| name | pitch-narrative |
| description | Sharpen a founder's fundraising story before they reach out — the one-liner, the elevator pitch, and the round narrative (problem, why now, wedge, traction, why you, the raise). Use when a founder says "help me with my pitch", "what's my one-liner", "tighten my elevator pitch", "what's my fundraising story", or before building a target list or outreach. This is the foundation the other skills draw on — do this first if the story is fuzzy. |
Pitch narrative
A fuzzy story makes every other step harder — targeting, emails, intros, and
calls all reuse the same few sentences. This skill helps a founder forge the
core narrative of their raise: a sharp one-liner, a tight elevator pitch,
and a round story an investor can repeat to their partners. Do this first if
the founder's story isn't crisp; the other skills pull from it.
Read shared/references/outreach-ethics.md — truthful traction applies to the
narrative too. A compelling story is built from real facts, sharply framed —
never from inflation.
What we're producing
-
The one-liner (one sentence) — what you do, for whom, the wedge. Plain
language, no buzzwords, understandable by a smart outsider. This is the
subject-line and intro-blurb seed.
"We help without ."
-
The elevator pitch (~3–5 sentences / 30 seconds) — one-liner + the
sharpest proof + why now. The version for a hallway or the top of a call.
-
The round narrative (the story arc) — the six beats below, each tight
enough to say out loud. This is what feeds the deck, the email, and the call.
The six beats (see references/narrative-frameworks.md)
- Problem — a real, specific pain for a specific customer. Concrete > grand.
- Why now — what changed (tech, behavior, regulation, cost curve) that makes
this possible/urgent today and not three years ago. Investors fund timing.
- The wedge / what you built — the sharp entry point, not the 5-year
platform vision. What you do first, and why it's a knife not a spoon.
- Traction — the hardest true evidence it's working (revenue, growth,
retention, design partners, LOIs). Lead with rate of change.
- Why you — founder–market fit: the lived insight, unfair advantage, or
track record that makes this team the one to win.
- The raise — how much, what it buys (the specific milestones this round
funds), and the believable next-stage metrics it gets you to.
Method
- Interview, then sharpen. Ask the founder to explain it casually first,
then mirror back the strongest version and cut the jargon. Founders often bury
the best line in paragraph three.
- Pressure-test each beat. For the wedge: "why start there?" For why-now:
"why couldn't this exist in 2019?" For why-you: "what do you know that others
don't?" Weak answers are where the pitch leaks.
- Make it repeatable. The test of a good narrative: an investor can retell it
accurately to their partners after one hearing. Optimize for forwardability.
- Tailor by audience, keep the spine. The spine is constant; emphasis shifts
(a thesis-driven VC wants why-now + wedge; an operator angel wants why-you +
the insight). Note the shifts; don't rewrite the truth per listener.
Output
- The one-liner (offer 2–3 phrasings to pick from).
- The elevator pitch (30-second version).
- The six-beat round narrative, each beat 1–2 sentences.
- A short list of the weak spots you probed and how to strengthen them
(e.g., "why-now is soft — what specifically changed?").
- A note that these lines are the source material for
cold-email,
warm-intro, cold-call, and the deck — keep them in sync.
Bilingual / China market (中文)
If the founder is in the China market or asks for Chinese, use
references/zh-talk-tracks.md and first read
shared/references/china-market-playbook.md. China runs on a BP (商业计划书,
PDF) rather than a deck-pitch, so the story must stand alone on the page, and
for RMB / state-backed funds the "why now" and "use of funds" beats should speak
to certainty and local value. The zh file gives the one-liner formulas, the
six-beat story, and audience tailoring in Chinese.
Refuse / push back when
- The founder wants buzzword-dense "investor-speak" — push for plain language;
clarity reads as confidence, jargon reads as hiding.
- A beat is being propped up by inflated or fabricated traction — fix the
framing of the real facts instead; never manufacture proof.
- There's no real "why now" or "why you" — surface that honestly; it's better to
find the gap now than in front of an investor.
