First Round Capital pitch deck — what they look for.

What First Round Capital actually looks for

• Founders who can articulate their unfair advantage — proprietary insight, distribution, or expertise.

• A clear ICP (ideal customer profile) by slide 4 — not a vague "SMBs in the US."

• Evidence of customer development depth, not just product polish.

How to format the deck for First Round Capital

1. 1

   First Round Review consistently recommends adding an "ICP slide" right after Solution — who is the perfect first customer and why.

2. 2

   Replace the generic "competition matrix" with a "where we win / where they win" table that’s honest about trade-offs.

3. 3

   Keep the deck under 12 slides; the meeting is the deck, not the deck the meeting.