Relapse Venture Capital

Positive Sum helps founders build their companies and tell their stories. We devote time to meeting the most talented entrepreneurs and investors in the world, and we strategically deploy our network on behalf of our portfolio companies. What we look for in companies The creation of new businesses, especially those fueled by technology, can lead to Positive Sum outcomes: where companies, customers, and investors all win together. Our team searches for such companies, with the following criteria guiding our way. Life’s Work: We look for founders doing their “life’s work.” We always ask how the founding team came upon the problem they are solving and assess the alignment between that problem and their own path in life. We find that these founders tend to be driven and obsessive, they tend to build domain knowledge quickly, and they tend to be disagreeable, with their own clear point of view for how things ought to be. We love these qualities. Ultimately, we find that founders doing their “life’s work” become magnets for talent and have the perseverance necessary to survive and thrive in difficult periods. Synchronized Team: Speed is an unbelievable advantage for young companies. Teams that communicate well ship products faster. We look for smart and efficient team communication, chemistry, and the right mix of business and technical talent. Market Signal: We can evaluate teams directly, but markets help us evaluate products. We look for clear signals from customers that a given idea or product is valuable. We deeply respect a market signal even if we don’t yet understand what is behind it, but then seek to understand the customer’s motivation in a deep way. A Compounding Customer: The question “will customers use this product often, and will the product get better and more valuable as they do?” is at the center of our investigation. Products that get embedded in their user’s lives or workflows tend to be more defensible. Compounding has to start somewhere, and our experience suggests that companies focused on “one thing” early on maximize the odds they can do more things in the future, because the customer grows to love them for the original solution. Profit Persistence: We want to invest in companies that can earn enormous profits over time. The odds of this happening go up when 1) a business demonstrates (or we can foresee) positive unit economics, 2) the business model can scale with demand and 3) the product gets harder for others to copy as it grows. We look for all three components. Timing, Alignment, and Impact: We focus intently on why now is the right time to build this company. New technologies, changes in regulation, cultural shifts, and other enabling factors create opportunities for unnatural growth in a business. We always look for alignment between a company and the world at large. We also want great alignment between our two teams. We hope to have decades-long relationships with the companies we support, so the fit between Positive Sum and the founding team is paramount. We make fewer investments than many comparable funds so that we can be closer with portfolio companies and spend more time with each of them.

Contrary is a venture firm, backed by the world's most iconic entrepreneurs, that identifies and invests in exceptional talent. We invest up to $2M in a small number of startups each year, and work closely alongside them to build enduring businesses. We're built like the startups we serve. We combine sophisticated software, a world-class talent team, and scouts to identify and invest in the world’s top talent – first – and then relentlessly support them from seed to scale. Because at the root of every category-defining startup are exceptional people.

Transpose Platform Management was co-founded by Alex Bangash and Trang Nguyen in 2015. The firm backs ambitious entrepreneurs creating today’s most disruptive venture structures. Transpose Platform Management seeks out the world’s most innovative companies and invests in tomorrow’s category-defining leaders.

We are early believers in magically weird founders and help them realize their vision for the world. Our values. Chase the magically weird. “Chase the magically weird” pushes us to do things that take guts, focus on finding outliers, question the status quo, and let our freak flags fly. We love unconventional ideas, quirky personalities, bold choices, and things other people describe as ridiculous or stupid. We try to infuse magical weirdness into our events, our company culture, and everything else we put out in the world. Some examples of magical weirdness at work? Attending toilet paper conventions. Getting tattoos of company logos. Sending a founder pizza delivered by a dude dressed as a rat. Escape rooms. Alpacas. Bob Ross. You get the idea. If you’re a weirdo and/or you’re building something crazy, we’d love to chat! Be a bubbe. This value is our north star for how we interact with our founders and broader community. Lots of founders ask, “How do you typically work with the companies you invest in?” and our answer is that we aim to “be a bubbe.” Bubbe is the Yiddish word for a grandmother. In her purest form, a bubbe is incredibly (sometimes comically) hospitable, wise, protective, direct, and, occasionally, a little neurotic. Her love for you is unconditional, but she doesn’t take bullsh*t from anyone. She makes a mean matzo ball soup and she tells you like it is. Spending time with bubbe is good for the heart, soul, and stomach. In practice, this may look like: Checking in with founders about their lives and families. Hosting intimate events that feel like dinner at grandma’s house. Sharing personal stories. Sending freshly baked cookies. Communicating as directly as possible, but always with love. And maybe even hand-knitting some swag. Our character alignment is Chaotic Good. If Long Journey were a Dungeons & Dragons player, our character alignment would be Chaotic Good - a complex trait that combines a good heart with a free spirit. Chaotic Good characters make their own way, but remain kind. They value freedom and independence above all else, and they know that prosperity comes from empowering individual autonomy and looking beyond the standard mold - this is exactly what we aim to do. This value also reminds us to stay humble and not take ourselves too seriously. We are allergic to self-importance and entitlement, and drawn to curiosity and playfulness. Our “Chaotic Good” value reminds us to stick to our principles, have fun, and keep our eyes on the long game. It's not Monopoly money. “It’s not Monopoly money” emphasizes that we take money very seriously, and we appreciate that there’s a story behind every dollar. Wealth isn’t built overnight, and we feel a responsibility to honor the work our LPs put into building their wealth. We are disciplined, high-integrity stewards of our LPs’ capital, and we back founders who similarly care about and understand the value of that investment. We believe that money is fuel and money enables freedom. Our job is to return as much money as we possibly can to our LPs, and we don’t take that job lightly. We want to work with founders who understand and respect this value.

The fund partners have been friends for 10+ years and back in the day started what over years has grown to one of the largest tech founder communities in Eastern Europe. Today our wider community comprises over 350 active founders from around the world, including founders of the fast-growing & established tech unicorns (like Hopin, Miro, UiPath, Intercom, and others), as well as founders of several renowned global VC funds. In 2010, when we were making our first steps as entrepreneurs and future executives, we yearned for ways of sharing knowledge and supporting each other. Three of us settled in a big apartment on Shmitovsky 16 (S16) and opened our doors for regular meetings with like-minded entrepreneurs. That move turned out to be instrumental. We learned through each other, motivated and supported each other, and built lifelong friendships. Our small gatherings grew into a tribe of hundreds of like-minded people. We are certain that this community is the common denominator behind our success. Even though the majority of tribe members are very successful entrepreneurs and executives, the community is united by shared values rather than any kind of material KPIs. These values are: Community, not individual Trust Transparency Intrinsic motivation to help Pay forward Beginner mindset People succeed, not ideas The community has long outgrown its founders and small gatherings at Shmit 16 and evolved into many initiatives driven by different people. Twice a year we help organize the legendary closed business event - Founders for Founders. Our members organize a camp at Burning Man. We try our best to spread our knowledge to a wider audience through our Telegram channel. Whatever we do, s16vc stands for preservation and adherence to our values. And s16vc, being the only commercial endeavor, is no exception. We invest in people who share these values and take money from like-minded LPs, making our tribe stronger with every founder we back and every investor we bring inside the community.

Pioneer Fund combines capital, expertise, connections, and support from 300+ Y Combinator alumni. All of us have invested in Pioneer Fund. Quick decisions We are founders first and know how painful a drawn out process is for founders. We endeavor to make decisions within 48 hours after meeting with founders. All verticals Our team consists of founders from companies in every field. We are interested in the future. All geographies We invest in all regions and invest in strong founders no matter where they are located. Our own decisions We don't invest based on what other investors are doing. We make our own decisions. Power of the network With backing from 300+ YC alumni and limited partners throughout the world, we have connections to industries and regions that we can use to help our portfolio founders grow and expand. Founders first We are all founders and YC alumni.