Supercharge Your Pitch Deck: Our latest ChatGPT Deep Research Prompt for Entrepreneurs

Dori Stein
Mar 11
6 min read

Continuing our popular series of high-value ChatGPT deep research prompts, we're excited to share our eighth template designed to help entrepreneurs create investor-ready pitch decks backed by credible data and research.

In the world of startup fundraising, the difference between a good pitch deck and a great one often comes down to credibility. Investors need to know that your claims about customer pain, market size, and industry trends are backed by solid evidence—not just your intuition.

Unfortunately, compiling comprehensive research for a pitch deck traditionally requires days or even weeks of painstaking effort, searching through academic journals, industry reports, and news articles. Most entrepreneurs either skip this critical step (raising red flags for investors) or spend countless hours on research that could be better spent building their business.

ChatGPT's deep research capabilities (available to Plus subscribers at $20/month) now make comprehensive pitch deck citation research accessible to entrepreneurs at any stage, providing a wealth of credible sources that previously required specialized research teams or extensive manual effort.

The Pitch Deck Credibility Challenge

Most entrepreneurs approach pitch deck creation with a focus on design and storytelling, while underinvesting in the research that validates their core claims. This approach often leads to skeptical investors who question the foundation of your business hypothesis during Q&A.

Our Citation Research for Startup Deck prompt transforms ChatGPT into a sophisticated research assistant that methodically compiles extensive, credible sources to support every key section of your pitch deck—from customer pain points to market trends and competitive landscape.

The Citation Research Framework

Our prompt conducts comprehensive research through a structured framework designed specifically for pitch decks. In a single deep research query, it sources and organizes credible citations that validate your customer pain points with data from reputable studies and reports; corroborates your customer need with market analyses and targeted research; identifies current trends, statistics, and market dynamics that support your "Why Now" slide; researches existing market solutions, highlighting gaps and opportunities; and compiles demographic and behavioral data about your target customers—all presented as categorized lists of clickable links with descriptions for easy incorporation into your deck. Key outputs include:

Extensive research citations for customer pain validation
Market analysis links supporting your solution's necessity
Up-to-date statistics and trends for your "Why Now" slide
Competitive landscape research with market gap analysis
Customer demographic and behavioral data citations
All sources organized by pitch deck section with brief descriptions

Why This Prompt Is Essential for Entrepreneurs

Whether you're preparing for your first angel round or updating your Series A deck, solid research citations dramatically increase your credibility with sophisticated investors who are trained to spot unsupported claims.

Specifically, this prompt helps entrepreneurs:

Add investor-grade credibility to key pitch deck claims
Identify stronger supporting evidence than you might find on your own
Discover unexpected market insights that strengthen your narrative
Save dozens of hours on manual research
Prepare for investor questions with data-backed answers

Implementation Guidelines

To maximize the value from this prompt:

Provide a Detailed Executive Summary: The more comprehensive your executive summary, the more relevant and targeted the research results will be. Include clear articulations of customer pain, need, your solution, and why now is the right time.
Add Specific Startup Context: Include details about your industry, target customers, and any specific aspects you want to emphasize in your research.
Review All Sources Carefully: Not all identified sources will be equally valuable. Review each one and select those that most powerfully support your narrative.
Incorporate Citations Strategically: Use the research to add footnotes, create data slides, or prepare an appendix of supporting research for your deck.
Save All Links for Q&A Preparation: Beyond your deck, this research provides valuable background for answering investor questions during pitches.

The Complete Prompt Template

Here's our detailed Citation Research for Startup Deck prompt template:

**[Deep Research AI Prompt: Citation Research for Startup Deck]**

**Context:**  
You are an advanced AI specializing in deep research for startup pitch decks. An entrepreneur is preparing a deck and requires an extensive list of links and sources to serve as citations. The input is an executive summary outlining the startup's vision, customer pain, customer need, market timing ("why now"), and current market solutions. Your task is to run an extensive number of searches and compile as many credible sources as possible to support each aspect of the deck.

---

**Parameters:**

1. **[Executive Summary]**  
   {{ Insert the executive summary text here }}  
   **[/Executive Summary]**

2. **[Startup Context]**  
   {{ Provide any additional context about the startup (e.g., industry focus, target customer segments) }}  
   **[/Startup Context]**

---

**Key Objectives:**

1. **Customer Pain Corroboration:**  
   - Identify extensive research studies, reports, and articles that validate the customer pain described in the executive summary.  
   - Provide links and citations that support claims regarding the magnitude and impact of the problem.

2. **Customer Need Corroboration:**  
   - Compile a list of sources that validate the necessity of the startup's solution for addressing the customer need.  
   - Include studies, market analyses, and customer testimonials where available.

3. **Trends and Statistics for the "Why Now" Slide:**  
   - Gather up-to-date trends, statistics, and market dynamics that emphasize the timeliness of the solution.  
   - Include data on market growth, technological advancements, and evolving consumer behavior.

4. **Current Market Solutions:**  
   - Identify articles, research, and reports about existing solutions in the market.  
   - Provide links to sources detailing both successful and unsuccessful approaches, highlighting market gaps.

5. **Customer Demographics and Behavioural Data:**  
   - Source insights into customer demographics, purchase behavior, or technology adoption trends relevant to the startup's target market.  
   - Include studies and reports that detail how these factors support the need for the startup's solution.

6. **Extensive Link Aggregation:**  
   - The final output should be a set of categorized lists (A through E) with clickable links or citations for each item, formatted for inclusion in the pitch deck.

---

**Research Methods & Sources:**

- **Data Sources:**  
  - Leverage industry reports, academic journals, market research studies, and reputable news outlets.  
  - Utilize specialized databases, Google Scholar, and research portals.
- **Verification:**  
  - Cross-check all links and citations with multiple reputable sources and include inline citations.
- **Formatting & Language:**  
  - Present the findings in clear markdown formatting, organized under each category. Use US/UK English as appropriate.
- **Search Extensiveness:**  
  - Run an extensive number of searches to find as many credible sources as possible for each category.

---

**Expected Output:**  
Provide a well-organized report with the following structure:

- **A. Research that Corroborates the Customer Pain:**  
  - [Link 1](URL) – Brief description  
  - [Link 2](URL) – Brief description  
  - …

- **B. Research that Corroborates the Customer Need:**  
  - [Link 1](URL) – Brief description  
  - [Link 2](URL) – Brief description  
  - …

- **C. Trends and Statistics for the "Why Now" Slide:**  
  - [Link 1](URL) – Brief description  
  - [Link 2](URL) – Brief description  
  - …

- **D. Links to Articles and Research on Current Market Solutions:**  
  - [Link 1](URL) – Brief description  
  - [Link 2](URL) – Brief description  
  - …

- **E. Customer Demographics and Behavioural Data:**  
  - [Link 1](URL) – Brief description  
  - [Link 2](URL) – Brief description  
  - …

- **References:**  
  - A comprehensive list of all sources with inline citations.

How This Differs From Traditional Research Methods

Traditional approaches to pitch deck research often suffer from several limitations:

Limited Scope: Most entrepreneurs only have time to find a handful of supporting sources, missing valuable evidence that could strengthen their case.
Confirmation Bias: We tend to search for evidence that confirms our existing beliefs, potentially missing contrary evidence that investors might find.
Outdated Information: Manual research often relies on the first few pages of search results, which may not include the most recent studies or reports.
Inefficient Process: The traditional research process is highly fragmented, requiring searches across multiple platforms and databases.

Our prompt addresses these limitations by conducting extensive, systematic research across diverse sources, organizing the findings by pitch deck section, and providing brief descriptions that help you quickly identify the most valuable citations.

We believe these prompts can help fuel your most innovative business ideas by providing the solid research foundation that successful fundraising requires. In a competitive investment landscape, data-backed credibility isn't just nice to have—it's essential for standing out.

For personalized assistance with AI-powered research or grant applications, contact our team or explore our free resources at edgrants.co.uk.

Ed Grants specializes in leveraging AI to help startups secure non-dilutive funding for growth and innovation. Our AI-powered approach has helped companies secure millions in funding while saving countless hours in the application process.