# Pitch deck creation Human Guide

## What This Is For
Create professional investor pitch decks with structured content and visual design. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for pitch deck creation: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Pitch deck creation agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for pitch deck creation.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Pitch deck creation guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- Company name and tagline (one sentence)
- Problem being solved (with data/stats if available)
- Market size (TAM/SAM/SOM) and growth rate
- Traction: revenue, users, growth %, milestones
- Business model: pricing, revenue streams, unit economics
- Competition: competitors and your differentiators
- Team: founders and key hires with relevant background
- Financials & Ask: amount, use of funds, runway, milestones
- User updates `pitch_data.json` with new info, re-runs the script
- For design beyond the script, advise manual editing in PowerPoint
- PDF export: File → Save As → PDF (for sharing)
- Presentation timing: ~10–15 minutes for 10–12 slides

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Workspace Context, Operating Contract, Deck Structure, Step-by-Step Workflow, Step 1: Gather Information, Step 2: Create pitch_data.json, Step 3: Generate the PowerPoint, Step 4: Review and Iterate, Visual Design Rules, Typography.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- Use the **12-slide framework** — total ~6 minutes. Never exceed 20 slides.
- | Avoid | Gradients on text, neon, more than 3 colors |
- | Chart | Use For | Never Use For |
- | Pie chart | **Never** | Anything — hard to read, unprofessional |
- Common Mistakes to Avoid
- **One key message per slide**: Don't overcrowd slides with information
- **Contact information** (optional on title, required at end)
- **Demo or visual**: Show, don't just tell

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Pitch deck creation human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the manojbajaj95/claude-gtm-plugin skill entry for `pitch-deck-creation`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Pitch Deck Creation

## Workspace Context

Read bootstrap context before asking questions: `strategy/brand.md` for brand, audience, offer, channels, tools, constraints, and metrics; `about/me.md` for personal voice; `content/ideas.md` and `content/calendar.md` for content planning. Use legacy product-marketing context files only as fallback. Save generated drafts to `content/<platform>/drafts/YYYY-MM-DD_short-topic-slug.md`, and route durable learnings back to `strategy/brand.md`, `about/me.md`, or `content/ideas.md`.

## Operating Contract

This skill is self-contained for its frontmatter scope: use its local instructions, references, scripts, and assets as the playbook; ask only for missing task-specific inputs; hand off to adjacent skills instead of expanding scope; and return an actionable artifact, decision, plan, draft, or diagnostic.


Generate professional investor-ready pitch decks. This skill covers both the narrative structure (what goes on each slide) and the visual design rules (how it should look), then produces a `.pptx` file via a bundled Python script.

## Deck Structure

Use the **12-slide framework** — total ~6 minutes. Never exceed 20 slides.

| # | Slide | Duration | Key Question to Answer |
|---|-------|----------|------------------------|
| 1 | **Title** | 15s | Who are you? |
| 2 | **Problem** | 45s | Is this a real problem people pay to solve? |
| 3 | **Solution** | 45s | Is this 10x better than the status quo? |
| 4 | **Demo/Product** | 60s | What does it actually look like? |
| 5 | **Market Size** | 30s | Is this big enough to matter? |
| 6 | **Business Model** | 30s | How do you make money? |
| 7 | **Traction** | 45s | Is this actually working? |
| 8 | **Competition** | 30s | Why you, not them? |
| 9 | **Team** | 30s | Can these people execute? |
| 10 | **Financials** | 30s | Revenue projections, unit economics |
| 11 | **The Ask** | 15s | How much, what for, timeline |
| 12 | **Contact** | 10s | Email, next steps |

**Detailed slide guidance:** consult `references/pitch_deck_best_practices.md` for content rules, examples, and common mistakes for each slide type.

## Step-by-Step Workflow

### Step 1: Gather Information

Ask the user conversationally. Probe for specific metrics and data.

**Required:**
- Company name and tagline (one sentence)
- Problem being solved (with data/stats if available)
- Solution and key features

**Recommended (include if available):**
- Market size (TAM/SAM/SOM) and growth rate
- Traction: revenue, users, growth %, milestones
- Business model: pricing, revenue streams, unit economics
- Competition: competitors and your differentiators
- Team: founders and key hires with relevant background
- Financials & Ask: amount, use of funds, runway, milestones

For missing info, offer placeholder slides that can be updated later.

### Step 2: Create pitch_data.json

Format collected information as JSON for the generation script:

```json
{
  "company_name": "Company Name",
  "tagline": "One-line description",
  "problem": [
    "Problem statement with data",
    "Impact/urgency statement"
  ],
  "solution": [
    "How the product solves the problem",
    "Key feature 1 and its benefit",
    "Unique value proposition"
  ],
  "market": [
    "TAM: $X total addressable market",
    "SAM: $X serviceable market",
    "SOM: $X obtainable market"
  ],
  "product": ["Feature 1", "Feature 2", "Tech highlights"],
  "traction": ["Revenue: $X (YY% growth)", "Users: X,XXX active", "Key milestone"],
  "business_model": ["Revenue model", "Pricing: $XX/month", "CAC, LTV, margins"],