Skeleton · One-pager
Investor one-pager skeleton
Template · Pre-seed → Seed · ~280 words · 5 sections
The forwardable doc. An angel reads it in 90 seconds, forwards it with a one-line endorsement, and a partner-friend understands the deal before opening the deck.
The skeleton
[COMPANY NAME] · One-pager · v[X] [15-word headline: what you do + one quantified proof point.] e.g. "Real-time FX rails for cross-border SMB payroll. Live, 14 design partners, $4.2M ARR pipeline." PROBLEM (~40 words) [Specific customer archetype] face [specific pain]. The cost: [quantified: % loss, hours wasted, error rate, churn]. Today this happens because [why it persists — what's broken about existing tools]. Market size at the friction point: [USD/year, sourced]. SOLUTION (~50 words) [One-sentence what you do.] [One-sentence how it works — mechanism, not features.] [One-sentence why this works where others didn't — your wedge.] Status: [live / in pilot / building], with [N] design partners and [proof point — paid revenue, retention, scale]. TRACTION (~40 words) - [Metric 1, e.g. ARR]: [number, with growth rate] - [Metric 2, e.g. retention]: [number] - [Metric 3, e.g. paid logos]: [number] - Founders: [one line, two operators max — what makes you uniquely the team]. ASK (~35 words) Raising [USD amount] [stage] at [pre-money]. Use of funds: [3 buckets with rough %, e.g. 50% engineering / 30% GTM / 20% ops]. Already committed: [USD] ([investor names]). Looking for: [thesis-aligned lead / co-investor / specific operator]. [Contact: founder@company.com · LinkedIn / deck on request]
The 280 rule. Every word must earn its place. Cut "the", "actually", "really" first. Cut every adjective you can. If a sentence works as a fragment, make it one. The discipline IS the document.
What kills a one-pager
- Adjective inflation. "Game-changing", "revolutionary", "next-generation" — zero information. Cut.
- Vision instead of evidence. "We're building the future of X" is not a one-pager.
- Hidden ask. If your one-pager doesn't say how much, what stage, who you've got — investors assume you're a mess.
- Long founder bios. One sentence each. Save the rest for the deck.
Want the deeper logic?
Read the writing-the-one-pager guide → for examples, common failure modes, and a worked Stellar Labs version.