Thesis

We fund the person before the market gets obvious.

At pre-seed there is rarely enough evidence to be right for the correct reasons. So we bet on judgment, speed, and the specific unfair advantage a founder has already earned.

Pitch us See the portfolio
Two founders talking through a plan at a desk
What we believe

Four positions we hold, and would defend.

  1. 01

    Category discipline is overrated this early

    Pre-seed markets are guesses. A fund that only invests in one sector eventually funds a mediocre team inside its thesis and passes on a great one outside it. We would rather stay generalist and be honest about what we do not know.

  2. 02

    Distribution is architecture, not a later phase

    The companies that break out decide how they will reach people in the first month, not the first year. We ask about it early because retrofitting distribution is expensive.

  3. 03

    Small funds can afford to be patient

    We raise deliberately small funds. That means one company returning the fund is enough, so we never have to push a founder toward a round they do not need.

  4. 04

    Speed is a form of respect

    A fundraise costs a founder attention they cannot get back. We move in two weeks so the cost stays contained either way.

Where we invest

Generalist mandate, four areas of real depth.

We can be useful on day one in these four.

Outside them we still invest, and we say plainly that our help will be about company building rather than the domain.

Infrastructure

Data, compute, and the systems engineers build on. Long sales cycles, deep moats, and a founder profile we recognize.

Applied AI

Models doing real work inside a workflow. We look for domain knowledge first and model choice second.

Fintech

Payments, treasury, and the operating layer under small businesses. Unglamorous and durable.

Security

Identity, runtime defense, and the surface area that agents are creating faster than anyone can patch it.

What we look for

Five things we actually talk about after you leave the room.

  1. 01

    Earned insight

    You know something about this problem that most people cannot learn from reading. Usually it comes from having lived inside it.

  2. 02

    Rate of change

    How much better the team got between the first meeting and the second. This predicts more than any metric available at pre-seed.

  3. 03

    A user who would be upset

    Even one. Someone who would notice if the product disappeared tomorrow is worth more than a waitlist of thousands.

  4. 04

    Clarity under pressure

    Founders who can say what they do not know without hedging tend to make faster decisions later.

  5. 05

    A reason this is a company

    Not every good product needs venture money. We ask what breaks if it stays small, and we respect the answer either way.

What we pass on

Saying this in public saves everyone a meeting.

We are the wrong fund for some good companies.

Rounds already assembled

If the round is closing next week and you need a name to fill it, we will be too slow and too curious.

Teams without a builder

A market thesis with the engineering outsourced does not survive the first year.

Capital-heavy hardware

We admire it. We are not the right first check for a company that needs a factory before it needs a customer.

Anything with a hidden user

If the business only works when the customer does not understand it, we pass.

The terms

The numbers, before you ask.

Stage
Pre-seed and seed. First institutional money in, usually before a Series A conversation exists.
First check
$500,000 to $2,500,000. We lead about half the time and are comfortable following a lead we respect.
Ownership
We target 8 to 12 percent and we will not blow up a round to get there.
Reserves
Roughly one dollar held for every dollar invested, for the next two rounds.
Geography
United States and Europe primarily, with selective investments elsewhere when we can be genuinely present.
Instruments
Post-money safe or a priced seed on standard documents. No participating preferred, no unusual control terms.
Board
A seat when we lead and you want it filled. Otherwise an observer seat, or nothing.
Next step

If any of this sounds like your company, write to us.

Tell us what you are building and why you are the person building it. Two paragraphs is plenty.

Pitch us Read how we work