on LinkedIn, or been introduced to by other angel investors in October 2020. Their starting goal was 550,000 Canadian dollars ($430,160), but instead they raised 1.4 million Canadian dollars, or around$1.095 million, in two weeks. The result of the funding is a team of 13, a new headquarters in Toronto, and a plan to launch in Europe in 2023.
Lo walked Insider through the pitch deck they used to attract investors like Martin McCourt, former CEO of Dyson, and Tara Bosch, founder of SmartSweets.
Courtesy of Three Ships Beauty
Lo and Burget’s agency said they needed to keep the deck succinct. “We needed to have more conversation happening on the call and less information being shared via the deck,” Lo said. “We liked this image because it’s fresh, it’s clean, and it reflects our brand philosophy of ‘less is more.'”
Courtesy of Three Ships Beauty
The duo wanted to start the deck with a bold statement. “Words like ‘ripped off’ and ‘lied to’ told the story that we have a clear stance within the market,” Lo said. “We said this line on ‘Dragons’ Den’ and they said ‘Yes! People hate being lied to.’ It elicits an emotional response.”
Courtesy of Three Ships Beauty
Lo and Burget kept in mind that some of the investors may not really understand the natural skincare market, so they highlighted three key stats they felt were the most relevant.
“To show there’s a lack of transparency in the market, we highlighted that 60% of women check the ingredients of beauty buys, and if they don’t understand them, they won’t buy the product,” Lo said. The duo also flagged the 74 Canadian dollars ($57) average price point to show how they compare.
Courtesy of Three Ships Beauty
Lo said they wanted to hit investors hard with one line to show they’re the most transparent natural beauty brand in the market that actually works.
Courtesy of Three Ships Beauty
The founders then wanted to show that transparency is at the heart of their brand. “Every single ingredient we use is listed in our ingredient glossary that shows where ingredients are sourced from and the scientific studies behind those ingredients,” Lo said.
Courtesy of Three Ships Beauty
Originally, Lo said, they had “Forever under $40” on this slide, but “we decided to explain that most brands within the natural beauty market price their products at $100 and above.”
Courtesy of Three Ships Beauty
Lo and Burget knew that before and after images work well with investors because they can see actual results, so before this slide, they included some. “We then show these reviews and give an anecdote of talking to someone at a farmer’s market, getting their feedback, and realizing we were on to something,” Lo said.
Courtesy of Three Ships Beauty
This slide was used to show the excitement surrounding the brand at that time. “We had just signed with Target and Whole Foods and launched in 600 retail locations,” Lo said. They also showed the projections for how much revenue was generated.
Courtesy of Three Ships Beauty
The founders held a pre-seed round in 2019, where they raised 135,000 Canadian dollars ($105,573), but in hindsight, Lo said they should’ve waited. “We made three rookie mistakes we were determined not to repeat: We didn’t set a minimum for how much people needed to invest, we didn’t set an end date to cause FOMO for investors, and we didn’t have a strong enough story,” Lo said. “Recently we had an offer from Target, gave them two weeks to come on board, and set a minimum of 50,000 Canadian dollars ($39,105).”
Courtesy of Three Ships Beauty
The next slide showed how the company would spend the money. “We needed to hire staff. As Laura and I were doing everything, we knew we were the bottleneck that was preventing the business from growing,” Lo said.
Courtesy of Three Ships Beauty
They had a slide showing their profit-and-loss statement and the projections up to 2021. Then they had this slide to show who they are and explain how their skill sets are complementary.
Courtesy of Three Ships Beauty
“Look closer” is their tagline. “We would cheekily ask investors to look closer at the business and at who we are as founders, and we would open the floor up to questions,” Lo said.
The deck would take 20 minutes to run through. “The investors on most calls would say, ‘What’s your minimum check? Let’s get into it.’ And they would wire us money the same day,” Lo said.