pre-seed

7 statements across 6 episodes · 1 bullish · 4 bearish · 4 people on the record · first statement May 23, 2016 by Manu Kumar · across every show →

Everything said about pre-seed, oldest first

May 23, 2016

Assertion Partly supported

Kumar: Coined the term pre-seed around 2013 as seed rounds grew

“I actually kind of coined the pre-seed term at one point in, I think in 2013, 2014 because I saw the seed market kind of evolving where it was becoming a two million to three million dollar round, and I was like, wait, these things are changing, and so there h…”

Manu Kumar May 23, 2016 ▶ 9:06 20VC: K9's Manu Kumar on His Approach To Risk, Valuation & Believing What Other People Don't

Oct 7, 2019 positive

Prediction Not checkable as stated

Fein: Pre-seed funding will never be eradicated for non-traditional founders

“I don't think so. I think there's always going to be a place for pre-seed, especially for those founders, maybe first-time founders, maybe founders that are not found in the typical places. I think there is always going to be a place for very early stage round…”

John Fein Oct 7, 2019 ▶ 22:45 20VC: The Ultimate Episode For Emerging Managers: How To Determine How Big A Fund To Raise, What Is The Right Closing Strategy With LPs & Why We Will Not See The Eradication of Pre-Seed with John Fein, Founder & Managing Partner @ Firebrand Ventures

Jan 6, 2020 negative

Insight

Stebbings: Pre-seed startups do not have reliable unit economics

“You don't have unit economics. The CAC is going to explode, or you don't know where it's going to go. The LTV is going to shrink. We just don't know.”

Harry Stebbings Jan 6, 2020 ▶ 31:21 20VC: Why Now Is The Hardest Time To Raise an Institutional Pre-Seed in the Last Decade, What To Do When The Founder and VC Interests Do Not Align & The Rise of Pre-Emptive Rounds with Gaurav Jain, Founder & Managing Partner @ Afore Capital

Nov 24, 2021 negative

Opinion

Harry Stebbings: Tier-one pedigree founders skip the pre-seed round entirely

“I think great founders skip the pre-seed. I don't really ever see, like, tier one pedigree founders coming out with a pre-seed.”

Harry Stebbings Nov 24, 2021 ▶ 21:10 20VC: The Contentful Memo: Point Nine's Christoph Janz on The Cold Email That Led to a Unicorn Investment, How To Approach Market Sizing and Timing & The Pros and Cons of Pre-Emptive Rounds, When To Do Them vs When Not To?

May 6, 2022 neutral

Opinion

Lemkin: Pre-seed valuation inflation only applies to founders with social proof

“I think the media confuses the privileged pre-seed with the less privileged. I don't think we've seen the same levels of inflation for folks that have no social proof.”

Jason Lemkin May 6, 2022 ▶ 29:59 20VC: Why the Traditional Seed Fund Model No Longer Works, Why Multi-Stage Funds Investing at Seed Bring Signaling Risk but also Less Pressure, The One Criteria All Potential Sales Hires Need to Have and The Clear Signs of 10x Sales Hires with Jason Lemki

May 6, 2022 negative

Opinion

Stebbings: Pre-seed venture funding no longer exists

“I don't think pre-seed actually exists anymore.”

Harry Stebbings May 6, 2022 ▶ 27:37 20VC: Why the Traditional Seed Fund Model No Longer Works, Why Multi-Stage Funds Investing at Seed Bring Signaling Risk but also Less Pressure, The One Criteria All Potential Sales Hires Need to Have and The Clear Signs of 10x Sales Hires with Jason Lemki

Jan 15, 2026 negative

Opinion

Stebbings: Series A is the worst stage for venture capital returns

“The worst place to be investing is Series A. You either need to be pre-seed or pre-IPO today. To make money.”

Harry Stebbings Jan 15, 2026 ▶ 54:03 Anthropic’s $10B Raise | a16z’s $15B Fund: Is the Middle Dead in VC? | How OpenAI Could Go to Zero? · 20VC with Harry Stebbings

pre-seed

Everything said about pre-seed, oldest first

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