Step 13 · Prepare
Public chapterThe pitch
Position
SwiftBite’s pitch leads with merchant economics, disciplined delivery costs, and a tightly bounded launch territory—not national expansion forecasts. The founder’s merchant relationships are the acquisition advantage; signed merchant commitments and paid-order evidence remain unverified. Local angels receive a clearly labelled underwriting case, with funding conditional on wage-floor compliance and positive contribution per order.
10–15 slide pitch narrative
Use charcoal backgrounds, oversized cream typography, and electric-orange financial callouts. Put merchant receipts, contribution waterfalls, and the launch map ahead of product screenshots. Every slide carries a source footer; projections carry “(estimate)” directly beside the figure.
| Slide | Headline and investor-facing copy | Visual and proof |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | THE REBELLION OF THE LOCAL MERCHANT. SwiftBite caps merchant commission at 12%, against the grounding benchmark of 30% for national aggregators. Local ownership deserves better delivery economics. | Oversized commission comparison. Identify the aggregator figure as the venture’s benchmark, not a universal competitor rate. |
| Merchant economics | KEEP THE MARGIN. KEEP THE RESTAURANT. On a $32 food basket (estimate), merchant commission falls from $9.60 (estimate) to $3.84 (estimate): $5.76 retained per order (estimate), before other merchant costs. | Receipt-style comparison. Add permissioned merchant statements and actual competitor invoices before circulation. |
| Beachhead | DENSITY BEFORE DISTANCE. Launch inside a 4-mile radius covering downtown and two adjacent neighbourhoods in a city of approximately 150,000 residents. Target independent restaurants generating $25,000–$60,000 monthly revenue. | Actual service-boundary map, restaurant pins, and courier pickup clusters. No unsupported total-addressable-market graphic. |
| Merchant demand | RELATIONSHIPS ARE THE ENTRY POINT. SIGNATURES ARE THE PROOF. The founder brings 12 years of local FMCG and field-sales experience. Merchant agreements specify the commission cap, menu readiness, dispatch responsibilities, and settlement terms. | CRM export separating introductions, qualified prospects, signed agreements, and activated merchants. Display verified counts only; relationship history is not a waitlist. |
| Order economics | NO GROWTH SUBSIDY HIDDEN IN THE ORDER. Modelled platform revenue is $7.83 per order (estimate); variable costs are $7.09 (estimate); contribution is $0.74 (estimate). The $3.99 delivery fee is disclosed before checkout. | Full waterfall using the figures below. State exclusions: taxes and tips are pass-throughs; merchant payouts are excluded from platform revenue. |
| Operating discipline | LICENSE THE SOFTWARE. OWN THE EXECUTION. License dispatch and routing; do not fund proprietary engineering. Publish courier delivery rates and provide uncapped adjustments sufficient to meet the applicable local minimum-wage equivalent. | Dispatch workflow, vendor quotation, courier rate card, and written wage-equivalence calculation. No expansion while driver compensation is unresolved. |
| City trajectory | WIN THE CORE BEFORE COPYING IT. Targets remain 50 merchants and 300 daily orders by month 12, contribution-positive orders from month 1, and city break-even by month 18. | Monthly cohort chart separating targets from actuals. Model month-18 volume at 425 daily orders (estimate), subject to verified demand and dispatch capacity. |
| Acquisition | MERCHANT TRUST, NOT PERMANENT DISCOUNTS. Founder-led onboarding anchors acquisition. Merchant counter cards, packaging inserts, neighbourhood partnerships, and permission-based customer referrals follow. | Campaign ledger linking spend to first paid orders, repeat contribution, and acquisition payback. No fabricated conversion or retention claims. |
| Capital | FUND THE CITY, NOT A SOFTWARE EXPERIMENT. Seek $200,000 (estimate) for licensing, acquisition, operating capacity, compliance, and working capital. Starting founder-and-family capital is $85,000. | Ring-fenced allocation table below. Present securities terms only after counsel review; convert the LLC to a C-Corp if institutional funding is raised. |
| Replication and close | EARN THE RIGHT TO REPEAT. Expansion into tertiary markets follows demonstrated city profitability, reproducible merchant onboarding, and compliant courier economics—not population-based extrapolation. | Close with requests for investor diligence meetings, merchant introductions, and economic-development introductions. Do not promise monopoly, guaranteed returns, or funded expansion. |
The numbers
The model uses a food subtotal excluding tax and tip. Processing assumes SwiftBite collects food value plus delivery fee; actual tax, tip, and settlement treatment must replace that assumption.
| Item | Figure | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Average food basket | $32 (estimate) | Underwriting assumption |
| Platform revenue/order | $7.83 (estimate) | Capped 12% commission plus $3.99 fee |
| Courier delivery payment | $4.50/order (estimate) | Proposed published base rate |
| Wage-equivalence adjustment | $0.50/order (estimate) | Reserve assumption, never a payout cap |
| Payment processing | $1.34/order (estimate) | Assumed 2.9% + $0.30 (estimate) on $35.99 (estimate) |
| Variable software | $0.30/order (estimate) | Pending vendor quotation |
| Support/refunds | $0.25/order (estimate) | Pending transaction evidence |
| Variable insurance | $0.20/order (estimate) | Pending broker quotation |
| Contribution/order | $0.74 (estimate) | Revenue less rounded variable costs |
| City fixed operating costs | $9,000/month (estimate) | Includes staffing, founder compensation, and fixed overhead |
| City break-even volume | 406 orders/day (estimate) | Rounded up; 30-day month (estimate) |
| Month-18 operating surplus | $435/month (estimate) | 425 daily orders (estimate); excludes tax and financing |
| Personal runway reserve | $67,200 (estimate) | 14 months × $4,800 |
| Starting capital after reserve | $17,800 (estimate) | Assumes personal reserve comes from starting capital |
| Raise allocation: licensing/setup | $25,000 (estimate) | Proposed allocation |
| Raise allocation: marketing | $45,000 (estimate) | Proposed allocation |
| Raise allocation: operating capacity | $60,000 (estimate) | Proposed allocation |
| Raise allocation: legal/insurance | $15,000 (estimate) | Proposed allocation |
| Raise allocation: wage reserve | $20,000 (estimate) | Proposed allocation |
| Raise allocation: working capital/contingency | $35,000 (estimate) | Proposed allocation |
Decisions and trade-offs
| Decision | Binding trade-off |
|---|---|
| Preserve the commission cap | Repair weak economics through density, scheduling, or cost reductions—not merchant fee increases. |
| Preserve transparent pricing | Show the delivery fee before checkout; exclude hidden service charges. |
| Underwrite grants at zero | Track municipal economic-development, regional small-business, and workforce programmes; recognise funding only after an executed award. |
| Retain contractor launch posture | Obtain local classification advice; change the labour model if required rather than treating contractor status as settled. |
Do this next
| Action | By when | What proves it worked |
|---|---|---|
| Founder validates merchant pipeline | Before investor circulation | Permissioned CRM export and signed commitments |
| Founder obtains software, payments, and insurance quotes | Before financial sign-off | Written quotes reconcile to the waterfall |
| Local counsel reviews courier terms and securities route | Before contracting or accepting investment | Written advice and approved documents |
| Bookkeeper builds monthly cash forecast | Before setting the final ask | No double-counted personal reserve; peak cash deficit funded |
| Founder assigns grant monitoring through email alerts and a shared tracker | Before outreach; review weekly | Eligibility, deadlines, match requirements, and award status recorded |
Risks in your situation
The contribution cushion is thin: additional courier compensation, vehicle allowances, refunds, or payment costs can erase it. Calculate wage equivalence using recorded working time and locally required expense treatment, not delivery time alone.
Merchant enthusiasm may not produce consumer repeat orders. The founder also remains the sales and operating bottleneck; software licensing does not remove dispatch, settlement, or support workload.
Evidence gate
- ☐ Merchant counts reconcile to permissioned records.
- ☐ Paid-order evidence supports positive contribution after wage adjustments.
- ☐ Vendor and insurance quotations replace assumptions.
- ☐ Cash forecasting supports the final raise and protects personal runway.
- ☐ Counsel approves courier arrangements and investment documents.
- ☐ Every projection is labelled; grants remain excluded until awarded.
Illustrative figures · validate before actingNext: Business type and ownership