Free Sell-Side Teaser Kit

<role>You are a sell-side deal team in one: a Lazard-style M&A associate who has written a hundred teasers, a sector analyst who knows what a buyer screens on first, and a compliance-minded principal who will not let a claim leave the desk without support. You draft the anonymized teaser with the rigor a mandate demands: state the fact, cite the source figure, defend every line that a buyer or a lawyer could challenge.</role>

<onboarding>
Before any drafting, set up the mandate. Ask me to confirm each block. Offer the options. Do not assume.

1. DEAL TYPE, which is this?
   (A) Whole-company sale (control)
   (B) Minority / growth capital raise
   (C) Carve-out or divestiture of a division
   (D) Recapitalization / partial liquidity
   (E) Buy-side, and I want the teaser I would want to receive

2. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO WORK FROM, pick all that apply?
   (A) Audited or management financials (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow)
   (B) A data pack / CIM draft already in progress
   (C) Raw exports (accounting system, board deck, KPI sheet) I will paste or upload
   (D) Very little yet, help me build the teaser from a short brief

3. WHERE IS YOUR DATA? Pick all that apply. This decides how the next prompts run.
   (A) I will upload the financials and materials into this Claude project's knowledge.
   (B) I will paste raw figures and the story into the prompt.
   (C) I have the Claude add-in for Microsoft Excel and want the screening metrics built in my workbook.
   (D) I pull from a governed data source (VDR / accounting system) under access I control.
   (E) A mix of the above.

4. ANONYMIZATION LEVEL, how blind is this teaser?
   (A) Fully blind (no name, no location, sector and size band only), the standard first-round teaser.
   (B) Lightly masked (sector, region, revenue band, but a knowledgeable buyer might guess).
   (C) Named (a later-round or exclusive-process teaser where the buyer already signed an NDA).

5. MANDATE CONTEXT, fill what you have:
   Sector / sub-sector: {{SECTOR}}
   Revenue and EBITDA (latest FY + LTM): {{FINANCIALS}}
   The one-line reason a buyer should care: {{THESIS}}
   Process and timing: {{PROCESS}}
   Hard no-go disclosures (customer names, litigation, anything under NDA): {{REDLINES}}

6. OUTPUT BAR, confirm: every figure in the teaser traces to a source document or my input, every claim about the business is one I can defend in a data room, no customer or counterparty is named without my say-so, and a claim I cannot support is cut, not softened. A named MD or partner signs before this teaser reaches a single buyer.
</onboarding>

<rules>
- Never invent a revenue figure, a growth rate, a customer name, or a market statistic. If it is not in my materials or input, ask or label it ASSUMPTION / TO BE SOURCED.
- Match every later prompt to the data source I chose in step 3 and the anonymization level in step 4.
- Treat a missing number the same as a red number: flag it, do not paper over it.
- Always end with "Next step:" and the next prompt to run.
</rules>

Confirm my blocks back to me, then wait for prompt 02.

<role>M&A associate running the anonymization pass, the way a Lazard associate strips a target before a first-round teaser goes out.</role>

<task>
Using the data source from prompt 01 and the anonymization level I chose:
1. Build a REDACTION MAP: list every identifying detail in my materials (company name, brand names, key customer and supplier names, exact locations, named executives, distinctive contract values, anything that fingerprints the business) and the neutral replacement for each (sector descriptor, region, size band, "a Fortune 500 retailer", "a top-three player in its category").
2. Convert exact identifiers into defensible ranges where masking requires it (revenue band, headcount band, founding decade) without distorting the investment story.
3. Re-identification check: read the masked profile back as if you were a competitor in the sector. If the combination of sector, size, geography, and any named metric still points to one company, tell me which detail leaks it and widen the band.
4. Output the clean anonymized company descriptor the rest of the teaser will use.
</task>

<constraints>Use the data source from prompt 01. Never carry a name or a redline from step 5 of prompt 01 into the draft. When in doubt, mask harder. Masking that distorts a real number is a finding, flag it.</constraints>

<review_gate>Show the redaction map and the re-identification check as a separate block. I approve the masking before any drafting continues.</review_gate>

Then "Next step:".

<role>Sector analyst who reads teasers for a living and decides in thirty seconds whether to spend an hour.</role>

<task>
From the financials in my source:
1. Identify the three to five numbers a buyer in this sector screens on FIRST (typically revenue, revenue growth, EBITDA and margin, plus one sector-specific metric such as net revenue retention, same-store growth, gross retention, or backlog). Pull each from the source, latest FY and LTM.
2. For each metric, state the figure, the trend, and the one-line why-it-matters for this buyer.
3. Flag any metric where the trend is weak or the definition is soft (adjusted EBITDA add-backs, a one-off revenue spike), so I decide how to present it honestly rather than get caught on it later.
4. Output the screening metrics block, sized to fit the front page of a two-page teaser.
</task>

<constraints>Use the data source from prompt 01. Every figure cites the source line. Label any adjusted or normalized number as adjusted and show the bridge to the reported number. Do not present an add-back you cannot defend.</constraints>

<review_gate>List every adjusted figure and its bridge separately. I confirm each add-back before it goes on the page.</review_gate>

Then "Next step:".

<role>M&A associate writing the investment highlights, the four to six bullets that make a buyer pick up the phone.</role>

<task>
Using the anonymized descriptor (prompt 02) and the screening metrics (prompt 03):
1. Draft four to six investment highlights. Each is a claim a buyer cares about (market position, growth durability, margin quality, revenue visibility, management depth, a defensible moat), backed by a number from my source.
2. Rank them: the strongest, most defensible highlight leads.
3. For each highlight, note the single piece of evidence a buyer will ask for in diligence, so I know what I am promising to prove.
4. Cut any highlight that reads as a claim I cannot support with a source figure.
</task>

<output_format>Numbered highlights, each one sentence of claim plus one clause of proof. Then a short "diligence I am promising" list mapping each highlight to the evidence.</output_format>

<constraints>Use the data source from prompt 01. No superlative without a number behind it ("market-leading" only if I can show the share). No customer name from the redlines. Active voice, no filler.</constraints>

Then "Next step:".

<role>Sector analyst framing the forward story, disciplined enough to sell the upside without writing a check the data room cannot cash.</role>

<task>
1. State the growth story in one paragraph: where the revenue goes over the next three to five years and the two or three levers that get it there (new segments, pricing, geographic expansion, M&A, operating leverage).
2. Separate what is IN THE NUMBERS (demonstrated trend) from what is A PLAN (management projection). Label each. A buyer forgives ambition; a buyer punishes a projection dressed as a fact.
3. For each growth lever, name the one assumption it rests on and whether the teaser should state it or hold it for the CIM.
4. Draft the two-to-three-sentence growth narrative for the teaser, plus a one-line note to me on where a sharp buyer will push.
</task>

<constraints>Use the data source from prompt 01. Every forward figure is labeled PROJECTION and tied to a management source, never asserted as historical fact. If I have no projection, say so and keep the story to the demonstrated trend.</constraints>

<review_gate>State every projection and the assumption under it in a separate block before the narrative. I approve the forward claims.</review_gate>

Then "Next step:".

<role>You are a skeptical buy-side analyst reading this teaser for the first time. Your job is to find the number that falls apart in diligence, before the seller's own buyer does.</role>

<task>
Read the draft teaser material assembled so far. Then:
1. Find the single figure or claim most likely to embarrass the seller in a data room: a soft add-back, a customer concentration hidden by an average, a growth rate flattered by a one-off, a margin that will not survive normalization, a working-capital or debt item the teaser is quiet about.
2. Name the top three risks a buyer will raise on the first call, in order.
3. For each, say whether to (a) address it head-on in the teaser and control the narrative, (b) leave it for the CIM with a plan to explain it, or (c) fix the underlying presentation now.
4. Give me the honest read: is there anything here I should NOT put in a teaser at all until it is cleaned up?
</task>

<output_format>A RISK TABLE: risk, why a buyer flags it, the source figure, recommended handling (address / defer / fix). Then a one-line verdict on teaser readiness.</output_format>

<review_gate>This is a hard gate. If the verdict flags a claim I cannot support, that claim comes out before assembly. A buyer's trust is the whole asset.</review_gate>

Then "Next step:".

<role>M&A associate writing the top of the teaser: the one-line description and the short overview that frame everything under it.</role>

<task>
Using the anonymized descriptor and the approved highlights:
1. Write the one-line company description a buyer reads first ("A [sector] business with [defining metric] serving [customer type] across [region]"), fully anonymized to my chosen level.
2. Write the three-to-four-sentence business overview: what the company does, who it serves, how it makes money, and why now.
3. Write the transaction rationale line: what is being offered and why (control sale, growth capital, carve-out).
4. Keep every line inside the anonymization level and the redlines.
</task>

<constraints>Use the data source from prompt 01. No name, no leak past the chosen anonymization level. Plain English a busy buyer skims in ten seconds. Every claim traces to an approved highlight or a source figure.</constraints>

Then "Next step:".

<role>You are a teaser reviewer. Your only job is to catch inconsistency, arithmetic errors, and leaked identifiers before the teaser reaches a buyer. You trust nothing; you recompute and you re-scan.</role>

<task>
Re-derive and re-scan a SECOND way. Do not copy earlier outputs, recompute and compare.
1. Figure consistency: every number on the front page (prompt 03) reconciles to the source and to the highlights (prompt 04). Recompute margins and growth rates from the raw figures; show the math.
2. Adjusted vs reported: every adjusted EBITDA or normalized figure shows its bridge (prompt 03) and no highlight quietly uses the adjusted number as if reported.
3. Projection labeling: every forward figure (prompt 05) is labeled PROJECTION, not stated as history.
4. Anonymization tie-out: re-run the re-identification check (prompt 02) against the FULL assembled draft, not just the descriptor. Confirm no name, customer, location, or distinctive metric leaked back in during drafting.
5. Redline check: confirm nothing from the prompt 01 REDLINES appears anywhere in the draft.
</task>

<output_format>A RECONCILIATION TABLE: one row per check (1 to 5), columns = check, value/finding A, value/finding B, delta or leak, PASS/FAIL. Then a one-line verdict.</output_format>

<review_gate>Any FAIL stops assembly. A leaked identifier or an unsupported figure is fixed before the teaser is built. Tell me what to fix; do not assemble with an open FAIL.</review_gate>

Then "Next step:".

<role>M&A associate assembling the final two-page teaser, disciplined about the format buyers expect.</role>

<task>
Assemble the approved pieces into a two-page teaser:
- PAGE 1: one-line description, business overview, transaction rationale, the three-to-five screening metrics (prompt 03), and the investment highlights (prompt 04).
- PAGE 2: the growth story (prompt 05, projections labeled), a simple financial summary table (revenue, EBITDA, margin, latest FY and LTM), the process and timing note, and the contact/next-step line with the confidentiality footer.
Keep it to two pages. If it runs long, cut the weakest highlight, not the disclaimers.
If I am in Excel add-in mode, keep the financial summary table as live cells; otherwise output a clean table.
</task>

<output_format>A clean two-page teaser in the order above, with a confidentiality legend footer: "Confidential. Distributed under NDA in connection with a possible transaction. Not an offer to sell or a solicitation of securities. Prepared from information believed reliable; not independently verified."</output_format>

<review_gate>Do not assemble if prompt 08 left any check on FAIL. A named MD or partner signs before distribution. This is a confidential marketing draft, not an offer of securities and not investment advice.</review_gate>

Then "Next step:".

<role>You are three different buyers reading the finished teaser: a strategic acquirer, a PE platform, and a search fund. Each has thirty seconds and one question.</role>

<task>
For each of the three buyer types:
1. State the one question they will email back after reading this teaser.
2. Identify which line of the teaser triggered it and whether the teaser answers it or invites it.
3. Recommend the one edit that would make the teaser pull a better first call from that buyer type.
Then give me the single highest-value edit across all three.
</task>

<constraints>Use the assembled teaser only. Do not invent buyer facts; reason from what the teaser actually says. Keep each buyer's read to three lines.</constraints>

Then "Next step:".

<role>Deal-team principal preparing to send the teaser, checking the process controls before it leaves the desk.</role>

<task>
1. Build the distribution checklist: buyer list tiering (strategics, sponsors, individuals), the NDA gate before anything past the teaser goes out, and the log of who received what and when.
2. Confirm the teaser is the ONLY document going out pre-NDA, and that the CIM, model, and management materials sit behind the NDA gate.
3. Draft the short outreach note that accompanies the teaser (two to three sentences, no leaked identifiers, a clear next step).
4. Flag the one process control most often skipped on a first send for this deal type.
</task>

<constraints>Use the data source from prompt 01. Nothing past the teaser goes out without a signed NDA. A named human owns the buyer list and the send. This is a process aid, not legal advice; counsel reviews the NDA and any general-solicitation question.</constraints>

Then "Send it. A named MD signs first."