Extra Crunch Friday: 11 words and phrases to cut from your VC pitch deck

Welcome to Extra Crunch Friday

Every startup is fueled by creativity, but when it comes to telling their story to investors, most entrepreneurs rely on clichés.

Have you ever sat down and read several pitch decks in a row? Words like “runway,” “exit strategy” and “unique” will appear so frequently, they almost lost their meaning.

Given that each VC will review a deck for an average of just 170 seconds, one great way to stand out is to be original. Personal. Authentic.

Drawing from millions of documents processed at Writer, an AI writing assistant, CEO and co-founder May Habib identified a tight list of phrases and words to cull from pitch decks once and for all. Here’s one for free:

Humor? Just don’t.

Thanks very much for reading Extra Crunch this week! Have a fantastic weekend.

Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch
@yourprotagonist

Read more

Oscar Health raises IPO price as Coupang releases bullish debut valuation

These companies will soon convert tens of billions of dollars of illiquid private shares into public currency.

As such, their offerings may reveal investor sentiments surrounding e-commerce and insurance companies backed by venture capital.

The market enthusiasm surrounding Oscar Health and Coupang could be good news for neoinsurance providers, insurtech and IPOs alike.

Read more

TC Early Stage: a 2-day virtual event for entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem experts

Sponsored by TechCrunch

Take 20% off the cost of your ticket with discount code ECNEWSLETTER

Read more

6 tips for SaaS founders who don’t want VC money

Bootstrapping a SaaS company is not only possible — it’s a saner, more sustainable way to build and scale a business.

It requires patience and focus, but the freedom to create a meaningful product on your own terms is worth more than the biggest VC check.

Read more

Create a handbook and integrate AI to onboard remote employees

When looking to onboard new employees, the luxuries of first-day meet and greets, in-person hardware setup and a team lunch are no longer available.

In the age of remote work, a handbook-first approach documents and codifies internal knowledge, while AI and an onboarding buddy can help smooth new employees’ first days.

Read more

First impressions of AppLovin’s IPO filing

The business results detailed in AppLovin’s SEC filing are impressive.

While some companies going public in recent months leaned on pandemic-fueled growth or membership in a sector hotter than individual results, AppLovin’s filing tells the story of a rapidly growing company that managed to scale adjusted profit as it grows.

Read more

As activist investors loom, what’s next for Box?

Activist investor Starboard Value is rumored to be after three additional board seats, meaning changes could be coming to Box.

If an acquisition is in Box’s future, there would likely be multiple suitors.

Read more

Unraveling ThredUp’s IPO filing: Slow growth, but a shifting business model

As ThredUp shifts toward primarily consignment sales, it could be banking on debuting in the warm glow of Poshmark’s IPO to get through the pandemic and grow its gross profits.

But what investors will be willing to pay for ThredUp remains a question.

Read more

Data is the world’s most valuable, vulnerable resource

Kara Nortman, a partner at Upfront Ventures, says the Solar Winds hack reveals a gaping hole in the data loss prevention (DLP) market.

Between apps, an expanding galaxy of IoT sensors, and billions of users ranging from software devs to TikToking teens, there’s a huge opportunity for a new wave of API startups that can make sense of — and secure — data.

“I believe generational startups will be created from this reckoning with cybersecurity, just as they’ve been created coming out of market disruptions in the past,” says Nortman.

Read more

Making sense of the $6.5B Okta-Auth0 deal

Okta’s move to purchase Auth0 for $6.5 billion is a significant consolidation in the identity and access management company sector, “but the deal ultimately brings together two companies that come at identity from different sides of the market,” reports Ron Miller and Alex Wilhelm.

Drawing on past TechCrunch coverage of both companies and an interview with Gartner analyst Michael Kelly, Ron and Alex studied the deal from multiple angles.

“Okta is making a big bet that its new purchase has legs to run, and quickly.”

Read more