# The startup one-pager: the MrAdib framework > A machine-readable one-pager framework by John Adib (MrAdib), a two-time founder who raised $1M as a CEO. Nine blocks on one page, each answering one investor question. Use it to cut a deck down to a page that reads in sixty seconds. Human guide: https://mradib.com/one-pager Portable skill for AI tools: https://mradib.com/one-pager/skill.md ## How to use this - Keep the nine blocks in this order unless a layout rule below applies. - Every block answers its question in three lines at most. Put in what the list says, leave out what the list says. - Use the same facts as the deck. Every number carries a date. - Check each block against its pass test, then check the page reads in sixty seconds. ## 01. Header Question: What is this, and who sent it? What it is: The top strip. Company name, what you do in one plain sentence, the stage and the round, and how to reach you. An investor should place you in five seconds without reading further. Put in it: - Company name and logo - One sentence: what you do, for whom, in words a stranger would use - Stage and round: pre-seed, raising £500K - Founder name, email, website, and the date Leave out: - A slogan that fits any company - A paragraph where a sentence would do - Three logos and two taglines Pass test: Cover the rest of the page. The header alone says what you do and what you want. ## 02. Problem Question: What hurts, and who feels it? What it is: The pain in two or three lines, before any product appears. Name who has it, how often, and what it costs them today. Put in it: - The core problem in one sentence - Who has it, described so you could find them tomorrow - What it costs them: time, money or risk, with a number - How they cope today, and where that breaks Leave out: - Introducing the product early - A problem nobody pays to solve - Ten problems in three lines. Pick one. Pass test: The reader nods before they see a single screen. ## 03. Solution Question: What do you do about it? What it is: The product in two lines and how it works in one more. Say what changes for the customer, then what makes it possible today: a new capability, a rule change, a shift in behaviour. Put in it: - The solution in one sentence, mapped to the problem - How it works, in three steps at most - What becomes dramatically easier, cheaper, faster or better - Why now, in one line, when timing is part of the story Leave out: - A feature list - The technology before the outcome - A screenshot with no caption Pass test: Each line of the solution answers a line of the problem. ## 04. Market Question: How big can this get? What it is: One number an investor can check, built from the bottom up: customers times what they pay a year. Name the beachhead you start in and where you go next. Put in it: - The bottom-up number: customers times price per year - The beachhead: who you win first - The expansion path: the next segment or market - One trend that makes the market grow Leave out: - One giant figure from an industry report - 1% of a $50B market - A market so broad it says nothing about your customer Pass test: The reader can redo your maths from the page. ## 05. Why you win Question: Why you, and not the others? What it is: The alternatives a customer has today, including doing nothing, and the one or two things that make you different and hard to copy. Put in it: - The two or three alternatives, named - Your edge in one line: what you do that they cannot - What makes it hard to copy: data, distribution, cost or regulation - Where the market is heading, and why it favours your approach Leave out: - We have no competitors - A 2x2 with you alone in the corner - Naming a rival you have never met in a deal Pass test: The reader can say why a customer would switch to you. ## 06. Traction Question: What have you proven so far? What it is: Your strongest evidence, in numbers with dates. Before revenue, pilots, a waitlist, interviews and shipped product all count. This is the block investors read twice. Put in it: - Three numbers, each with a date and a definition - Growth month on month, when you have it - Pilots, letters of intent, paying customers, partners - What you shipped, and when Leave out: - Vanity metrics: sign-ups with no usage - Cumulative charts that hide flat growth - Numbers without dates Pass test: Every number has a date, a unit and a definition. Example: £8K MRR in September, up from £3K in June. 40 paying teams. Pilot signed with a national retailer. Layout rule: Your numbers are the strongest card you hold. Put Traction directly under the header, before the problem. Let the numbers earn the read. ## 07. Business model Question: How do you make money? What it is: Who pays, what they pay for, and how it repeats. Add how you reach them: the first channel, and what it costs to win a customer when you know. Put in it: - Who pays, and what they pay for - Pricing and the model: subscription, commission, transaction - The first channel, and why it fits this customer - Unit economics, only when they are real Leave out: - Three revenue models at once - Projections with no assumptions - Hiding that pricing is still a hypothesis Pass test: The reader can work out the revenue from one customer. ## 08. Team Question: Who is doing this? What it is: One line per founder: what they built or did that matters for this problem. Not a CV, and not the whole team. Put in it: - Each founder: name, role, one relevant achievement - The domain edge: what you know that others do not - Who covers product, technology and sales - Advisors, only when they are genuinely involved Leave out: - Full CVs - Logos with no link to the problem - Advisors who took one call Pass test: Each line answers: why this person, for this problem. Layout rule: There is no product yet and the bet is on the founders. Put Team directly under the header. At the idea stage, investors back people first. ## 09. The ask Question: What do you need, and what does it buy? What it is: The amount, the runway it buys, and the milestones it reaches before the next round. Investors care more about the milestones than the number. Put in it: - The amount you are raising, and the round - Runway in months, usually 12 to 18 - The three milestones the money reaches - What is already committed, when there is something Leave out: - A range instead of a number - A pie chart of percentages with no milestone - An ask that stops short of the next fundable milestone Pass test: The reader can see exactly what their money buys. Example: Raising £600K pre-seed. 18 months of runway. Launch in two cities, 200 paying teams, £30K MRR. ## When to change the page - Traction leads. When: Your numbers are the strongest card you hold. Change: Put Traction directly under the header, before the problem. Let the numbers earn the read. - Team leads. When: There is no product yet and the bet is on the founders. Change: Put Team directly under the header. At the idea stage, investors back people first. - The email version. When: The one-pager rides inside a cold email, not as an attachment. Change: Cut it to five blocks in the body: header, problem, solution, traction, ask. Attach the full page as a PDF. ## Optional blocks - Why now: Timing is the story and one line inside the solution is not enough. - Product shot: One screen says more than a paragraph. Caption it. - Advisors and investors: Names an investor would recognise are already committed. - Milestones: You have dated milestones for the next 18 months. - Press: A named outlet covered you, and the quote is short.