The earliest institutional round, usually $250K to $1M from angels, micro-VCs, or accelerators in exchange for 5% to 10% on a SAFE , raised before real product-market fit .
Hustle Fund, Forum Ventures, and Afore Capital pioneered a fund category that ONLY does pre-seed — typically $50K-$500K checks for 1-5% ownership. The thesis: by the time YC happens, the best 5% of companies are already on someone's radar.
The terms you'll actually see in a SAFE or Series A term sheet.
The vocabulary you need to fluently pitch a VC.
The earliest days — finding your problem, validating it, shipping something.
The earliest days: finding your problem, validating it, shipping something small enough to learn from.