1. Solving real problems? We invest in innovations that address critical problems for U.S. consumers, workers, and business owners. We don’t like trivial products or fads.
2. Which industries do we like? We invest in companies whose primary product is software, predominantly in the following verticals:
While we focus on the above verticals, we look at software startups solving meaningful problems in general. If in doubt, please apply.
3. What industries do we not invest in? There are some industries in which we do not invest:
4. What stage do we invest? We invest in pre-seed and seed stage companies.
5. Where do we invest? We do not invest in companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area/Silicon Valley. We prefer companies headquartered throughout the rest of the United States. We do not currently invest in companies headquartered outside the U.S.
At the early stage, we understand that “headquarters” can be loosely defined. For our investment decisions, we define this by where the founders are based and not on the place of incorporation. We require incorporation in the U.S. with a preference for Delaware C-Corp.
6. Who do we invest in? We do not qualify or disqualify investment opportunities based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws. Decisions are based on the market opportunity, traction, whether the business meets the above criteria (#1-5), and whether we believe the founding team brings the right skills to execute on the vision.
only takes 3 minutes
We try to make quick decisions. End-to-end, we aim to make an investment decision within 6–8 weeks.
1. It all starts with our open-access intake form: To ensure that any founder has access to our deal team, we require all founders seeking investment to submit their pitch through our quick intake form.
2. In the next stage, we request additional information to inform a conversation with our investment team.
3. If all still aligns, we have an introductory one-hour call with the partners.
4. After a review of additional materials (data room), we have another follow-up call to meet all the founders and subsequent 1-2 calls to ask additional questions.
5. Final diligence includes a one-week collaboration surrounding a challenge the founders select.
We invest at the pre-seed and seed stages in passionate, tenacious founders solving big problems and help them grow their startup with hands-on product, marketing, sales, and fundraising support