AI Prompts for Founders & Startups

"Create a 12-slide pitch deck structure for a Series A raise for a B2B SaaS startup that has $1.2M ARR, 15% month-over-month growth, and 40 enterprise customers. For each slide, specify: the key message (one sentence), what data or visual to include, what NOT to include, and common mistakes to avoid. Slides: Title, Problem, Solution, Market Size (TAM/SAM/SOM), Business Model, Traction, Competition, Go-to-Market, Team, Financials (3-year projection), The Ask, and Closing. Include guidance on how to tailor the deck for different investor types (seed-stage angels vs. institutional VCs) and the ideal presentation length (15 minutes with 15 minutes for Q&A)."

"Create a systematic idea validation framework for a founder considering building an AI-powered tool that helps small restaurants optimize their menu pricing based on ingredient costs, local competition, and demand patterns. Walk through: (1) problem validation — 5 specific questions to ask potential customers in interviews, (2) market sizing — quick TAM/SAM/SOM calculation, (3) competitive landscape — how to identify and assess existing solutions, (4) willingness to pay — a pricing survey methodology, (5) a minimum viable test you can run in 2 weeks without writing code (landing page + waitlist + ad spend), and (6) go/no-go criteria — what signals mean proceed vs. pivot vs. kill. Include the exact customer interview script."

"Create a go-to-market strategy for launching a new project management tool targeting remote-first startups (10-50 employees). Cover: ideal customer profile (ICP) with specific firmographic and behavioral criteria, positioning statement using the 'For [target], who [need], [product] is a [category] that [key benefit], unlike [alternative], we [differentiator]' framework, pricing strategy (freemium vs. free trial vs. paid-only with reasoning), channel strategy ranked by expected CAC (content marketing, Product Hunt launch, partnerships, paid ads, community), a 90-day launch plan with weekly milestones, success metrics for each channel, and the first 3 hires you'd make to execute this plan. Budget: $50K for the first 90 days."

"Create a 3-year financial model framework for a B2B SaaS startup with the following current metrics: $50K MRR, 120 customers, $416 average revenue per account, 5% monthly churn, $800 CAC, and a 3-person team. Project monthly for Year 1 and quarterly for Years 2-3. Include: revenue projections with assumptions for new customer acquisition rate and expansion revenue, cost structure (hosting, salaries, marketing spend as % of revenue), key SaaS metrics to track (LTV, LTV:CAC ratio, payback period, net revenue retention, burn rate, runway), a hiring plan tied to revenue milestones, and the month you reach profitability. Show the formulas and assumptions clearly so an investor can stress-test them."

"Create a monthly investor update email template that keeps investors informed and engaged without taking more than 30 minutes to write. Include: a TL;DR section (3 bullet points — wins, challenges, ask), key metrics dashboard (MRR, growth rate, churn, runway, burn), top 3 wins this month with specific numbers, top 2 challenges and what you're doing about them, a specific ask (intro, advice, hiring help — always include one), team updates, and a forward look at next month's priorities. Demonstrate with a sample update for a seed-stage startup that just hit $100K MRR but is struggling with enterprise sales cycle length. Keep the total email under 500 words."

"Create a hiring plan for a SaaS startup's first 10 hires after the founding team (2 technical co-founders). The startup has $2M in seed funding, $30K MRR, and needs to reach $100K MRR in 12 months. For each hire: specify the role title, why this hire now (what bottleneck it removes), the key outcomes expected in the first 90 days, salary range and equity allocation, whether to hire full-time or contractor initially, and the trigger metric that signals it's time to make this hire. Sequence the hires in order of priority and explain the reasoning. Include guidance on when to hire generalists vs. specialists at this stage."

"Create a competitive analysis framework for a startup entering the employee engagement survey market. Identify 5 hypothetical competitors across different segments (enterprise incumbent, mid-market challenger, startup disruptor, adjacent tool expanding, and open-source alternative). For each: assess their positioning, pricing model, key strengths, key weaknesses, and estimated market share. Create a 2x2 positioning map on axes that favor your differentiation. Then write the 'competitive slide' narrative — how to present this to investors in a way that shows you understand the market deeply while making a compelling case for why there's room for your solution. Include responses to 'Why won't [big competitor] just build this?'"

"Design a pricing strategy for a B2B SaaS product that helps e-commerce companies manage returns. Current state: single plan at $299/month, 80 customers, high churn among smaller customers and feature requests from larger ones. Create: a 3-tier pricing structure (Starter, Growth, Enterprise) with specific feature gates that drive upgrades, a pricing page layout recommendation, the psychological principles behind each pricing decision (anchoring, decoy effect, price-value framing), a migration plan for existing customers, projected revenue impact of the new pricing (model with assumptions), and an A/B testing plan to validate the new pricing before full rollout. Include the exact prices with justification."

"Create a customer discovery interview script following The Mom Test methodology (questions that even your mom can't lie to you about). The context: you're exploring whether small business owners would pay for an AI tool that automates their social media content creation. Include: 15 questions that focus on past behavior rather than hypothetical willingness, specific probing techniques for when interviewees give vague answers, how to identify if they're being polite vs. genuinely interested, signals that indicate a real pain point vs. a nice-to-have, a note-taking template that captures quotes and emotional reactions, and a post-interview scoring rubric to compare insights across 20+ interviews. Include 5 questions you should NEVER ask and why."

"Create a board meeting deck template for a seed-stage startup's quarterly board meeting. Include 10 slides: (1) Agenda and key decisions needed, (2) Executive summary — 3 things going well, 2 concerns, (3) Key metrics dashboard with targets vs. actuals and trend arrows, (4) Product update — shipped, in progress, and planned with customer impact, (5) Sales and marketing — pipeline, conversion rates, CAC trend, (6) Financial overview — burn rate, runway, budget vs. actual, (7) Team — org chart, open roles, culture pulse, (8) Strategic discussion topic (one deep-dive the board can help with), (9) Risks and mitigations, (10) Asks from the board. For each slide, specify what data to include and the ideal discussion time allocation for a 90-minute meeting."

"Create a quarterly OKR (Objectives and Key Results) planning framework for a 20-person startup. Include: how to set company-level OKRs (max 3 objectives), how to cascade to team-level OKRs without creating busywork, the difference between committed vs. aspirational OKRs, how to write key results that are measurable (not tasks), a scoring methodology (0.0-1.0 scale with what each range means), a weekly check-in template for tracking progress, and a quarterly retrospective format. Demonstrate with sample OKRs for a startup focused on reaching product-market fit: 1 company objective with 3 key results, cascaded into engineering, sales, and product team OKRs. Include common OKR mistakes and how to avoid them."

"Create a founder-friendly guide to understanding and negotiating a Series A term sheet. Cover the 10 most important terms: pre-money valuation, option pool size and placement, liquidation preference (1x non-participating vs. participating), anti-dilution provisions (broad-based weighted average vs. full ratchet), board composition, protective provisions (veto rights), pro-rata rights, drag-along rights, no-shop clause duration, and founder vesting. For each term: explain what it means in plain English, what's 'market standard,' what's founder-friendly vs. investor-friendly, the negotiation leverage points, and a red flag version you should push back on. Include 3 terms that first-time founders most commonly overlook."