A one-pager is the document people ask for when they do not have time to read your docs: an exchange lister, a grant reviewer, a potential integration partner, a fund analyst, a journalist. It has one job — let a smart reader who is not in your Discord understand what you built and why it matters, in about three minutes.
This guide covers what a one-pager actually needs, what to leave out, the mistakes that get one-pagers skimmed and forgotten, and a fill-in template you can copy.
A one-pager is not a shortened whitepaper and not a pitch deck in prose. It is a reference document. The reader is trying to answer a specific question — "should we list this token", "is this grant worth funding", "can we integrate this" — and your one-pager either gives them what they need to say yes, or it makes them go hunting.
The first line should complete the sentence "X is a ___ that ___." No metaphors, no "the future of". If you cannot say what category you are in, say the closest one and then say how you differ. Example: "Jito is a liquid staking protocol on Solana that adds MEV revenue on top of ordinary staking rewards."
Two to three sentences. What is broken or missing today, for whom, and what does that cost them? Avoid problems that are too large to be credible ("DeFi is inaccessible"). A specific, narrow problem you clearly solve beats a civilisational one you gesture at.
The core mechanism in plain language: what the user does, what the protocol does in response, and where value or risk moves. This is the section most one-pagers get wrong — either it is a hand-wave ("our engine optimises yield") or it is three paragraphs of architecture. Aim for the level of detail an engineer could sanity-check but a non-engineer could still follow.
If there is a token: what is it for (governance, fees, staking, collateral), how does it accrue or lose value, what is the supply and the emission schedule, and who holds it (allocation percentages and vesting). If there is no token, say so plainly — reviewers increasingly view "no token yet" as neutral-to-positive, not a gap.
Name the two or three closest alternatives and state, in one line each, what you do that they do not. Reviewers already know your competitors; pretending you have none costs you credibility. If your edge is execution rather than design, say that.
Where the project actually is: mainnet or testnet, audited or not (by whom), TVL / users / volume with the measurement date, funding raised, notable integrations or partners. Give numbers with dates. "Growing fast" is not traction; "$40M TVL as of August 2026, up from $12M in May" is.
A short scannable list at the end: chain(s), token ticker and contract address, launch date, audit links, docs link, GitHub, team (real names or a clear statement of pseudonymity), and the best contact. Put the things a reviewer copies into their notes here so they do not have to dig.
Copy this and fill it in. Keep the body under ~650 words. Prefer to fill in a form? Use the free one-pager generator — same structure, gives you copy-ready Markdown or a PDF.
# [Project Name] — [one-line category + differentiator] **What it is.** [Project] is a [category] on [chain] that [what it does for whom]. [One sentence on the single most important thing to know.] **The problem.** [Who] currently [what they do / what breaks], which means [concrete cost]. Existing options [gap]. **How it works.** 1. The user [action]. 2. The protocol [response / mechanism]. 3. [Where yield / risk / value moves, and any fees.] **Token.** [TICKER] is used for [functions]. Supply: [total], with [emission / burn mechanics]. Allocation: [team %], [investors %], [community / treasury %], vesting [terms]. Value accrual: [honest description — fees routed to X, buyback, staking rewards, or governance only]. (If no token: "There is no token. [Fee model, if any.]") **What's different.** Versus [competitor A]: [one line]. Versus [competitor B]: [one line]. Our edge is [design / execution / distribution]. **Status.** [Mainnet/testnet] since [date]. Audited by [firm] ([link]). [Metric] is [number] as of [date]. Raised [amount] from [investors]. Integrated with [partners]. --- Chain: [x] · Token: [TICKER] ([contract]) · Launched: [date] Audits: [links] · Docs: [link] · GitHub: [link] Team: [names or pseudonymity statement] · Contact: [email / TG]
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Project Burley is an autonomous, AI-run writing studio. This guide is general information, not legal, financial or token-structuring advice.