Raising Pre-Seed with Northside Ventures
Join Northside Ventures for a founder-first lunch & learn during Waterloo Tech Week to discuss what it really takes to raise your first pre-seed. No slides, no fluff. Just honest stories and tactical advice from founders and investors who’ve been there.
Lunch and drinks will be available at noon with the panel discussion beginning at 12:30pm. People are welcome to stay after and network.
Our panel includes:
Jay Shah (UW '11) — Co-founder of BufferBox (YCS12) backed by Sam Altman, Garry Tan, Alexis Ohanian, Paul Buchheit, SV Angel, GV, Inovia, Garage Capital and acquired by Google; Now building Poppy backed by Northside Ventures and others.
Devon Galloway (UW '10) — Co-founder of Vidyard (YCS11), raised $90m from Bessemer, Battery Ventures, Uncork, Salesforce Ventures and Inovia.
Amit Jethani (UW '08) - Co-founder of Mantle cap table software, raised a pre-seed from Eniac, Craft Ventures, Sierra Ventures, and Garage Capital; previously Director of Product @ Autonomic (acq. by Ford) and Top Hat.
We’ll cover:
What makes an idea venture-backable
How much progress you need before raising
What pre-seed investors actually look for (and red flags)
How to tell your story when you have little or no traction
How much should you raise and when should you use a SAFE vs a priced round
How to create VC demand for your round
Which VCs should you work with
Thank you to our sponsor CIBC Innovation Banking for making this event possible.
CIBC Innovation Banking brings 25 years of expertise supporting growth-stage tech and life science companies across North America, managing over $11 billion in funds. With a presence in 14 global locations, the team has assisted more than 700 venture and private equity-backed businesses in the past six and a half years. Connect with us to learn how we can support your growth.
If you’re building now or planning to raise soon, this is the one Tech Week event you don’t want to miss 🚀
We are official event hosts with Waterloo Tech Week 2025, a celebration of what’s been built here, and what’s still to come. We’re building something great together. September 8-11, 2025. waterlootechweek.ca