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Jack Dorsey says Block employees now bring prototypes — not slide decks — to meetings

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Slide decks continue to get a bad rap — and another company is doing away with them.

On an episode of Sequoia’s “Long Strange Trip” podcast released on Thursday, Block CEO Jack Dorsey said that employees at his fintech company no longer bring slide decks to meetings.

“Just two months ago every meeting that we would have, you see a presentation or a Google Doc and we go through it,” Dorsey said. “Now everyone is bringing a prototype that they built, which is pretty amazing.”

Dorsey, who cofounded Block in 2009, said the prototypes — built on either simulated or real data — have more “depth and realism” than a slide deck ever could. He also likes that they can be modified in real time.

And making the wrong decision doesn’t cost much, he added.

“The cost of being wrong on that path and going back up the tree and going down another path is getting closer and closer to zero,” he said.

In February, the company laid off over 4,000 employees, about 40% of its workforce. Dorsey cited AI–driven efficiency as one of the reasons for the cuts.

The Twitter cofounder is part of a broader shift among tech leaders moving away from slide decks.

In October, Aravind Srinivas, the cofounder and CEO of Perplexity said that he hasn’t built a pitch deck since the company’s Series A fundraising.

Pitch decks are slide shows that give investors and customers key details about a company’s founders, its product, and its financial performance.

“I just write a memo and I tell them you can do a Q&A and ask whatever you want,” Srinivas said, referring to potential investors. “And anything else that is not internal data, you can ask Perplexity. Like, it already knows everything.”

The pushback against slide decks isn’t new.

In a 2004 email to staff, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos banned “PowerPoint-style presentations” and said people should write a “4-page memo” instead.

Apple cofounder Steve Jobs’ meetings were also slide-deck-free.

“I hate the way people use slide presentations instead of thinking,” Jobs once said, according to a book published last month by David Pogue. “People who know what they’re talking about don’t need PowerPoint.




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Read 46 pitch decks that creator-economy startups used to raise millions of dollars

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The creator economy has bred a generation of startups — from influencer-marketing companies to new social-media experiences.

These startups have captured the attention and wallets of influential venture capitalists and angel investors over the last several years, giving rise to several unicorn valuations in the space.

Check out 16 VC firms investing in creator economy startups

Even as the economy has weathered changing tides and investments have cooled across industries, some startups in this sector are still raising money.

In 2024, three trends drove some of the largest deals in the creator economy: AI, social commerce, and newsletters. Several startups raised at least $10 million in new funding last year, such as AI startup Captions or newsletter platform Beehiiv.

Here are 17 creator-economy startups that raised more than $10 million in 2024

AI is continuing to fuel investor interest in the creator economy in 2025, too. For instance, Hedra, a generative AI startup used by some creators to make viral content, announced a $32 million Series A led by A16z in May.

Creators themselves, like Emma Chamberlain and MrBeast, are also raising venture capital for their businesses.

See the leaked pitch deck Chamberlain Coffee used

So, how do creator-economy startups land those investments? Often, it starts with a pitch deck. 

Lumanu, a creator-focused financial startup, uses a simple pitch deck that’s more of a “conversation guider,” its cofounder and CEO, Tony Tran, told Business Insider.

“My pitch is always why, what, how, and why now?” Tran said. (Read the full pitch deck here.)

Skye, a career-coaching startup, had different pitch decks depending on the type of investor or fund they pitched to.

“I had two different versions, depending on the fund,” said Jessica Wolf, Skye’s CEO and one of its cofounders. “If I knew a fund was more into pre-seed, all about the founder, I had one deck. But if I knew that they were a numbers person, I would use another one.”

Every startup has a different approach.

Some, such as Throne, even ditch the pitch deck altogether and opt for an email or Notion document.

Read the email template creator-economy startup Throne used to secure its seed investment.

We talked with founders who’ve pitched their startups to investors about their process. They broke down the pitch decks they used to secure millions of dollars in funding.

Read the pitch decks that helped 46 creator-focused startups fundraise millions of dollars:

Note: Pitch decks are sorted by investment stage and size of round.

Series A

  • Restream, a livestreaming alternative to platforms like the Amazon-owned Twitch: $50 million Series A (14 pages)
  • Hedra, a generative AI video platform: $32 million Series A (9 pages)
  • Dub, a fintech startup that lets people copy influencers’ stock trades: $30 million Series A (15 pages)
  • ShopMy, an affiliate platform that lets creators earn commissions through shoppable landing pages: $26.5 million Series A (23 pages)
  • Posh, an IRL events startup: $22 million Series A (12 pages)
  • Pearpop, a creator-marketing platform: $18 million Series A (18 pages)
  • Spoon Radio, a social-audio startup: $17 million Series A (15 pages)
  • Kyra, a content studio, talent-management firm, and influencer-marketing platform: $15 million Series A (20 pages)
  • Allstar, a startup helping gamers become social-media creators: $12 million Series A (6 pages)
  • Lumanu, a business-solutions platform for creators: $12 million Series A (8 pages)
  • Hype, a platform for link-in-bio and other creator-monetization tools: $10 million Series A (13 pages)
  • Catch+Release, a startup that helps creators and everyday social-media users license their content to brands: $8.8 million Series A (12 pages)
  • Slip.stream, a music startup focused on gamers: $7.5 million Series A (13 pages)
  • Brag House, an esports startup: $5 million Series A (24 pages)
  • CreatorDB, an influencer marketing company: $4.7 million Series A (13 pages)

Seed

  • Linguana, an AI video translation startup that is targeting YouTubers: $8.5 million (13 pages)
  • AvatarOS, a startup building virtual avatars for social media, gaming, and other immersive experiences: $7 million (11 pages)
  • Hypernatural, a generative AI startup that wants to be the Canva for video: $6.8 million (14 pages)
  • Scenario, a generative AI startup to create gaming art and assets: $6 million seed (8 pages)
  • Sesh, a music startup that connects artists and fans using their mobile wallets: $5 million seed (13 pages)
  • Authoritive, an online course-development startup: $5 million seed (11 pages)
  • Dstlry, a comic-book creator startup: $5 million seed (26 pages)
  • Dharma, a travel startup for creators and brands: $4.7 million pre-Series A (17 pages)
  • Glystn, an AI-powered community-management platform: $4 million seed (15 pages)
  • Daisy, an influencer marketing startup that launched in 2024: $3.9 million (9 pages)
  • Anima, an augmented-reality startup: $3 million (15 pages)
  • Grandstand, a sports startup working with athlete creators: $2.75 million
  • Seam Social, a new Web3 social-media platform: $2.5 million (10 pages)
  • Spark, a digital art platform from the YouTuber Moriah Elizabeth: $2.5 million seed (9 pages)
  • Insense, a startup helping e-commerce brands get low-cost ads: $2.5 million pre-Series A (9 pages)
  • Supercast, a podcast subscriptions startup: $2 million seed (20 pages)
  • Chartmetric, a music-data and -measurement company: $2 million seed (46 pages)
  • Ultimate Playlist, a music-marketing startup: $2 million round (9 pages)
  • Magroove, a music-distribution and -discovery platform: $1.6 million seed (21 pages)
  • Stagetime, a professional-networking startup for performing artists: $1.5 million seed (13 pages)
  • Jubilee Media, a content studio looking to expand beyond YouTube and TikTok: $1.1 million seed-plus (12 pages)

Pre-Seed

Other




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Read the pitch decks of 14 startups looking to disrupt dating apps and social networking that have raised millions

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A new generation of consumer social startups is emerging.

From platforms focused on getting people to meet IRL to dating apps taking on Tinder or Hinge, startups are disrupting the digital social scene.

Founders of these startups are tackling problems like loneliness, dating app fatigue, and general dissatisfaction with the current social media incumbents.

Some founders come from Big Tech backgrounds, like the Instagram-heavy team behind photo-sharing app Retro, or the ex-Google employees building the social-mapping app PamPam. Gen Z founders are also throwing their hats in the ring, like Isabella Epstein’s IRL-focused app Kndrd, or Tiffany “TZ” Zhong’s Noplace app.

Investors are taking notice.

For instance, the IRL-social app 222, which matches strangers over dinner or activities with a personality quiz, raised a $2.5 million seed round from venture capital firms like 1517 Fund, General Catalyst, and Best Nights VC in 2024.

“We’re entering this new wave of social where people are trying to revert back to what people really use these platforms for to begin with — which is connection,” Maitree Mervana Parekh, a principal at Acrew Capital, told Business Insider in 2024.

Meet 19 startups in social networking, dating, and AI that investors have their eyes on

Some venture capital funds — such as French firm Intuition VC or gaming-focused firm Patron — have made tackling loneliness and relationships part of their investment theses.

But it’s not just friendship and dating that are ripe for disruption.

Startups like Khosla Ventures-backed Gigi, Yale-student-founded Series, Boardy, Filament, and Goodword have raised capital for AI tools to help people network better or maintain professional relationships.

“When people think about loneliness, they think about friends and family,” Goodword CEO Caroline Dell recently told Business Insider. “But we spend most of our waking hours at work as professionals.”

Meet the founders of 11 startups competing with dating app giants like Tinder

Other startups, like Diem and Spill, have opened up investment rounds to include users themselves using the platform Wefunder.

It’s not yet clear how many of these investments will pan out. Some startups are pre-revenue, while others are experimenting with monetization methods (such as freemium models).

“Founders have to be honest with themselves,” said Marlon Nichols, a founding partner at Mac Venture Capital. “Some of them aren’t really venture-scale or venture-type investments. We’re looking for the next big thing, the next category leader.”

Meet 12 VCs and investors eyeing new social startups

Business Insider spoke with several social media and dating app founders about how they are raising capital, including the pitch decks they used to raise millions of dollars.

Read the pitch decks that helped 14 social-networking and dating startups raise millions of dollars:

Note: Pitch decks are sorted by investment stage and size of round.

Series A

Seed

Pre-Seed

Other

Read about more social networking and dating startups raising millions:

  • Airbuds, a social music app, told Business Insider in November that it has raised $10.2 million — including a recent check from Alexis Ohanian’s VC fund.
  • Sweatpals, a fitness and wellness social platform, raised $12 million in seed funding.
  • Sitch, an AI matchmaking dating app, announced in April that it had raised $2 million in pre-seed funding.
  • Amata, another AI matchmaking dating startup, recently launched in the US and disclosed that it raised $6 million in 2023.
  • Gigi, an AI social network for making professional connections, announced in September that it raised $3 million from Khosla Ventures.
  • Corner, a social mapping app for Gen Z, disclosed in September that it has raised $3.75 million.




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