DECK / PITCH 2026-06-13

MaC competes by orchestrating, not cloning

A Slack-thread conversation that became a v1 product spec in 40 minutes.

01

The question we started with

  • Can MaC compete with Figma, Lovable, and Gamma by building our own versions?
  • Yes technically. No strategically. Here's why.
02

MaC is not a tool. MaC is the operator.

  • Figma, Lovable, and Gamma each spent years optimizing one workflow with one UI.
  • If MaC ships MaC's Figma, MaC becomes a worse Figma.
  • The pitch dilutes the second we become four products instead of one operator.
MaC uses Figma when Figma's the right call, ships HTML when HTML's the right call, fires up Gamma when a deck is faster.Ross
03

Find the seams. Build the wedge.

  • Don't compete head-on with point tools.
  • Find the moments where the existing tools annoy MaC users.
  • Build the narrow slice that closes the gap and makes the existing tools more valuable, not less.
04

The wedge: /deck

  • Type /deck pitch in any Slack thread. Get back a hosted deck and a PDF.
  • The brief is the thread. We skip the four steps Gamma makes you take.
  • Demoable in the same channel where it was built.
Watch this Slack conversation become a deck in 30 seconds.Ross
05

Decisions locked at trigger time

  • No footer branding. The shared URL looks like the operator made it.
  • Any Slack workspace MaC is installed in. No pilot gating.
  • Operator picks tone at trigger time: /deck pitch or /deck doc.
06

v1 shipped in 2 hours. v0 demo is this page.

  • Engine: thread to deck JSON via Claude. Half a day.
  • Renderer: HTML template plus per-deck slug on Cloudflare Pages. Reuses the coultonventures-site stack.
  • PDF: headless Chromium pass over the HTML. Few hours.
  • Slack command wiring: harness already handles slash commands. Half a day.
Build v1.John
07

Side by side with Gamma. Same pitch.

  • Gamma rendered the Brandlete x Orange Crush pilot pitch in 9 slides over four prompts.
  • /deck rendered the same pitch from one Slack conversation. Hosted at decks.makeacompany.ai/brandlete-orange-crush/.
  • Same story. Two aesthetics. Operator picks the surface, not the tool.
See it live: decks.makeacompany.ai/brandlete-orange-crush/live
08

The bet behind /deck.

  • Polish tools optimize the slide. /deck optimizes the path from thought to slide.
  • Gamma's loop: open Gamma, type a prompt, edit, export, share.
  • /deck's loop: have the conversation, type /deck, share the URL.
  • The deck wasn't the work. The thinking was. /deck just ships the thinking, dressed up.