16VC: We’re Backing Companies Before They Look Like Companies

There’s a stage in company-building that most investors avoid.

It’s not quite pre-seed.
It’s not even “idea stage” in the usual sense.

It’s earlier than that — when nothing is fully formed yet.
No clear product. No clean narrative. No traction that makes sense on a slide.

Just a founder, a problem they can’t ignore, and a direction that feels directionally right even if everything is still undefined.

That’s the stage we…