Feel Therapeutics works to make mental health care more scientifically advanced. The company makes wearable devices, mobile apps, and physician dashboards to collect physiological, digital, and clinical data. It recently raised a $3.5 million round and shared its presentation with me for a closer look. Let’s get in there and see what the company has gotten right in its fundraising efforts and where it needs more attention.
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Slides in this surface
The company raised its $3.5 million round through a narrow group of 11 tranches. The company says the deck is tilted, except for some customers who were removed.
- Slide cover
- Problem impact slide
- Slice the problem
- Technology chip
- Solution slide
- Traction segment (business metrics
- Traction slide (white papers and publications)
- Patent trench/slice
- Team segment
- Slide question about money and its use
- Close / SIM
Three things to love about Feel’s presentation
Feel Therapeutics has a beautiful original lineup, with some twists I rarely see. The company did a great job of telling the overall story.
Why don’t we have a measure of mental health?
In the age of self-measurement, where your various devices track every aspect of your health, Feel Therapeutics makes an excellent point: Why aren’t we tracking mental health?
I think this is a brilliant way to start this conversation. “Hey, we’re tracking everything out the wazoo. Why not this? It’s a great way to get my attention.”
Great overview
When startups build a platform or entire system to integrate many aspects of a company, things often get a little messy. I was really impressed with how well Feel Therapeutics brought all the branches of the company together on this one slide.
This brings up a really useful general point in storytelling: starting with a 60,000-foot presentation and then getting more detailed is a smart fundraising move, especially when the work is complex. In this case, Feel Therapeutics starts with a broad overview, giving investors a general idea of the startup.
By starting with the big picture, it sets the stage and provides important context, making it easier for investors to follow as you delve into the details. Jumping straight to the nitty-gritty can confuse or confuse investors, so this method helps keep them engaged and understanding. The key is to create ‘hooks’ that you can hang more details on later – this makes storytelling more interactive. Investors can focus on things they don’t understand, and they can skip parts that make intuitive sense.
As you progress through your presentation, gradually adding more specific details helps investors build on what they already know. This gradual approach ensures that you don’t throw too much information at them all at once. It also keeps their interest, as each new piece of information adds depth and color to your story. This gradual increase in detail makes your pitch more cohesive because each part naturally follows the one before it, creating a smooth flow that guides investors through the complexity of your startup.
Does it work?
This slide does a great job of displaying hard numbers, which are essential for showing the power of attraction. Highlighting the fact that the company has 2,700 patients in nine countries is impressive and provides a large sample size to show the effectiveness of the product. Overall, I think these numbers indicate significant progress and can effectively attract investors’ attention by demonstrating that their research has broad and diverse scope.
However, I have a few notes on this slide: It is important to avoid medical jargon that may confuse or alienate some investors. I had to Google it, which is stupid: there’s a lot of space on the slide to explain everything. Terms like MDD (major depressive disorder), GAD (generalized anxiety disorder), and “therapeutic areas of the central nervous system” may not be immediately obvious to everyone. Simplifying or explaining these terms can make your slides more accessible and attractive to a wider audience.
The other point to note is that traction is more immediate when it appears over time. Including a timeline or graph of progress can enhance the narrative, demonstrating growth and momentum. Additionally, while patient numbers are a strong indicator of traction, revenue is the ultimate proof of business viability.
There is no mention of financial performance in this slide, which raises questions about the company’s financial health. Including revenue figures or financial projections would provide a more complete picture of their traction and business potential. Yes, I realize that clinical trials are often not a real forward process, but it was good to know how price sensitive this is.
Three things Feel Therapeutics could have improved
With a deck of 11 slides, it’s no surprise that there are a lot of things missing that investors would like to see. In this regard, there are some things that could have been done better.
I entered the group into my AI-based tool to see what the AI bots thought of the group. You can See full reactions hereBut the most relevant piece is the summary:
The company has failed to compete, which is perhaps the biggest loss here. There is also no coherent go-to-market or operating plan. I understand that the product is still early in its cycle, but they should at least mention the business model and price they are considering, along with the target customer side of things. I would have liked to see some unit economics as well: What happens when this product is manufactured on a large scale?
Interesting proposition and use of funds
The Feel Therapeutics team included the investment terms in the “Ask and Use Funds” segment, which is a bit unorthodox. Typically, terms are excluded because financing terms are negotiable and often depend on mutual discussions with potential investors. But hey, it looks like they already have a lead investor and are just trying to complete a funding round, so in this specific scenario, it makes some sense. However, keep in mind that this is not the norm, and for good reason: negotiation is the name of the game in the investing world.
As for the “Use of Funds” section: it is somewhat loose and vague, like an incomplete idea someone wrote down on a napkin. Come on, feel the cures, you can do better than this! Investors want details, not vague promises. Learn how to spend money. It’s especially confusing here, because I think the company has achieved its accomplishments (starting as a product + and FDA approval) with accomplishments from other companies. I realize they may be trying to point out that this isn’t a huge risk, but there are also no times associated with major milestones.
In an ideal scenario, “use of money” should be summarized as SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. specific It means clear and unambiguous. Measurable It means you can track progress and know when you’ve reached a goal. Realizable It means it’s realistic (not a dream in the sky). Appropriate It means it aligns with your broader business goals. Time restricted It means there is a deadline. For example, instead of “FDA approval,” the SMART goal would be “FDA approval under 510K by December 2025.” See the difference? It sounds like a solid plan; The other seems like wishful thinking.
Why are SMART goals useful in this context? Because it makes you look like you actually know what you’re doing. Investors can see that you have a clear roadmap and you’re not just throwing money at random initiatives hoping something will work out. It builds trust and shows that you have a well-thought-out plan to use the money effectively. So tighten those goals and give investors something tangible to get excited about.
This mess of a team segment
The Feel Therapeutics team has put together what looks like an impressive (albeit ugly) team chip, but let’s dive into the details to see how it holds up. First, help investors understand why this is the right team to lead this company. You have some big names and titles thrown around, but what makes them a good fit to catapult this startup to success?
The “Industry Experts” and “Psychiatric Experts” sections seem impressive at first glance, but are these individuals consultants? Are they part of the core team? How involved are they in the day-to-day operations of Feel Therapeutics? If they are just high-profile names with loose ties to the company, that’s not as compelling as actively involving them in strategic decisions and execution. Clarifying their roles and contributions will give investors a better idea of how these experts enhance the company’s capabilities.
Team members’ publications and citations are thrown out there, but these metrics seem like trivial statistics. Sure, it sounds good on paper, but does it translate into actual commercial success? Investors want to see how the team’s expertise will drive tangible results for the company, not just academic awards. Instead of focusing on these numbers, it would be more impactful to highlight specific achievements and experiences that are directly related to the company’s goals and market challenges. Show how this team’s unique combination of skills and experience makes them uniquely positioned to address the problems Feel Therapeutics aims to solve.
What is a fundraising trip?
The other thing we should talk about is the company’s fundraising journey so far. Yes, she’s now raising $3.5 million, but it looks like she’s already raised a bunch of money:
It appears that the company has raised a lot of capital, over several rounds (I count eight different rounds of funding), but the company has not reached proper growth yet. This isn’t uncommon in medical devices, of course, but I want to understand what went wrong here and what the company has done to correct course, so it doesn’t need to raise another bridge round in a year.
What the PitchBook data tells me above all else is that this company really needs to start seeing some results, and soon. I also want to do deep diligence regarding the company’s cap schedule; Who owns what in the company, and are the founders still engaged enough to see them through the next stage of the business?
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