A structured 2-hour session to build the investment narrative and document architecture for STEX
Date 28 April 2026
Duration 2 hours
Format Working session (whiteboard + structured exercises)
Facilitator Michiel Heynen, Strategy Lead — Digital Bricks
Output Investment document architecture + key messages per section
Context
What this session is for
The goal in one sentence
Leave this session with a fully structured, investor-ready document outline — every section titled, every key message agreed, every data gap identified and assigned — so that writing the final document takes days, not weeks.
What we bring into this session
The Digital Bricks MVP plan covers platform architecture, user journeys (Buyer / Supplier / Admin), the matching engine logic, and the integration roadmap. That is the product foundation.
What we need to build today
The investor narrative: the market opportunity, the business model, the traction evidence, the team story, and the financial ask — none of which are in the current plan.
STEX in one paragraph (from the Digital Bricks plan)
STEX is a B2B digital procurement marketplace for industrial materials — starting with steel. It connects buyers (engineering firms, contractors, manufacturers) with suppliers through a structured RFQ engine. Buyers post multi-product enquiries; suppliers upload their product capability and receive matched RFQs; an intelligent matching engine routes the right enquiry to the right supplier. The MVP includes Buyer Dashboard, Supplier Dashboard, Admin Panel, Matching Engine, Bidding Engine, and Quote Comparator — with future integrations for finance (trade finance), logistics, FX, insurance, and CBAM compliance data.
Before the Session
Pre-work for STEX founders
Send this list to the STEX team at least 24 hours before the workshop. These are the raw materials we need to move fast in the session.
📋
3–5 real customer pain stories
Concrete examples of how steel buyers and suppliers suffer today without STEX — time wasted, wrong quotes, no visibility. Specific beats general.
🏢
Named target customers / pilot prospects
Who are the first 5 buyers and 5 suppliers you want on the platform? Names, sectors, rough transaction sizes.
👥
Team bios (1 paragraph each)
Why is this specific team the one to win in digital steel procurement? What's your unfair advantage?
💰
Any financial data you have
Revenue model assumptions, current spend/burn, investment amount you're targeting, what milestones it needs to hit.
📈
Current traction
MVP status, design partners signed, LOIs, pilot agreements, any data on the problem size (transaction volumes, market research).
Agenda
Session Overview — 2 Hours
00:00
10 min
Welcome & Framing setup
Align on purpose, ground rules, and what success looks like today
00:10
25 min
Block 1 — The Investment Thesis 2 exercises
Why STEX? Why now? The one-liner and the core investor argument
00:35
30 min
Block 2 — Market & Problem 3 exercises
Quantify the pain, size the market, define the ideal customer
01:05
5 min
Break pause
Facilitator captures notes; founders take a breather
01:10
20 min
Block 3 — Business Model & Traction 2 exercises
How does STEX make money? What evidence exists today?
01:30
20 min
Block 4 — Investment Case 2 exercises
The ask, the use of funds, the team, and the competitive moat
01:50
10 min
Block 5 — Document Architecture output
Map findings to a 12-slide investor deck; identify gaps; assign owners
Block 1 — 00:10 to 00:35 (25 min)
1
The Investment Thesis
Why STEX? Why now? What's the core investor argument?
🎯
Exercise 1A — The One-Liner
10 min
Each founder independently writes a one-sentence answer to: "What is STEX and why will investors want to fund it?" Then compare, debate, and agree on a single version together.
Facilitator: If the founders produce very different sentences, that's a signal — there's no shared investment narrative yet. Surface the disagreement explicitly: "These two sentences describe different bets. Which bet are we making?" The answer to that question IS the thesis.
We help _________ do _________ so they can _________, unlike _________
We help _________ do _________ so they can _________, unlike _________
STEX ___________________
Output
One agreed sentence. This becomes the title slide tagline in the investor deck.
⚡
Exercise 1B — Why Now?
15 min
Investors don't just fund good ideas — they fund ideas whose time has arrived. List the forces that make 2026 the right moment for STEX to exist. Think across: regulatory shifts, technology availability, market structure change, and demand signals.
Facilitator: Push hard here. "The market is big" is not a Why Now. Good answers sound like: "The EU's CBAM regulation means steel buyers now need carbon data per shipment — STEX's compliance layer is no longer nice-to-have, it's a procurement requirement by 2026." That's a tailwind.
e.g. CBAM enforcement, EU supply chain legislation...
e.g. AI-driven matching now possible, API-first ecosystems...
e.g. consolidation in steel distribution, post-COVID supply chain anxiety...
e.g. specific customers asking for this, volume of inbound interest...
Output
3–4 "Why Now" bullets. These become the opening argument in the investor narrative.
Block 2 — 00:35 to 01:05 (30 min)
2
Market & Problem
Quantify the pain, size the market, define the ideal customer
💥
Exercise 2A — Map the Broken Journey
10 min
Draw the steel buyer's current procurement journey — before STEX exists — on a whiteboard or flip chart. Walk through each step: how do they identify need, find suppliers, request quotes, compare, negotiate, and confirm? Mark every step that is broken, slow, or painful.
Facilitator: Ask for concrete time estimates at each step. "How long does it take today to get 3 comparable quotes for a structural steel order?" If the answer is "2–3 weeks," write it on the board. Investors respond to time-and-cost evidence, not abstract pain.
Identify need → Find suppliers → ...
"The worst thing about buying steel today is ___________"
Time: _____ days per RFQ | Cost: €_____ per order in wasted effort
Output
A before/after comparison: current journey (broken) vs. STEX journey (fixed). This is the Problem and Solution visual in the deck.
📊
Exercise 2B — Size the Market
10 min
Build a TAM/SAM/SOM together. Start from the top (global/European steel procurement) and work down to what STEX can realistically capture in 3 years. Use round numbers and explicit assumptions — investors don't expect precision, they expect logical construction.
Facilitator: Prompt with known anchors: European steel consumption is roughly 130–140 million tonnes per year. Average price ~€600/tonne = ~€80bn market. What % goes through intermediaries or brokers (vs. direct long-term contracts)? That's your addressable pool. What's STEX's take rate? Work the math together.
European B2B industrial materials procurement: €_____ bn/year (source: ___________)
TAM/SAM/SOM numbers with explicit logic. One slide in the deck, built on numbers you own.
🎯
Exercise 2C — The Ideal First Customer
10 min
Define the ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) for both sides of the marketplace. Who is the archetypal STEX buyer for the first 12 months? Who is the archetypal STEX supplier? Be specific: sector, size, geography, buying frequency, pain level.
Facilitator: Push for a named example. "Imagine a specific company you want as your first 10 customers — what does that company look like?" Specificity builds conviction. If they can't name the archetype, they can't close the sale.
Type: _____ | Inventory: _____ | Currently gets RFQs via: _____ | Why they join STEX: _____
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____
1. _____ 2. _____ 3. _____
Output
ICP definition + named target list. This feeds the Traction slide and de-risks the investor's "can they actually sell this?" question.
Block 3 — 01:10 to 01:30 (20 min)
3
Business Model & Traction
How does STEX make money? What evidence exists today?
💵
Exercise 3A — Revenue Model
10 min
Map out every revenue stream STEX could have, then decide which ones launch at MVP, which are Year 1–2, and which are longer-term. Agree on the primary model and the unit economics.
Facilitator: Common B2B marketplace models: (1) Transaction fee as % of GMV — simple, aligns with value but hard to enforce early; (2) Subscription (buyer/supplier seats) — predictable, but requires proving value first; (3) Success fee on closed deals — high trust, high friction; (4) Premium supplier placement/data. For an early-stage marketplace, a hybrid "free to join, % on transaction" is the most common path to adoption. Ask them: "What does a supplier pay today to get an RFQ lead through other channels?"
e.g. ____% transaction fee on confirmed orders, charged to supplier
e.g. Premium supplier listing, data/analytics access, finance referral fee
Avg order value: €_____ | STEX take rate: _____% | Revenue per order: €_____
Monthly burn: €_____ | Orders needed to break even: _____
Output
Agreed revenue model with unit economics. One slide — no ambiguity, no "we're exploring options."
🏆
Exercise 3B — Traction Inventory
10 min
List every piece of evidence that validates STEX is worth investing in. Include everything — even things that feel small. Investors look for momentum, not perfection.
Facilitator: Categories to prompt: (1) Product — MVP live? Beta users? Screens built? (2) Market validation — customer interviews done? How many? Pain confirmed? (3) Commercial — LOIs signed? Design partner agreements? Any paid pilots? (4) Team — relevant experience? Previous exits? Industry connections? (5) Partnerships — any supplier relationships? Industry associations? The goal is to have 6–8 bullets on a Traction slide that collectively say "this is real."
e.g. MVP built and functional (Buyer/Supplier/Admin journeys complete)
e.g. _____ customer interviews conducted, _____ confirmed the core pain
e.g. _____ LOIs signed, _____ pilots in conversation, _____ supplier profiles created
e.g. _____ years industry experience, _____ warm supplier relationships, _____ buyer relationships
Output
A ranked traction inventory. Top 6 bullets go on the Traction slide. The rest go in the appendix.
Block 4 — 01:30 to 01:50 (20 min)
4
Investment Case
The ask, use of funds, team, and competitive moat
🚀
Exercise 4A — The Ask & Use of Funds
10 min
Define the investment round: amount, type (equity / convertible), and exactly what milestones it buys. Investors fund milestones, not activities. Each pound/euro raised should connect to a specific, measurable outcome.
Facilitator: A useful framing: "If we raise this amount and spend it exactly as planned, what does STEX look like in 18 months that it doesn't look like today?" That answer is what you're selling. Be explicit about the milestone that unlocks the next round — investors want to know their capital has a clear path to value creation.
In 18 months, STEX will have: _____ buyers, _____ suppliers, €_____ ARR, positioned to raise _____
Output
The Ask slide: one number, one sentence on type, use-of-funds breakdown, and the 3 milestones it unlocks.
👑
Exercise 4B — Team & Competitive Moat
10 min
Part 1 (5 min): Write the team slide — for each founder, one sentence explaining why their background makes them uniquely qualified to build STEX. Part 2 (5 min): Competitive landscape — who else exists (direct and indirect) and what is STEX's defensible advantage?
Facilitator: On team: the strongest answer connects directly to the market. "John has spent 10 years in steel distribution and personally experienced the RFQ problem 500 times" is worth more than "John has an MBA." On competition: be honest about alternatives — investors do their own research. The question is "why will customers choose STEX over the alternatives they use today?" Common alternatives in steel: phone + email, generic ERP sourcing, steel service centres' own portals. STEX's advantage may be: neutral (no vested interest), intelligent matching (not just directories), CBAM compliance layer.
e.g. supplier data network effects, CBAM compliance data depth, transaction history...
Output
Team slide + Competitive positioning. These are two of the highest-scrutiny slides in any early-stage deck.
Block 5 — 01:50 to 02:00 (10 min)
5
Document Architecture
Map findings to a 12-slide investor deck; assign gaps and owners
📐
The STEX Investor Deck — 12 Slides
10 min
Map every output from today's exercises to one of the slides below. Mark in green if content is complete, amber if it needs refinement, red if it's a gap requiring work after the session.
Facilitator: Go through each slide quickly. The goal is an explicit gap list with an owner and a date. Don't try to fill gaps now — that's post-session work. Be ruthless: if a slide can't be green or amber after today's work, it's a risk item.
Slide 01
Title & Tagline
Company name, one-liner, logo. Output from Exercise 1A.
Slide 02
The Problem
The broken buyer journey, quantified waste. Output from Exercise 2A.
Slide 03
Why Now
3–4 tailwinds: CBAM, supply chain fragility, digital procurement. Output from Exercise 1B.
Slide 04
The Solution
STEX platform overview: RFQ engine, matching, comparator. From Digital Bricks plan.
Slide 05
Market Size
TAM / SAM / SOM with logic. Output from Exercise 2B.
Slide 06
Product Deep-Dive
Screenshots / wireframes of Buyer + Supplier journey. From MVP build.
Slide 07
Business Model
Revenue model, unit economics, take rate. Output from Exercise 3A.
Slide 08
Traction
Product built, interviews done, LOIs, pilot prospects. Output from Exercise 3B.
Screenshots / wireframes of MVP (if not yet visual)
Slide 08 — Traction
Confirm LOI status and signed documents
Slide 09 — Competition
Research named competitors (direct digital platforms in EU steel)
[add row]
Facilitator Toolkit
Tips for Running the Session
Keep the energy moving
If an exercise runs long, timebox it hard at the warning mark and move on. Incomplete outputs from the session are better than an incomplete session. Gaps are expected — they're the point of the gap register.
Capture in real time
Write outputs on a whiteboard or shared doc visible to everyone. Don't let insights disappear into notebooks. The physical capture is also a commitment device — what's on the board is agreed.
Challenge "we think" statements
Every time someone says "we think the market is X" or "we believe customers want Y," ask: "What's the evidence? Have we spoken to customers who confirmed this?" Replace assumptions with evidence or mark it as an assumption explicitly.
The investor lens test
After each block, ask: "If a Series A investor walked in right now and saw what we just produced — would they lean in or lean back?" If the answer is "lean back," push for one more iteration before moving on.
Key questions to surface in any block if conversation stalls
"What would have to be true for this to be a £10m business in 5 years?"
"What does a supplier currently pay per RFQ lead, and how does STEX price against that?"
"What's the single biggest reason a buyer wouldn't use STEX — and how do we answer it?"
"If you had to pick ONE customer type to start with, who would it be and why?"
"What is the moat — what gets harder to replicate as STEX scales?"
"What would need to happen in the next 6 months for this raise to have been the right bet?"
After the Session
Next Steps for Digital Bricks
Digital Bricks deliverables after this session
Based on the outputs from today's exercises, Digital Bricks will produce:
Investor deck (12 slides, PowerPoint) — built on the agreed structure from Block 5, incorporating all session outputs and the Digital Bricks MVP plan content
Market sizing model (Excel) — TAM/SAM/SOM with sources, plus 3-year revenue projection model
Competitive landscape map — named competitors, positioning grid, STEX differentiation
Executive summary (2-page PDF) — for investors who want context before opening a deck
Digital Bricks x STEX
We Make AI for Everyone
Prepared by Michiel Heynen · Strategy & Governance Practice Lead · 28 April 2026