Tank Talks By Ripple Ventures The Power of Pre-Seed: Why Momentum Is the Only Moat with Gaurav Jain of Afore Capital
In this episode of Tank Talks, we’re joined by Gaurav Jain, co-founder of Afore Capital, one of the earliest and most respected players in the pre-seed investing space. Gaurav shares how growing up in a small town in India, moving to Canada, and working at Blackberry, Amazon, and Google helped him understand the value of momentum, iteration, and building products that truly matter.
He walks us through how a random dinner at Harvard led to meeting his future co-founder, how they built Afore around the belief that the best founders are often overlooked too early, and why the firm exclusively focuses on investing before there's a product or sometimes even an idea.
Gaurav dives into what makes a great founder at the earliest stage, why he believes momentum is the only moat, and how the rise of AI has only accelerated opportunities for young, technical entrepreneurs to build enduring companies with less capital. He also opens up about the firm's "Founder-in-Residence" and "UTransfer" programs, his view on the Canadian tech scene, and the power of bespoke, high-conviction investing.
We explore:
* Why is momentum the only true moat in early-stage startups?
* Can pre-seed investing still deliver alpha now that it's crowded?
* Is seed-strapping the future of venture capital?
* How do you identify founders before they've found their idea?
* What happens when you give 19-year-olds the capital to build?
Building a Pre-Seed Fund Before “Pre-Seed” Was a Thing (00:03:54)
* Interning globally to chase experience and perspective
* The turning point: joining Founder Collective
* Meeting co-founder Anamitra through a lucky dinner at Foundation Capital
* Launching Afore in 2016 to fill the pre-seed void
Founder Empathy & Early-Stage VC Lessons (00:08:17)
* Mistakes from being a first-time founder
* Learning that exits don’t matter, products and pain points do
* Why Canadian angel advice focused too much on sales, not software
* Why product-led growth is a must-have, not a nice-to-have
The 10,000 Coffees Rule of Venture (00:11:27)
* How judgment is built: time, exposure, and repetition
* Why investing based on ideas (not teams) is a rookie mistake
* Filtering “this could work” vs. “this must work”
* The real constraint in VC: time, not capital
Afore’s Mission: Investing Before the Idea (00:15:00)
* The “Too Early” problem founders face and why Afore exists
* How FIR (Founder in Residence) and Transfer University fund ideation
* Building a support system, not a portfolio of call options
* Why being idea-stage isn’t a red flag, it’s a sign of ambition
Convincing LPs That Pre-Seed Was Real (00:19:19)
* LP skepticism: “Isn’t this just the bad deals no one else wants?”
* How talking to founders not seed managers won over investors
* Working with PitchBook and Crunchbase to split out pre-seed data
* Making pre-seed visible helped founders self-identify and align
Seed-Strapping and the Rise of Efficient Startups (00:24:00)
* How AI-native startups are hitting $1M ARR 2x faster
* Case study: Gamma’s hypergrowth on ultra-low burn
* Why founders can delay growth rounds longer than ever
* Capital efficiency is now a competitive edge
Momentum Is the Only Moat (00:26:07)
* How Android’s rise taught Gaurav speed = survival
* Lessons from RIM’s downfall: never rest on product laurels
* Why the AI era is reshaping iteration timelines
* Pre-seed startups now move at the speed of launches, not quarters
Pivot-as-a-Service in the AI World (00:34:16)
* FIR teams pivoting from speech therapy to CX platforms
* Younger founders = more raw talent, less domain bias
* Startups pivoting every 6–8 weeks—and why that’s healthy
* Embracing pivots as a feature, not a flaw
Scaling Afore with Purpose (00:35:21)
* Fund IV, $500M+ AUM, and 150+ companies later
* Why concentrated portfolios beat spray-and-pray
* The dangers of being too dogmatic on stage or valuation
* Supporting breakout talent like Neo, Gamma, and Bench
Global Perspective: Canada’s Role in Venture (00:41:19)
* Why Canada produces world-class engineering talent
* The upside and limits of building in the North
* Hybrid models: Canada for R&D, U.S. for GTM
* Afore’s belief in serving Canadian founders, wherever they build
Failure may define most early-stage startups, but for Gaurav Jain, the real story starts before the pitch, before the product, even before the idea. With Afore Capital, he is betting on people over polish, instinct over perfection, and helping founders build long before the rest of the world is watching. His journey reminds us that great companies don’t always start with traction; they start with trust.
About Gaurav Jain
Co-founder and Managing Partner at Afore Capital. Ex-Android, BlackBerry, and founder of Polar Mobile. Afore is known for being one of the first firms dedicated to pre-seed, supporting founders before they even have an idea.
Connect with Gaurav Jain on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gjainvc
Visit Afore Capital Website: https://www.afore.vc/
Connect with Matt Cohen on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1
Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/
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