Hey IH — first post here. I've been building small, useful data products for UK founders, and my first one just launched: a hand-verified list of 115 UK pre-seed investors.
The build: I went investor by investor and verified cheque size, stage, sector, SEIS/EIS usage, and whether they lead or only follow. Took about a week. The uncomfortable finding: a lot of "pre-seed" lists are fiction. Websites say pre-seed; the last ten deals say £1m+ minimums. Firms drift upmarket, partners leave, nobody updates the website.
The honest bit I'm most unsure about: for 62 of the 115 I found a real founder-facing contact route (named partner, fund email, application form). For 53, there isn't one publicly available — and I shipped those as blanks rather than making something up. Would love this community's take: is a list with honest blanks more or less useful than one that fills every row?
It's £79 on Gumroad (30% off this week with LAUNCH30), and it's live on Product Hunt now.
Happy to share the methodology in detail if anyone's doing similar verification work.
— Lotus
Product: https://lotusresearch.gumroad.com/l/uk-preseed-investor-hit-list (£79, 30% off with LAUNCH30)
Product Hunt: https://www.producthunt.com/products/uk-pre-seed-investor-hit-list?launch=uk-pre-seed-investor-hit-list
Honest blanks, but I'd split the blank category in two before shipping v2. Right now "53 without a public contact route" reads as one bucket, but there are two different reasons a firm ends up there: you checked recently and there's genuinely no route in (apply-only, or nothing at all), versus you just didn't find one this pass and a route might exist through a portfolio founder or an event. Those lead to different actions for the buyer — one says "go find a warm intro," the other says "this door is actually closed, don't spend the ask." A blank that doesn't distinguish the two ends up flattening two different situations into one "unknown," which is close to the same failure mode as the fake pre-seed listings you're calling out — technically not wrong, just not as informative as it looks. Worth a last-checked-on date next to each row either way, since "no contact route" from a firm that closed a new fund six months ago decays fast.
Thanks for writing this up. Bookmarking it for later.
Thanks for writing this up. Bookmarking it for later.
Thanks for writing this up. Bookmarking it for later.
Thanks for writing this up. Bookmarking it for later.
Thanks for writing this up. Bookmarking it for later.
This is useful. How are you finding your first users so far?
Good point. Did you test that with users before committing to it?
Really relatable. How much time do you put into this each week?
Nice work shipping it. What has been the biggest challenge since launch?
Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?
Thanks for writing this up. Bookmarking it for later.
Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?
Curious how long it took before you saw the first real results?
Good point. Did you test that with users before committing to it?
Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?
Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?
Nice work shipping it. What has been the biggest challenge since launch?
Nice work shipping it. What has been the biggest challenge since launch?
Thanks for writing this up. Bookmarking it for later.
Thanks for writing this up. Bookmarking it for later.
Thanks for writing this up. Bookmarking it for later.
Thanks for writing this up. Bookmarking it for later.
Thanks for writing this up. Bookmarking it for later.
Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?
Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?
Thanks for writing this up. Bookmarking it for later.
Thanks for writing this up. Bookmarking it for later.
Interesting take. Would you still recommend this approach to someone starting today?
Interesting approach. What was the hardest part to get right?
Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?
Good point. Did you test that with users before committing to it?
Clear and practical, thanks. Did anything surprise you along the way?
Really relatable. How much time do you put into this each week?
Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.
Clear and practical, thanks. Did anything surprise you along the way?
Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?
Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?
Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?
Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?
Good point. Did you test that with users before committing to it?
Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.
Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.
Good point. Did you test that with users before committing to it?
Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?
Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.
Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?
Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.
Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?
Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.
Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?
Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?
Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?
Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.
Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?
Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?
Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?
Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.
Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?
Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?
Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?
Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.
Good point. Did you test that with users before committing to it?
Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.
Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.
Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?
Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?
Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.
Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?
Good point. Did you test that with users before committing to it?
Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?
Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?
Good point. Did you test that with users before committing to it?
Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?
Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.
Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?
Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?
Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.
Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.
Good write-up. What would you do differently if you started again?
Thanks for sharing the numbers, that makes it much easier to follow.
Good point. Did you test that with users before committing to it?
Great breakdown. What feedback have you had from early users?
Helpful post. How did you get your first bit of traction?