Why Smart Founders Lose Momentum Early, What Investors Actually Screen For, Integrity Matters, FlexDrop Client Spotlight

Fundraising season is officially open, and with the start of 2026, founders are back on the market, sending decks, taking meetings, and trying to make early momentum count.

This month’s Lion Lookout looks at one of the most common ways that momentum gets lost early.

We sat down with Moshe Bellows, Partner at Maccabee Ventures, to hear about how he evaluates founders, pitch materials, and early-stage companies. Maccabee Ventures’ investment focus spans from SilverTech® (Aging) and Digital Health to B2B SaaS, FinTech, PropTech, and Cybersecurity.

Over the course of the conversation, he pointed to the common patterns he sees and the avoidable mistakes that founders make and the best practices for investor meetings.

1. Draw Me Into Your Problem

More and more, the first layer of due diligence is no longer human.

Decks are scanned, summarized, scored for structure, and flagged for gaps long before a founder has a chance to step in the room.

Most founders jump straight into their pitch, running at 100 mph.

Yet, what truly matters to the investor at the early stage isn’t the flashy features or the nuances of the technology. 

Moshe explains that the first and most important question he asks founders is about themselves and the problem that drives the company.

Why?

Because when founders rush straight into features, markets, and metrics, the investor never has a chance to emotionally anchor to the problem.

Once there’s shared experience, the entire conversation changes. It stops being just another call and starts becoming a shared problem to solve.

2. Rationality Matters More Than Confidence

Early-stage investing is not about having all the answers.

It’s about how founders think when pushed.

Investors routinely pressure-test founders to see how they reason.

Can they explain why a decision makes sense, not just that it does?

These aren’t “gotcha” moments. They’re alignment checks.

Strong founders don’t need to be right. They need to be grounded, and intellectually honest under pressure.

That’s what builds trust early.

3. Integrity Is Non-Negotiable

ChatGPT didn’t change what makes a great founder.

There’s one mistake founders don’t get to make twice.

If a single claim in the deck isn’t defensible (traction, assumptions, etc.), then credibility collapses.

As Moshe bluntly puts it:
“The second you lose integrity on whatever level it is, you’re done.”

Investors understand that strategy may evolve and projections may vary, but everything needs to be grounded in credible data. 

The best founders:

• Know their market deeply.

• Are realistic about outcomes.

• Can be ambitious but realistic at the same time.

If an investor can’t trust you in the deck, they won’t trust you when things get hard.

Interested in working with LionRun?

4. Founders Today Have No Shortage Of Tools. Use Them To Your Advantage

Founders today are operating with advantages that didn’t exist even a few years ago.

More tools.
More mentors.
More examples.
More accessible knowledge.

Building a company is still brutally hard, but the excuse gap has shrunk.

The founders who stand out are the ones who:

• Actively seek help

• Learn from people who’ve been through it

• Treat preparation as leverage, not overhead

Client Spotlight: FlexDrop

We sat down to speak with Yechezkel Rosenblum, co-founder and CEO of FlexDrop, a company building automation solutions that improve efficiency across last-mile delivery and urban logistics. Their platform helps retailers and carriers simplify operations, reduce manual overhead, and deliver better customer experiences in complex, real-world environments.

After working with LionRun, FlexDrop raised their round in a matter of weeks.

One investor told the founder he’d “never seen a presentation like this before.”

As Yechezkel told us, everyone they shared it with immediately understood what the company did and why it mattered.

In his own words: “If you’re raising capital, there’s nothing that replaces spending the right money in the right place.”

It was an honor to work with the FlexDrop team and we can’t wait to see all that they accomplish next!

To learn more about FlexDrop, contact Yechezkel via LinkedIn.

P.S. Email replies are on! If there are any topics you'd like to explore or questions you have, feel free to reply to this email.

Until next time, we’ll be on the lookout!

Thanks for reading! 

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