The San Francisco pre-seed playbook in 2026, in the order it actually happens.
How much to raise
Most SF pre-seeds are $1M to $3M on a SAFE, $8M to $20M post-money valuation cap. Enough to hire one or two people and stay alive 18 months. Anything less and you'll be raising again in 9 months. Anything more and you're already at seed pricing without seed metrics.
What SF pre-seed investors want in 2026
- A working prototype, even a rough one. No more decks-only rounds.
- One to three design partners actually using it, ideally paying something.
- A founder who has shipped a real product before, or who has deep operator context in the space.
- A specific reason it has to be a company, not a feature.
AI-native categories (dev tools, agents, vertical AI) still get more attention. Non-AI companies raise fine, but the story has to be sharper.
Who to talk to first
The SF pre-seed investor directory is the working list. Filter by sector (AI, fintech, healthcare, climate, robotics). Start with 30 to 50 firms. Prioritize:
1. Firms whose last 5 investments look like you
2. Firms with a partner you can actually get in front of
3. Firms that lead pre-seed (most don't; they follow angels)
Getting the intro
The fastest path: get 2 or 3 warm intros from founders whose companies these firms already invested in. Not from other founders raising right now. Not from advisors. Portfolio-founder intros convert 5 to 10x better than generic warm intros.
If you're new to SF and don't have that yet, spend 2 weeks going to events. See where founders actually meet in SF and this week's SF founder events.
The process, week by week
- Week 1: finalize deck and one-page memo. Test on 3 founder friends first.
- Week 2: line up 5 to 10 "meeting 0" chats. These don't count.
- Week 3 to 4: batch first meetings. Aim for 15 to 25 in two weeks so momentum is real.
- Week 5 to 6: second meetings, partner meetings, references.
- Week 6 to 8: close. First check triggers the rest.
Rounds that drag past 10 weeks usually don't close.
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