Brett's approach to pre-seed investing is built entirely around the founder, not the idea. At a stage where most companies have little to no traction, he goes straight to the team slide and digs for founder-market fit, how the team met, and why this specific group of people will push through when things get hard. His take on pitch meetings is equally refreshing: he doesn't want a presentation, he wants a real conversation.
Founders who come in reading slides or rattling off name drops lose him fast. He's looking for emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and someone who can show their passion without slipping into sales mode.
On the process itself, Brett gives some genuinely tactical advice that doesn't get talked about enough. He recommends founders have recorded customer calls and testimonials ready in their data room before diligence even starts, since reference calls are a bottleneck that can slow a round by a week or more. He also prefers investment memos over slide decks because the writing reveals the depth of a founder's thinking in a way that slides never can.
And when it comes to building the cap table, he cautions against letting one large fund take the entire round, pointing out how dangerous that signal becomes if you miss your metrics and that fund walks in the next raise.
Brett also doesn't shy away from what happens after the check clears. His warning to post-raise founders is one worth sitting with: once you have investors with opinions, you need a very strong filter. VCs have incentives, and those incentives don't always align with what's best for your business. The founders he most respects are the ones who move fast, stay honest, trust their gut, and filter feedback without losing conviction. His closing advice is almost provocatively simple: stop thinking about fundraising, and just build.
