ChatGPT Prompts for Startups

Write the narrative arc for a startup pitch deck (10-12 slides) using the following information.

Company name: [name]
One-liner: [what you do in one sentence]
Problem: [describe the problem you solve and who has it]
Target customer: [specific persona, not "everyone"]
Market size: [TAM, SAM, SOM if known — or describe the market]
Solution: [what you built and the key insight behind it]
Business model: [how you make money]
Traction: [key metrics — revenue, users, growth rate, notable customers]
Team: [founders and why you are uniquely qualified]
Funding ask: [amount] for [what milestones]
Competitive landscape: [key competitors and your differentiation]

For each slide, write:
- A compelling slide title (not just a label like "Problem" — make it a claim)
- The key narrative message in 2-3 bullet points
- The emotional hook investors should feel at this slide
- What a common mistake is for this slide and how to avoid it

End with a suggested "one story" thread that ties the entire deck together.

Write a monthly/quarterly investor update email for a startup.

Company: [name]
Update period: [Month YYYY | Q[X] YYYY]
Stage: [pre-seed | seed | Series A | Series B]

Key metrics this period:
- Revenue / ARR: [$X — up/down X% from last period]
- Users / customers: [X — up/down X%]
- Burn rate: [$X/month]
- Runway: [X months]
- Key product milestone: [describe]

Top 3 highlights (wins): [list]
Top 3 challenges (lowlights): [list]
Key asks from investors: [intros needed | specific expertise | reference customers]
Next period goals: [3 specific objectives]

Email requirements:
- Subject line: informative and human, not corporate (write 2 options)
- Opening: one-sentence summary of how the company is doing overall — be honest
- Format: scannable with clear headers (Metrics, Highlights, Lowlights, Asks, What's Next)
- Tone: transparent and confident — investors respect honesty about challenges
- Length: 400-600 words — long enough to be useful, short enough to actually be read
- End with a personal note showing the founder's conviction and learning mindset

Create a quarterly OKR (Objectives and Key Results) framework for a [stage] startup.

Company stage: [pre-revenue | early revenue | growth | scaling]
Quarter: [Q[X] YYYY]
Company mission: [one sentence]
Current top priority: [growth | product-market fit | fundraising | scaling operations | profitability]
Team size: [X people] in [X departments]
Previous quarter's biggest win: [describe]
Previous quarter's biggest miss: [describe]
Known constraints: [runway | headcount | technology debt | market timing]

Generate:
- 3-4 company-level Objectives (inspiring, qualitative, time-bound)
- 3-4 Key Results per Objective (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant)
- A suggested owner for each Objective (role, not name)
- Weekly check-in ritual recommendation
- How to cascade these to team-level OKRs
- Common OKR mistakes startups make and how to avoid them in this framework
- A scoring guide for end-of-quarter review

Analyze our startup's competitive moats and suggest how to strengthen them.

Company: [name]
Product/service: [description]
Target market: [market segment]
Current differentiation claims: [list what you currently say makes you different]
Main competitors: [list 3-5 with a one-line description of each]
Revenue model: [SaaS | marketplace | transactional | services | freemium]
Stage: [pre-product | MVP | growth]
Resources available to build moats: [capital | technology | team expertise | network | brand]

For each of the following moat types, evaluate whether it applies and how strong it is:
1. Network effects (direct, indirect, data)
2. Switching costs (data lock-in, integrations, workflow dependency)
3. Cost advantages (scale, proprietary technology, distribution)
4. Intangible assets (brand, patents, licenses, domain expertise)
5. Efficient scale (natural monopoly dynamics in your niche)

For each applicable moat:
- Current strength (weak / emerging / strong)
- Specific actions to build it in the next 12 months
- How a well-funded competitor could try to undermine it

Help me design a pricing strategy for a [product type] startup.

Product: [description]
Stage: [pre-launch | early adopters | scaling]
Target customer segments: [list 2-4 segments with different willingness to pay]
Value delivered: [describe the core value in measurable terms — e.g., "saves 5 hours/week" or "reduces churn by X%"]
Current pricing (if any): [describe or say "none yet"]
Competitor pricing: [describe how direct competitors price]
Unit economics goal: [target LTV:CAC ratio | payback period | gross margin %]
Distribution channel: [self-serve | sales-led | product-led | channel partners]

Analyze and recommend:
1. Pricing model (per seat | usage-based | flat fee | tiered | freemium | hybrid)
2. Price anchoring strategy
3. Tier structure (how many tiers, what to include in each)
4. Pricing page psychology (what to highlight, how to frame value)
5. Packaging experiments to run in the next 90 days
6. When to raise prices and how to do it without losing customers
7. Early-adopter discounting strategy (use with caution — explain risks)

Run a product-market fit diagnostic for my startup based on the following data.

Product: [description]
Target customer: [specific persona]
Time in market: [X months]
Current metrics:
- Retention (D7, D30, D90 or equivalent): [data]
- NPS or CSAT score: [score]
- "How would you feel if you could no longer use [product]?" survey: [% who say "very disappointed"]
- Organic growth / word-of-mouth ratio: [% of new users who came from referrals]
- Churn rate: [monthly %]
- Most common reason for churn: [describe]
- Power user behavior: [what do your best users do that average users don't?]

Based on this data:
1. Assess current PMF signal strength (none | weak signal | approaching PMF | strong PMF)
2. Identify the primary blocker to stronger PMF
3. Suggest 3 specific experiments to improve the weakest signal
4. Identify the user segment showing the strongest PMF and why to focus there
5. Recommend one metric to obsess over for the next 90 days

Write a go-to-market (GTM) strategy brief for [product/feature] launching in [timeframe].

Product/feature name: [name]
What it does: [description]
Target customer segment for launch: [specific, narrow segment — not everyone]
Problem it solves: [specific pain point]
Key differentiator vs. alternatives: [one key thing]
Sales motion: [self-serve | sales-assisted | enterprise | PLG | SLG]
Launch goal: [X paying customers | $X ARR | X signups | X pilots] in [X days/weeks]
Budget available: [$X | limited/scrappy]
Channels available: [list: email list, paid ads, partnerships, community, press, etc.]
Potential launch partners or integrations: [list if applicable]

GTM brief should cover:
1. Ideal customer profile (ICP) — 1 tight persona to acquire first
2. Value proposition statement (one sentence, outcome-focused)
3. Channel prioritization (top 3 channels with rationale)
4. Launch sequence (week-by-week for 4 weeks)
5. Success metrics and how to track them
6. Potential failure modes and contingency plans

Write a hiring specification for a critical early-stage executive hire.

Role: [co-founder | VP of Engineering | VP of Sales | Head of Growth | CTO | CFO]
Company stage: [pre-seed | seed | Series A]
What the company has built so far: [describe product, team, traction]
What is broken or missing that this hire must fix: [be specific]
Budget: [equity range | salary range | equity + salary]
Timeline to hire: [X weeks]
Culture and working style: [describe how your team works]

Hiring spec should include:
1. Role summary (why this hire matters right now)
2. First 90-day success criteria (3 specific deliverables)
3. Must-have experience (be ruthless — list only true requirements)
4. Nice-to-have experience (clearly separated)
5. Red flags that would disqualify a candidate (anti-requirements)
6. Interview process recommendation (stages, who is involved, what each stage tests)
7. Equity and compensation philosophy for this level
8. How to find candidates (sourcing strategy for this specific role)

Write a board meeting preparation memo for a startup board meeting.

Company: [name]
Meeting date: [date]
Board composition: [X investors + X independents + X founders]
Quarter being reviewed: [Q[X] YYYY]

Content to include:
Key metrics vs. targets:
- [Metric 1]: Target [X] vs. Actual [Y] — [on track | behind | ahead]
- [Metric 2]: Target [X] vs. Actual [Y] — [on track | behind | ahead]
[Add more metrics]

Strategic decisions requiring board input: [list 1-3 decisions]
Risks requiring board awareness: [list 1-2 risks]
Ask from the board: [specific help needed — intros, expertise, approval]
Next quarter plan: [brief summary]

Memo structure:
1. Executive summary (1 page — the TL;DR a board member can read in 3 minutes)
2. Business performance section (metrics with narrative context)
3. Strategic discussion topics (framed as questions, not reports)
4. Decisions required from the board
5. Forward-looking plan with owner and timeline
6. Appendix structure recommendation

Write a customer discovery interview script to validate [problem hypothesis | solution concept | pricing sensitivity | channel assumption].

Hypothesis to test: [state what you believe to be true about your customer]
Target interviewee profile: [specific persona]
Interview goal: [understand problem depth | validate solution demand | test pricing | explore workflow]
Stage: [pre-product | MVP validation | growth]
Known assumptions to stress-test: [list 3-5 things you assume about customers]

Script should include:
1. Warm-up questions (build rapport, understand context — 5 min)
2. Core discovery questions (open-ended, non-leading — 20 min)
3. Specific hypothesis-testing questions (framed carefully to avoid bias — 10 min)
4. Wrap-up and referral ask (5 min)

For each section:
- Write the exact question to ask
- Flag questions that might bias the answer and suggest a better phrasing
- Include follow-up probes for each key question
- Note what answer would validate vs. invalidate your hypothesis

Add a pre-interview researcher brief and post-interview synthesis template.

Write a fundraising narrative to use in investor conversations for a [stage] round.

Company: [name]
Round size: [$X] [pre-seed | seed | Series A | Series B]
Current state: [ARR, team size, product status, key customers]
Why raise now: [timing rationale]
What the money unlocks: [specific milestones you cannot reach without capital]
Lead investor profile you are targeting: [type: generalist VC | specialist | angel | strategic]
Key risk investors will probe: [list 2-3 main investor objections]

Write:
1. The 30-second "why us, why now" opener for a cold intro
2. The 5-minute verbal pitch narrative (not slides — conversational)
3. Prepared answers for the 5 most common investor objections for this type of company
4. A "why we will win" closing statement
5. Follow-up email to send within 24 hours of a first meeting
6. How to frame competitive risk honestly while maintaining conviction

Tone: confident and specific — use numbers where possible, avoid hype language

Write an annual strategic plan document for a [stage] startup for [YEAR].

Company: [name]
Mission: [one sentence]
Current state (end of last year): [key metrics, team size, product status]
Vision for end of [YEAR]: [what does success look like?]
Top 3 strategic priorities for the year: [list]
Key risks and unknowns: [list 3-5]
Resource constraints: [runway, headcount, technology]
Key dependencies (what must be true for the plan to work): [list]

Document structure:
1. Year in Review (what we learned last year)
2. Market context (how has the landscape changed?)
3. Strategic thesis (why our approach is right for this moment)
4. Annual goals with measurable success criteria
5. Q1 focus — what we are doing first and why
6. Resource allocation plan (headcount, budget priorities)
7. Risk register with mitigation strategies
8. What we are explicitly NOT doing this year (strategic bets require saying no)
9. Communication plan (how this is shared with team, investors, board)