For consultants before the deck
Pyramid Principle and SCQA Storyline Builder
Your findings built into a storyline: the one-sentence answer, an SCQA opening, the points that prove it and a slide-by-slide outline with action titles.
Free to start. No card needed.
How to build a storyline with the pyramid principle
Barbara Minto's pyramid principle starts with the answer: one governing thought on top, the support beneath it. Make it one sentence that concludes or recommends, such as "Fix mid-size onboarding, not price, to stop the churn," never a topic like "Churn analysis." Test it with her Situation, Complication, Question framework1, which she teaches for identifying the question in your reader's mind. Write what the client already accepts, what changed and the question that follows. Your governing thought, the A in SCQA, must answer it; if it doesn't, rewrite the question or the answer.
Under the answer sits the key line: three to five points that together prove it. In a McKinsey alumni profile2, Minto sets out three rules. "The point above has to be a summary of those below"; each group holds ideas of the same kind; and they sit in logical order. Each group must also be MECE: no overlaps and no gaps. Sort every finding under the point it supports. A point with little beneath it is a gap, so run more analysis, soften the claim or cut it before a client finds it.
Then sketch the ghost deck: blank slides that carry only an action title and a note of the chart each needs. An action title states the slide's conclusion as a full sentence, in two lines or fewer. Mats Stigzelius, a former McKinsey consultant who co-founded the template company Slideworks, gives the test. Your audience should be able to read only your action titles3 and follow your conclusions and how you reached them. Where the titles jump, a slide is missing; where one claims more than its evidence shows, rewrite it.
How it works
How River builds your storyline
Paste your findings, analysis notes or interview themes, or drop up to 10 files, such as a findings doc, a spreadsheet or an old deck. River reads all of it before writing anything, recording each finding with its figures copied exactly and its source, down to the page, slide or tab. An old deck's slides count as findings, and the gaps list says where their order or titles break the story. If all you have is raw interviews, start with the interview synthesis.
Next, River builds the pyramid. At the top is the governing thought: one sentence that answers the client's question, stated as a conclusion your findings support. If they support more than one answer, River picks the best-supported one and puts the others on the gaps list. Then come the four-line SCQA and three to five key points that don't overlap, each with its evidence and source. The ghost deck, usually 8 to 15 slides, gives every slide an action title that fits on two lines, the chart it needs and where that data sits.
River never invents a finding, number or name. When two sources disagree it shows both, and where a slide needs evidence your material lacks, the outline says so and adds the gap. Still, judge its answer yourself: in a 2023 experiment4 by Harvard Business School researchers and colleagues, 758 Boston Consulting Group consultants worked through typical consulting tasks. One was much like building a storyline: a note to a CEO drawn from spreadsheets and interviews. On it, those using GPT-4 were 19 percentage points less likely to get the right answer.
How it works
From findings to storyline
Paste your findings
Paste notes, analysis results or interview themes, or drop up to 10 files, including an old deck.
River reads everything
Before writing anything, it notes each finding with its exact figures and the file, page or slide behind it.
Get your storyline
The answer, SCQA, key points, ghost deck and gaps land together in one doc you can edit.
Edit and go further
Edit or share it, then have River write the executive summary or plan how to close each gap.
Storyline: Mid-size customer churn
Governing thought: fix mid-size onboarding, not price, to stop the churn · 9 slides
- 1Mid-size churn nearly doubled in 2025, from 9% to 17%Line chart: churn by segment, by quarter · churn export, tab 2
- 2Price came up in only 2 of 14 exit interviewsTheme table with quotes · exit interviews 1 to 14
- 3Mid-size onboarding takes 74 days, more than twice as long as small accountsBar chart: median days to go live, by segment · onboarding log
- 4Accounts live within 45 days renew at 92%Gap: 2025 data only. Ask the client for 2024.
- 5Onboarding changes could get mid-size accounts live within 45 daysNot in your material yet · needs the onboarding team's estimate
What you'll get
Your findings as one answer, key points and a ghost deck
- The one-sentence answer, with an SCQA opening that sets it up
- Three to five key points, each with its evidence from your notes
- A ghost deck: an action title and the chart for every slide
Before and after
Your findings in. The argument, slide by slide.
Five files from a churn study for a field-service software client: the churn export, a finance pack, notes from 14 exit interviews, the onboarding log and pricing changes since 2024.
Governing thought: Fix mid-size onboarding, not price, to stop the churn. Situation: mid-size accounts bring in a third of revenue (finance pack, p. 3). Complication: their churn rose from 9% to 17% in 2025 (churn export, tab 2). Question: what will bring it back down? Answer: Fix mid-size onboarding, not price, to stop the churn. Slide 3. Mid-size onboarding takes 74 days, more than twice as long as small accounts. Chart: median days to go live, by segment. From: onboarding log. Gap: renewal by onboarding time covers 2025 only. Ask the client for 2024.
Each slide names the evidence it rests on, so you build it against your own material.
What lands in your doc
What's in your storyline
- The governing thought: the one-sentence answer that your whole deck has to prove
- An SCQA opening, with the situation, complication, question and answer in four short lines
- Three to five key-line points that don't overlap, each with its evidence and source
- A ghost deck, usually 8 to 15 slides, each with an action title of two lines or fewer
- The chart or table each slide needs, and the file, page or note its data comes from
- A gaps list: other answers your material raises, thin evidence, and what would close each gap
Questions consultants ask
Common questions
What is the pyramid principle?
The pyramid principle is Barbara Minto's method for structuring business writing and presentations: the main point first, the ideas that support it grouped beneath, and the evidence under those. She developed it while editing reports at McKinsey2, where she worked from 1963 to 1973. Her 1996 textbook1, The Minto Pyramid Principle, supersedes the older Pearson edition. The pyramid principle template lays one out by hand.
What is the SCQA framework?
SCQA stands for situation, complication, question and answer, the four-part opening of a pyramid-style document or deck. The situation is what the reader already accepts, the complication what changed, the question what that raises, and the answer your governing thought. Minto calls the first three her SCQ framework. Slideworks, a template company, says McKinsey, Bain and BCG executive summaries usually follow a shorter form: situation, complication, resolution3.
What is a ghost deck?
A ghost deck is a slide-by-slide outline written before any slide is designed. Each slide gets an action title, a full-sentence conclusion of two lines or fewer, and a note of the chart that will prove it. Read the titles in order and you should hear the whole argument, which makes it the cheapest place to find gaps. Once slides exist, the action title generator sharpens their titles.
How do I build a storyline with River?
Paste your findings into the box at the top of this page, or drop up to 10 files, including an old deck. River reads everything, then writes the governing thought, SCQA opening, key points, ghost deck and gaps into one doc in your free River workspace. It outlines the slides but doesn't design them, so build them in your own template, then check them with the consulting deck review.
Will it make up evidence to fill the gaps?
No. Every key point and slide cites the findings it rests on, with the file, page, slide or note they came from. Numbers are copied exactly, and River adds no new sum or share unless it shows the arithmetic. When a slide needs evidence your material lacks, it goes on the gaps list with what would close it and who has the data, if your notes name them.
Is my client's material private?
Your files stay in your own River workspace unless you share them. River's privacy policy says it does not use your documents to train AI models. The AI services that process them work under data protection agreements that bar training on them too. Check your engagement letter as well, in case your client limits where its information can go.
Is the storyline builder free?
Yes, it is free to start, with no card needed. Your storyline opens in a River workspace, where you can edit it, share it with your team or ask River to change it. Paid plans add more AI use and access to the most advanced models.
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