I often get asked by first time founders for suggestions on putting together a deck for their first pitch to institutional VCs

Not saying anything surprisingly new, but after having evaluated 1000+ pitches at @BlumeVentures, I believe...

Focusing on these 7 simple areas will help guide your thinking in making a clear, kick-ass pitch. You want to give the VC a sense of -

1. Why are you building what you are building? (the problem & consequently the potential market you are catering to - how you frame the market becomes important because it gives a sense of how your 'if-successful' state might look like)

2. Who are you? Who are your team members? How do you know each other?

3. What's your product/service?

4. What do you think makes you different from your competitors? How difficult/easy will it be for anyone to do what you're doing? (Moat/USP)

5. How is your startup doing currently? (Who are your users, number of users/revenue etc - Traction)

6. How much money has gone into building the startup till now? Who all have given you this money? How much money do you need AND where will that money take you to? How will you spend that money (Investment history & ASK)

7. How are you thinking about taking your product/service to more users? (some thoughts around your Go-To-Market strategy)