At Near Horizon, we’re venture builders, not venture capitalists. 

This is not semantic sleight of hand; we are co-creators of our portfolio companies and earn most of our equity through real work (though we also deploy capital). We code, we sell, we interview, and we coach. 

Our model is new, and it’s working, judging by the quality of our deal flow and portfolio. One year into our journey, we seem to have found PMF.

Sean, Mike, and I didn’t set out to do something transformative— we created Near Horizon to work on the things we enjoyed:

We love shaping companies in their earliest days, despite the stress and (occasional) heartbreak. 

We love the stimulation of multiple projects and meeting passionate founding CEOs; their energy and knowledge are contagious.

We want to build applications enabled by dramatic technological shifts and live in the middle of the AI maelstrom.

And most importantly, we love working with creative, optimistic people, including each other. 

So we launched Near Horizon, where we co-create AI-powered NewCos with great solo founders. We invest in their companies and join their teams, working side by side to take them from 0 to 1.

We do real work and earn real equity, but our entrepreneurs bring their founding ideas and unfair advantages. They control the equity and the vision and need to be backable even without Near Horizon. 

We’ve stumbled upon a new model that appeals to the many great entrepreneurs with unique insight and talent but no natural co-founders. Demand is high, though we’re brand new (but feel free to tell your friends).

One entrenched bias we’ve battled as we’ve built Near Horizon is that solo founders don’t succeed. We think this bias is undeserved, and as such, solo founders are underserved. We aim to solve that and, in so doing, change the history of entrepreneurship.

Silicon Valley has driven and been driven by innovation in how capital is deployed, starting with Arthur Rock and the birth of venture capital. The explosion of seed funds helped a “thousand flowers bloom,” while growth firms solved for the closed public markets. Secondaries helped with founder liquidity. Incubators like YC provide invaluable advice, capital, and networking for founding teams. (If you’ve read this far, please read The Power Law, which is magnificent.) Even venture studios, for all their challenges and adverse selection, have produced Moderna, Snowflake, Tinder, and Overture, among countless others.

But we’re here to do something different because we think there’s a need. Thousands of great entrepreneurs would benefit from a team of 0 to 1 co-founders. Startups need help everywhere. Sean, Mike, and I have been CEOs, CTOs, CPOs, CMOs, and CBOs. We know how to sell, code, hire, fundraise, and grow. How to figure out what to build, for whom, and why. 

Because there are three of us, we bring more than any single co-founder can.

We’re venture builders. And we’re here to move your solo venture forward.

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