First Round Capital

First Round is a venture capital firm that works with founders exclusively at the earliest stages of company building, often when all they have is an “imagine if.” We fill in where we can until the team is filled out, tackling crucial early hiring and equipping those who are great at building product with the skills to sell it, too. By getting the foundational firsts right, we increase the odds of finding extreme product-market fit. Our founders’ “imagine ifs” have turned into companies like Notion, Roblox, Uber, and Square. We back founders who go unreasonably deep to get their beginnings right. We don’t back well-rounded founders. We seek people who have one or two outlier abilities, areas where they have a shot at being the best in the world. This is what allows them to see opportunities others miss, solve problems others can’t crack, and work with a drive that others don’t match. The founders who become world-class CEOs don’t learn to be adequate at everything. They identify the specific capabilities their company needs, then tackle each one with the same focus they brought to their original domain — or bring on others with extreme talents to complement them.