IC-Ready Cheat Sheet / Flash Cards from Deal Materials

You are a senior VC / growth equity investor preparing to present an investment opportunity to Investment Committee.

I am going to provide IC materials, diligence notes, a company deck, financials, market research, customer calls, investment memo excerpts, or other deal materials.

Your job is to turn the materials into high-quality flash cards and study notes so I can prepare for IC.

Assume I need to be able to:

- Explain the company clearly and confidently
- Defend the investment thesis
- Anticipate IC questions
- Recall key numbers
- Understand the risks
- Explain why this company can win
- Identify what still needs diligence
- Speak fluently about market, product, team, financials, valuation, and exit potential

Materials:
[paste IC memo, company deck, diligence notes, financials, transcript excerpts, market research, customer call notes, or other deal materials]

Deal context:

- Company: [company name]
- Sector: [sector]
- Stage: [venture / growth equity / buyout / other]
- Round / transaction type: [round, secondary, primary, minority growth, majority, etc.]
- Proposed investment: [amount]
- Valuation / ownership: [valuation and ownership if available]
- My role in IC: [deal lead / junior investor / observer / presenter]
- Main IC concern so far: [valuation / market size / competition / margins / retention / team / exit / other]
- IC date: [date]
- Desired depth: [quick prep / full IC prep / deep diligence prep]

Please create the following:

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## 1. Executive Study Sheet

Create a concise but comprehensive study sheet I can review before IC.

Include:

### Company Snapshot

- Company name
- What the company does in plain English
- Customer / buyer
- End user
- Business model
- Geography
- Stage
- Revenue scale, if available
- Growth rate, if available
- Margin profile, if available
- Proposed transaction

### One-Sentence Investment Thesis

Write the clearest possible version of the thesis in one sentence.

### Three-Bullet Investment Thesis

Write the investment thesis in exactly 3 bullets:

1. Market / category reason
2. Company-specific reason
3. Financial / return reason

### Key Numbers to Memorize

Create a table with:

- Metric
- Value
- Time period
- Why it matters
- Confidence level
- Source from materials, if available

Include metrics such as:

- Revenue
- ARR / GMV / EBITDA, if relevant
- Growth
- Gross margin
- Net revenue retention
- Gross retention
- CAC payback
- Burn / profitability
- Rule of 40
- Customer count
- ACV
- Market size
- Valuation
- Ownership
- Expected return

If a number is not provided, write “Not provided.”

### IC Soundbite

Write a polished 30–60 second spoken summary of the investment that I can use at the beginning of IC.

---

## 2. Flash Cards

Create flash cards in a question-and-answer format.

The flash cards should help me quickly memorize and defend the deal.

Use this format:

**Q:** [question]

**A:** [answer]

Create flash cards across the following categories:

### A. Company Basics

Examples:

- What does the company do?
- Who is the customer?
- What pain point does the company solve?
- Why does the product matter?
- What is the business model?

### B. Investment Thesis

Examples:

- What is the core investment thesis?
- Why is now the right time?
- Why is this company differentiated?
- What must be true for this investment to work?
- What would make us wrong?

### C. Market

Examples:

- How large is the market?
- What is the market structure?
- What are the major tailwinds?
- What are the major headwinds?
- Is this a winner-take-most market or fragmented market?

### D. Product and Customer Value

Examples:

- What does the product do?
- Why do customers buy it?
- Is this a must-have or nice-to-have?
- What is the evidence of product-market fit?
- How embedded is the product in customer workflows?

### E. Go-to-Market

Examples:

- How does the company acquire customers?
- What is the sales motion?
- What is the buyer persona?
- What is the ACV or contract size?
- What are the key GTM risks?

### F. Financials and Unit Economics

Examples:

- What is revenue scale?
- How fast is the company growing?
- What is gross margin?
- What is retention?
- What does CAC payback look like?
- Is growth efficient?
- What is the path to profitability?

### G. Competition

Examples:

- Who are the main competitors?
- Why does the company win?
- What is the competitive moat?
- What is the risk of incumbents entering?
- What is the risk of commoditization?

### H. Team

Examples:

- Why is this the right team?
- What is founder-market fit?
- What are the team’s strengths?
- What are the gaps?
- What references or signals support the team assessment?

### I. Valuation and Returns

Examples:

- What valuation are we paying?
- How does valuation compare to comps?
- What return case supports the investment?
- What assumptions drive the base case?
- What has to happen to generate a strong return?
- What is the downside case?

### J. Risks and Mitigants

Examples:

- What are the top 5 risks?
- What is the most important IC concern?
- How would we mitigate each risk?
- What risk is hardest to underwrite?
- What post-investment milestones would de-risk the deal?

### K. Diligence

Examples:

- What diligence has been completed?
- What are the key findings?
- What questions remain open?
- What diligence item could kill the deal?
- What should we confirm before signing?

### L. IC Defense

Examples:

- Why should we do this deal now?
- Why not wait?
- Why are we the right investor?
- What is the bear case?
- What would a skeptical IC member ask?
- What is the strongest counterargument to our thesis?

Create at least:

- 10 easy flash cards
- 20 medium flash cards
- 15 hard flash cards
- 10 “IC challenge” flash cards that are skeptical and adversarial

---

## 3. IC Question Bank

Create a list of likely IC questions.

Organize them by topic:

- Market
- Product
- Competition
- GTM
- Financials
- Valuation
- Exit
- Team
- Legal / regulatory
- Diligence gaps
- Downside case

For each question, provide:

- Why IC might ask this
- Suggested answer
- Evidence from the materials
- What to say if the answer is unknown

Make the answers crisp, investor-style, and suitable for a live IC discussion.

---

## 4. Bear Case / Bull Case / Base Case

Create a structured case analysis.

### Bull Case

Explain what happens if the investment works very well.
Include:

- Key assumptions
- Upside drivers
- Potential return outcome
- Evidence supporting this case

### Base Case

Explain the most likely underwriting case.
Include:

- Key assumptions
- Expected growth
- Margin trajectory
- Exit assumptions
- Expected return outcome

### Bear Case

Explain how the investment could disappoint.
Include:

- Key failure modes
- Early warning indicators
- Downside protection, if any
- What would cause us to lose money or underperform

### Key Swing Factors

Identify the 5–7 assumptions that most determine whether the investment succeeds.

---

## 5. Risk Register

Create a detailed risk register.

Use a table with:

- Risk
- Category
- Severity
- Probability
- Why it matters
- Evidence from materials
- Mitigant
- Diligence needed
- Post-investment KPI to monitor

Include risks across:

- Market size
- Growth durability
- Customer concentration
- Competition
- Product differentiation
- AI / technology disruption
- Margin profile
- Sales efficiency
- Retention
- Pricing power
- Management team
- Regulatory issues
- Valuation
- Exit environment

Be candid. Do not soften material risks.

---

## 6. Key Metrics Cheat Sheet

Create a metrics cheat sheet.

Include:

### Reported Metrics

List every important metric included in the materials.

### Derived Metrics

Calculate or infer any useful derived metrics only if the inputs are provided.
Examples:

- Year-over-year growth
- Net burn
- Rule of 40
- CAC payback
- ARR per employee
- Revenue per customer
- Gross profit
- EBITDA margin
- Revenue multiple
- Implied ownership

If inputs are missing, do not calculate. Say what is missing.

### Metrics That Need Diligence

List the metrics I should ask for if they are absent.

---

## 7. Narrative Prep

Help me sound polished in IC.

Create:

### 30-Second Version

A concise verbal pitch.

### 2-Minute Version

A more complete IC opening.

### 5-Minute Version

A structured overview covering:

- Company
- Market
- Thesis
- Traction
- Financials
- Risks
- Recommendation

### One-Liner Answers

Write crisp one-liner answers to:

- Why this company?
- Why now?
- Why us?
- Why this valuation?
- What is the biggest risk?
- What could make this a fund-returning investment?
- What could make this a mistake?

---

## 8. Memory Aids

Create memory aids to help me quickly retain the deal.

Include:

- 5 key numbers to memorize
- 5 key phrases to remember
- 5 “do not forget” facts
- 3 analogies or comparisons that explain the company
- 3 simple mental models for the deal
- A short mnemonic for the investment thesis, if possible

---

## 9. Missing Information and Follow-Ups

Identify gaps in the IC materials.

Create a table with:

- Missing information
- Why it matters
- Who to ask
- Suggested question
- Deal impact if answer is positive
- Deal impact if answer is negative

Prioritize the top 10 missing diligence items.

---

## 10. Final IC Prep Checklist

Create a checklist I can review before presenting.

Include:

- Facts I must know cold
- Numbers I must know cold
- Risks I must be ready to defend
- Slides or exhibits I should be ready to reference
- Questions I should ask the deal team
- Questions I should ask management
- Points where I should avoid overclaiming

---

## Style Requirements

Write like an experienced investor preparing for a real Investment Committee.

Be:

- Clear
- Direct
- Analytical
- Skeptical where appropriate
- Concise but complete
- Focused on what matters for investment judgment

Avoid:

- Generic business school language
- Overly promotional tone
- Unsupported claims
- Fake precision
- Making up metrics
- Ignoring risks
- Long paragraphs where a table would be clearer

Important rules:

- Use only the information provided in the materials.
- If something is not included, say “Not provided.”
- Clearly distinguish facts from assumptions.
- Clearly label inferred conclusions.
- Do not invent customer quotes, financials, market data, or diligence findings.
- If the materials are long, prioritize the facts most relevant to IC decision-making.
- If the company is in a regulated or technical category, flag areas where specialist diligence may be required.

Output should be formatted in clean Markdown with headings, tables, and flash cards.