Board Deck Builder
Structure investor and board decks with SaaS metrics, ARR waterfalls, and Point Nine–style benchmarks so solo founders can report growth credibly.
Overview
Board Deck Builder is an agent skill most often used in Grow (also Validate, Operate) that structures SaaS board packs with ARR waterfalls, NRR-focused metrics, and Point Nine–style benchmark narratives for solo founders
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills --skill board-deck-builderWhat is this skill?
- Point Nine / Christoph Janz SaaS board pack structure: numbers lead, narrative explains
- Required metrics checklist: ARR, MoM/QoQ growth, NRR, gross margin, CAC payback, burn multiple, runway
- Series A benchmark table with Good / Great / Warning targets across six metrics
- Quarterly SaaS ARR waterfall format with new, expansion, churn, and contraction lines
- Sequoia board framework reference for extending the pack beyond Point Nine
- Six-metric Series A benchmark table (MoM growth, NRR, gross margin, CAC payback, burn multiple, logo churn)
- Seven required board metrics including ARR, NRR, and burn multiple
- Quarterly ARR waterfall with five movement lines (new, expansion, churn, contraction, ending)
Adoption & trust: 526 installs on skills.sh; 17.5k GitHub stars; 3/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits).
What problem does it solve?
You have raw SaaS metrics but no investor-standard board narrative, waterfall, or benchmark framing boards expect at Series A and beyond.
Who is it for?
Bootstrapped or early-funded solo founders running subscription SaaS who present ARR, retention, and burn to angels, advisors, or a small board.
Skip if: Non-recurring revenue products, consumer apps without subscription economics, or teams that already have a CFO-owned board template and only need slide design.
When should I use this skill?
You need a SaaS investor or board pack structured around ARR, retention, and burn—not a generic startup pitch outline.
What do I get? / Deliverables
You get a repeatable board-pack outline with non-negotiable metrics, quarterly ARR bridge formatting, and warning thresholds aligned to common VC SaaS benchmarks.
- Board pack section outline with required SaaS metrics
- ARR waterfall narrative template with NRR implication
- Benchmark comparison table against Good/Great/Warning bands
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Spans multiple journey phases - primary shelf plus alternate fits below.
Board packs center on recurring metrics and retention narrative—the canonical home for metric storytelling is Grow analytics, even when decks are presented in Operate or fundraising in Validate. Analytics subphase matches ARR waterfalls, NRR, burn multiple, and benchmark tables that explain what the numbers mean to boards.
Where it fits
Frame unit economics and retention benchmarks before a priced fundraising conversation.
Turn MoM ARR, NRR, and churn into a quarterly waterfall the board can scan in minutes.
Standardize the recurring board agenda around runway, burn multiple, and logo churn warnings.
How it compares
Use instead of generic pitch-deck skills when the audience is a board expecting ARR bridges and NRR—not a launch marketing narrative.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is board-deck-builder for?
Solo and indie SaaS founders who must translate product traction into board-ready financial and retention metrics without a full finance team.
When should I use board-deck-builder?
Use it in Grow when building quarterly metric narratives, in Validate when assembling Series A–style proof points and benchmark tables, and in Operate when preparing recurring board meeting packs.
Is board-deck-builder safe to install?
Review the Security Audits panel on this Prism page for ingest-time findings; the skill is procedural finance guidance and does not require market data APIs by default.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Board Deck Builder
# Board Deck Frameworks ## The SaaS Board Pack (Christoph Janz / Point Nine Style) Point Nine's board pack format became the de facto standard for early-stage SaaS. Core principle: **the numbers tell the story; the narrative explains the numbers.** ### Required Metrics (non-negotiable for SaaS boards) - **ARR** (not MRR — boards think annually) - **MoM / QoQ growth rate** - **NRR (Net Revenue Retention)** — the single most important SaaS metric - **Gross margin** — typically 60-80% SaaS; <60% is a flag - **CAC payback period** — months to recover customer acquisition cost - **Burn multiple** = net burn / net new ARR; <2x is good, >3x is a problem - **Runway** — months at current burn ### Point Nine Benchmark Targets (Series A SaaS) | Metric | Good | Great | Warning | |--------|------|-------|---------| | MoM growth | 10-15% | >20% | <7% | | NRR | >110% | >130% | <100% | | Gross margin | >65% | >75% | <60% | | CAC payback | <18 months | <12 months | >24 months | | Burn multiple | <2x | <1.5x | >3x | | Logo churn | <10%/yr | <5%/yr | >15%/yr | ### SaaS ARR Waterfall (Christoph Janz Format) Show this every quarter: ``` Starting ARR: $1,970,000 + New ARR: +$480,000 (new logos) + Expansion ARR: +$120,000 (upsells/cross-sells) - Churned ARR: -$90,000 (cancellations) - Contraction ARR: -$35,000 (downgrades) = Ending ARR: $2,445,000 ``` NRR = (Ending - New) / Starting = ($1,965K) / ($1,970K) = 99.7% ← flag this --- ## Sequoia Board Deck Structure Sequoia's canonical deck (used for both fundraising and board updates): 1. **Company Purpose** — one sentence, the existential "why" 2. **The Problem** — pain, size, who has it 3. **The Solution** — what you do, how it's different 4. **Why Now** — market timing, tailwinds, enabling factors 5. **Market Size** — TAM/SAM/SOM with methodology 6. **Business Model** — how you make money 7. **Traction** — proof it's working (growth, retention, logos) 8. **Team** — why you're the ones to win this 9. **Financials** — 3-year model, current metrics 10. **The Ask** — amount, use of funds, milestones to next round **For ongoing board updates:** Swap 1-5 (context) for "State of the Business" and "Last Quarter vs Plan." Boards know the company — skip the pitch. --- ## Investor-Specific Tailoring ### What Different Investor Types Care About **Early-stage VCs (Seed, A):** - Growth rate above all else - NRR — "does the product retain?" - Founder-market fit narrative - Milestone achievement vs last board meeting **Growth-stage VCs (B, C):** - Capital efficiency (burn multiple, CAC payback) - GTM repeatability — can you hire 10 AEs and have it work? - Market leadership signals - Path to profitability (even if years away) **Strategic investors:** - Synergies with their portfolio/business - Technology differentiation - Partnership potential **Angels:** - Team above all - Personal conviction in the thesis - Exit scenarios ### Tailoring the Narrative - If you're ahead of plan: "Here's why, and here's how we'll sustain it" - If you're behind plan: "Here's why, here's what we've learned, here's the new plan" - If the plan was wrong: "The assumption that was wrong, what we know now, updated thesis" Never pretend the plan was right when it wasn't. Board members have memories and models. --- ## How to Present Bad News Boards have seen everything. What loses credibility isn't bad results — it's bad framing. ### The Credibility Formula 1. **Lead with the headline** — "We missed ARR target by 18%" 2. **Quantify the gap** — absolute and percentage 3. **Diagnose the cause** (one primary, max two secondary) 4. **Show your work** — "We analyzed 12 churned/stalled deals and found..." 5. **Present the fix** — specific, dated, owned by a name 6. **Update the forecast** — bottom-up rebuild, not wishful thinking 7. **Flag the risk** — "If X doesn't close, here's the contingency" ### What "Showing Your Work" Looks Like Bad: "Sales cycle was longer than expected." G