Early DocuSign investor: at pre-seed, look for features that could become platforms
MartinGTobias · x · 2026-11-05
Serial entrepreneur Martin Tobias shares his core pre-seed test: find things that look like a feature but could become a platform.
He cites DocuSign: digital signatures were illegal in most states, investors saw phone signing as a feature, not a company — the old way was print, sign, scan, fax. Huge friction, counterintuitive path, but a massive business if you got through.
He argues the question matters even more now: if you're just a feature, someone copies you or the model replaces you; turn the feature into a platform and you're the one that can't be replaced.
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