pitch

CONTEXT LOADING

Before executing, check for innov.local.md in the working directory. If found, extract:

• venture: name, stage, type, problem_statement, solution_hypothesis, unfair_advantage
• financial_model: unit_economics, current_state, milestones
• business_model_canvas: all blocks with evidence quality
• competitive_landscape: direct_competitors, differentiation, moat_building
• fundraising: current_round, investor_pipeline, data_room_status
• customer_profiles: personas, WTP, buying_process

If innov.local.md is not found: Continue with conversation context. After first substantive output, prompt: "I'm working without your venture context. Run Exercise 8 from Chapter 40 to build innov.local.md -- it will make every subsequent output specific to your venture rather than generic."

STAGE-AWARE CALIBRATION

Check venture.stage and calibrate:

• IDEA: Warning -- "You have no traction to pitch. Investors at the seed stage need at minimum discovery insights, a clear problem statement, and evidence of customer willingness to pay. Consider running /discovery and /hypothesis first."
• DISCOVERY: Warning -- "Pitching at the DISCOVERY stage is early. You can build the narrative architecture, but the traction slide will be weak. Focus on completing discovery and getting LOIs before pitching."
• VALIDATION: Pitching is appropriate if you have pilot results or LOIs.
• MVP: This is a strong pitching stage -- you should have real metrics.
• GROWTH: This is your focus stage for fundraising -- strong traction story.

DLA PROGRESSION CHECK

If no financial_model or business_model_canvas data exists in innov.local.md: "You are building a pitch without financial data or a business model canvas. Your Slide 6 (Business Model) and Slide 4 (Market) will be weak. Consider running /canvas and /financials first."

PITCH AND FUNDRAISING WORKFLOW

Task Types

TYPE 1: PITCH DECK NARRATIVE Purpose: Build the narrative architecture for a full investor pitch deck. Input: Venture context + traction + raise details + investor type Output: 9-slide structure with headline, content, verbal script, emotional job

TYPE 2: HARD QUESTIONS PREP Purpose: Prepare for the 15 hardest questions investors will ask. Input: Venture context + investor type + known weaknesses Output: Question + honest answer + what to do before the pitch if no good answer

TYPE 3: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Purpose: One-paragraph (100-word) venture summary for investor email intro. Input: Venture context Output: Problem, solution, traction, ask, why worth their time -- specific, no cliches

TYPE 4: INVESTOR RESEARCH BRIEF Purpose: Pre-meeting brief on a specific investor. Input: Investor name / firm Output: Portfolio, known thesis, past questions from public sources, 5 likely hard questions

TYPE 5: TERM SHEET ANALYSIS Purpose: Identify non-standard terms in a term sheet. Input: Term sheet (or key terms) Output: Standard vs. non-standard; what to push back on; what is acceptable

Pitch Deck Narrative Structure

9 SLIDES -- NARRATIVE ARC:

SLIDE 1: THE HOOK -- Why does this matter, and why now? Headline: [The most memorable one-sentence claim] Content: [The number that makes the problem real; or the striking contrast] Says: [30-second verbal; make the investor feel why this matters] Emotional job: Curiosity + urgency

SLIDE 2: THE PROBLEM -- Make the investor feel the pain Headline: [The specific, surprising, or counterintuitive problem framing] Content: [Journey map or pain stats from discovery; customer quote] Says: [Walk through how it actually works today -- the messy reality] Emotional job: Recognition; empathy with the customer

SLIDE 3: THE SOLUTION -- Your specific answer Headline: [What makes this different from the obvious solution] Content: [Screenshot or demo; 3 capabilities; key differentiator] Says: [What you built differently; why it works with existing behaviour] Emotional job: Relief; "this makes sense"

SLIDE 4: THE MARKET -- The size of the opportunity Headline: [Bottom-up market size -- specific and credible] Content: [TAM / SAM / SOM from bottom-up model; market timing reason] Says: [The math; why now; why this market] Emotional job: Scale calibration; serious but achievable

SLIDE 5: TRACTION -- Why should investors believe you? Headline: [Your strongest traction claim -- specific numbers] Content: [Paying customers; revenue; retention; usage; LOIs; growth rate] Says: [What you have built and proved without institutional capital] Emotional job: De-risking; this team can execute

SLIDE 6: BUSINESS MODEL -- How it makes money Headline: [Unit economics headline -- LTV:CAC or payback or margin] Content: [Pricing; unit economics; breakeven; 18-month ARR target] Says: [The math that shows this is a real business, not just a product] Emotional job: Financial conviction

SLIDE 7: THE TEAM -- Why this team Headline: [The founding team's specific unfair advantage for this problem] Content: [Relevant experience -- not generic CVs; why this problem, why now] Says: [Authentic; personal; why you are the right people] Emotional job: Trust

SLIDE 8: THE ASK -- What you need and exactly how you'll use it Headline: [$X to go from [current state] to [18-month milestone]] Content: [Use of funds in %; 18-month milestone; instrument + cap/rate] Says: [This is exactly what the capital buys; when we raise again] Emotional job: Clarity; the investor knows what they are buying

SLIDE 9: THE VISION -- Where this goes Headline: [The big picture -- what this becomes in 5-10 years] Content: [Product path; market expansion; comparable exit / category] Says: [The wedge is X; the real opportunity is Y] Emotional job: Ambition; this could be very large

PITCH QUALITY STANDARD

EVERY CLAIM must have a source:

• Customer data: "9 of 10 CFOs in our discovery interviews..."
• Pilot results: "In our 3 pilots, adoption was 71-89%..."
• Market data: "According to [source], there are X companies..."
• Your own metrics: "$X MRR; N customers; X% month-over-month growth"

NEVER USE THESE PHRASES (red flags for experienced investors):

• "Massive market opportunity" -- give the number
• "Disruptive technology" -- explain the specific disruption mechanism
• "First mover advantage" -- explain what makes the advantage durable
• "Proprietary AI" -- what specifically is proprietary about it?
• "Conservative projections" -- all projections are optimistic; say "base case"
• "We just need 1% of the market" -- this is not a strategy; it's math
• "No direct competition" -- if there's no competition, there's no market

TRACTION HIERARCHY (most to least convincing):

1. Revenue + growth rate (paying customers; MRR; month-over-month)
2. Pilot results with specific metrics (adoption rate; retention; NPS)
3. Letters of intent with specific terms (amount; timeline)
4. Waitlist with conversion rate
5. Discovery interviews with specific insights and quotes

Investor Research Brief Format

INVESTOR BRIEF -- [Name / Firm] -- Pre-Meeting
================================================================
INVESTOR PROFILE:
  Known focus: [Stage, sector, geography preferences]
  Portfolio: [Relevant portfolio companies -- especially in your sector]
  Investment thesis: [Any public statements about what they look for]

WHAT THEY CARE ABOUT (based on portfolio and public statements):
  [2-3 specific themes this investor has shown pattern interest in]

LIKELY HARD QUESTIONS:
  1. [Question they will almost certainly ask -- with recommended answer]
  2. [Question based on known portfolio pattern]
  3. [Question based on your known weaknesses]
  4. [Question based on market conditions]
  5. [The question that tests whether you know your numbers]

HOW TO APPROACH THIS MEETING:
  Opening: [What to emphasise given their known focus]
  Watch for: [Any sensitivity; portfolio conflicts; known preferences]
================================================================

FINANCIAL REASONING STANDARD

For Slide 6 (Business Model) and any financial claims in the pitch:

• Unit economics first: LTV:CAC must be stated with evidence level
• Churn must be flagged if ASSUMED -- investors will ask
• Market size must use bottom-up methodology, not top-down analyst TAM
• Runway and use of funds must be specific and add up

ASSUMPTION TRACKING

After any pitch output:

• Surface any claim in the pitch that is ASSUMED rather than validated
• Propose strengthening weak claims before the pitch meeting
• Identify the strongest and weakest slides based on evidence quality

NEVER DO THESE

• NEVER send a pitch deck without practicing the verbal narrative out loud at least once -- the slide is the prompt; the verbal is the pitch
• NEVER claim traction you cannot defend with specifics in a follow-up
• NEVER show only the base-case financial scenario -- always have the conservative scenario ready; investors will ask
• NEVER leave the team slide generic -- it must explain WHY this team has an advantage for this specific problem
• NEVER use a top-down TAM ("the market is $X trillion") without a bottom-up sanity check; investors know the top-down number is misleading

ALL OUTPUTS REQUIRE REVIEW BY A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL BEFORE USE IN BUSINESS DECISIONS.