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Strategy

Company One-Pager

One page that explains what you do, who you do it for, and why now — for investors, candidates, and your own team.

Last updated June 1, 2026

What it is

A single-page document that explains what your company does in language a smart outsider can grasp in 90 seconds. Used for: warm intros to investors, recruiting hand-offs, partnership pitches, and your own team's clarity check.

When to use it

Before any investor coffee. Before sending a job description to a passive candidate. Before pitching a partnership. Every six months as a forcing function for clarity — if you can't get it down to one page, you're not clear on the business yet.

The template

# [Company Name] — One-Pager

**Updated:** [DATE]
**Stage:** [Pre-seed / Seed / Series A / Bootstrap]
**Website:** [URL]

---

## What we do (1 sentence)

[One sentence that names the customer, the problem, and the outcome. Plain English. No buzzwords.]

> Example: "We help SMB ecommerce stores recover the 15% of carts that churn after the first email, using behavior-triggered SMS."

## The problem

[2-3 sentences. Whose problem. How big it is. What people do today that doesn't work.]

## Our solution

[2-3 sentences. What we built. The core unlock. What it doesn't try to do.]

## Customer

- **Who pays:** [Role + company size + situation]
- **Customer count:** [N customers, with optional ICP breakdown]
- **Pricing:** [Plan name → $/period; typical contract size]

## Why now

[1-2 sentences. The shift in the last 12-24 months that made this possible (or necessary) now.]

## Traction

- **Revenue:** [Current MRR or ARR; growth rate]
- **Customers:** [N customers, retention/NRR signal if good]
- **Other signal:** [Strong indicator: organic growth, NPS, big logo, etc.]

## Market

- **TAM (bottom-up):** [N customers × ACV = $X]
- **SOM in 3 years:** [Realistic capture]

## Team

- **[Co-founder name]** — [Role]. [One-line credibility: prior company, domain, why this person for this problem.]
- **[Co-founder name]** — [Role]. [Same.]
- **Hiring next:** [Open roles]

## Ask

- **Raise:** [Amount + stage] OR **Bootstrap, not raising** OR **Strategic conversation only**
- **Looking for:** [Specific help — intros to X-type customers, advisors in Y, etc.]
- **Contact:** [Your name + email]

---

**Why a one-pager beats a deck**: Decks are read with you talking. One-pagers are read alone, often on a phone, by someone who has 90 seconds. If your one-pager doesn't earn the meeting, your deck won't either.

Common mistakes

  • Trying to fit two pages onto one with size-6 font — kills readability
  • Vague TAM ("the global X market is $50B") instead of bottom-up sizing
  • Burying the traction; investors want to see the numbers above the fold
  • Generic ask ("raising a round") instead of specific amount + use of funds
  • No 'Why now' — the most-skipped section, the one most-asked-about