Pre-Seed
Definition
The earliest institutional funding stage, typically prior to the company having launched a commercial product or generated material revenue. Pre-seed investment typically covers initial product development, early team hiring, and market validation. Financial infrastructure requirements at Pre-Seed stage are defined in the FFI Standard as a distinct stage between Inception Stage and Seed Stage, with Level 1 compliance required across financial architecture and capital structure.
Common Misapplication
The most common misapplication is treating pre-seed as equivalent to a friends and family round with no investor expectations. Pre-seed institutional investors, such as pre-seed funds and scouts, have specific financial infrastructure expectations that differ from those of non-institutional early backers.
FFI Standard Reference
This term is defined and applied in Book 0, Section 0.5: Company Stage Definitions.
Related Terms
Citable URL
This term may be cited using the following permanent URL.
Full citation format: Founder Financial Infrastructure Standard, Beta v0.5, Glossary: Pre-Seed. https://ffistandard.org/glossary/pre-seed/. 2026.