How do venture capital investors evaluate your pitch?

Full Explanation

Team is typically 30-40% of the decision — VCs invest in people as much as ideas. They look for relevant domain expertise, prior startup experience, complementary skills (technical founder + commercial founder), diversity of thought, and coachability. A strong team can execute in a mediocre market and win. Product and technology (20-30%): is the product differentiated, defensible, and hard to copy? Is the technology proprietary? Is there a moat? Market (20-30%): is the addressable market large (£500M+)? Is it growing? Is the timing right? Business model (10-15%): are unit economics viable (LTV:CAC 3:1+)? Is there a clear path to profitability or breakeven? Traction (10-20%): what customer/revenue/engagement evidence exists? Even pre-revenue companies get credit for strong traction (LOIs, beta testers, waitlist). VCs' evaluations are subjective and vary by investor; seed investors weight team and market more heavily, growth investors weight traction and metrics more heavily. The strongest pitches tell a compelling story: here is a large, growing market with a problem; here is the team capable of solving it; here is the product/technology; here is early traction; here is what we will do with your capital.

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