board-deck-builder

Files (3)

• SKILL.md
• deck-frameworks.md · references/
• board-deck-template.md · templates/

SKILL.md (first lines)

# Board Deck Builder

Build board decks that tell a story — not just show data. Every section has an owner, a narrative, and a "so what."

## Keywords
board deck, investor update, board meeting, board pack, investor relations, quarterly review, board presentation, fundraising deck, investor deck, board narrative, QBR, quarterly business review

## Quick Start

Ask for a board deck in natural language, naming cadence and stage:

> "Build a quarterly board deck — we're Series A."
> "Draft a fundraising board deck for a seed-stage company."

Provide available metrics. The builder fills gaps with explicit placeholders — never invents numbers.

## Deck Structure (Standard Order)

Every section follows: **Headline → Data → Narrative → Ask/Next**

### 1. Executive Summary (CEO)
**3 sentences. No more.**
- Sentence 1: State of the business (where we are)
- Sentence 2: Biggest thing that happened this period
- Sentence 3: Where we're going next quarter

*Bad:* "We had a good quarter with lots of progress across all areas."
*Good:* "We closed Q3 at $2.4M ARR (+22% QoQ), signed our largest enterprise contract, and enter Q4 with 14-month runway. The strategic shift to mid-market is working — ACV up 40% and sales cycle down 3 weeks. Q4 priority: close the $3M Series A and hit $2.8M ARR."

### 2. Key Metrics Dashboard (COO)
**6-8 metrics max. Use a table.**

| Metric | This Period | Last Period | Target | Status |
|--------|-------------|-------------|--------|--------|
| ARR | $2.4M | $1.97M | $2.3M | ✅ |
| MoM growth | 8.1% | 7.2% | 7.5% | ✅ |
| Burn multiple | 1.8x | 2.1x | <2x | ✅ |
| NRR | 112% | 108% | >110% | ✅ |
| CAC payback | 11 months | 14 months | <12 months | ✅ |
| Headcount | 24 | 21 | 25 | 🟡 |

Pick metrics the board actually tracks. Swap out anything they've said they don't care about.

### 3. Financial Update (CFO)
- P&L summary: Revenue, COGS, Gross margin, OpEx, Net burn
- Cash position and runway (months)
- Burn multiple trend (3-quarter view)
- Variance to plan (what was different and why)
- Forecast update for next quarter

**One sentence on each variance.** Boards hate "revenue was below target" with no explanation. Say why.

### 4. Revenue & Pipeline (CRO)
- ARR waterfall: starting → new → expansion → churn → ending
- NRR and logo churn rates
- Pipeline by stage (in $, not just count)
- Forecast: next quarter with confidence level
- Top 3 deals: name/amount/close date/risk

**The forecast must have a confidence level.** "We expect $2.8M" is weak. "High confidence $2.6M, upside to $2.9M if two late-stage deals close" is useful.

### 5. Product Update (CPO)
- Shipped this quarter: 3-5 bullets, user impact for each
- Shipping next quarter: 3-5 bullets with target dates
- PMF signal: NPS trend, DAU/MAU ratio, feature adoption
- One key learning from customer research

**No feature lists.** Only features with evidence of user impact.

### 6. Growth & Marketing (CMO)
- CAC by channel (table)
- Pipeline contribution by channel ($)
- Brand/awareness metrics relevant to stage (traffic, share of voice)
- What's working, what's being cut, what's being tested

### 7. Engineering & Technical (CTO)
- Delivery velocity trend (last 4 quarters)
- Tech debt ratio and plan
- Infrastructure: uptime, incidents, cost trend
- Security posture (one line, flag anything pending)

**Keep this short unless there's a material issue.** Boards don't need sprint details.

### 8. Team & People (CHRO)
- Headcount: actual vs plan
- Hiring: offers out, pipeline, time-to-fill trend
- Attrition: regrettable vs non-regrettable
- Engagement: last survey score, trend
- Key hires this quarter, key open roles

### 9. Risk & Security (CISO)
- Security posture: status of critical controls
- Compliance: certifications in progress, deadlines
- Incidents this quarter (if any): impact, resolution, prevention
- Top 3 risks and mitigation status

### 10. Strategic Outlook (CEO)
- Next quarter priorities: 3-5 items, ranked
- Key decisions needed from the board
- Asks: budget, introductions, advice, votes

**The "asks" slide is the most important.** Be specific. "We'd like 3 warm introductions to CFOs at Series B companies" beats "any help would be appreciated."

### 11. Appendix
- Detailed financial model
- Full pipeline data
- Cohort retention charts
- Customer case studies
- Detailed headcount breakdown

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## Narrative Framework

Boards see 10+ decks per quarter. Yours needs a through-line.

**The 4-Act Structure:**
1. **Where we said we'd be** (last quarter's targets)
2. **Where we actually are** (honest assessment)

From bharatnain/bharats-claude-toolkit, MIT.

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