We are people-driven in our investment strategy. We back exceptional teams who not only have the talent to identify and execute on exciting opportunities but can also pull off the mid-course corrections that are inevitably required in an early stage company. We focus on executive leadership, execution ability and domain expertise in our assessment of teams.

Our investment approach centers on putting the entrepreneur first. We are typically the “go to” guy in the investment syndicate and usually hear the bad news first. We are committed to putting a fair deal on the table, being unusually responsive to our entrepreneurs’ needs and putting the company’s interests ahead of our own. We believe in communication that is open, honest and direct.

We are almost always the first institutional investor in a company and the lead investor if there is a syndicate of investors. We invest in pure start-ups, in boot-strapped companies that are ready for expansion capital (or founder liquidity), and in angel-backed companies which seek institutional backing. We typically invest up to $3 million in an initial financing, with the expectation that we will double that commitment over the life of the company.

We invest primarily in Austin-based companies. Although we will look at other opportunities on an exception basis, we have found that we do best when we can be close to our companies. Our company interactions are highly relationship driven and we find it difficult to maintain this dynamic if distance prevents the casual and impromptu encounters that we find so valuable. Our investments tend to be either technology driven or focused on opportunities where technology can be used to build significant proprietary barriers over time.