Pitch.md Template: A Markdown Pitch Document You Can Copy and Adapt

Below is a complete pitch.md template — the kind of single markdown file you can send to investors or post to a marketplace like Hiveround. Annotated with notes on what each section is for and how to write it well.

The template

Copy and adapt:

# [Company Name]

[One-line description of what you do — make it specific. Then your stage and what you're raising.]

**Stage:** [Pre-seed / Seed / Series A]
**Round:** Raising $[X]m on a [SAFE / priced round / etc.]
**Geography:** [Headquartered in X, customers in Y]
**Team size:** [Number]

---

## Why this matters

[2 paragraphs on the problem, anchored in a specific user or customer.
What's currently broken. What it costs them. Why it persists.]

[Use a real customer example here if you have one. "[Customer X] currently
spends $Y per year on [pain]; we replace that with..."]

## What we built

[What the product is. How it works. The mechanism. 1-2 paragraphs.]

[Link to a demo, a sandbox, or a 60-second video. If you're open source,
link the repo with current star count.]

## Why now

[The shift in technology, behaviour, regulation, or platform that makes
this company possible today and not 2 years ago.]

[Be specific. "AI inference costs dropped 100x" or "[Regulatory body]
issued [rule] in [date]" or "Post-pandemic, [behaviour] has become normal".]

## Traction

[Hard numbers, with units and time periods.]

- ARR: $[X], up [Y%] MoM over the last [Z] months
- Customers: [N] paying customers, including [Notable Logos]
- Net revenue retention: [%]
- Gross retention: [%]
- CAC payback: [months]

[If pre-revenue, replace with leading indicators: design partners
converted, paid pilots, retention curves, GitHub stars + activity, etc.]

## Market

[Bottom-up market sizing. Real customer counts × real ACVs. Don't quote
top-down "$200bn industry" numbers.]

- Initial customer base: [N companies] of [type] in [geography]
- ACV: $[Y] per year, anchored to [comparable product]
- SAM: $[X]m
- 5-year SOM target: [%] of SAM = $[Z]m
- Adjacent expansion: [next geography / segment / product] takes
  addressable market to $[W]bn

## Business model

[How you make money. Pricing per unit. Sales motion. Unit economics
if they exist.]

- Pricing: $[X]/month or $[Y]/year
- Sales motion: [self-serve / SDR + AE / enterprise sales]
- Gross margin: [%]
- Sales cycle: [days]

## Go-to-market

[The channel you believe will dominate. The cycle time. The expansion
motion if there is one.]

[1-2 paragraphs on how you acquire customers. Be honest about what's
working and what isn't.]

## Competition

[Three real competitors. What you have that they don't. What they
have that you don't. Acknowledge real strengths in others; don't
pretend you have none.]

- **[Competitor 1]:** [their position]. We differ on [specific axis].
- **[Competitor 2]:** [their position]. We differ on [specific axis].
- **[Competitor 3]:** [their position]. We differ on [specific axis].

## Team

[Why this team can win. Specific, relevant biography per founder.]

- **[Founder 1]:** [role]. [Specific previous work]. [Why relevant].
- **[Founder 2]:** [role]. [Specific previous work]. [Why relevant].

[If solo, address it directly. See the solo founder fundraising guide.]

## Ask

[How much you're raising. What it buys (milestones, not just months
of runway). What you'll have achieved by the next round.]

We're raising $[X]m to:
1. Reach $[Y] ARR within [Z] months.
2. Hire [N] people: [specific roles].
3. Launch [specific product/feature].
4. By Q[X] [year], we'll be ready to raise a [Series A / next round].

## Links

- **Demo:** [link]
- **Code repo:** [link if open source]
- **Customer references:** [link to forwardable references list]
- **Cap table summary:** [link or available on request]
- **Data room:** [available on request]
- **Founder LinkedIn:** [links]
- **Hiveround listing:** [link if posted]

## Contact

[Founder name]
[Email]
[Calendar link]

How to use this template

A few annotations on getting the most out of it:

Length

The whole file should be 1,000–2,500 words. If you're at 4,000, cut. The discipline of brevity reveals where your thinking is unfocused.

Voice

Direct. Specific. First-person plural ("we"). Avoid corporate adjectives ("scalable", "innovative", "world-class"). Avoid mission statements.

Numbers

Every number with units and time period. "Growing 22% MoM" beats "growing fast." "Net revenue retention 118%" beats "great retention."

Specificity

The single most important pattern: be specific. Specific customer names, specific competitor names, specific milestones, specific dates. Vagueness is forgettable; specificity is sticky.

Honesty

The pitch.md is not a pitch deck. There's no opportunity to gloss over weaknesses with a beautifully designed slide. The text exposes you. Use that. Acknowledge real risks, real competitors, real metrics that aren't perfect. Investors read the honesty as confidence.

Customising for stage

The template above is generic. By stage:

Pre-seed.

• Skip or compress the metrics if you don't have any. Replace with leading indicators (design partners, paid pilots, demand signal).
• Lead with founder + wedge + why now.

Seed.

• The full template applies.
• Lead with traction at the top.

Series A.

• Add a cohort retention chart link.
• Add a section on "the engine" — repeatable GTM motion.
• Expand the team and hiring section.

Customising for sector

Sector-specific tweaks:

B2B SaaS. Standard template fits. Marketplaces. Add liquidity metrics, take rate, repeat rate. Consumer. Lead with retention curves, organic growth. Dev tools. Add open source metrics if relevant. Lead with developer signal. AI-native. Emphasise outcomes, moat, gross margin trajectory.

Keeping it updated

The pitch.md is a living document. Update monthly during a fundraise; quarterly between rounds. Investor agents and humans both benefit from current data.

A common founder mistake: the pitch.md is created at round-open and never updated. By month 3 of the round, the metrics are stale, and a partner who reads it later sees a misleading snapshot.

Set a reminder. Update on the same day each month.

What to do with the file

Once you have it:

• Post it to your website (if you're public about raising).
• Share it on Hiveround for marketplace discovery.
• Send it as the canonical artefact in every investor email.
• Use it as the spine when writing your investor update each month.
• Adapt it into a deck for live pitches.

The pitch.md is a small file with disproportionate impact. Get it right, keep it updated, and let it travel.