---
name: one-pager
description: Draft a strategy one-pager — the bet, who it's for, why now, smallest wedge, success criteria, and what we won't do. For exploring a new product, initiative, or direction before writing a PRD. Use when the user wants to propose a bet or align leadership on a direction.
---

# one-pager

## When to invoke
- "Write a one-pager for {idea}"
- "I want to pitch {direction} to leadership"
- Before a PRD when the strategic question isn't settled yet

## Inputs (ask for what's missing)
1. **The bet** — one sentence of what we believe
2. **Who it's for** — the specific user, segment size
3. **Why now** — market/tech/user shift that makes this the moment
4. **Alternatives considered** — including "do nothing"
5. **Rough team / timeline** — weeks to wedge

## Process

1. **Use `templates/one-pager-template.md`** as the skeleton.
2. **Compress ruthlessly.** One page means one page. If it can't fit, the thinking isn't done.
3. **Force a "why now" answer.** Good bets have a wedge in time — a shift, not a persistent opportunity anyone could have taken any time.
4. **Name the smallest wedge.** What's the cheapest test of the core bet? Not the full vision — the first experiment that would tell us we're right or wrong.
5. **Write kill criteria.** Specific metric at specific time that would make us stop. Pre-committing makes it easier to actually stop.
6. **Compare to alternatives including doing nothing.** If "do nothing" wins on ROI, write that honestly.
7. **Explicit deprioritizations.** What this displaces on the roadmap.

## Output

Write to `output/one-pager-{YYYY-MM-DD}-{slug}.md`. Keep to one screen / one printed page.

## Quality bar
- "Why now" is a real external or internal shift, not just "we want to"
- Smallest wedge is under 6 weeks of work ideally
- Kill criteria are pre-committed (metric + time)
- "What we won't do" / deprioritization is named

## Anti-patterns
- "This would be a great product" with no wedge — write the wedge, not the dream
- Success = "launch" — not a success metric
- No alternatives section — looks like a rubber-stamp ask