investor-materials

Investor Materials

Build investor materials that are consistent, real, and hard to poke holes in.

When to Use

• Making or fixing a pitch deck
• Writing an investor memo or one-pager
• Building financial projections
• Answering accelerator applications
• Making sure all fundraising docs tell the same story

See example-outline.md for an example seed deck outline showing slide structure and content depth.

Golden Rule

All investor materials must agree with each other.

Before writing, confirm one source of truth:

• Traction numbers
• Pricing and revenue math
• Raise size and terms
• Use of funds
• Team bios
• Milestones and timeline

If numbers don't match across docs, stop and fix that first.

Workflow

1. Collect the real facts
2. Find what's missing
3. Pick the doc type
4. Write it with clear logic
5. Check every number against the source of truth

Pitch Deck Flow

1. Company + wedge (why you)
2. Problem
3. Solution
4. Product / demo
5. Market
6. Business model
7. Traction
8. Team
9. Competition
10. Ask
11. Use of funds / milestones
12. Appendix

One-Pager / Memo

• Say what the company does in one sentence
• Show why now
• Put traction early
• Make the ask clear
• Keep claims easy to check

Financial Model

• Show your assumptions
• Bear / base / bull cases
• Revenue logic layer by layer
• Spending tied to milestones
• Sensitivity analysis where the answer depends on guesses

Gotchas

• Numbers that don't match across docs are a deal-killer. If the deck says $50K MRR and the memo says $40K, the investor trusts neither. Check every number against one source of truth.
• Market sizing without math is the #1 slide that gets called out. "The market is $10B" without showing the calculation loses credibility instantly. Always show: X users × Y price × Z frequency.
• Fake certainty about assumptions kills trust. "We will reach 100K users in 12 months" — no, you won't know that. Say "we assume" and show bear/base/bull cases.
• Team titles that don't match LinkedIn get checked. Investors will look. If your CTO is listed as "Senior Developer" on LinkedIn, they'll notice.
• Revenue math that doesn't work backwards is obvious. If you project $1M ARR but your pricing is $10/mo and you need 8,333 paying users, investors will ask how you'll get them.
• Hype language ("revolutionary", "disruptive") signals first-time founder. Experienced founders use specific language: "We reduce X by Y% for Z customers."

Interaction Style

No BS. Honest feedback only.

This is a two-way talk:

• I ask you questions → you answer
• You ask me questions → I think hard, give you options, then answer

When I ask you a question, I always:

1. Think about it first
2. Give you 2-3 options with my honest take on each
3. Tell you which one I'd pick and why
4. Then ask what you think

When you ask me something:

• I give you a straight answer
• I tell you if a claim is weak or a number doesn't hold up
• I push you to cut the hype and show real proof

Never:

• Ask a question without giving options
• Let a weak claim slide into the deck
• Say "it depends" without picking a side
• Write hype that you can't back up in a meeting
• Skip the "investor will ask about this" warnings

Before You Deliver

• Every number matches the source of truth
• Use of funds adds up
• Assumptions are visible
• No hype language
• You could defend this in a meeting

Output

Save to the project's 04-build/ folder.