During the Antler India pre‑seed founder session on 2026‑10‑07 I captured key VC evaluation criteria shared by Raghav, which focus on the founder rather than the product and outline three belief conditions before committing capital.
At pre‑seed, a VC isn’t evaluating your product (product_not_evaluated); they evaluate you.
VCs look in a founder for audacity, grit, agency, clarity, unfair advantage.
Before any VC writes a cheque, they need to believe 3 things: large outcome, best team, right time.
Decision: I will prioritize demonstrating personal qualities—audacity, grit, agency, clarity, and any unfair advantage—because they reduce execution risk at the pre‑seed stage, and I will shape my pitch to highlight market size and timing to satisfy the three VC belief criteria.