A startup document pack is five documents: a business plan, a pitch deck, a financial model, a one-pager and an NDA, and you can build all five with AI in a weekend if you work in the right order. This guide gives you a business plan template, a pitch deck template, a financial model template, a one pager template and an NDA template as open structure lists, plus a copy-paste prompt for each, the mistakes founders make most often, and the KissMySkills skill that produces each document end to end if you would rather not assemble it by hand.
The five documents and the order to build them
Most founders start with the pitch deck because it is the document investors ask for. That is the wrong order. The deck is a summary of decisions you have not made yet, so you end up redesigning slides every time an assumption changes. Build the pack in this order and each document feeds the next:
- 1. Business plan. The long-form thinking. It forces you to decide who the customer is, how you reach them and why now.
- 2. Financial model. Turns the plan into numbers. Every assumption in the plan (price, conversion, hiring) becomes a cell you can change.
- 3. Pitch deck. A visual summary of the plan and the model. It should contain nothing that is not already in documents 1 and 2.
- 4. One-pager. A compression of the deck into a single page for cold outreach, accelerator applications and intros.
- 5. NDA. The document you send before sharing the data room. It needs to exist before the first serious conversation, not after.
Each section below gives you the full structure so you can build the document yourself in any AI model (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot), then names the skill that does the work for you. If you already use AI for other admin documents, our guide to business templates you can fill with AI covers invoices, proposals and SOPs using the same approach.
1. Business plan template
Purpose and audience
The business plan is for you and your co-founders first, then for banks, grant bodies and any investor who asks for detail beyond the deck. It is the only document in the pack where being long is acceptable. Aim for 10 to 20 pages, written as decisions, not aspirations.
Structure
- Executive summary (write this last, one page)
- Problem: who has it, how often, what it costs them today
- Solution and product: what you sell, the current state (idea, prototype, live), what is next
- Market: TAM, SAM and SOM with the method for each number shown
- Customer segments and the ideal first customer
- Competition and alternatives, including "do nothing" and spreadsheets
- Business model: pricing, unit economics, revenue streams
- Go-to-market: first channel, first 100 customers plan, sales cycle
- Traction to date: revenue, users, pilots, letters of intent
- Team: who, why this team, gaps you plan to hire
- Operations and milestones: 12-month roadmap with dates
- Financial summary: 3-year headline figures pulled from the model
- Risks and mitigations
- Funding ask and use of funds
Copy-paste prompt
Common mistakes
- Top-down market sizing only ("1% of a $50bn market"). Add a bottom-up count of reachable customers times realistic price.
- Listing no competitors. Investors read that as "did not look".
- Letting the AI invent traction numbers. Use the [ESTIMATE] tag and replace every one.
- Writing the executive summary first. It will not match the plan by the end.
The skill that does it end to end
Thomas - Business Consultant AI Skill ($29): runs the interview, structures the plan, and challenges weak assumptions before writing. For the strategy layer (positioning, market entry sequence, competitive moat) pair it with Charles - AI Business Strategy Agent ($32).
2. Financial model template
Purpose and audience
The financial model is for you, then for investors during diligence. It is a spreadsheet, not a document, but AI can build the structure, write the formulas and, most importantly, produce the assumptions sheet that explains every number. A model without a documented assumptions sheet is a guess with formatting.
Structure (tabs)
- Assumptions: every input in one place, each with a source or reasoning note
- Revenue build: customers by segment, price, churn, expansion, month by month for 36 months
- Cost of sales: hosting, payment fees, delivery costs per unit
- Headcount plan: role, start month, fully loaded cost
- Operating expenses: marketing, tools, rent, legal, insurance
- P&L: monthly for year 1, quarterly for years 2 and 3
- Cash flow and runway: opening cash, burn, months remaining, fundraising events
- Unit economics: CAC, LTV, payback period, gross margin
- Scenarios: base, downside, upside, driven by 3 to 5 toggles on the assumptions tab
- Summary dashboard: the 8 numbers that go into the deck
Copy-paste prompt
Common mistakes
- Hard-coding numbers inside formulas instead of linking to the assumptions tab.
- Growth curves that rise smoothly forever with no hiring or marketing spend to explain them.
- No runway line. The first question in any investor meeting is "how many months do you have".
- Undocumented assumptions. If you cannot say where a number came from, remove it or label it.
The skill that does it end to end
Petra - FP&A Analyst AI Skill ($29): builds the model structure, assumption sheet and scenario logic, and reviews your existing spreadsheet for broken logic. Once you have revenue and need board-level reporting, cash management and fundraising strategy, Victor - CFO AI Skill ($29) picks up where Petra stops.
This is not financial advice. Have an accountant review the model before you rely on it for tax, hiring or fundraising decisions.
3. Pitch deck template
Purpose and audience
The pitch deck exists to get a second meeting, not to close a round. Its audience is investors reading on a phone for 3 minutes. Every slide should be understandable without you presenting it. Keep it to 12 to 15 slides and put detail in the appendix.
Structure (slides)
- Title: company name, one-line description, contact
- Problem: one clear pain, ideally with a number
- Solution: what you built and how it removes the pain
- Product: 1 to 2 slides, screenshots or demo stills
- Why now: the shift in technology, regulation or behaviour that makes this possible
- Market size: bottom-up first, top-down as a check
- Business model: how you charge and the unit economics
- Traction: the best 3 to 5 numbers, with a chart if there is a trend
- Go-to-market: the channel that works and how you scale it
- Competition: a positioning map or a table, with your advantage named
- Team: faces, one line each, why this team wins
- Financials: 3-year summary from the model
- The ask: amount, use of funds, what it gets you to (the next milestone)
- Appendix: detailed model, product roadmap, customer quotes
Copy-paste prompt
Common mistakes
- Paragraphs on slides. If it needs reading, it belongs in the plan.
- A market slide with no bottom-up number.
- Traction hidden on slide 11. If you have it, move it to slide 3.
- An ask with no milestone: "raising $500k" means nothing without "to reach $30k MRR by month 18".
The skill that does it end to end
4. One-pager template
Purpose and audience
The one-pager is what you attach to a cold email, paste into an accelerator application, or hand to someone who offered an intro. Its audience has 60 seconds and no context. It is the hardest document in the pack to write because everything must fit on one side of A4 or US Letter.
Structure
- Header: company name, one-line description (under 12 words), website, contact
- Problem: two sentences maximum
- Solution: two sentences plus one product image or diagram
- Why now: one sentence
- Traction: 3 numbers in large type
- Market: one bottom-up figure with the method in a footnote
- Business model: one sentence on how you charge
- Team: names, previous companies, one line
- The ask: amount, stage, what it achieves
- Footer: date, confidentiality line, link to the deck
Copy-paste prompt
Common mistakes
- Trying to include everything. The one-pager creates curiosity; the deck satisfies it.
- Adjectives instead of numbers.
- No date. One-pagers circulate for months and a stale traction number hurts you.
- Forgetting the contact details. It happens more often than you would think.
The skill that does it end to end
AI Executive Summary Generator Skill ($4.99): takes any long document, plan or deck and produces a tight one-page summary in a consistent structure. It is the cheapest item in the pack and the one you will reuse most, because every update to the plan needs a new one-pager.
5. NDA template
Purpose and audience
The NDA (non-disclosure agreement) protects the information you share in diligence: customer lists, the full model, contracts, code. Its audience is the counterparty's lawyer or founder. Most venture investors will not sign an NDA to see a deck, and asking them to is a known red flag. Use it for potential hires, partners, agencies, acquirers and anyone getting data room access.
Structure (clauses)
- Parties: full legal names, registered addresses, company numbers
- Purpose: why information is being shared (evaluation of a partnership, investment, employment)
- Definition of confidential information: what is covered, and whether oral disclosures count
- Exclusions: public information, already known, independently developed, legally compelled
- Obligations: keep confidential, use only for the purpose, limit to need-to-know staff
- Term: how long the agreement lasts and how long confidentiality survives after it ends (commonly 2 to 5 years)
- Return or destruction of materials on request
- No licence or obligation to proceed: sharing does not grant rights or commit either side to a deal
- Remedies: injunctive relief, since damages are hard to prove
- Governing law and jurisdiction
- Mutual or one-way: state which and make the clauses match
- Signature blocks with names, titles and dates
Copy-paste prompt
Common mistakes
- Sending an NDA to VCs before a first meeting. Send the deck; save the NDA for the data room.
- A one-way NDA when both sides will share information. Make it mutual.
- No survival period, so confidentiality ends the day the agreement does.
- Treating the AI draft as final. It is a first draft for a lawyer, not a substitute for one.
The skill that does it end to end
AI Contract Template Generator Skill ($29): produces NDAs, service agreements and partnership contracts with jurisdiction notes and a checklist of clauses to have reviewed. If you mainly need contractor and freelancer agreements, the AI Freelance Contract Generator Skill ($4.99) is the lighter option. For a wider comparison see our guide to the best AI legal document generators.
This is not legal advice. Have any NDA or contract reviewed by a qualified lawyer in your jurisdiction before signing.
Before you buy anything
All of the skills mentioned here are one-time purchases: a .md skill file plus a README that works in Claude (including Claude Code), ChatGPT as a custom GPT, Gemini as a Gem, and Copilot. Every purchase has a 30-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked. If you prefer to start with a generator rather than a full skill, the AI generators page lists the lighter tools.
Frequently asked questions
Can AI write a business plan that investors will take seriously?
Yes, if you supply the facts and make the decisions. AI is good at structure, completeness and spotting gaps; it is bad at knowing your customers. Use it to draft and challenge, then replace every estimated figure with a real one and rewrite the executive summary in your own words.
Do investors need an NDA before seeing my pitch deck?
Almost never. Most venture investors will not sign an NDA at the deck stage, and asking is usually read as inexperience. Share the deck freely and reserve the NDA for data room access, potential hires, partners and acquirers.
How detailed should a seed-stage financial model be?
Detailed enough that every number on the deck can be traced to an assumption. Thirty-six months, a clear revenue build, a headcount plan, a runway line and three scenarios is the standard. Documenting assumptions matters more than precision.
What is the difference between a one-pager and an executive summary?
They overlap heavily. An executive summary is the first section of the business plan and can run to a full page of prose. A one-pager is a standalone, designed document with headers and big numbers, built for people who have not seen anything else from you.
Do these skills work in ChatGPT and Gemini, or only Claude?
All of them. Each skill is a .md file with a README. Load it into a Claude project, a ChatGPT custom GPT, a Gemini Gem or Copilot and it behaves the same way. One purchase covers every platform.
The bottom line
Build the plan, then the model, then the deck, then the one-pager, and have the NDA ready before the first data room request. The five templates above are complete; the prompts will get you a solid first draft of each in an afternoon. The skills below do the same work with the interview, the critique and the formatting built in, so you spend your time on the decisions rather than the documents.
Browse all skill bundles at KissMySkills.