The Pre-Seed Podcast with Fexingo: Idea-Stage Founders, First Checks, and Earliest Funding

In this episode of The Pre-Seed Podcast, Lucas and Luna tackle a question every idea-stage founder wrestles with: does going it alone kill your chances of raising a first check? They dig into data from a 2025 study showing solo founders raised 22 percent less on average across pre-seed rounds compared to two-person teams — but also that solo founders who land a lead investor see higher valuations...

Lucas and Luna dive into what it actually takes to build a pitch deck when all you have is an idea. They break down the single most important slide for idea-stage founders — the problem slide — and walk through real examples from Airbnb, Uber, and a startup called Flow that nailed it with zero revenue. Lucas shares a specific framework: the 'before-after-bridge' structure that turns a vague concep...

In Episode 2 of The Pre-Seed Podcast, Lucas and Luna break down why so many idea-stage founders get rejected — and what the ones who get funded do differently. They walk through a real case: a fintech founder who raised $500,000 with nothing but a deck, a waitlist of 200 users, and a clear thesis on a regulatory shift. The conversation covers pattern-matching in early-stage investing, the differen...

In this first episode of The Pre-Seed Podcast, Lucas and Luna dive into the story of how two first-time founders secured their first $250,000 check from a micro VC. They break down the exact pitch deck slide that got the investor to say yes, what the founders got wrong on their first try, and why most pre-seed funding comes from people you already know. The conversation covers the difference betwe...