What type of companies do you invest in?
We invest in mission driven founders with a focus on affordability of healthcare, education, and housing, economic mobility, and sustainability. We focus on software driven businesses, with an emphasis on software-as-a-service and marketplaces.
What stage do you invest in?
We look to invest at the earliest stages of company building, typically either pre-seed or seed. No company is too early for us to look at. Beyond Series A is typically too late.
What size checks do you write?
We look to deploy $3M in each core investment at the earliest opportunity. Sometimes this is done in a single investment, and sometimes across multiple investments.
Do you lead rounds?
Yes. We exclusively lead rounds, and aim to be your most active capital partner.
Do you take Board seats?
Yes. We believe it is important for companies to develop good governance practices starting at the seed stage, so we usually take a Board seat and ask that companies hold quarterly Board Meetings.
How do you like to work with companies?
We take a very active role in the earliest stages of company development. Our goal is to transform founders with an insight into CEOs with high performing organizations by the Series A. While every company’s needs are different, this work often includes partnering on defining mission, vision, and values, setting strategy, and developing financial plans, hiring plans, and product roadmaps. We believe that talent is destiny for early stage companies, and as such have dedicated in-house recruiting resources and partner closely on building early teams.
For more information on what we expect of founders and what founders can expect of us, read the Gutter Founder Contract .
What will you not invest in?
We do not invest in entertainment, sports, gambling, media, gaming or exclusively consumer applications.
We do not invest in consumer products, hardware, or businesses where intellectual property is central to the value proposition.
We are all-in on Gutter, and do not make personal investments outside of the fund.