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One Pager Template

A one-pager exists to get one decision from a reader who will give it two minutes. This template puts the ask at the top, gives every section a word budget so the whole thing fits on a page, and keeps the detail in a linked appendix. Copy it, or start from the filled-in one-pager closest to yours.

Updated 2026-10-27

Copy and adapt

The template

One-pagerTemplate

[Plain title: what this is, in under ten words]

For: [reader and their role] From: [name, role] Date: {{date}} The ask: [one sentence: what you want the reader to decide or do, and by when]

The problem

[About 60 words. Who has the problem, how big it is in one number, and what it costs if nothing changes.]

What we propose

[About 80 words. What you will do, for whom, and what will be different afterwards. No feature lists.]

Why we think it works

  • [Evidence with a number] (source: [where it came from])
  • [Evidence with a number] (source: [where it came from])
  • [Evidence with a number] (source: [where it came from])

What it takes

  • Cost: [money, people, time]
  • Timeline: [start] to [first result] to [full result]
  • Success looks like: [one metric and the target]

Risks

  • [Risk]: [how we limit it]
  • [Risk]: [how we limit it]

Next step

[The ask again, made concrete: a meeting, a signature, a budget line, a reply by a date.]

Contact: [name, email, phone] Full detail: [[Appendix or full document]]

5 examples

Examples for different situations

The same structure, filled in for the situations people actually bring to it. Copy the one closest to yours.

1.Project proposal to a director

When it fits: Use this when you are asking someone above you for budget, the decision will be made in a meeting you are not in, and the one-pager has to argue your case without you.

Project proposal to a directorExample 1

Proposal: tablet inspections at the Dayton plant, 90-day pilot

For: Renée Castillo, Plant Director From: Marcus Webb, Quality Manager Date: 2026-10-27 The ask: Approve $38,400 for a 90-day tablet inspection pilot on Lines 3 and 4, decided at the Nov 13 budget review.

The problem

Line inspectors fill in about 1,900 paper forms a month. Six percent come back illegible or incomplete, and two clerks spend 11 hours a week typing the rest into the quality system. Defects therefore reach the system up to four days after they are found. In September, a torque fault on Line 3 ran for two shifts before anyone saw the pattern.

What we propose

Give the 24 inspectors on Lines 3 and 4 rugged tablets with the inspection app our quality system already supports. Inspectors record checks at the station, with required fields and a photo for every failed check. Results reach the quality dashboard within minutes. Lines 1 and 2 stay on paper, so we can compare.

Why we think it works

  • The Toledo plant moved to tablets in 2025 and cut incomplete forms from 7 percent to under 1 percent (source: Toledo quality report, Q4 2025).
  • Data entry for Lines 3 and 4 is about 5.5 of the 11 clerk hours a week (source: clerk time log, Sept 2026).
  • The September torque fault would have shown on the dashboard within the first shift (source: incident review, 2026-09-18).

What it takes

  • Cost: $38,400 (24 tablets with cases at $1,150 each: $27,600; app licenses for 3 months: $4,320; paid training time for 24 inspectors: $6,480)
  • Timeline: devices ordered Nov 16, live Jan 4, pilot review Apr 2
  • Success looks like: incomplete forms under 1 percent and defects visible within 1 hour, on both lines

Risks

  • IT security has not yet approved tablets on the plant network: Dev Patel (IT) has the device spec and expects to answer by Nov 9.
  • Inspectors may resist: two shift leads helped choose the app and will train their own crews.

Next step

A yes at the Nov 13 review lets us order on Nov 16 and go live after the holiday shutdown. If the answer is "not yet", the cheapest useful step is a 30-day trial on Line 3 only, at $14,200.

Contact: Marcus Webb, ext. 4417 Full detail: [[Tablet pilot cost breakdown]]

2.Startup one-pager for investors

When it fits: Use this when you are raising a small round, the one-pager goes in a cold email or follows a warm intro, and its only job is to earn a 30-minute call.

Startup one-pager for investorsExample 2

Quayside: temperature monitoring for small seafood distributors

For: pre-seed investors From: Lena Ortiz (CEO) and Daniel Osei (CTO) Date: 2026-10-27 The ask: A 30-minute call before Dec 4. We are raising $1.5M pre-seed; $600k is committed.

The problem

A seafood distributor with five trucks loses a full load when a cooler fails overnight, often $8,000 to $15,000 of product. Large distributors have fleet monitoring. Small ones check a paper log at the loading dock, after the damage is done. Health inspectors now ask for continuous temperature records, and most small distributors cannot produce them.

What we propose

Wireless sensors in every cooler and truck, a text alert within five minutes when a temperature drifts, and an inspection-ready report in one click. Setup takes an afternoon and needs no IT staff. Distributors pay $65 per sensor per month; a typical customer runs 12 sensors.

Traction

  • 14 paying distributors in Massachusetts and Maine, $9.2k monthly recurring revenue, growing 18 percent a month since June.
  • Two prevented losses on record, worth $23,000 to those customers.
  • 3 percent monthly churn, all from one customer that closed its business.

Market

  • About 2,300 US seafood distributors with under 50 employees (our count from state wholesale license lists). At 12 sensors each, that is roughly $21M in yearly revenue before expanding to produce and dairy.

Team

  • Lena ran operations at a Boston seafood wholesaler for six years. Daniel built sensor firmware at a building-automation company.

Use of funds

  • Two sales hires for the Gulf Coast and Pacific Northwest, sensor inventory for 100 customers, 18 months of runway.

Risks

  • Sensor hardware is sourced from one supplier: a second supplier is qualified and on standby.

Next step

Reply to this email or book 30 minutes with Lena before Dec 4, when the round closes.

Contact: Lena Ortiz, lena@quayside.example, 617 555 0182 Full detail: [[Quayside data room index]]

3.Product feature one-pager

When it fits: Use this when a product manager needs engineering time from a leadership group that is weighing three other proposals, and the feature has to win on evidence rather than enthusiasm.

Product feature one-pagerExample 3

Feature proposal: repeat orders in the Bramble app

For: Bramble product leadership (Q1 planning) From: Aisha Karim, Product Manager Date: 2026-10-27 The ask: Two engineers and one designer for six weeks in Q1 2027 to build one-tap repeat orders.

The problem

38 percent of Bramble grocery orders are near-copies of the customer's previous order: at least 80 percent the same items. Those customers rebuild the cart by hand every week, which takes them a median of 9 minutes on mobile. Repeat customers are also the ones most likely to drift to a competitor that already offers repeat orders.

What we propose

A "Repeat last order" button on the home screen and in the order history. It copies the previous cart, swaps out-of-stock items for the customer's usual substitute, and lets them edit before checkout. A later version could schedule weekly orders; that is not in this proposal.

Why we think it works

  • 38 percent of orders are near-repeats (source: order data, July to September 2026).
  • "Reorder" is the third most common support search term (source: help center analytics, Q3 2026).
  • In 12 customer interviews, 9 people described rebuilding their cart as the most annoying part of the app (source: [[Repeat order interviews]]).

What it takes

  • Cost: 2 engineers and 1 designer for 6 weeks
  • Timeline: design Jan 4 to 15, build to Feb 12, release to 10 percent of users Feb 16
  • Success looks like: median time to checkout for repeat orders under 2 minutes, and 8-week retention up 3 points for users who use it

Not in scope

  • Scheduled automatic orders, shared household carts, and repeat orders on web.

Risks

  • Substitutes may be wrong: customers see every swap before paying, and we log which ones they undo.
  • It could cannibalize larger baskets: we will track basket size for users with and without the button.

Next step

A decision in the Nov 18 Q1 planning session, so design can start on Jan 4.

Contact: Aisha Karim, #team-orders Full detail: [[Repeat orders PRD draft]]

4.Research summary for decision makers

When it fits: Use this when you ran a study or evaluation, the people who decide will not read the 40-page report, and the one-pager has to state the findings, the limits and the recommendation plainly.

Research summary for decision makersExample 4

Elm Street protected bike lanes: findings after 12 months

For: Fairhaven City Council, Transportation Committee From: Dr. Hannah Iwu, Transportation Analyst Date: 2026-10-27 The ask: Include the 4th Avenue extension in the FY2028 capital budget, voted on Dec 9.

What we studied

In September 2025 the city added 1.4 miles of protected bike lanes on Elm Street between Grant and 9th. We compared the 12 months after with the 12 months before, using police crash reports, automated bike counters, and sales tax receipts from the 61 businesses on the corridor.

What we found

  • Crashes involving any road user fell from 23 to 9. Injury crashes fell from 7 to 2.
  • Daily bike trips rose 41 percent, from 610 to 860 on an average weekday.
  • Corridor business sales tax receipts rose 2 percent, against 3 percent citywide. The difference is within normal year-to-year variation.
  • Car travel time at the evening peak increased by 40 seconds across the corridor.

What we cannot say yet

  • One year is a short window for crash data; 9 against 23 is a large drop, but small numbers move a lot by chance.
  • The bike counters were installed in May 2025, so the "before" period for bike trips is four months, not twelve.
  • We did not survey residents.

Recommendation

Extend the design to 4th Avenue (0.9 miles), which has the city's second-highest crash count. Estimated cost $1.1M, including signal changes at three intersections. Keep the Elm Street counters and repeat this analysis at 24 months.

Next step

Committee recommendation on Nov 18, full council vote on Dec 9. I can present for 10 minutes at either meeting.

Contact: Hannah Iwu, Office of Transportation, 555 0144 Full detail: [[Elm Street 12-month evaluation report]]

5.Sales leave-behind after a meeting

When it fits: Use this when you just met a prospect, they need to sell your product to someone who was not in the room, and the one-pager is what they will forward.

Sales leave-behind after a meetingExample 5

Tallyroute for Harbor Point Residential

For: Gloria Nash, VP Operations, and the Harbor Point leadership team From: Theo Brandt, Account Executive, Tallyroute Date: 2026-10-27 The ask: Approve a 60-day pilot in two buildings starting Jan 5, at no cost.

What you told us

  • Your 14 maintenance technicians cover 9 buildings and 1,600 units. Work orders arrive by phone, email and a paper box in each lobby.
  • Median time from request to completed repair is 6.5 days. Your resident survey ranks maintenance as the top complaint.
  • Technicians lose about an hour a day driving between buildings for jobs that could have been grouped.

What Tallyroute does

Residents report issues from a text message or a QR code in each unit, with photos. Every request lands in one queue. Each morning, Tallyroute groups jobs by building and parts needed, and gives each technician a route. Residents get a text when the job is booked and when it is done.

Results at similar companies

  • Westbrook Living (11 buildings, 1,900 units): median repair time from 5.8 days to 2.9 days in the first quarter.
  • Calder Properties (6 buildings): driving time per technician down 50 minutes a day.
  • Both kept their existing accounting software; Tallyroute exports completed jobs to it nightly.

Pricing

  • $3 per unit per month, billed annually. For Harbor Point's 1,600 units, $57,600 a year. No setup fee.
  • The pilot is free. If you do not continue, we delete your data within 30 days.

What the pilot looks like

  • Buildings: Seaview and Marlowe (410 units), chosen by Gloria
  • Week 1: QR codes installed, technicians trained in two one-hour sessions
  • Day 60: we review repair times and resident feedback together

Next step

If Gloria and Sam (finance) agree by Dec 12, we install in the first week of January.

Contact: Theo Brandt, theo@tallyroute.example, 312 555 0167 Full detail: [[Harbor Point pilot plan]]

What a one-pager is for

A one-pager has one reader, one ask and about two minutes of attention. Everything on the page should make it easier for that reader to say yes to that ask. That is the difference between a one-pager and a short report: a report informs, a one-pager requests.

This is why most one-pager templates, which start with a logo and a company overview, produce pages that get read and not acted on. The reader reaches the bottom without knowing what you wanted. Put the ask in the first three lines and repeat it at the end, made concrete.

What goes on the page, and how many words

The template above has seven parts. The word budget is what keeps it on one page at a size people can read:

  • Header and the ask (about 40 words). Who it is for, who it is from, the date, and one sentence with the decision and the deadline.
  • Problem (about 60 words). Who has it, how big it is in one number, what it costs to do nothing.
  • Proposal (about 80 words). What will be different afterwards. Outcomes, not a feature list.
  • Evidence (three bullets, about 70 words). Numbers with sources. Three is enough; the fourth weakens the first three.
  • What it takes (about 50 words). Cost, timeline and what success looks like as a number.
  • Risks (about 40 words). Two real risks and what limits each one. Naming them yourself is more convincing than having the reader find them.
  • Next step and contact (about 40 words). The ask again, as a specific action: a vote, a call, a signature, a reply by a date.

That is roughly 400 words. Most first drafts are twice that.

How to cut a draft to one page

Cut in this order, and stop when it fits:

  1. Background and history. The reader needs the current problem, not how it developed.
  2. Adjectives and qualifiers. "Significantly", "very", "innovative" cost words and convince nobody.
  3. The fourth piece of evidence. Keep the three strongest numbers.
  4. Detail that belongs in the appendix. Cost breakdowns, methods, full data. Link them.
  5. Any section that does not support the ask. If the reader could decide without it, it goes.

Do not cut the numbers, the sources, the risks or the ask. Those are what the reader acts on.

One-pager vs executive summary

The two use the same structure and are often confused. An executive summary sits at the front of a longer document, a business plan or a 40-page report, and condenses it for readers who will not read the rest. A one-pager stands alone and travels by email or across a table. Because nothing follows it, it has to carry its own evidence and contact details.

If you are searching for an executive summary template, the template above works: put it at the top of the full document, keep the ask first, and replace the appendix link with page references to the sections that hold the detail.

Where the page lands changes a few things. For email, paste the one-pager into the body as well as attaching it; many readers never open attachments. For print, keep the font at 10 point or larger, and assume it will be photocopied in black and white, so do not rely on color to carry meaning. For a page that will be forwarded, as with a sales leave-behind, write it so it makes sense to someone who was not in the meeting, and put your contact details where they cannot get cropped.

Common mistakes

  • No ask. The reader finishes and does not know what you want.
  • Logo and overview first. The top of the page is the most read; spend it on the ask and the problem.
  • Numbers without sources. They start an argument instead of ending one.
  • Hiding the risks. The reader finds them anyway and trusts the rest less.
  • Shrinking the font to fit. If it only fits at 8 point, it does not fit. Cut instead.

When to use a different template

If the reader has already said yes and you are now scoping the work, use a project brief template. If engineers will build from it, write a PRD. If the one-pager argues against a competitor, back it with a competitor analysis. And once the decision is made, record it, with its reason, in a decision log, so nobody has to dig the one-pager out of an inbox next year.

Customization tips

  • Write the ask first, then everything else

    Before any other section, write the one sentence that says what you want and by when. If you cannot, the one-pager is not ready. Every other section should make that sentence easier to say yes to; anything that does not, cut.

  • Spend the word budget like money

    The template totals about 400 words of content. Most first drafts run to 900. Cut background first, then adjectives, then the third example of anything. Keep the numbers; numbers are what readers quote back.

  • Put a source next to every number

    A number without a source invites the question "where is that from?" and the meeting goes there. A short source in parentheses settles it, and it tells the reader which claims are measured and which are your estimate.

  • Rename sections for the reader

    The headings are a default. A startup one-pager wants Traction, Market and Team; a research summary wants What we studied and What we cannot say yet; a sales sheet wants What you told us. Keep the order: problem, proposal, evidence, cost, ask.

  • Make the detail one link away

    A one-pager is short because the detail lives somewhere else. Link the full plan, data or report at the bottom, so a reader who wants more can get it without asking you and the page stays at one page.

  • Turn it into an executive summary when the long document exists

    If a full report or proposal already exists, the same structure becomes its executive summary. Move it to the front of the document, keep the ask at the top, and replace the appendix link with page references.

In the app

How to do this in Scribelet

  1. Open Desk Settings, then Templates, tap Add Template, paste the one-pager template and set the category to General. Or describe the one-pager you need and use Generate with AI to draft a template, then cut it to this structure.

  2. Link the full plan from the bottom with [[Tablet pilot cost breakdown]]. The detail stays one tap away, and the appendix note's backlinks show every one-pager that relied on it.

  3. Ask the AI chat "what did the 12 repeat order interviews say about rebuilding carts?" It answers from your own notes with citations, which is the fastest way to find the numbers and sources the evidence section needs.

  4. Attach the PDFs and photos behind your evidence, such as the Toledo quality report or a whiteboard photo. Scribelet extracts the text so the content is searchable from the one-pager's desk.

  5. On Pro, background verification checks factual claims in the note against the web and proposes corrections you accept or dismiss, which is worth running before a startup one-pager quotes market figures.

Templates, template variables and AI generation are documented in Note templates.

Frequently asked questions

What is a one pager?

A one-pager is a single page that asks a specific reader for a specific decision and gives them just enough to make it: the problem, the proposal, the evidence, the cost and the next step. It is used for project proposals, startup pitches, feature requests, research summaries and sales follow-ups. If it does not end in an ask, it is a summary, not a one-pager.

What is the difference between a one-pager and an executive summary?

An executive summary sits at the front of a longer document and condenses it, so it can assume the detail is a few pages away. A one-pager stands alone and travels on its own, usually by email, so it has to carry its own evidence and contact details. The structure on this page works for both: as an executive summary template, put it in front of the full document and swap the appendix link for page references.

How long should a one-pager be?

One page at a readable size, which means 350 to 500 words of content plus headings. The word budgets in the template add up to about 400. If you are over 600 words, you are writing a short report; cut background first, then any section that does not support the ask.

Can I use AI or ChatGPT to make a one-pager?

AI is good at cutting a long draft to a word budget and at suggesting clearer headings. It is not good at the parts that make a one-pager work: the right ask, the true numbers, and their sources. Write those yourself, then ask the AI to tighten. Check every number it touches.

Should a one-pager be designed or plain text?

Write it as plain text first; that is where the decisions are. Design helps when the page is printed, handed out at an event or sent to buyers who judge polish, as with a sales leave-behind. For internal proposals and research summaries, a clean document with headings and bold numbers is usually enough, and it is quicker to update.

What should a startup one-pager include?

The problem, the product in one paragraph, traction with real numbers, the market with how you sized it, the team in two lines, the amount you are raising and what it pays for, and how to reach you. The startup example above shows each in the order investors scan for them.

Write the one page from everything you already know

Keep the evidence behind your one-pager in Scribelet, ask your notes for the numbers and their sources, and link the full detail one tap away. Then send one page that gets a yes. Free to start.

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Projects

Project Brief Template

A project brief fits on one page and gets a yes: what problem this solves, what will be true when it is done, what is in and out, what it costs, and who approves it. Copy the template, or start from the example closest to your project.

Product

PRD Template (Product Requirements Document)

A PRD (product requirements document) says what problem a release solves, for whom, how you will know it worked, and what it deliberately will not do. This template keeps it short enough to be read, and adds what most PRD templates leave out: a status, a decision log, and open questions with owners and dates.

Projects

Project Plan Template

A project plan says what will be true when the project is done, what is in and out of scope, which milestones get you there by when, who owns each one, and what could go wrong. This template adds the part most plans skip: a dated record of every change.

Product

Competitor Analysis Template

A competitor analysis is only useful if it changes a decision. This template starts from the question you need answered, compares three or four competitors with a source and date on every claim, and ends with decisions, owners and a review date. Copy it, or start from the example closest to your market.

Work

Decision Log Template

A decision log is a running record of what was decided, why, by whom, and what you expected to happen. This template adds the two fields most logs leave out: who disagreed, and a date to check whether the decision worked. Copy it for a team, or use the decision journal example for your own choices.

Research

Research Notes Template

Research notes go wrong in two ways: you cannot tell where a claim came from, or you cannot tell whether it is still true. This template ties every finding to a source and a confidence level, keeps observation apart from interpretation, and records when you last checked.

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