Seed IR × OpenSeed — Matching 17 AI Mentors to the 6 Axes VCs Cut On in the First Meeting

#The 6 Axes of a VC's First Meeting — Where the Cuts Happen

The order in which a seed VC reviews an IR deck in a first meeting is fairly fixed. Here's the typical cut pattern in the Korean seed market, along with each axis's weight.

By Mashup Angels' standard, axes 1 and 2 (team at 50% + pain at 25%) determine 75% of the overall outcome. If these two axes are weak, you get cut no matter how good the market looks. Conversely, if these two are strong, you move to a second meeting even with a weaker market or business model.

#Mapping OpenSeed's 17 Mentors to the VC's 6 Axes

Here are the mentors that get automatically matched during an OpenSeed seed-IR analysis, and which VC axis each one digs into.

These 7 mentors make up your first-pass evaluation of a seed IR. For specialized fields like impact investing, deep tech, or social ventures, additional specialist mentors get matched automatically.

#IR Deck Slide Order — How the 6 Axes Get Distributed

Checking which slide each of the VC's 6 axes shows up on, in a standard IR deck (10–12 slides), makes it clear which OpenSeed mentor's comments to check first for each slide.

If slides 1 and 2 are weak, the VC's first impression sets before they even reach slide 3. If the mentors corresponding to slides 1 and 2 (problem-recognition, market-viability) show low ratings in your OpenSeed Round 1, strengthen those first.

#The Seed-IR Workflow — Cold Email → OpenSeed → VC Meeting

A seed round typically takes 4–7 months. Here's the recommended flow for when to run OpenSeed within that window for maximum efficiency.

Before you start cold emailing (weeks 5–6), you should finish OpenSeed Round 2 and proceed with an IR that received a 'meeting-ready' verdict. Send cold emails with an unvalidated IR, and you risk getting labeled a 'known weak IR' in the seed market — a reputation that's hard to recover from.

#The 5 Most Common Cut Patterns — OpenSeed's Detection Signals

There are recurring patterns that get seed VCs to cut a candidate immediately in the first meeting. Here's how OpenSeed detects each one.

If even one of these 5 patterns applies to your IR deck, OpenSeed's Round 1 will catch it. Catching it before you send your first cold email is what matters.

#Choosing an OpenSeed Avatar by VC Style

Beyond the 7 core mentors, OpenSeed lets you add certified VC/accelerator avatars. Pre-simulating with an avatar whose style is close to the actual VC you'll be meeting makes your pre-meeting check more accurate.

In OpenSeed's Step 1, select the 'seed IR' stage, then add 1–2 additional avatars — the 7 core mentors plus 2 avatars means 9 evaluations run simultaneously.

#Cold Email Only Gets You So Far — What OpenSeed Can't Simulate

There are areas OpenSeed doesn't catch well in a seed-IR analysis. These need to be covered by your own network instead.

• A specific VC partner's personal preferences — avatars can partially simulate this, but not 100%
• Timing (a given VC fund's remaining life and deal-flow appetite) — that requires an external tool like a fund finder
• Actual cold-email reply rates — typically 1–5%, driven by many variables beyond IR quality
• Post-meeting investment-committee politics — this doesn't show up in the data