Hey, friends of Soapbox! Welcome to our May newsletter.

Did you miss us last month?

Don’t worry, we’re back! We took a quick month off to ~refocus~ but as the crypto bros say we are so back!

Soapbox of the Month

Pre-Traction

Written by Maria

Read & share this Soapbox Moment Here  

Thoughts on legitimate ways to display traction early

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about what traction really means at the pre-seed stage, particularly before a fully built product, paying customers, or hints of revenue. This stage is incredibly nebulous. As a founder, how do you de-risk your idea in a way that creates conviction, not just for yourself, but in the eyes of investors?

It’s a tricky balance. Founders want to raise capital off the strength of their background, a 10-slide deck, and maybe an MVP. But the reality is, real traction is leverage. If you have people paying for what you’re building, even in small amounts, the path to closing a round gets dramatically easier. Still, I think there are legitimate and strategic ways to display traction that don’t rely on traditional revenue. These “pre-traction” signals can tell a compelling story about market demand and founder execution, even before a wire hits the bank.

At Redbud, we back a handful of pre-seed companies each year. Almost all of them have something built (i.e., some version of an early product) and often, a few design partners or test users. But 90% of the time, there’s no meaningful revenue. Maybe a couple hundred dollars in MRR. And yet, when a company is compelling at this stage, it can come down to a strong pre-traction narrative.

To me, pre-traction means early, often scrappy signals that people are willing to pay for what you’re building or at least are highly interested. If you’re launching a consumer product, maybe it’s a waitlist of 10,000 people. If you’re building a B2B SaaS tool, maybe it’s a warm pipeline of three or four design partners who’ve agreed to test and eventually buy the product.

When I evaluate companies like this, I’m constantly asking: how long will it take before these early users convert into paying customers? If a founder has thought through that timeline and is willing to hold themselves accountable to it, that’s a massive indicator of clarity and conviction. It gives investors something tangible to pull on, but more importantly, it shows the founder is operating with honest constraints and urgency.

Sometimes, pre-traction is rooted in lived experience or a unique domain insight. A founder might say, “I know product managers will buy this tomorrow, because at my last company, we spent $25K a year trying to solve this exact problem.” That’s not a paying customer, but it is a signal. It reflects a deep understanding of the pain and a credible path to solving it.

There’s nothing more compelling than a founder who says, “I know this is real. I know people want it.” And then backs that up with a waitlist, a pipeline, or even a series of customer conversations proving demand is bubbling beneath the surface. The best founders don’t just hope people will buy; they have early evidence that someone is already leaning in somewhere.

Ultimately, pre-traction is about accelerating the speed of iteration. If a founder understands how they’ll acquire users, when they’ll start paying, and where the early friction lies, they can build faster, learn faster, and adjust quickly when things don’t go as planned. The advice to “build and ship quickly” is universal for a reason. But if you’re raising capital while doing that, think deeply about how you communicate the friction you’re feeling, the conversations you’re having, and the early signs that what you’re building matters.

CAREER 🧑‍💻

Mid-year time = performance reviews!!

If you’re an investor or an early‑stage startup operator, that often means facing the slightly awkward “So…how am I doing?” chat with a manager or partner. Those meetings can feel murky when your role isn’t crisply defined (welcome to startups lol). Luckily for us, that ambiguity is something we can tame.

Here’s how I approach review season:

Own the narrative: Before the meeting, I outline my role as I understand it. If the scope feels fuzzy, I bring that draft to my manager and shape it together. Clear guardrails benefit us both.

Highlight 1-2 major personal wins: I start with a short list of accomplishments that were squarely on my plate. These are projects where I alone moved the needle and the end result was largely driven by my own work.

Highlight 1-2 team‑level impacts: I always mention ways I made the whole team better. This can be refining a process, mentoring a teammate, or supporting a partner to bring a deal across the finish line.

Share what energizes me: Momentum follows enjoyment. I flag the tasks that light me up and refocus my JD on the areas I want to spend time.

Ask for one lift: I pick one area I want to improve up. This can be solely focused on me or it can be something I want to be different within the team. I spell out exactly what I need: maybe tooling, a product, or just tighter feedback loops.

For those in VC check out Maria’s performance review template!

CULTURE 🌈

Do you have high agency?

In a world of AI agents, this question matters more than ever. I loved The Agency Crisis by Freya India (featuring Gurwinder Bhogal), which explores how AI isn't just changing how we work—it’s changing how we think. Or maybe how little we do.

The post makes the case that we’re at a crossroads: we can either let AI dull our instincts and decision-making, or we can use it to sharpen them. She calls this the difference between high-agency and low-agency people. Low-agency folks outsource their thinking. High-agency people stay curious, creative, and in control, even while using tools like AI.

This hit especially hard as someone in venture. A lot of what junior investors are taught to do, like market mapping, sourcing, writing memos, is already being eaten by AI. So what’s left? Judgment. Taste. Point of view. Creative thinking. If you’re not using AI as a thinking partner but as a crutch, there’s some risk.

CAPITAL 💸

JetBlue just offloaded its venture arm.

JetBlue Ventures has been sold to asset manager Sky Leasing, a move that frees up cash as the airline fights its way back to profitability. The new structure will let the venture team find new LPs, while JetBlue itself focuses on flying planes and making money again. ✈️

This isn’t just about JetBlue. It’s part of a bigger pattern: CVCs that boomed during the 2020-2021 cycle are pulling back or getting sunset altogether (RIP Verizon Ventures and Xerox CVC). JetBlue Ventures actually had solid performance and a clear thesis around aviation and frontier tech. But even solid returns aren’t enough when the core business is facing turbulence.

JetBlue says they still believe in the value of CVC, and they’ll stay involved in the existing portfolio. But this move reinforces that CVC is often a “Fairweather Friend.” When times are good, CVCs are innovation arms. When challenges arise, they’re line items to cut. We will probably continue to see CVCs shedding their parent companies, going independent, or shutting down altogether.

From Our Feed to Yours

Tweets, Memes, and other things from our feed that gave us a laugh.

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