The Bar Has Moved: What Pre-Seed Actually Means in 2026
Pre-seed in 2026 looks different. The bar has moved on traction, team, and product. What do investors actually expect before writing a check at the earliest stage of a startup?
Category Vibe Coding
Why “Funding-Contingent co-Founders” are a Non-Starter
Founder: “I’ve got it. The gap in the market everyone missed. With the new Agentic AI workflows, we can automate the entire middle-ware layer. It’s a billion-dollar play.” Me: “The architecture sounds solid. Who’s building it? Where’s your CTO?” Founder:…
Vibe Coding: Fast, Powerful — But Not Flawless
That was quick! Israeli startup Base44, started by 31 year old solopreneur Maor Shlomo sold to Wix for $80M just six months from launch. This is Maor’s second startup, having previously founded venture-backed Explorium, At the time of the acquisition,…