Cross Process Creative

I blend the imaginative with the analytical to create experiences that communicate.

Start with Solution

November 16, 2024
Client: Team Wildfire
In Collaboration with: Levver
Summary: Investors deck for a start-up in the wildfire containment space

Team Wildfire has spent the last two years developing a novel way of fighting fires – with weather.

The founder is a former pyrotechnician and volunteer firefighter who wants to revolutionize the industry using jet engines mounted to all-terrain trucks, delivering wind, mist and retardant at a speed and efficiency that has never been seen in the field.

Our challenge was to tell this unique story and capture the interest of investors. The original deck was heavy on problem, wildfire imagery and red. A lot of the slides were alarming, emphasizing the toll of wildfire.

Considering the audience, we wanted to take a different approach – calming the colors down, using fonts and backgrounds that were related to the forest service, and visuals that would convey control and containment.

We wanted potential investors to feel concern over the problem, but then confidence in the solution and excitement around the opportunity.

We started with a conversation. We went through the original deck with the founder, CEO and climate technician to get a full understanding of the technology, the business model and most importantly, the vision they held for the company and who they wanted to communicate that vision to.

Next we thought about a revised flow of information:

Strong intro: solution, empowerment, intelligence
Qualify the team
Educate audience on the problem
Show and tell about a revolutionary new solution
Define specific services and scenarios,
Who and how TWF will actually bill
What's needed to take the next steps
What the team has been up to and what the next steps are
Close with: opportunity, path to solution

Next we created a mood board to steer the visual language.

In the new outline, we emphasized the new capabilities Team Wildfire would bring to wildfire containment, clearly defined their service offerings and offered specific examples of each service.

Instead of the graph from the original deck we had stories and descriptions of what the future would look like with Team Wildfire “on the scene.”

The goal was to pull viewers into a future where Team Wildfire is on the scene and the response to wildfire around the world, has altered. We wanted to build enough momentum behind the Hurricane as "solution" that investors would want to keep it going and be part of it.

We also wanted to show the staggering, yet realistic, revenue potential of these trucks so investors would grasp the scale of the endeavor. The graph in the original deck just wasn’t compelling enough.

Moving away from the sensationalism of the original slides, we were able to capture the seriousness of the problem while concentrating focus on solution. We positioned Team Wildfire as the experts, the innovators of new solutions, poised to respond to a global problem.We didn’t rely on fear or guilt to establish an emotional connection with the audience.

We talked about the research, science and prototypes. We outlined a specific path to profitability. We brought the audience along on a tour of the future, using emotion to connect and math to persuade.

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