Teaser Pitch Decks
Welcome to the Seventy-Ninth edition of Unstoppable Founders!
The Next Chapter …
In Feb. we hosted the first ever Unstoppable Founders Summit. The experience was nothing short of electrifying if I do say so myself! We’ve received hundreds of pieces of feedback from attendees, partners and speakers. So after a very short debate, we’ve decided to not only bring back UFS as our flagship virtual event, but we’re taking it up a notch and introducing new virtual event formats to continue sharing knowledge, information and inspiration for female founders!
There’s no better way to guarantee your success in an investor pitch than by having a clear strategy, feeling prepared to answer challenging questions and knowing the key points investors want to hear. Grab your spot in our upcoming Masterclass, Getting Funded: Pitching 101 with Emma Rees!
Thanks again for being part of the Unstoppable community, we’re just getting started!
👑 #Unstoppable Female Founder
This week, I'm thrilled to introduce you to a founder whom I admittedly wasnt aware of, but quickly realized is nothing short of inspirational. Her life and career journey exemplifies resilience, innovation and forward-thinking leadership, all defined by one pivotal moment. Please meet Olga Megorskaya, Co-founder & CEO of Toloka, a global AI data solutions company that's quietly powering some of the most transformative technologies we interact with daily.
When I started researching Olga's story, I came across an interview she gave to Women in Tech where she described how a personal setback became the catalyst for her entrepreneurial journey. At just 18, a serious spine injury forced her to find remote work options long before remote work became mainstream post Covid. This requirement led her to securing a role at Yandex the search engine, where she worked as an in-house data labeller. This is where she very quickly realized, this should not be anyone’s full time job, that there had to be a better, more efficient way.
In 2014, Olga launched Toloka and over the past decade, the company has evolved from a crowdsourcing platform into a global AI data solutions company specializing in high-quality data labelling. The company now connects over 200,000 experts across more than 100 countries, providing critical data labelling and human-in-the-loop services to tech giants including Amazon, Microsoft, and Anthropic. Just this week, Toloka secured a $72 million investment round led by Bezos Expeditions, Jeff Bezos's investment arm, with participation from Mikhail Parakhin, CTO of Shopify.
With her background in mathematical modelling from St. Petersburg State University, Olga brings both technical expertise and human-centered leadership to her role. She's a passionate advocate for responsible AI development, emphasizing the critical importance of human oversight in AI systems to ensure safety, reliability, and alignment with human values.
One point I’ve noticed Olga addresses often in interviews, is the barriers women face in tech careers, particularly at crucial decision points like education paths and family planning. She advocates for transparency, fairness, and women’s empowerment in the workplace.
"Women don't want special treatment in the workplace, just a fair crack at success."
In addition to running a highly successful business, Olga is also a mom to her daughter, two cats and a huge Newfoundland! More proof that women are the real superheroes! 🦸♀️
What female founder would you like to learn about next week? Drop me a note and let me know!
📣 #TheRant
Teaser Pitch Decks
You don’t need a 15-slide pitch deck. You just need a great teaser.
I speak to a lot of founders weekly, most of which are either actively fundraising or preparing to start. One thing they all have in common, and Im even guilty of this myself, they obsess over what should go into their pitch deck. They’re obsessing over financials, GTM mechanics, or trying to build the “perfect” 20-page deck before speaking to investors. A word of caution, investors DO NOT want to see a 20 page slide deck landing in their inbox!
Let me hopefully save you a lot of time and stress.
At the early stage, most investors aren't evaluating your business on the same data points as they would a later stage company. They understand you likely have very little traction, if any at all, you probably haven’t cracked your CAC, LTV or ACV just yet.
Instead they’re looking to understand:
Do I believe in this team?
Do I believe in the market?
And is the idea compelling enough to learn more?
This is why I’m a fan of using a simple teaser deck when running your initial outreach to investors. Nothing overly engineered, just a short, sharp teaser deck of 6 or 7 slides designed to spark interest and open a conversation.
1. You don’t have (or need) a mountain of data
Early-stage is all about vision. You may not have deep traction or CAC metrics yet and that’s expected. A teaser deck lets you tell a clear, focused story without overexplaining what doesn’t even exist yet.
2. Investors bet on people
When there’s limited product or revenue, the founding team and problem being solved, becomes the pitch. A concise teaser deck gives space for your story, clarity of thought and ambition to shine.
3. It opens the door to conversation
You’re not trying to close the deal with your pitch deck, you’re simply trying to get the meeting. Teasers work best when they create curiosity that can lead to a deeper discussion.
What should go in your teaser deck?
Problem – what pain exists and for whom
Solution – what you’re building and how it solves it
Market – size of the opportunity
Why now – what makes this the right moment
Team – why you’re the team to solve this problem
Traction – any early signals of progress
The ask – how much you’re raising + what’s your next milestone for growth
So no need for a 5-year forecast or detailed marketing plan. Those will come later.
For now, just focus on telling your story in a clear, concise and compelling way!
Let your vision and your sparkling personality do the heavy lifting!
For a little teaser deck inspiration, the Caya and the guys at Slidebean have compiled 35+ successful investment decks!
💰#HypeCorner
This is where we cover funding rounds raised by female founders and their teams across Europe. With less than 2% of VC funding going to female led startups, the HypeCorner is simply our way of congratulating and celebrating these founders!
🇬🇧 Lucy Stewart Founder of PEARL
🇪🇸 Beatriz Martín Morell Co-founder & COO of LiveLink Motor
🇪🇸 Esther Riambau & Isabel Puig Borreil, PhD Co-founders of Oniria Therapeutics
🇧🇪 Alycia Purcell CEO of Pilario
🇱🇹 Gražina Mykolaitytė CEO of VUGENE
🇳🇱 Olga Megorskaya Co-founder & CEO of Toloka
🇪🇸 Carolina Aguilar Co-founder & CEO of INBRAIN
🇳🇴 Ingrid Dynna- Co-founder & CEO of NoMy
🇬🇧 Jane Ollis Founder of Mindspire
🇬🇧 Meryem Arik Co-founder & CEO of Doubleword
🇬🇧 Katherine Chan CEO of Juice
🇩🇪 Nadine Wilke Co-founder of Particula
Huge congratulations to these founders and their teams. Wishing you all continued success!
🎤 Events for founders
💻 {Virtual} 23rd of May - Nailing the perfect investor pitch, an online Masterclass with 4x founder & angel investor, Emma Rees! Spaces are limited, grab your spot today and learn how to frame your pitch, tackle investor Q&A like a pro and successfully secure investment.
🇦🇹 {Vienna} FFX {formerly LTST25} hosted by Female Founders is back May 8th & 9th and this years theme is ‘The Real Deal for Founders’ Early bird tickets on sale now! Grab your tickets now!
{Berlin} Raise with Grace - 19-20th of May at The Delta Campus in Berlin. This event is a 2-day roadmap, all about: giving early-stage founders the knowledge, insights, and network to start their fundraising journey strong. Get 10% Off your tickets with this link!
🇬🇧 {London} SXSW lands in London June 2nd - 7th taking over the city merging creativity, culture and technology. SXSW London are now taking applications for musicians, film makers and speakers!
🇪🇸 {Madrid} South Summit Madrid - June 4th - 6th brings together global innovators, bold entrepreneurs, leading corporations, and visionary investors. Early bird tickets now available.
💻 {Virtual} Getting Funded: Pitching 101 Masterclass with 4x Founder & Angel Investor, Emma Rees. Nail the perfect investor pitch by understanding what investors want to see and hear, learn how to handle Q&As like a pro, and how to reply to a prevention question with a promotion answer.
🇫🇷 {Paris} VivaTech - June 11-14th- is the world's rendezvous for startups and leaders to celebrate innovation. It's a gathering of the world's brightest minds, talents, and products.
🇳🇱 {Amsterdam} European Women in Technology is a must for your calendar, happening June 25th & 26th. 5,000+ women in tech, diversity advocates, allies and change makers for Leading the Digital Revolution!
🇬🇧 {London} Sifted Summit is back 8th & 9th of October, bringing together 3,000 founders, startup and scaleup operators and investors to celebrate the resilience of the ecosystem and how its leading players are preparing for the long-haul.
🇫🇷 {Paris} UnlockVC (formerly WVCE) is hosting its annual Summit from the 13th - 15th of October. This event brings together ambitious investors, trailblazing thought leaders, and industry pioneers for two impactful days of networking, learning, and growth.
👑 UNSTOPPABLE FOUNDING MEMBERSHIPS Now available! Inside the Community Hub you’ll gain access to the resources, networks and capital you need to build and scale your business. From helping you secure capital to building traction, everything you need as a female founder, all in one place!
☀️ Have a wonderful weekend! ☀️
Jen
PS- Are you fundraising? Looking to boost your customer acquisition? Just looking for some guidance and advice? I’m now taking on clients for May & June and have a few open spots - drop me a note and let’s chat!