OKAY. I think it's time to make it official.
📣 Introducing Wayfinder II — a $35M seed-stage fund investing $300k-$1M checks in founders building enduring companies solving tomorrow's hard problems.
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I've been actively investing for over a decade. As an angel, at YC, and for the past four years as a VC.
But friends who know me know that I really don't like calling myself a VC.
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It was never an aspiration of mine to become a VC. I've always viewed myself as a founder, and as a founder I had mixed experiences with many VCs.
That's *why* I started Wayfinder — to do VC my way.
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Does the world really need another VC fund? If you ask a VC, the answer is always no.
If you ask a founder, they'll tell you there's still a shortage of people willing to be the first to bet on them. Who not only write a check but actually spend time with them. Who understand.
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For me, that understanding comes from nearly a decade as a founder where I made my fair share of mistakes.
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It also comes from feeling, first hand, the stress involved with running a startup and still loving the journey.
Everyone always says startups are hard, but how hard?
Nearly 5 years after exiting my startup, I am still dealing with a chronic health issue (psoriatic arthritis) triggered by the stress of the last year of running the startup.
Sometimes you end up with literal startup scars.
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I've also had the good fortune to spend five years working with founders at YC, where I learned from them 100x as much as I've been able to give back.
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Most importantly, over the past decade I've been lucky to invest in some iconic unicorn founders and companies like Flexport, Solugen, Boom Supersonic, Supabase, and many more.
I've learned from them what greatness truly looks like.
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With Wayfinder, my goal is to have all of these lessons benefit the next generation of founders.
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It goes without saying, but I'm incredibly thankful to all the founders who have allowed me to partner with them over the past decade. I could not be here without you.
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I'm also *truly* grateful to my LPs. Many of them have known me for over a decade (two have even interned at my startup!), but many more are taking a chance on me for the first time to build this firm. Your support (especially in this market environment) means the world to me.
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Anyway, if you're a founder and you're just getting started, please reach out. I'd love to hear what you're building!
I'm at yuri
@wayfinder
.com
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