Here at Outlander VC, we have a simple philosophy: pedigree doesn’t predict success.
Often the most transformational companies are built by visionaries who might not fit the traditional venture capital mold. That’s why we’re committed to backing exceptional founders from Day Zero—regardless of where they’re building, what city they call home, or whether they have fancy generational legacy degrees.
We don’t invest in credentials. We invest in vision, execution, intelligence, and character.
If you’re building something extraordinary—especially if you’ve been underestimated or overlooked—we created this list specifically for you.
We’ve curated 25 VC funding sources for underrepresented founders in 2025. These early-stage funds truly understand what it means to back brilliance early, and they’re actively investing in women, people of color, LGBTQ+ founders, immigrants, veterans, and others who’ve historically been left out of the conversation.
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $750K–$2.5M
Focus: Visionary founders building software or hardware-enabled software. We’re spending time thinking about AI applications, autonomy, Future of Work, consumer tech, energy, infrastructure, health, and more (just no crypto, gaming, biotech/pharma, or CPG)
What Makes Us Different: We couldn’t care less where you went to school or who’s in your network—we care about your ability to build something world-changing.
Website: https://outlander.vc
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: Varies, $250K-$750K
Focus: Diverse Founders, Software, Healthcare, SaaS
Website: https://www.january.ventures/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A
Check Size: Varies, $250K-4M
Focus: Underrepresented Founders, Female Founders, LGBTQ+
Website: https://precursorvc.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Seed, Series A
Check Size: Varies, 500K – $750K.
Focus: Female Founders in B2B, Consumer, Healthcare, and Fintech
Website: https://femalefoundersfund.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Seed
Check Size: $1M
Focus: Female Founders, healthcare and climate
Website: https://truewealthvc.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Seed
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Female Founders in health, education, climate, and consumer
Website: https://www.bbgventures.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: Varies, $500K-$1.5M
Focus: Underrepresented Founders, Healthcare, Consumer, Tech Agnostic
Website: https://www.chingona.ventures/
Apply:Click Here
Stage: Seed, Series A
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Female Founders, B2B Saas
Website: https://www.hearstlab.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $300K average
Focus: Black and Latinx Founders, Sector Agnostic
Website: https://www.levelupventures.com
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Early Stage
Check Size: $750K-$1.5M pre-seed, $2M Seed+
Focus: Underrepresented Founders, Consumer
Website: https://westboundequity.com/
Apply: Get in Touch
Stage: Early Stage
Check Size: Varies, ~$500K
Focus: Female Founders, Impact
Website: https://www.contextvc.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Early Stage
Check Size: Varies, ~250K-$1M
Focus: LGBTQ+ and allies
Website: http://gaingels.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Early Stage
Check Size: Varies, ~$500K
Focus: Female Founders, Impact
Website: https://thehelm.co/
Apply: Get in Touch
Stage: Early Stage
Check Size: Varies, $25K-$400K
Focus: Female Founders
Website: https://grahamwalker.com/
Apply:Click Here
Stage: Seed
Check Size: Varies, $150K first check
Focus: Underrepresented Founders, Consumer, SaaS
Website: https://www.hustlefund.vc/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Early Stage
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Female Founders
Website: https://chai-ventures.com/
Apply: Get in Touch
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: Varies, $500K-$1M
Focus: Underrepresented Founders
Website: http://harlem.capital/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Early Stage
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Female founders, FinTech
Website: https://ecosystem.anthemis.com/female-innovators-lab/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Pre-Seed to Series A
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Underrepresented Founders
Website: https://macventurecapital.com/
Apply:Get in Touch
Stage: Seed
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Latinx, Underrepresented Founders
Website: https://vamosventures.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Seed
Check Size: $2-5M
Focus: Veteran Founders
Website: https://www.scout.vc/
Apply: Get in Touch
Stage: Seed
Check Size: $750K – $1.5M
Focus: Diverse tech founders in fintech, commerce, and caretech
Website: https://www.theartemisfund.com/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Pre-Seed to Series A
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Female Founders
Website: https://gingerbreadcap.com/
Apply: Get in Touch
Stage: Seed, Series A
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Underrepresented founders
Website: https://www.wellington.com/en-us/intermediary/capabilities/wellington-access-ventures
Apply: Get in Touch
Stage: Early-Stage
Check Size: Varies
Focus: Underrepresented founders
Website: https://www.serenaventures.com/
Apply: Get in Touch
Stage: Pre-Seed, Seed
Check Size: $100-$200K
Focus: Women and wealth
Website: https://www.swizzle.vc/
Apply: Click Here
Stage: Early Stage, Pre-Seed-Series A
Check Size: $1-2M
Focus: US Latinx entrepreneurs
Website: https://lattitudeventures.com/
Apply: Click Here
The future of innovation depends on the diversity of those shaping it.
It’s not enough to just say “anyone can be a founder.” We need to back that belief with real capital. These 25 funds (and many more) are doing exactly that—tearing down barriers, challenging outdated norms, and funding tomorrow’s leaders today.
And if you’re one of those founders with a world-changing vision? We want to hear from you.
Pitch us: Here
Ever wondered how Scale AI grew to $14B by mastering government contracts? In this candid panel discussion, we sit down with Scale’s Director of Public Sector Deployment Strategy and veteran defense specialists to reveal their playbooks for success.
Why Watch:
Featuring Scale AI’s Shaliya Dehipawala, Frontera Group’s Thomas Williams, and Washington Office’s Evan Burfield, this is the guide we wish existed for every founder eyeing the federal market.
Watch now to unlock the full federal playbook.
Welcome to another deep dive into the minds of venture capital leaders who are shaping the startup ecosystem. In our latest Venture Visionaries conversation, we sat down with Alexa Von Tobel, founder of Inspired Capital, to unpack her insights on what truly makes a founder—and a startup—successful.
With a background as a founder herself (LearnVest, acquired by Northwestern Mutual for nearly $400 million) and now managing almost $1 billion in investments, Alexa brings a unique perspective grounded in real-world entrepreneurial experience.
1. Obsession is the Founder’s Secret Weapon
Alexa believes the biggest pitfall for founders is building a business they don’t genuinely want to think about every day for the next 15 years. Her advice? If you’re not obsessed with the problem you’re solving, don’t start the company.
For Alexa, this personal obsession was deeply personal. After losing her father, she became passionate about democratizing financial planning—a mission that fueled LearnVest. Without that obsession, it may never have become one of the largest FinTech acquisitions of the decade.
Founder Takeaway: At Outlander, we love obsessed founders who are consumed by a problem–who see a future state that needs fixing and that you are the one to do it. Your startup should solve a problem that keeps you up at night. When the going gets tough, passion isn’t just motivational—it’s fundamental to your persistence.
2. Adaptability Over Resilience
Alexa champions adaptability. She believes the most successful founders aren’t just those who survive challenges, but those who thrive because of them.
Drawing from her podcast interviewing over 260 top founders, she’s observed a common trait: these entrepreneurs view stress as a catalyst for growth. Like Darwin’s principle of survival, it’s not the strongest who succeed, but those most adaptable to change.
Founder Takeaway: At Outlander, we love founders who have demonstrated resilience. But more important than having endured hardship is showcasing the ability to learn from it and adapt to ever-changing environments. Your ability to pivot and learn quickly may be the most valuable asset in your founder journey.
3. Capital Efficiency is Your Competitive Advantage
In today’s market, Alexa emphasizes the critical importance of being a smart capital allocator. The best founders understand that a business is essentially a machine: you put a dollar in with the expectation of generating multiple dollars in return.
She warns against unnecessary spending, especially in early stages. The most impressive founders are those who can turn on meaningful traction with minimal capital, demonstrating “scrappiness” that becomes part of the company’s DNA.
Founder Takeaway: Every dollar matters. Be strategic about resource allocation and prove you can create value with constraints.
4. The DNA of Startup Success
Alexa draws a powerful analogy from her experience founding LearnVest during the 2008 recession. Founders who start businesses during challenging times develop a different operational DNA—they learn to run at “50 miles per hour” when others might be moving at “6 miles per hour.”
This forged resilience becomes a core part of the company’s culture, creating teams that know how to operate efficiently and effectively, even when resources are limited.
Founder Takeaway: Your early-stage constraints can become your greatest strength. Embrace the challenge and let it shape your company’s culture.
Final Thoughts
Inspired Capital’s approach, much like our Founder Framework at Outlander VC, is about backing people, not just business models. It’s about finding founders who are relentless, adaptable, and deeply committed to solving meaningful problems.
For founders reading this: obsess over your mission, embrace challenges, be capital-efficient, and never stop learning. Your journey is just beginning.
Stay inspired and outlandish and, as always, be sure to pitch our team your vision at: www.outlander.vc
You can learn more about Inspired Capital at https://www.inspiredcapital.com/
Watch the full interview:
Welcome back to Venture Visionaries, a series from Outlander VC where we dive deep into what distinguishes top investors and explore their unique perspectives on the startup ecosystem.
Join us as we engage with some of the most influential figures in venture capital, uncovering the strategies and insights that have shaped their success and learning how they navigate the evolving world of investing.
From investment philosophies to future predictions, these conversations will inspire entrepreneurs and anyone curious about the venture capital space.
This month, we had the privilege of sitting down with Tim Young, founding partner of Eniac Ventures (Eniac’s portfolio includes AirBnB, Headspace, Hinge, and more). In our conversation, Tim offered his perspective on what sets founders and investors up for success, rooted in his experience on both sides of that equation.
Tim’s unique, grounded outlook on how to identify promising teams and support them through the ups and downs of building a company are what have helped make him (and Eniac) wonderful investors that we love to partner with at Outlander.
You can watch the full conversation here!
And be sure to sign-up for our Fall 2024 portfolio showcase!
Here are three key takeaways from the conversation:
Integrity isn’t optional for Tim. He stresses that while founders might have many areas to grow or develop, trustworthiness is too easily shattered and difficult to repair for him to back a low-integrity founder. The ripple effect is massive: a founder lacking integrity can sabotage their team, erode investor confidence, and ultimately derail the entire company.
Often, integrity (and another key character trait we look for: grit) reveals itself in moments of adversity. How have challenges been handled in the past? Are you an ego-driven leader or a servant-leader who leads by example, respects their team, and constantly builds trust? Ultimately, as Paige expressed in the conversation, “power doesn’t come from rank; power doesn’t come from mission.” It comes from the earned respect of your team, your investors, and your customers.
Tim Young has a simple yet profound question he asks himself before committing to an investment: Would I leave my job and work for this person? It’s a gut check that cuts through all the hockey-stick financial projections and product demos to get at the heart of what matters—leadership.
This is something that we, at Outlander, call being an infectious evangelist: having the storytelling charisma and leadership ability to not only win over your co-founders, but team members, investors, and customers.
This question isn’t just about the founder’s vision; it’s about their ability to inspire trust and loyalty. And we love Tim’s gut check: When Paige was an early investor in Lyft (then Zimride), he described that feeling of wanting to not just get involved as a check-writer, but to actually go and join the team in the mission. Fast-forward 10 years and that litmus test checks out, with Lyft surpassing $5.22B market cap.
Moral of the story for founders: hone your leadership and evangelizing skills. Because if investors can’t see themselves willingly joining a founder’s team, it may be a sign that other talented individuals may feel the same. A great product can only go so far if the founder lacks the ability to attract and retain top talent.
Tim Young is realistic when evaluating founders—he knows no one is perfect. In his words, “There are no 10/10 founders.” Every founder has areas of strength and weaknesses, and as an investor, it’s essential to recognize this early. What matters isn’t having a flawless skill set but having the self-awareness and coachability to improve over time.
For Tim, identifying gaps in a founder’s abilities isn’t a dealbreaker. Instead, it’s about understanding where those gaps are and whether the founder is willing to address them. Are they open to bringing on team members who can complement their weaknesses? Are they willing to seek mentorship or guidance where they lack experience? Having a blind spot and being unwilling to hear about it can make it hard to reach conviction.
Savvy investors know to mostly stay out of the way except when necessary, so chances are that if you are working with an investor who has a track record like Eniac or Outlander, when they are pulling you aside, it’s important.
Final Thoughts
Tim Young’s approach to investing emphasizes a deep commitment to understanding founders as people. It’s a belief that we share at Outlander and is the driver of our Founder Framework. For us, it’s not just about metrics or market opportunities—it’s about asking the right questions and backing people that we believe in.
Watch the full conversation between Paige & Tim here.
Stay Outlandish and, as always, be sure to pitch our team your vision at: www.outlander.vc You can learn more about Eniac at www.eniac.vc
Global geopolitical tensions have reached their highest levels since WWII. 92 countries are currently involved in conflicts beyond their borders and the Global Peace Index has measured “peacefulness” declining in nine out of the last ten years. The push to decrease human casualties, combined with recent technological advances, has created a new environment that has governments turning to the historically innovative private sector to stay competitive and defend against potential threats.
In the last three years alone, U.S. venture capital (VC) funds have injected over $100B into defense-tech companies. And while Department of Defense (DoD) contracts have typically been awarded to established players like Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northrup Grummon, and others, DoD innovation organizations (e.g., DIU, AFWERX, NavalX, and more) are increasingly working with startups to source innovative solutions.
As founders consider investment partners for their defense or dual-use technology ventures, we’ve put together a list of top funds to consider. And if you are an investor and think you should be on this list, contact us!
Outlander VC
About: Top decile-performing generalist pre-seed fund, led by U.S. Marine Corps veteran and defense & intelligence-tech founder Paige Craig, investing at the earliest stages (often first check in).
Stages: Mostly Pre-Seed to Seed
Notable Investments: Scale, ID.me, SpaceX, REGENT, Skyways, Havoc, Vidrovr, Next Stage
How to Apply: Apply directly through this form
Moonshots Capital
About: With 13 unicorns and 27 total exits, Moonshots is a veteran-led seed & early Series A fund investing in bold founders.
Stages: Seed to Series A
Notable Investments: Slack, LinkedIn, Carta, ID.me, Red 6
Application: Submit proposals through their website
Point72 Ventures
About: Point72 Ventures is the VC arm of Point72 Capital and has a team that includes Managing Partner Dan Gwak, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran turned investor.
Stages: Pre-Seed to Growth
Notable Investments: Shield AI, Vannevar Labs, STOKE Space, Saronic, REGENT
How to Apply: The best way to be considered is to get an intro to a relevant investing partner, but you can also email directly to ideas@p72.vc
Alumni Ventures
About: A top-quartile performing venture fund that also invests in defense & dual-use technologies.
Stages: Pre-seed to Growth
Notable Investments: Unstructured.io, Red 6, Picogrid, Antares Industries, Edgescale AI, Sphere Semi
How to Apply: Apply directly through this form
Decisive Point Ventures
About: A VC fund focused on making early-stage investments in technology for government, public safety, and defense.
Stages: Predominantly Seed & Series A
Notable Investments: Scout Space, Radiant, Aloft, Firehawk Aerospace
How to Apply: The best way to be considered is to get an intro to a relevant investing partner, but you can also email directly to info@decisivepoint.com
First In Ventures
About: Veteran-led fund investing in security tech solutions across commercial, military, or intelligence sectors.
Stages: Predominantly Pre-Seed & Seed
Notable Investments: Anduril, Shift5, RedOwl, Syncurity
How to Apply: Fill out this form
RTX Ventures
About: Venture capital division of RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies). Led by Daniel Ateya
Stages: Predominantly Seed & Series A
Notable Investments: Ursa Major, Hermeus, EnCharge AI, Tomorrow.io
How to Apply: Contact through the RTX Ventures website
In-Q-Tel
About: CIA-contracted investment fund, designed to source innovative information technology solutions for the Central Intelligence Agency. Led by Steve Bowsher.
Stages: Seed, Series A, sometimes later
Notable Investments: Palantir, Databricks, MongoDB, Anaconda
How to Apply: Apply directly through this form
Shield Capital
About: Former DoD Defense Innovation Unit leader and former Symantec CEO Michael Brown became a partner at Shield Capital in 2023 to invest in dual-use defense, cybersecurity, and space companies.
Stages: Seed to Series B
Notable Investments: Nexla, Apex, ASI, Rebellion
Application: Apply directly through this form
a16z’s American Dynamism
About: Andreesen Horowitz’s American Dynamism practice invests in founders and companies that support the national interest: aerospace, defense, public safety, education, housing, supply chain, industrials, and manufacturing.
Stages: Seed to Growth
Notable Investments: Anduril, Apex, Hadrian
How to Apply: Reach out or get an intro to a relevant investing partner
Silent Ventures
About: Early stage venture firm that invests in exceptional founders building unrivaled aerospace, defense, and national security companies.
Stages: Predominantly Pre-Seed & Seed
Notable Investments: Hadrian, Armada AI, Firestorm
How to Apply: Apply or reach out on LinkedIn
Lockheed Martin Ventures
About: The VC arm of defense giant, Lockheed Martin, doubled its fund commitment from $200M to $400M in 2022, rooted in its belief that the most dynamic defense innovations will come from startups.
Stages: Pre-seed to Growth
Notable Investments: Elroy Air, Hawkeye 360, Heilcity Space, X-Bow
How to Apply: Apply directly through this contact form
Champion Hill Ventures
About: Led by a former infantry and combat engineer officer in the US Marine Corps, Champion Hill has invested in some of the hottest defense tech & space startups.
Stages: Pre-Seed to Seed
Notable Investments: SpaceX, Anduril, and Umbra
How to Apply: Get an intro to or reach out to Managing Partner Josh Manchester.
Insight Partners
About: Generalist VC, increasingly making investments in defense-focused startups
Stages: Pre-seed to Growth
Notable Investments: Rebellion, Tenable, Digital Harbor
Application: Apply through their website
Lux Capital
About: Science & technology venture fund, making strategic investments to protect America’s economic security.
Stages: Any stage
Notable Investments: Anduril, Hadrian, Saildrone
Application: Connect with (or get introduced to) a relevant investing partner
Starburst Ventures
About: Aerospace & Defense investor for America and its allies.
Stages: Seed to Series A
Notable Investments: Strong Compute, Outpost, Aerocloud
Application: Join one of their accelerators or submit proposals through their website
Scout Ventures
About: Early-stage venture capital firm that invests in frontier technologies built by founders from the military, its intelligence community, and national research labs.
Stages: Seed to Series B
Notable Investments: ID.me, Radical, Voyager Space, Tomahawk Robotics
Application: Submit proposals through their website
For founders of dual-use start-ups seeking funding, Outlander VC offers unparalleled expertise and strategic support. If you are a defense technology start-up seeking funding and strategic guidance, apply to Outlander VC today.
Welcome to Venture Visionaries, a brand-new series brought to you by Outlander VC. Hosted by Paige Craig, Managing Partner at Outlander VC, join us as we sit down with some of the most influential investors in the industry, uncovering the secrets behind their success and learning how they navigate the ever-changing landscape of investing.
This month, we had the pleasure of talking with Mercedes Bent, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners! Bent is not only an incredible investor, but a 2X founder and managing team member who has helped startups grow from the inside from $2M to over $100M in revenue. Since her early days sitting at the dinner table brainstorming fun hypothetical inventions with her father, she has lived and breathed innovation.
Bent invests in consumer, FinTech, EdTech, LATAM, & multicultural regions and founders including Flink, Outschool, Stori, and more. In 2016, she was named a “40 Under 40 for Tech Diversity in Silicon Valley” and in 2021, WSJ named her one of 9 “Women to Watch in VC“. She has an MBA and a Masters in Education from Stanford University and an AB from Harvard University. She is an African-American of Bermudian, Grenadian, and Colombian heritage and in her free time she enjoys playing board games & off-roading in her Jeep.
Below, we’re going to unpack one of the key traits that Bent looks for in winning founders – a trait that can be crucial in the rollercoaster ride of entrepreneurship in order to build a successful business. Beyond what we uncover here, there were so many more gems in our conversation that it’s worth watching the full replay. The 1-hour chat flew by and holds incredible insights & tricks for founders and investors alike.
Let’s dive in!
As Bent points out, the only constant in startups is change and “you have to be able to scale yourself faster” than your startup to grow.
“The best founders in the world are thinking that every meeting, every opportunity that they interact with someone is a chance to learn,” Bent told us. Founders with this approach can accelerate learning cycles to quickly scaffold up their learning level. When repeated over and over again, this learning compounds and can dynamically help founders keep up with the scale of their businesses.
For best practices in steepening a founder’s learning velocity, Bent walked viewers through a great educational framework:
In the real world, this could look something like:
For Bent, learning velocity isn’t just a checkbox either – it’s a mental metric that she actually tracks when speaking with founders from conversation to conversation. To illustrate an example, she highlighted Pamela Valdes – the first Teal Fellow from Mexico and founder of Beek.io.
When AI was having a resurgence in 2022, Valdes approached Bent saying, “okay, here’s how we’re going to incorporate AI into our product” and literally “a week later, she had hit up all of the top experts at OpenAI and Anthropic and showed me an actual prototype that she had built with a new feature and the product.”
A fast-learning, action-oriented founder can simply go so much further in a shorter period of time. And often, fear of failure holds a founder back significantly more than if they could simply fail quickly, learn, and iterate.
So how can founders develop a stronger learning mindset?
When a strong learning mindset is present, it can touch everything and everyone in a business. A genuine obsession with learning is infectious and can translate in pitches and conversations to help founders pass what Bent calls the “time test” (how long since she checked the time during a pitch). When we, as humans, feel like we are engaging in an exciting educational exchange, we lean in, ask questions, and can’t wait until the next conversation.
There are so many other incredible insights from our conversation with Lightspeed’s Mercedes Bent, including diving into other key founder & investor traits. Be sure to check out the full replay and sign up for our next livestream event, an interview between Outlander VC’s Leura Craig and Tim Young, the co-founder & general partner at Eniac Ventures!
You can RSVP for the 6/25 live interview now!
Welcome back to Venture Visionaries, a new series brought to you by Outlander VC. Hosted by Paige Craig, Managing Partner at Outlander VC, this series explores what sets these investors apart and provides unique insights into their perspectives on the startup world. Join us as we sit down with some of the most influential investors in the industry, uncovering the secrets behind their success and learning how they navigate the ever-changing landscape of investing.
From their investment strategies to their predictions for the future, we’ll bring you inspiring conversations that’ll resonate with aspiring entrepreneurs and anyone curious about the world of venture capital.
This month, we had the pleasure of sitting down with CRV’s Saar Gur, who has invested in household-name companies like DoorDash, Ring, Patreon, and AirTable. Below, you’ll find three of our favorite takeaways from that conversation, but you can also watch the full interview here. Let’s dive in!
One of the standout messages from our conversation with CRV’s Saar Gur was that when he invested in Patreon, DoorDash, and Ring, for example, they weren’t obvious. In Gur’s own words, they were actually, “pretty funky” at the time.
But Gur has found a lot of investment success in looking towards the weird and wonderful, to the less obvious solutions that have early utility and could therefore make a convincing case of mainstream viability. In some cases, Gur argues that “the weirder the better,” because these differentiating qualities capture attention. It can also help founders make a stronger case for why their solution is going to come out on top. “Doing AI for customer support makes a ton of sense [but] it’s not totally clear to me why a startup is gonna win that.” So when founders can be bold enough for their solution to be different, not obvious, and then demonstrate that it’s not just a dream, but that there are early signs of product-market fit – that’s where the magic happens.
As a complete, non-tech, real-world example, Gur talked about how teaching yoga on Stanford’s campus was illegal 20 years ago and now there are more yoga studios in Palo Alto than traditional gyms. What used to be a “weird,” fermented drink called kombucha 15 years ago is now sold at Seven Elevens. Now compare this with Ring – founder Jamie Simiofff was famously rejected on Shark Tank in 2013, but his “weird” DoorBot eventually transformed home and community security, selling to Amazon for a monumental deal in 2018.
The big takeaway: dare to be weird, but also be useful.
To really catch Gur’s eye, he has to believe that the market opportunity is massive. “A lot of passing happens where I just can’t see how this can be a huge business […] we’re looking for businesses that can generate billions of dollars in revenue.” He loves commercially-oriented founders who are deeply in touch with the problems they are solving, are so obsessed that they will teach him something new (that’s his favorite part of the job!), and can see market opportunities from new angles. These traits are part of what make up a north star in Gur’s investing decisions: the founder-market fit.
With DoorDash CEO, Tony Xu, the founder-market fit was clear to Gur right from the first meeting, which enabled DoorDash to stand out from the other food delivery companies that Gur was doing diligence on at the time. The profoundly emotional experience with the problem had already been clear to Gur: as a parent, “at that time, you couldn’t reliably order food […] if you had young kids, they were going to melt down if that food showed up half an hour, an hour late.” But Xu’s conviction and approach made it clear that DoorDash realized they were running a logistics business and that their solution came from a deep understanding of the restaurants’ problems as much as the consumer. That combination of a deep understanding of those problems combined with the unit economic orientation and Xu’s passion & conviction sold Gur: ”I was like, Oh my God, [this is what] I’ve been looking for.”
The big takeaway: Go after a multi-billion-dollar problem and spend time understanding why you, as a founder, are the right person to lead the charge in solving it. Be obsessed and be honest with yourself so that you can develop the clear conviction needed to stand apart.
Founders still have to do all of the difficult work in finding product-market fit, acquiring customers, and wearing all of the hats that come with entrepreneurship, but now with the added challenge that getting capital over the last two years has gotten increasingly harder. There will always be plenty of investors looking for great founders with even greater ideas, but the new fundraising environment is certainly more difficult.
Newer companies will find it easier to raise; Gur pointed out that “most of the companies that we invest in [are] in the first 18-to-36 months from incorporation.” Even so, Gur believes all founders of all stages will need total conviction in the problem, market, and their differentiated story to succeed. Fundraising challenges, after all, don’t stop after getting seed funding. “Even if you get it at seed, at the next stage, at Series A, at Series B – the fall-off rates are very high.” While they haven’t participated as much, Gur has also seen the industry’s rising number of down and inside rounds and shared some practical advice for founders who may be facing that exact predicament:
The big takeaway: Conviction and honesty are key. In this fundraising market, Gur sees founders who are struggling and need to raise a down round having more success in doing the hard and honest work with their current investors first before approaching new investors.
We covered so much more in our conversation with CRV’s Saar Gur that is absolutely worth a listen. From how AI is a powerful accelerant to creativity to how CRV sees its role in providing value and guidance to its portfolio companies to how Facebook changed private markets forever…you don’t want to miss out on all of the other gems this and future conversations provide! Click here to watch the full interview and, if you haven’t already, join our mailing list so we can continue bringing you valuable content to help in your founder journey!
Up next, we will be sitting down with Mercedes Bent of Lightspeed Venture Partners, a renowned venture capitalist known for her keen eye in identifying breakthrough startups and top-performing founders. We’ll dive deep into the key characteristics that make founders successful and the traits that set breakthrough startups apart from the rest. You can RSVP for the 5/22 live interview or signup to receive the asynchronous viewing link afterwards here!