YC Pitch Deck
Create a compelling startup pitch deck that follows the structure proven to raise billions from top investors. Master the YC and Sequoia formats that get founders funded.
When to Use This Skill
- Fundraising to create investor pitch decks
- YC application to structure your narrative
- Demo Day prep to craft your 2-minute pitch
- Angel investors to communicate your opportunity
- Partnership pitches to structure compelling asks
- Internal alignment to articulate your strategy clearly
Methodology Foundation
What Claude Does vs What You Decide
What This Skill Does
- Structures your narrative - Proven slide sequence that works
- Crafts compelling slides - What goes on each slide
- Identifies what to include/exclude - Signal vs. noise
- Tailors for stage - Pre-seed vs. Seed vs. Series A
- Prepares you for Q&A - What investors will ask
- Provides templates - Starting points for each slide
How to Use
Create a Pitch Deck from Scratch
Review an Existing Pitch Deck
Prepare for Demo Day
Instructions
Step 1: Understand the Standard Structure
Step 2: Craft Each Slide
Step 3: Apply Stage-Specific Adjustments
Step 4: The 2-Minute Pitch (Demo Day)
Examples
Example 1: Pre-Seed Pitch Deck
Input:
"Create a pitch deck for my AI sales email tool. We help SDRs write personalized emails. Pre-seed, raising $750K. We have a working product and 50 beta users."
Output:
Pitch Deck: [SalesFlow AI]
Slide 1: Title
Slide 2: Problem
Slide 3: Solution
Slide 4: Why Now
Slide 5: Market
Slide 6: Product
Slide 7: Traction
Slide 8: Business Model
Slide 9: Competition
Slide 10: Team
Slide 11: Ask
Example 2: Demo Day Script
Input:
"Write my 2-minute Demo Day pitch based on the deck above."
Output:
Demo Day Script (2:00)
[0:00-0:10] Hook "SDRs spend half their day writing emails that nobody opens.
SalesFlow is AI that writes personalized sales emails that actually get responses."
[0:10-0:30] Problem "The average SDR sends 100 emails a day. Response rate? Under 2%.
The problem isn't effort—it's personalization. Top performers research every prospect. But that takes hours—it doesn't scale.
Generic emails don't work anymore. Buyers know when they're in a sequence."
[0:30-0:55] Solution "SalesFlow solves this. You give us a LinkedIn profile. Our AI reads their background, their company, recent news, and writes a unique email—not a template, not mail merge—actually personalized.
What took 5 minutes now takes 5 seconds. Scale AND personalization."
[0:55-1:15] Traction "We launched 8 weeks ago. 50 beta users have sent 15,000 emails.
Their response rates doubled—4.2% versus the 2% baseline.
We just signed our first three paying pilots, $500 a month each. This works."
[1:15-1:30] Business Model + Market "We charge $99 per user per month. There are 3 million SDRs in the US—this is an $800 million market.
The shift to AI writing is happening now. GPT-4 made this possible."
[1:30-1:45] Team "I'm Jane. I spent 8 years at Salesforce selling to these teams. Tom, my co-founder, built GPT applications at OpenAI.
We lived this problem. Now we're solving it."
[1:45-2:00] Ask "We're raising $750K to get to $50K MRR and prove we can 2x response rates at scale.
If you're an SDR, a sales leader, or an investor who's tired of bad cold emails—come talk to us.
SalesFlow. Personalized emails that get responses."
Checklists & Templates
Pitch Deck Review Checklist
Slide Content Templates
Skill Boundaries
What This Skill Does Well
- Structuring video production workflows
- Creating storyboard frameworks
- Suggesting technical approaches
- Providing creative direction templates
What This Skill Cannot Do
- Replace professional videography
- Edit video files directly
- Make final creative judgments
- Guarantee audience engagement
References
- Y Combinator. "How to Make a Pitch Deck" (YC library)
- Sequoia Capital. "Writing a Business Plan" (classic framework)
- Reid Hoffman. "Blitzscaling Lectures" - LinkedIn pitch deck
- DocSend. "Pitch Deck Data Reports" (what gets funded)
- Kawasaki, Guy. "The Art of the Start" - 10/20/30 rule
Related Skills
- fundraising-narrative - Story beyond the deck
- startup-metrics - What metrics to include
- positioning - Differentiation strategy
- storytelling-storybrand - Narrative structure
Skill Metadata
- Mode: cyborg

