Taber: No PitchBook exists for discovering pre-seed startups
Igor Taber · Why Credible Investors Are Actually Killing Startups · May 5, 2026 · at 8:07
Early-stage VC Igor Taber explains why pre-seed investors cannot rely on conventional startup databases to source investments.
0:00 / 0:20exact quote · 21.0s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“But because of the stage we invest in, like we invest in the seed stage and pre-seed, there's really no, like, database you can go and, like, find things. Like, there's no pitch book for, like, pre-seed companies, right? They don't, and oftentimes, there's not even company yet. There may be just, like, a human building stuff, and they may or may not even have a company. They just may be thinking about starting a company. So there's no database. You can go find this stuff.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Igor Taber
Taber: Outdated Advice From Credible Investors Can Actually Kill Startups
“So if you just rely on your experience from 10 years ago, even though you may have been successful, I think that's actually makes you like really dangerous because now you're like credible and wrong. It's one thing when you're just wrong and you don't have cre…”
Taber: There Are Only Three Viable Ways to Build a VC Firm
“In my opinion, I think there's only maybe three ways to build a venture firm. The first way is to have extremely strong brand and be a leader in the market. So thank Ponzo, Sequoia Andreessen, funds like that, where over decades they build a moat that is their…”
Taber: VC Networks Are Not Sustainable for Long-Term Firm Differentiation
“I think a lot of other things people talk about, like networks and things like that. I just don't think they're sticking off or sustainable enough to really build a long-term differentiated strategy.”
Taber: Top Founders Ignore VCs As Much As VCs Ignore Them
“I actually think the best founders have just as much called outreach that they ignore from VCs as VCs have called outreach from the founders that they also ignore.”
Taber: Founders Cannot Prompt Their Way to Building Real Companies Yet
“But I think building a company, I'm personally not yet at the place where I think there's, where I think you can just go like you know, prompt your way into building a company. I just don't think we're there yet. Despite maybe a couple examples that show, you …”
Taber: Giving Non-Technical Founders AI Coding Tools Is Like a Bazooka
“It was basically something around taking, like giving cloud code or any of these tools or codecs to like a non-technical founder. It's like giving a bazooka to somebody who could never shot a gun. And it can work, but it can create a bunch of damage in between…”