We partnered with DreamVC in this webinar to unpack how investors, big and small, are building smarter, more scalable stacks.
For an industry built on innovation, our infrastructure has lagged behind. At many firms, you’ll still find Excel sheets duct-taped to Google Drives. That’s changing. A quiet tooling revolution is underway or shall I say, has passed us, and it’s not just for billion-dollar firms. From solo GPs and syndicates to institutional seed funds, VCs are assembling smarter, modular software stacks that streamline operations, reclaim time, and elevate decision-making.
Why Now?
Early-stage investing is a high-context, low-resources game. You’re juggling pipeline, diligence, founder support, LP management, and usually doing it all with a lean team.
Good tools don’t replace instinct. They sharpen it. They free you up to think about the deal, not where the SAFE note is saved. Rather than relying on a single platform, most firms are embracing a layered stack.
A Day in the Stack: Real-World Flow for a $15M Seed Fund
Imagine a lean two-person fund. Here’s how their workflow runs across tools:
- Sourcing: Intros and events go straight into Affinity , tagged with sectors, stages, and notes. Their IC pulls live from the system.
- Diligence: Standard checklists in Notion guide each deal. Founders share materials via DocSend, and the cap table gets vetted in Carta or Capboard
- Docs & Close: Final agreements and SAFEs are dropped into structured folders. Some teams streamline investor onboarding using Passthrough or Allocations
- Post-Investment Ops: This is where Seraf becomes the quiet engine, tracking IRR, KPIs, and cash positions, organizing documents, managing deadlines, and generating stakeholder-ready updates.
- LP Reporting: Quarterly snapshots pull directly from Seraf—auto-generating PDFs with performance data, updates, and notes, ready to send or sync with a Notion-built LP portal.
They’ve essentially institutionalized their fund - without needing a large back-office team.
This Isn’t Just for Funds
Angels, syndicates, and even startup accelerators are tapping into this tooling wave:
- Cap table visibility: Ledgy or Capboard.
- Investor group operations: Seraf, AngelList Stack.
- Onboarding & compliance: Anduin, Passthrough.
It’s never been easier to run like a fund, even if you’re just starting out.
Where Seraf Fits?
Amid all the tools in the stack, Seraf is purpose-built for the long haul. It’s not trying to do everything-it just does what fund managers need quietly, cleanly, and reliably.
- Tracks holdings, IRR, and custom KPIs
- Collects updates directly from founders
- Organizes all deal docs and deadlines
- Auto-generates reports and LP-ready outputs
- Enables investor portals with real-time access
A smart stack isn’t about more tech. It’s about less noise. The best firms we’ve seen are building infrastructure that fades into the background and amplifies what matters: conversations, conviction, and clarity.
Missed the webinar? No worries, click the video below to watch!
