How Due Diligence Is Changing for VCs at Seed

Here’s my due diligence dilemma. There’s so much to know and so many ways to know it, and yet it feels harder than ever.

Not because there’s less information. Because there’s too much. And because deals move so quickly that by the time you finish your work, the round is full.

It used to be about digging. Scrappy reference calls. Incomplete data. Building conviction from scarcity and a few meetings.

Now every company has:

• A polished deck
• A deep data room
• AI-generated market maps and Notion docs
• A credible MVP on day one, plus early design partners

Speed Is Warping Behavior

You’re on your second call and hear: “We’re hoping to wrap by Friday.”

I find myself making lightning-speed decisions. Ironically, I’m sometimes relying more on tools and synthesized data than actual time with the founders when it should probably be the reverse. That doesn’t sit quite right.

The Other Complication: No Shared Playbook

Everyone is underwriting something different.

VCs are social animals. I’ll leave one conversation convinced AI infra is the only thing that matters. Another convinced vertical SaaS with real revenue is dead or back from the dead. Another focused entirely on pedigree. There’s no clear consensus – just strong, differing opinions.

And Then… Repeat Founders

We’re seeing more repeat founders than ever. That’s a good thing. But there’s a lot to unpack.

What really happened in the last venture?

What are they running toward — or away from?

Are they uniquely suited to this problem… or just chasing the next wave?

Experience is signal. But it’s not the whole story.

Part of me thinks we’re over-diligencing. Another part thinks we’re under-diligencing and just moving too fast.

And part of me wonders if seed has always been art — and we just pretend it’s analysis.

Curious what others are doing.

Longer diligence? Shorter? Or just more conviction earlier?