Who We Back | First Round

You’re not for everyone. Neither are we.

We back founders who go unreasonably deep to

get their beginnings right.

We’ve worked with 500+ early teams

(And built companies of our own)

The best founders have a few things in common.

Believe in the art of the pick

There’s a popular narrative that a startup’s first few years are for moving fast and finding ways out of tough problems later. We’re firm believers in taking beginnings seriously, in slowing down to speed up. A high degree of startup mortality is baked in at the beginning, so being a good picker is vastly underrated. Most of the successful founders we’ve worked with didn’t stray far from their original imagine if — including Uber, Square, Looker, Roblox, and Notion.

Embrace their extremes

We don’t back well-rounded founders. We seek people who have one or two outlier abilities, areas where they have a shot at being the best in the world. This is what allows them to see opportunities others miss, solve problems others can’t crack, and work with a drive that others don’t match. The founders who become world-class CEOs don’t learn to be adequate at everything. They identify the specific capabilities their company needs, then tackle each one with the same focus they brought to their original domain — or bring on others with extreme talents to complement them.

Go unreasonably deep

There's a particular kind of intensity we look for — a relentless drive that goes far beyond surface insights or hard work (although we think that matters, too). It’s curiosity that crosses over into obsession but reads more “learn-it-all” than “know-it-all.” It means full immersion in camera installation when starting a physical security company or working as a barista and in the back office of a coffee shop to live the pain of workforce scheduling from both sides. Our favorite founders don't fear the most in-the-weeds question because they've already asked it of themselves.

If this sounds like you, you likely have these questions for us:

Timing

Is it ever too early to approach First Round about investing?

No, it’s never too early to reach out. We don’t see divisions between angel, pre-seed and seed — we’re interested across the board and find that founders’ needs are the same early on. So, even if you don’t think you’re ready, we’d still like to get to know you. Maybe we can even help in the meantime. (Check out PMF Method if you’re not quite ready to raise but are hoping to get on the path to extreme product-market fit early.)

What if I'm still employed elsewhere?

Absolutely reach out. We regularly meet with future founders who are in exactly this position, months away from making the official leap. Whether you're actively planning your transition or just starting to explore an idea, we're happy to meet. We can serve as a sounding board while you explore different markets and think through timing. We can also introduce you to potential design partners, early hires — and maybe even your future co-founder. And check out PMF Method if you’re not quite ready to raise yet but are hoping to get on the path to extreme product-market fit early.

What if I’ve already raised from angels or a pre-seed fund — is it too late?

Of course not. While we’re usually the first money in, we’ve worked with a number of teams that raised a small friends and family round before coming to us. That said, if you’ve already raised more than several million dollars, we’re probably not a fit.

Do I need customers and revenue?

Nope. Many of our 500+ companies came to us when they were a couple of people with an idea. We're far more interested in the depth of your understanding of the problem you’re solving and your unique spikes as a builder than any particular metrics. Some of our best investments were in founders who took the time to develop profound insights before chasing their first customer.

I’m raising my Series B or Series C — should I contact you?

Nope. We’re named First Round for a reason. If you’re raising your third or fourth round, consider a later-stage firm that might be a better fit. And then when you exit that company, contact us for your next one ;)

What does First Round look for in an idea?

Above all, we look for compelling and contrarian insight into how the world works. What do you understand about a market or a need that no one else does or that other companies in the space get wrong? And why is your company the most likely to win at addressing this gap?

Second, if you have a product in market, we’re always excited to see a small group of passionate early customers. As an extension of this, we want to see creative thinking around go-to-market strategy as well as product. The best startups take both seriously.

Third, we take a close look at the market you’re going after. Let’s say you win the whole thing — is the prize worth winning? The game is long and hard, and some markets are more rewarding than others. To mix metaphors, before a founder starts building their castle, they have to make sure they’ve picked the right piece of land.

How do you weigh different criteria in your decision-making process?

The biggest factor in our decision-making is always the founding team. How innovative, resourceful and resilient are you? What’s your superpower? Why are you going to be the ones to prevail where others won’t? What in your history shows that you thrive off the beaten path? Of course, we evaluate product and market too, but to be honest, we mostly look at those to evaluate the founders too.

Looking at what you’ve done already for this company — and before in your career — gives us a record of hundreds if not thousands of decisions you’ve made to get to where you are today.

Does First Round only invest in particular areas or industries?

No. We don’t think VCs predict the future — founders do. And we look to founders to teach us what’s next. We were fortunate to invest in Uber before the rise of the on-demand economy. We invested in Flatiron in 2012 before everyone jumped into health tech. But all of our companies have one thing in common — we met the founders when they were just starting out.

Our investments do tend to cluster around enterprise, AI, hardware, healthcare, fintech, and consumer. But that’s not where our curiosity ends. If you’re building something outside of those areas, we still want to learn about the future you’re imagining. We're interested in founders who see opportunities others miss, whether they're building bigger satellites, teaching robots how to fold laundry, cryogenically freezing cadaver bone marrow, helping trucks capture their own carbon emissions, extending the lifespan of dogs, or equipping patent attorneys with AI.

Do you invest in companies located outside of San Francisco and New York?

Yes! While we have large concentrations of investments in San Francisco and New York, we’re interested in companies nationwide. We are proud to fund companies like Crossbeam in Philadelphia and Kandji in San Diego, as well as fully distributed companies like Subscript and Maven (just to name a few).

Do you invest outside of the United States?

We tend to focus exclusively on companies based in the U.S. because that is where we have the most experience and can be the most valuable partners. We’ve made a few exceptions for companies headquartered outside the U.S. and companies whose management is located in the U.S. with overseas development teams.

What does your investment process look like?

While most of our decisions are driven by founders, we like to spend at least three to five hours on any company before we make a final decision. Sometimes that happens over a 72-hour period and sometimes it happens over weeks or even months. Whether it’s days or months, this is a serious decision in both directions and we want founders to learn about us as much as we learn about you.

Generally speaking, here’s what you can expect:

Initial meeting: Before an initial meeting, we’ll review materials you share, determine whether the business fits our basic investment criteria, and try to ensure it’s not directly competitive with any of our existing investments. Your first meeting (or call) with a member of the investment team will typically be less than an hour. We let founders do most of the talking.
Follow-up: Most of our “passes” occur after the initial meeting. If you’ve made it past that meeting, you’ll spend more time with your First Round point partner as we both continue to learn more about each other. We sometimes bring in another First Round partner, typically the person with the most “domain expertise” in that company’s area.
Partner meeting: If these conversations go well for both of us, we’ll typically make some reference/diligence calls and invite you to meet with the rest of the partners at our twice-weekly investment meeting. Here, you’ll have about an hour to tell your story to the entire partnership and answer questions.
Final decision: Our partnership will discuss your company in great detail with the goal of giving you a final answer the same day. Typically, we fund about half of the companies that make it to our partner meeting.

What's the best way to get on your radar?

Our investment team reviews every single investment opportunity we receive, and we strongly value referrals from people we know and trust. This includes people at existing First Round companies, angel investors, other founders, etc. A direct referral will get a quicker response, but don’t be afraid to reach out cold. We invested in Kandji after a cold email back in 2018. Good ideas can come from anywhere.

How should I prep for your partner meeting?

Thankfully, our partner Liz Wessel penned an in-depth guide on this very subject.

How much do you usually invest in a new company?

Our initial investments typically range from $1 million to $7 million, but we’ve gone higher and lower in some cases. Currently, our average initial investment is right around $3.5 million.

Do you have strict ownership requirements?

Unlike some traditional venture funds that require 20 to 25% ownership, we don’t. We like to own enough of the company to make sure that we can dedicate meaningful time and resources to helping you build. Our ideal ownership is roughly 14% after your seed round, but we’ve gone higher or lower in some cases — but rarely below 10%.

What size rounds does First Round participate in?

No round is too small for us to invest. Our average initial investment is $3.5 million, but we’ve invested in rounds as small as $100,000 and as large as $20 million. Regardless of check size, you get the same First Round experience.

Will First Round only invest if you can lead the round?

No. We don't care about terms like lead, co-lead or follow or worry about who else is investing. We make our own decisions and have a long track record of partnering with outstanding seed-stage VCs and angels.

We do care about having a meaningful stake in every company we partner with so we can spend meaningful time trying to help you win.

Will you sign my confidentiality agreement / NDA?

No. We’d explain why in detail here, but we think Brad Feld does a great job in his blog post, Why Most VC’s Don’t Sign NDAs.

Hard-won wisdom from First Round founders:

Speed as a Habit

All things being equal, speed will determine whether your company succeeds or not. Upstart's Dave Girouard shares how to make it core to your culture.
Read more

Advice for the Pre-PMF Days — The Playbook for Pivoting with Purpose

Tara Viswanathan shares her biggest lessons from the early years of building Rupa Health (acquired by Fullscript).
Read more

How Superhuman Built an Engine to Find Product-Market Fit

Rahul Vohra's viral framework for making PMF more actionable and building for the users who'd be "very disappointed" if they could no longer use your product.
Read more

Ask Why It Won’t Work, And Other Lessons This Founder Relies on While Building From 0 to 1

Rick Song shares the unique pre-mortem technique he relies on, as well as other company building lessons from Square and his startup, Persona.
Read more