K9 Ventures coined the term "Pre-Seed" and positions itself as "frighteningly early" first institutional money, refusing to invest in companies already in accelerators and only making 4-6 investments per year with a hyper-concentrated model where founder Manu Kumar acts as a hands-on "company builder" rather than high-volume picker. The firm uses an unusually strict five-filter framework requiring technical founders with core new technology, direct revenue models, hyper-local Bay Area founding teams within 30 miles of Stanford, and insists on priced equity rounds while avoiding convertible notes and SAFEs—positioning itself as anti-herd and preferring to lead rounds with board seats even at pre-seed stage.