Background & Experience
I'm a solo GP at Also Capital who leads pre-seed rounds in founders and companies solving hard engineering problems. Since 2019, we’ve backed some incredible companies like Varda Space, Radiant Nuclear, K2 Space, ConductorAI and Northwood, to name a few, and I’ve helped them raise over $250M from Tier 1 venture investors.
Prior to Also Capital, I co-founded and led Farther Farms, a Series B deep-tech startup founded out of Cornell University's food science labs, which gave me a unique perspective into the founder experience.
I'm currently a board member at Varda Space Industries and held prior investment roles at Caffeinated Capital Collective, Cornell University Investment Office and Dorm Room Fund, the premier student-led venture fund.
What type of firm is Also Capital building?
Also is building the best early-stage partner to hard tech founders. Our core mantra is "Have Fun, Play to Win". We back ambitious people solving the hardest problems, but we want them to have fun doing it, and play to win. This shows through in how we do tech. diligence, and the willingness to support our founders with the resources and support they need through the whole company building journey.
What was your day-to-day like running a startup? What's it like now?
Day to day startup life is actually not too different than life as a solo GP! I am a long-term thinker, but short-term actor, with an appetite for fast-paced high stakes environments. The common thread between my startup and venture investing experiences is the importance of people and relationships. Day to day, one’s relationships are what will make or break your success.
Opportunities in Hard Tech
Where do you think the greatest opportunity lies within deep/hard-tech?
The greatest opportunity in venture-backed hard tech right now is in developing next gen. communications infrastructure. Communications infrastructure is a critical building block for everything from cell phones, to earth observation, to military surveillance, and it’s a highly technical field that takes special talent to develop. We think there are opportunities throughout the value chain and have already invested in two, Northwood and AnySignal in the last 9 months.
What are some common misconceptions about the space?
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Hard tech is about building defensible moats in categories with markets of all sizes. We seek to back companies with monopoly potential in small/medium markets or a tech-enabled advantage in large, fragmented ones.
What technical project/achievement in the past 100 years do you admire the most?
The most impressive technical project / achievement in the past 100 years is the Falcon 9 reusability. The multidisciplinary talent, risk capital, and sheet ambition required to pull off the feat are difficult to fathom, and the breakthrough will pave the way towards the full commercialization of space (and beyond).
