- Raise enough to hit clear milestones for your seed round, plus a buffer.
- Most pre-seed rounds now use a post-money SAFE, with notes at a record low share.
- Investors at this stage judge the team, early proof of demand and market size.
- Run the raise like a sales pipeline: a target list, warm intros, batched meetings and a deadline.
TLDR: To raise a pre-seed round, show early proof that customers want what you're building, then pitch investors who back your stage and sector. Decide on a target raise tied to clear milestones, prepare a short deck, and line up warm introductions. Most pre-seed rounds use a post-money SAFE, and the strongest raises happen in a tight window of a few weeks rather than dragging on for months.
Raising your first round can feel like a second full-time job you never applied for. You're still building the product, still talking to customers, and now you're also pitching people who say "keep us posted" a lot. The good news: pre-seed money is out there, and a clear process gets you to a yes faster.
According to Carta's 2025 State of Pre-Seed report, US startups on its platform raised $10.4 billion across 50,316 SAFEs and convertible notes in 2025. Plenty of founders are closing these rounds. The ones who do it quickly tend to treat fundraising like a sales process, with a list, a pitch and a deadline.
This guide covers what a pre-seed round is, how much to raise, what investors look for, who writes the checks, what goes in your deck, and how to run the process step by step.
What is a pre-seed round?
Pre-seed is usually the first outside money a startup raises. It funds early product work and validation, so you can reach the traction a seed investor will want to see.
Pre-seed vs. seed
Pre-seed backs a team and an early signal. Seed backs a product that's starting to work and needs fuel to grow. The line between them has blurred, but a simple test helps: if you're still proving people want this, you're raising pre-seed.
How pre-seed rounds are structured
Most pre-seed rounds skip priced equity and use a SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity), a short document created by Y Combinator that converts to shares at your next priced round. Convertible notes are fading fast. In Carta's Q1 2026 data, notes made up a record low 7% of pre-seed rounds.
Pro tip: Use the standard Y Combinator SAFE documents instead of a custom agreement. Investors already know them, so you spend less time and money on legal back-and-forth. Still have a startup lawyer review your terms before you sign.
How much should you raise at pre-seed?
Raise enough to hit the milestones that make your seed round easy, plus a buffer. For most founders, that means working backward from a plan rather than picking a round number that sounds impressive.
Start with milestones
List what you need to prove before your next raise: a launched product, a set number of paying customers, a revenue target or a retention benchmark. Then cost out the people, tools and time to get there, and add a few months of cushion for things that take longer than planned (they will).
Know the current market
Valuation caps give you a benchmark for how much of your company you'll sell. Per Carta's 2025 data, median caps on post-money SAFEs sat around $10 million for rounds between $250,000 and $1 million, and around $15 million for rounds between $1 million and $2.5 million. Your number will depend on your sector, location, team and traction.
Use of funds (copy and paste):
We're raising $[amount] on a post-money SAFE with a $[cap] valuation cap.
This gives us [number] months of runway to reach:
1. [Milestone 1, e.g., launch v1 to 50 paying customers]
2. [Milestone 2, e.g., $20K monthly recurring revenue]
3. [Milestone 3, e.g., 80% three-month retention]
Funds will go to: [%] product and engineering, [%] sales and marketing, [%] operations and buffer.
What do pre-seed investors look for?
At this stage, there's very little data to analyze, so investors are mostly judging you and the size of the opportunity. Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, put it well:
"Investors evaluate startups the way customers evaluate products, not the way bosses evaluate employees." Paul Graham, A Fundraising Survival Guide
In other words, they're asking whether they want what you're selling. Here's what makes them say yes.
Founder-market fit
Investors want to know why you are the right person to solve this problem. Relevant industry experience, a personal connection to the problem or a strong technical edge all count.
Early traction or validation
Revenue helps, but it isn't the only proof. Paid pilots, a waitlist of qualified buyers, signed letters of intent or strong retention among early users can all show demand.
A big enough market
Early investors need a few companies to return their whole fund. Show that the market is large or growing fast, and explain how you'll win a clear first slice of it.
Who invests at pre-seed?
Angel investors
Individuals investing their own money, often former founders or operators in your industry. They can move fast and often bring useful introductions.
Accelerators
Programs that offer capital, mentorship and investor access in exchange for equity. They're especially useful if you don't yet have a network of investors.
Pre-seed funds
Small venture funds that focus on the earliest stage of a company. Many will lead a round, which gives other investors the confidence to join.
Friends and family
Often the very first checks. Treat them like any other investor: use the same documents, and make sure they understand they could lose the money.
Pro tip: Find a lead first. Many angels prefer to join once someone else has committed and set the terms, so one confident lead can unlock the rest of your round.
What goes in a pre-seed pitch deck?
Keep it short and easy to skim. Investors move quickly: DocSend's pitch deck research found investors spend less than three minutes reviewing a deck.
A strong pre-seed deck usually covers these slides in about 10 to 12 pages:
- Problem: who has it and what it costs them
- Solution: what you've built and how it works
- Why now: what's changed that makes this possible
- Traction: your strongest proof of demand
- Market: how big the opportunity is
- Business model: how you'll make money
- Competition: the alternatives and why you'll win
- Team: why you're the ones to build this
- The ask: how much you're raising and the milestones it unlocks
Pro tip: Put your best proof point on slide two or three. If the investor stops reading early, they should still remember the one number that makes you interesting.
How do you run a pre-seed fundraising process?
Treat your raise like a sales pipeline, with a list, a script and a clear close date. Here's the process we'd follow:
- Build a target investor list. List 50 to 100 investors who have backed companies at your stage and in your sector. Note their typical check size and recent deals.
- Get warm introductions. Ask founders those investors have backed, advisors and mutual connections to introduce you. Make the ask easy with a short forwardable email.
- Batch your first meetings. Pack first calls into two or three weeks so interest builds at the same time.
- Follow up with a deadline. Share your target close date and keep investors updated on progress.
- Close and keep selling. Sign the SAFEs as commitments come in, then get back to customers.
A tight timeline helps because, as Paul Graham warns, "The most dangerous thing about investors is their indecisiveness." (A Fundraising Survival Guide) A deadline gives investors a reason to decide.
Forwardable intro email (copy and paste):
Subject: Intro to [Your name], [Company] ([one-line description])
Hi [Connector's name],
Would you be open to introducing me to [Investor name]? I noticed they backed [Portfolio company], and I think [Company] fits their focus.
[Company] helps [target customer] [solve problem]. In [timeframe], we've [strongest proof point, e.g., signed 12 paying customers / grown a 400-person waitlist].
We're raising a $[amount] pre-seed round to [main milestone]. Deck attached.
Thanks so much,
[Your name]
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between pre-seed and seed?
Pre-seed funds the earliest validation and product work. Seed usually follows once there is traction to scale.
What is a SAFE?
A Simple Agreement for Future Equity, created by Y Combinator. Investors give you money now, and it converts to equity at a later priced round, usually subject to a valuation cap.
Do I need revenue to raise pre-seed?
Not always. Investors may back strong teams with clear validation, though revenue strengthens your position.
How long does a pre-seed round take?
It varies widely, from several weeks to several months. Start before you need the money, and keep selling while you raise.
Pro tip: Start building investor relationships months before you raise. A short monthly update to a few interested investors turns a cold pitch into a warm one when you're ready.
Raising soon and want your story to land? Aloola builds positioning and messaging for founder-led companies in focused, fixed-scope sprints. Book a call.
