Stage 1 (pre-seed and seed)
Match the deck to the fund's lens
A founder at S1 pitching seed funds must decide which fund type to target because each type evaluates through a different lens.
Options
Pre-product micro-funds judging team resilience
Deep tech seed funds judging defensible moats
Traction funds judging revenue evidence
What mattered
- The same deck cannot serve all three lenses
- Warm introductions from portfolio founders are rarely declined
- Twenty to thirty targeted conversations, not three
What was done
The sessions concluded founders should know which lens each fund uses, run twenty to thirty targeted conversations, and treat keep me in the loop as a no.
ClaimKnow which lens the fund uses; the same deck cannot serve team, moat, and traction investors at once.
FAQ
- Which stage does this apply to?
- Stage 1 (pre-seed and seed).
- Where does this come from?
- Synthesized from FounderNexus founder sessions, with speakers abstracted.
FounderNexus convenes stage-matched founder groups around decisions like this one.