Sep 30, 2026 · 53 min · 11 segments
Adam Besvinick, founder and managing partner of Looking Glass Capital, joins Care Shift to talk about being the first yes at pre-seed, and why raising too much, too early is a mistake. Looking Glass…
Adam BesvinickGuestSathvik BilakantiHostYou know, one of the biggest things now is, especially on your stage, obviously, is the founders.
I don't know about you, but every time I see companies, the founders are... remarkable.
I mean, they're coming from good places, they've built a company in the past, or they've exited, or they're coming from a good domain where they have the knowledge.
You know, how are you kind of checking and doing correct DD on companies now, since it's becoming really busy, multiple people, multiple companies in the same kind of markets and things like that? How do you figure out, okay, this is the company that potentially might be it, or versus this other company who you know has a little bit you know maybe it's like three or four steps ahead of them but like not potentially as good as this company and they can easily catch up
yeah if i happen to see a company in a market that feels extremely crowded like at the time that i'm investing or would be investing i'll probably just not invest like frankly like i think that precede um you know if i there are times where like you know i might see three different companies in a relatively short window of time that are all building in and around the same space or i've seen a couple things get funded and then i see you know someone who's chasing them that that category too and i get precede if if there's so many direct competitors if you if you're that you're aware of it's really hard to
i i personally find it very hard to place you know you know an investment on just on one of those and be like, all right, this is going to be the winner at this stage when there's so much uncertainty.
Unless, of course, you happen to meet with that company and you meet with the founder and they are clearly exceptional and they have a very unique, typically I find that they need to have a very unique perspective on go-to-market and distribution and really an unfair advantage in that area for me to get conviction if they're operating a market that I feel like is already relatively crowded and saturated.
Then I also have examples of companies that I've backed where it wasn't crowded when I invested.
And if I had known what that market was going to look like, I probably would not have invested in in that company in the first place.
But, you know, that was a good, obviously it was a good idea because a bunch of other, you know, talented entrepreneurs felt like it was worth pursuing.
You brought up a couple of good points there with moats, kind of like if they have good distribution, maybe potentially proprietary data, like they have good information with them that others can't really replicate.
You know, what are those modes that you're currently seeing in 2026 and on that are kind of like stable for founders to kind of harp on and potentially differentiate them from the markets and everything else going on right now?
I think it's just so easy to build product these days that like the only to me, the only real edge comes down to technology.
for unique access to data? Is it and obviously not just scraping public data, which, you know, yes, can be valuable.
And maybe you can sort of build a more interesting sort of model with the same data that somebody else has access to, which which could be some a bit of an edge.
But it's some unique access to data that and a unique way of acquiring that data that other people just can't replicate immediately.
And then are there data network effects that come with this business, right? As you have more and more customers on you know, using your product, using your service, does that make the product better in time, right? Like, is it not just about network effects and that it's a better user experience, but actually the product is getting better, the data that you're accumulating through usage is more valuable for you? Is there some form of like, I don't know, I'll call it, you know, data exhaust, basically? Right.
You know, one of the biggest things now is, especially on your stage, obviously, is the founders.
I don't know about you, but every time I see companies, the founders are... remarkable.
I mean, they're coming from good places, they've built a company in the past, or they've exited, or they're coming from a good domain where they have the knowledge.
You know, how are you kind of checking and doing correct DD on companies now, since it's becoming really busy, multiple people, multiple companies in the same kind of markets and things like that? How do you figure out, okay, this is the company that potentially might be it, or versus this other company who you know has a little bit you know maybe it's like three or four steps ahead of them but like not potentially as good as this company and they can easily catch up
yeah if i happen to see a company in a market that feels extremely crowded like at the time that i'm investing or would be investing i'll probably just not invest like frankly like i think that precede um you know if i there are times where like you know i might see three different companies in a relatively short window of time that are all building in and around the same space or i've seen a couple things get funded and then i see you know someone who's chasing them that that category too and i get precede if if there's so many direct competitors if you if you're that you're aware of it's really hard to
i i personally find it very hard to place you know you know an investment on just on one of those and be like, all right, this is going to be the winner at this stage when there's so much uncertainty.
Unless, of course, you happen to meet with that company and you meet with the founder and they are clearly exceptional and they have a very unique, typically I find that they need to have a very unique perspective on go-to-market and distribution and really an unfair advantage in that area for me to get conviction if they're operating a market that I feel like is already relatively crowded and saturated.
Then I also have examples of companies that I've backed where it wasn't crowded when I invested.
And if I had known what that market was going to look like, I probably would not have invested in in that company in the first place.
But, you know, that was a good, obviously it was a good idea because a bunch of other, you know, talented entrepreneurs felt like it was worth pursuing.
You brought up a couple of good points there with moats, kind of like if they have good distribution, maybe potentially proprietary data, like they have good information with them that others can't really replicate.
You know, what are those modes that you're currently seeing in 2026 and on that are kind of like stable for founders to kind of harp on and potentially differentiate them from the markets and everything else going on right now?
I think it's just so easy to build product these days that like the only to me, the only real edge comes down to technology.
for unique access to data? Is it and obviously not just scraping public data, which, you know, yes, can be valuable.
And maybe you can sort of build a more interesting sort of model with the same data that somebody else has access to, which which could be some a bit of an edge.
But it's some unique access to data that and a unique way of acquiring that data that other people just can't replicate immediately.
And then are there data network effects that come with this business, right? As you have more and more customers on you know, using your product, using your service, does that make the product better in time, right? Like, is it not just about network effects and that it's a better user experience, but actually the product is getting better, the data that you're accumulating through usage is more valuable for you? Is there some form of like, I don't know, I'll call it, you know, data exhaust, basically? Right.
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