• 3 min read
No Product? These Investors Still Want Your Pre-Seed Pitch
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 will show founders how to win pre-seed funding without a product, with investors from Axiom Partners, True Ventures, and Slauson & Co.
Image: Flickr (opens in a new window)
AI startups are absorbing so much seed funding that founders seeking capital before they have a product are increasingly being judged against seed-stage standards. TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 will address that pressure with a Builders Stage panel titled “Winning Pre-Seed Without a Product.”
The session will examine how founders with a compelling idea but no working product can make a credible case to investors. As AI tools accelerate minimum viable product development, the panel will focus on the other signals that can help a pre-seed company stand out: conviction, storytelling, and a clear understanding of the opportunity.
Three investors on pre-seed fundraising
The panel will feature three investors with experience across early-stage funding, company building, acquisitions, and founder inclusion.
Sandhya Venkatachalam, founder and managing partner at Axiom Partners, will bring experience as both an investor and a participant in successful exits.
Image credit: Axiom Partners
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Venkatachalam oversees Axiom Partners, a newly launched $52 million early-stage venture fund focused on connecting founders with leading AI practitioners and supporting AI applications aimed at real-world improvements. She previously served as a general partner at Khosla Ventures and Social Capital, where she was the first investor in Groq. She also led investments in GalileoAI, ForethoughtAI, and FirefliesAI; those companies have either been acquired or reached unicorn status.
Puneet Agarwal, managing partner at True Ventures, has worked at the firm since 2008, joining three years after its early-stage focus began in 2005. His current work centers on the transformation of enterprise infrastructure and applications during the AI era.
Image credit: True Ventures
True Ventures operates across 12 funds, with partnerships involving more than 500 companies and 1,050 founders. Its portfolio has produced more than 60 acquisitions and seven IPOs.
The third speaker, Austin Clements, is managing partner at Slauson & Co. The firm emphasizes economic inclusion and small-business empowerment, and Clements launched an accelerator within Slauson & Co. to deepen that mission.
Image credit: Slauson & Co.
Clements is also the founding chair of PledgeLA, which works with the Annenberg Foundation and the Los Angeles mayor’s office to promote diversity in the technology community. Slauson & Co.'s investments include Glīd, the winner of Startup Battlefield 2026.
Disrupt 2026 dates and location
The pre-seed panel is part of the Builders Stage, which will host sessions and workshops on operational decisions, fundraising, go-to-market strategy, and other startup issues. More programming will be announced ahead of the event.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 will take place at Moscone West in San Francisco from October 13–15. Tickets are currently available at the best prices offered for the remainder of the year.
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Marcus follows the money. He covers enterprise software, cloud architecture, and the tectonic shifts in Big Tech strategy. He translates dense earnings calls and complex M&A activity into actionable insights about where the industry is actually heading. If a tech giant makes a silent pivot, Marcus is usually the first to notice.
via TechCrunch
