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Founder Collective

About

Founder Collective is a seed-stage venture capital firm built by entrepreneurs. Our mission is to be the most aligned fund for founders at the seed stage. This informs everything we do. We keep our fund size small - approximately $280M over four funds. The GPs are the biggest LPs in the fund - we’re principals, not agents. We’re not lifecycle investors - we invest at the beginning and align our interests by diluting alongside founders over time. Everyone on the investment team has founded a startup or massively scaled one. All these choices align our interests with the founders and make Founder Collective a unique partner for entrepreneurs.

We also believe that venture capital should come with a warning label and that themes are poor predictors of startup success. These ideas run counter to a lot of VC orthodoxy, but it has worked well for us so far. Over the last dozen years, we’ve backed nearly 25 $1B+ startups.

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To understand us as investors, it’s important to know the core beliefs and values that guide us. Technology has the power to transform the world. We believe in technology’s ability to solve problems and disrupt the global landscape - across industries, disciplines, populations, and continents. Whether it’s improving service delivery, democratizing access to resources, simplifying collaboration, or tackling other social challenges, we want to help today’s innovators make a difference. We’re committed to supporting your vision for making society and the world a better place. Mission-driven founders form the nucleus of a generational company. We back mission-driven entrepreneurs - those who will stop at nothing to solve a deep pain point that they know well. It’s this passion, even obsession, that can inspire, create, and lead strong teams through all the ups and downs of building an iconic business. We want to work with partners who are ready to go after big things and we're dedicated to helping them turn their vision into reality. You can build a large company in any location. While talent and great ideas can exist anywhere, opportunity is not always equally distributed. We aim to help bridge that gap - empowering entrepreneurs in any location to find the opportunities they need to realize their vision and grow successful businesses. Every entrepreneur deserves a fast, open, and respectful process. We know that every minute you spend fundraising is one less minute spent building your business. That’s why we strive for a turnaround time of just a few days. We value your time and keep things moving briskly, so you can stay focused. We can make the greatest impact as a Seed investor. The seed stage is the most formative time for a startup and often, where you need the most support. This key stage is where we believe we can add the most value - whether it’s helping you with hiring, finding product market fit, building your company culture, or getting your next financing round. We lead or co-lead with an investment of $500k - $1.5m and often back our startups through multiple rounds. An investor should be your biggest cheerleader and most trusted partner. We’re committed to building strong relationships with all of our entrepreneurs. That begins with earning your trust - something we strive for from the very first meeting. Our job is to support you and act as your biggest advocate, but we also never shy away from asking the important questions and providing tough feedback when necessary. Having run our own companies, we pass on as much of our operations knowledge as possible to help you build a successful venture. Our ultimate goal is simple: to be the first investor called when a founder needs advice. We never stop learning. We will never stop challenging ourselves to be better mentors, attract the right deals, and pick the best opportunities. We’ll always work tirelessly to help our founders be their best selves and make the biggest impact. It’s been our mission from day one.

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LJ

Long Journey Ventures

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.

AC

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We don’t just say we invest Pre-Seed. We’re a $300M fund focused on pre-seed, pre-traction, pre-everything. We don’t focus on what can go wrong. We look for what can go right. Just like you, we’re risk-takers - not risk-mitigators. All-in with you! We play to win. We don’t tell you something’s awesome just to be nice. We have your back and ask the tough questions. Think of us as your SWAT team. We don’t mind if your idea is raw. We’re product people who see your vision. Bring on the sushi-grade. We don’t wait 'til Monday morning. We work fast to make our decisions. We’re founders too - and waiting is the worst.

WF

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We lead pre-seed and seed rounds. We commit meaningful amounts of capital to empower founders to build the future before it becomes obvious. Deep Partnership We are company builders. We have built products, teams and companies in Southeast Asia. We care about your vision and product in a deep way. We believe that hands-on support makes a difference. Unparalleled Network We provide access. We have spent our entire careers at the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship and venture. Our network is comprised of world class founders, investors and technologists.