S2E4: Outsiders Welcome – Ethan Austin on Building a Firm That Speaks to the Uninvited

Some of the most iconic companies in the world didn’t come from polished decks or pedigreed founders. They were built by outsiders. The people who saw around corners, operated on instinct, and had the grit to pursue a vision others couldn’t see. They didn’t follow the roadmap. They rewrote it.

That’s the kind of founder Ethan Austin has always been, and the kind he’s now betting on as an emerging manager. At Outside VC, Ethan is building a platform that attracts the non-obvious bets, the ones most VCs overlook until it's too late.

Before building Outside VC, Ethan was one of those founders. In 2008, after losing his father to cancer, he launched GiveForward with his co-founder, Desiree Vargas Wrigley. The first medical crowdfunding platform, long before GoFundMe became a household name.

It wasn’t a sexy startup. There were no AI buzzwords, no credentialed co-founders, no warm intros to Sand Hill Road. But it was a real company, solving a real problem. Over the next several years, GiveForward helped families raise over $200 million, directly saving over 10,000 lives and impacting far more. As Ethan shares “At our peak we had 10% of the US population visiting our site every year.”

That kind of company teaches you things the spreadsheet can’t. Ethan learned how to build community, how to survive when the capital dries up, and what it really means to serve people at their most vulnerable moments.

When GiveForward exited in 2017 to GoFundMe, Ethan launched Techstars LA with Anna Barber. For four years, he directly coached founders, sat through thousands of pitches, and helped teams navigate the chaos of zero-to-one. But what stuck with him most wasn’t the pitch decks. It was the founders with that unmistakable fire in their belly. The ones who turned to an accelerator not because they had the perfect résumé, but because they came from the outside, and simply couldn’t not build.

That instinct now fuels him. As an emerging manager, Ethan knows capital is just the entry point. The real edge lies in building a fund that speaks directly to the people others overlook.

His platform philosophy reflects that:

* Brand over network: “Most firms source through their network, good ones through thesis, but great ones? Through brand,” Ethan says. He’s built Outside VC to be discoverable by the kinds of founders no one else is chasing because they haven’t hit anyone’s radar yet.

* Momentum compounds: In a world where emerging managers often fight for scraps of credibility, Ethan is building brick by brick: sharp memos, transparent LP updates, co-invests with top-tier firms, and a founder-first brand that travels fast.

* Create your own category: He’s not trying to be a mini a16z. He’s building something new: scrappy, mission-aligned, and deeply personal.

At the heart of Outside VC is something venture rarely talks about: lived empathy. Ethan doesn’t just say “founder empathy” as he’s lived it. He’s taken the late night customer calls. He’s felt the emotional weight of mission driven work. And now, he’s applying that experience to a new product: a fund.

It’s not just Ethan, either. He’s surrounded himself with people who’ve been in the trenches like Rishi Roongta, Founder of Bain’s startup innovation group, and Kiran Bhatraju, founder of Arcadia and one of Outside VC’s earliest backers, who nudged Ethan to take the leap.

Like many first time managers, Ethan knows the hardest part of venture isn’t writing checks, it’s earning the right to keep playing. And in a sea of emerging managers chasing optics, Ethan’s figuring out what’s true to him, and playing the long game.

Outside VC isn’t trying to impress the establishment. It’s building something orthogonal to it.

In the next decade, the biggest companies won’t come from the inner circle. They’ll come from unexpected corners from outsiders who refused to wait for permission.

And they’ll need partners who know what that feels like.

That’s why Ethan’s story matters. Not because it’s flashy, but because it’s earned. He’s not just betting on outsiders. He is one. And in a venture landscape slowly waking up to the power of authenticity over aesthetics, that might be the ultimate edge.

In a world obsessed with signals, Ethan is building from substance. For the founders who didn’t go to Stanford or the ones who did, but didn’t take the easy road to get there. Outside VC is a home. Immigrants, first-gens, people who’ve had to scrap their way in. What they share isn’t pedigree, it’s conviction. And that’s what Ethan backs: the builders who burn with clarity, not credentials. He’s offering both capital and belief in equal measure.

Special thanks to Nick Tippman for introducing us to Ethan. 🙌

To hear more, visit slicefund.substack.com