frontrun.vc

platform · pre-seed deal sourcing

pre-seed deal sourcing, before the round is a round

pre-seed is the stage where sourcing matters most and databases help least. the best rounds are closed before they're announced, so a tool that lists announced deals is always too late. frontrun sources the stage on its own terms - from investor behavior, before anything is public.

how do you source pre-seed and seed deals?

pre-seed and seed deal sourcing is finding companies early enough to win an allocation - which usually means before a round is public. the strongest sources are warm networks and behavioral signal, because databases only list companies once they're visible, by which point the pre-seed is often closed. frontrun sources this stage from the follow graphs of 1,000+ venture investors, flagging a company when several converge on it, often at double-digit followers and months before the raise.

why databases fail at pre-seed

a company at the pre-seed stage has little web presence, no announced round, and maybe forty followers. there's nothing for a coverage database to index yet. that's not a gap you fix with more coverage - you fix it with a different kind of signal, one that reads intent before there's a footprint.

behavioral signal doesn't care about aum

a solo gp watching the right follow graph sees the same convergence a mega-fund would. frontrun levels that: it surfaces pre-seed companies from investor behavior at $99/mo, with dated flags - @techdollarhq at 13 followers, $3M pre-seed 123 days later - so earliness is provable, not asserted.

which is right for you

you invest at pre-seed / seed
this is frontrun's core stage. it's built to surface companies before there's anything for a database to list.
you're a solo gp or emerging manager
behavioral signal is the great equalizer - $99/mo buys the same early view a large fund pays enterprise prices to approximate.
you need to prove you were early
every flag is dated, so your 'we saw it first' is checkable per company when you talk to lps or founders.

the receipts

frontrun's flags carry dated provenance, so "we saw it early" is checkable per company:

  • @techdollarhq - flagged at 13 followers, $3M pre-seed 123 days later
  • @orthogonal_sh - flagged 184 days before a $4.3M round led by Pantera
  • @rialto_xyz - flagged at 18 followers, 26 days before its Robinhood partner announcement

frequently asked

how do you find pre-seed startups before they raise?
from behavioral signal, not databases. frontrun tracks 1,000+ investors' follow graphs and flags a company when several converge - often at double-digit followers, months before a pre-seed round. $99/mo, 7-day trial.
what's the best tool for seed-stage deal sourcing?
frontrun, because it sources the stage on its own terms - pre-round investor signal - rather than listing announced rounds that are already closed. pair it with a database for later-stage diligence.
can a small fund compete on pre-seed sourcing?
on earliness, yes. behavioral signal doesn't scale with aum - a solo gp on frontrun sees the same convergence a large fund does, at $99/mo.
see the signal before the round
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