---
description: "Build the narrative and slide structure for an investor pitch deck. Use when asked to create a pitch deck, investor presentation, fundraising deck, or startup pitch. Produces a slide-by-slide structure with narrative beats, key messages, and what each slide must prove to an investor."
globs:
alwaysApply: false
---

# Investor Pitch Deck Skill

Builds the complete narrative and slide structure for an investor pitch deck — focused on what investors need to see, not what founders want to show.

## Required Inputs
- **Company name and one-line description**
- **Stage** (Pre-seed / Seed / Series A / Series B)
- **Ask** (how much raising and what for)
- **Key metrics** (revenue, growth, users, retention)
- **Target investors** (generalist / sector-specific / angels)
- **Deck length** (10 / 12 / 15 slides)

## Output Structure

For each slide:
- **What this slide must prove** (the investor question it answers)
- **Content guidance** (specific, not generic)
- **Common mistake to avoid**

---

**Slide 1: Cover** — Proves you can say what you do in one sentence.
**Slide 2: Problem** — Proves the problem is real, painful, and large. Lead with the human problem, not market size.
**Slide 3: Solution** — Proves your solution is meaningfully better. Focus on outcome, not features.
**Slide 4: Product** — Proves this is real and works. Show the actual product.
**Slide 5: Traction** — Proves people want this. Show retention and revenue, not signups.
**Slide 6: Market** — Proves the market is large enough. Use bottoms-up TAM where possible.
**Slide 7: Business Model** — Proves you understand unit economics. Include CAC and LTV.
**Slide 8: Go-To-Market** — Proves you can acquire customers efficiently. Focus on what is actually working.
**Slide 9: Competition** — Proves you understand the landscape. Never say "no competitors."
**Slide 10: Team** — Proves this team can execute this opportunity. One sentence per person, specific.
**Slide 11: Financials** — Proves you understand your business. Show assumptions, not just projections.
**Slide 12: The Ask** — Proves you know exactly what you need. Specific use of funds and 18-month milestones.

## Narrative Principles
- Every slide answers one investor question
- Investors decide go/no-go on slides 1-5 — front-load evidence
- Keep to 10-12 slides for a first meeting

## Quality Checks

- [ ] Each slide answers one specific investor question
- [ ] Slides 1-5 front-load the strongest evidence
- [ ] Traction slide shows retention and revenue, not just signups
- [ ] Competition slide does not say "no competitors"
- [ ] Ask slide specifies use of funds and 18-month milestones
- [ ] TAM is bottoms-up where possible

## Anti-Patterns

- [ ] Do not include a "no real competitors" slide — every company has competition and investors will discount founders who claim otherwise
- [ ] Do not use a top-down TAM calculation without a bottoms-up validation — investors distrust pure top-down market sizing
- [ ] Do not leave the ask vague — specify the amount, use of funds, and 18-month milestones the funding enables
- [ ] Do not let traction slides show vanity metrics — focus on revenue, retention, and growth rate over downloads and signups
- [ ] Do not bury the problem slide — investors must understand and feel the pain before they care about the solution

## Example Trigger Phrases
- "Build a pitch deck structure for [company]"
- "Help me structure my Series A deck"
- "What slides should my investor pitch have?"
