ailabs-393/pitch-deck

Pitch Deck Generator

Overview

Generate professional PowerPoint pitch decks following industry best practices. This skill creates structured presentations for fundraising, sales, and business development using a proven 10-slide format.

When to Use This Skill

Activate this skill when users request:

• Investor pitch decks for fundraising
• Sales or business development presentations
• Product launch presentations
• Startup pitch competition decks
• Any structured business presentation following standard pitch deck format

Workflow

Step 1: Gather Information

Collect necessary information from the user to populate the pitch deck. Use a conversational approach to gather details across the following categories:

Required information:

1. Company basics: Company name, tagline (one-liner describing what you do)
2. Problem: What problem are you solving? Include data or statistics if available
3. Solution: How does your product/service solve the problem? Key features and benefits
4. Business model: How do you make money? Pricing, revenue streams

Recommended information (include if available): 5. Market opportunity: Market size (TAM/SAM/SOM), growth rate, market trends 6. Product details: Product features, screenshots, technology highlights 7. Traction: Key metrics, revenue, users, growth rate, milestones, customer testimonials 8. Competition: Competitors, competitive advantages, differentiation 9. Team: Founders and key team members with relevant background 10. Financials & Ask: Funding amount, use of funds, financial projections, milestones

Approach:

• Ask open-ended questions to understand the business
• Probe for specific metrics and data points when possible
• For missing information, offer to create placeholder slides that can be updated later
• Adapt the standard 10-slide structure based on available information

Step 2: Structure the Content

Organize the gathered information into the standard pitch deck structure:

1. Title Slide: Company name + tagline
2. Problem: Pain point being addressed
3. Solution: Product/service overview
4. Market Opportunity: Market size and growth
5. Product: Features and capabilities
6. Traction: Metrics and achievements
7. Business Model: Revenue and pricing
8. Competition: Competitive landscape
9. Team: Key people
10. Financials & Ask: Funding request and projections

Reference best practices: For detailed guidance on each slide's content and structure, consult references/pitch_deck_best_practices.md. Search for specific sections using grep:

grep -A 10 "### [Slide Number]. [Slide Name]" references/pitch_deck_best_practices.md

Step 3: Create the JSON Data File

Format the collected information as a JSON file that will be consumed by the pitch deck generation script. Create a file called pitch_data.json with the following structure:

{
  "company_name": "Company Name",
  "tagline": "One-line description of what you do",
  "problem": [
    "Problem statement 1 with data/statistics",
    "Problem statement 2 showing impact",
    "Problem statement 3 demonstrating urgency"
  ],
  "solution": [
    "How your product solves the problem",
    "Key feature 1 and its benefit",
    "Key feature 2 and its benefit",
    "Unique value proposition"
  ],
  "market": [
    "TAM: Total addressable market with $ figure",
    "SAM: Serviceable available market",
    "SOM: Serviceable obtainable market",
    "Market growth rate and trends"
  ],
  "product": [
    "Product feature 1",
    "Product feature 2",
    "Technology highlights",
    "User experience benefits"
  ],
  "traction": [
    "Revenue: $X (YY% growth)",
    "Users: X,XXX active users",
    "Key milestone 1",
    "Customer testimonial or social proof"
  ],
  "business_model": [
    "Revenue model (e.g., SaaS subscription)",
    "Pricing: $XX/month per user",
    "Unit economics: CAC, LTV, margins",
    "Sales channels"
  ],
  "competition": {
    "our_advantages": [
      "Advantage 1",
      "Advantage 2",
      "Unfair advantage/defensibility"
    ],
    "competitors": [
      "Competitor 1",
      "Competitor 2",
      "Alternative solutions"
    ]
  },
  "team": [
    "Founder 1: Name - Background and relevant experience",
    "Founder 2: Name - Background and relevant experience",
    "Key hire: Name - Background and why they matter",
    "Notable advisors"
  ],
  "financials": [
    "Raising: $X seed/Series A round",
    "Use of funds: XX% engineering, XX% sales, XX% ops",
    "Milestones with this funding",
    "Runway: X-X months to next milestone"
  ]
}

Notes:

• All fields are optional except company_name
• Use arrays for bullet points (will be rendered as bullet lists)
• Competition can be either an object with our_advantages and competitors keys (for two-column layout) or a simple array
• Keep bullet points concise (1-2 lines each)
• Include specific numbers and metrics where possible

Step 4: Generate the PowerPoint

Execute the Python script to create the PowerPoint presentation:

python3 scripts/create_pitch_deck.py pitch_data.json output_filename.pptx

The script will:

• Generate a professional PowerPoint file with proper formatting
• Apply consistent color scheme and typography
• Create slides based on available data (skipping sections if data not provided)
• Output a .pptx file ready for presentation or further customization

Step 5: Review and Iterate

Present the generated pitch deck location to the user and offer to:

• Add missing sections if information becomes available
• Refine bullet points for clarity and impact
• Adjust structure based on specific audience (investor vs. sales pitch)
• Provide guidance on presenting the deck

Iteration approach:

• User can update the JSON file with new information
• Re-run the script to regenerate the updated presentation
• For design customizations beyond the script's capabilities, advise manual editing in PowerPoint

Design Guidelines

The generated pitch deck follows these design principles:

Color Scheme:

• Primary: Blue (#2962FF) for titles and emphasis
• Secondary: Gray (#646464) for body text
• Clean white background for readability

Typography:

• Title slides: 54pt bold
• Section titles: 40pt bold
• Body text: 18-20pt with appropriate line spacing

Layout:

• Consistent margins and spacing
• One key message per slide
• Bullet points limited to 3-5 items per slide
• Two-column layouts for comparison slides

Visual Hierarchy:

• Clear title at top of each slide
• Content organized with proper spacing
• Emphasis on readability and professional appearance

Best Practices Reference

For detailed guidance on pitch deck content, structure, and presentation tips, reference:

• references/pitch_deck_best_practices.md - Comprehensive guide covering:
  • Standard 10-slide structure with examples
  • Content guidelines for each slide type
  • Design best practices
  • Common mistakes to avoid
  • Tailoring for different audiences (investor, sales, product launch)
  • Pre-pitch checklist

Load this reference when providing detailed advice on pitch content or structure.

Example Usage Scenarios

Scenario 1: Early-stage startup seeking seed funding

• Focus on problem, solution, market opportunity, and team
• Emphasize founder expertise and early traction
• Include clear funding ask and use of funds

Scenario 2: Growth-stage company creating sales deck

• Emphasize product features and customer ROI
• Include customer testimonials and case studies
• De-emphasize fundraising, focus on value proposition

Scenario 3: Product launch presentation

• Focus on product features and market need
• Include demo or product screenshots
• Emphasize innovation and competitive positioning

Customization and Extensions

After generating the base deck:

• Users can manually add images, charts, and custom graphics in PowerPoint
• Suggest creating appendix slides for detailed backup information
• Recommend PDF export for sharing (File → Save As → PDF in PowerPoint)
• Advise on presentation timing (typically 10-15 minutes for 10 slides)

Troubleshooting

Script errors:

• Ensure python-pptx library is installed: pip3 install python-pptx
• Verify JSON file is properly formatted (use JSON validator if needed)
• Check file paths are correct and user has write permissions

Content issues:

• If slides appear crowded, reduce bullet points to 3-5 per slide
• For complex competition analysis, consider manually creating comparison tables in PowerPoint
• For financial projections, consider creating charts in Excel and importing as images

Resources

scripts/

• create_pitch_deck.py: Python script that generates PowerPoint presentations from structured JSON data

references/

• pitch_deck_best_practices.md: Comprehensive guide on pitch deck content, structure, and design principles