Welcome! Weren't expecting this? That's OK! FYI that Starting Line's home website is still open in your prior window.
This repository exists because we recognize that entrepreneurs struggle to both properly understand and connect with prospective investors. Our dream is that this operating manual provides all the information you could possibly want to know about us; and we will continually update it to fill in holes that are discovered.
This manual was inspired by our friends at Bloomberg Beta (one of our first investors) who are also committed to radical transparency.
Table of Contents
- What We Invest In
- The Checks We Write
- Geographic Focus
- Getting in Touch
- How We Think
- Portfolio Companies
- Our Investment Process
- Our Policy on Mental Health
- Our Quarterly LP Letters
Starting Line is a thematic early stage venture capital fund focused on investing in a variety of emerging categories including consumer AI, consumer health/longevity, Gen Alpha/Gen Z, consumer mobile, consumer fintech, consumer marketplaces as well as the infrastructure that support them.
We fundamentally believe that the intersection of great founders, great products, and emerging trends can create generational companies. We back only the most ambitious dreamers but we're not scared of markets that appear small today if we believe that can grow quickly and immensely.
We are a first check venture capital fund, meaning that we aim to anchor true seed rounds with check sizes ranging from $500,000 - $1,500,000 in rounds ranging from $750K - $5M. Our sweet spot within that range is leading $750K-1.25M into a $2.5M seed round.
We typically write our largest check in a Company's first round, though we do retain reserves for all portfolio investments.
We believe our structure of a 2:1 first check to reserves ratio is beneficial for early stage founders for a variety of reasons:
- It allows founders & investors to be deeply aligned across a spectrum of goals and outcomes. We are both fighting for the same oxygen in future rounds.
- It generates a strong market signal given that Starting Line only makes ~6-8 new investments per year.
- It removes any negative market signaling from future financings.
- It allows founders to more quickly close their seed rounds and get back to build their business - rather than spending months accumulating a series of smaller checks.
Starting Line is HQ'd in Chicago, IL and we love backing the most ruthless builders in our backyard. However, we have no formal geographic policy - and instead are inspired by founders aiming to solve problems for average, everyday Americans. Our fund investments have ranged from New York to Austin to Los Angeles and our angel investments have criss-crossed the country from SF to NYC to Seattle and everything in between. Outside of Chicago, our highest density of investments are Los Angeles, Austin, and New York (in that order).
There is no right or wrong way to get in touch with us. A great cold e-mail is far superior than an intro from someone we don't know all that well.
We recognize that as an entrepreneur it can often be difficult to gauge whom we know "well," so in general its best to bias towards introductions through founders we've invested in, or even employees at the companies we've invested in. As early stage investors, we often have 1:1 relationships with many of the first 50+ employees.
In our first two funds, we led investments off both cold e-mails and cold Twitter DMs. We do read them and we do act on the ideas that inspire us.
We try to produce a substantial amount of content and make it accessible widely. We even open-source our quarterly LP letters so you can gain insight into the trends we're following, how we see the world, and the narrative we're telling our own investors. Here is a non-exhaustive list of ways to learn more about us:
Ezra
Ade
Haley
Scott
Matt