Slice Podcast

Dakota McKenzie, founder and general partner of Dynamic Growth Partners, shares insights on supporting early-stage technical founders. He discusses the patterns he’s observed in startup failures, emphasizing that impressive metrics don’t guarantee success. Dakota explains the distinction between consulting and investing, revealing how only one of his many clients has entered his portfolio. He candidly addresses the challenges of balancing revenue goals with product fundamentals and the importance of fostering independent, resilient founders.

Romain, a former institutional investor and the engineering mind behind the AI-powered venture fund Blue Moon, shares insights on revolutionizing venture capital. He discusses how he and Ben identified flaws in traditional VC and built Agatha, an AI model that screens over 8,000 founding teams annually. Romain dives into the power of predictive targeting, improving outreach, and unique behavioral interviews to assess founder potential. With a focus on scaling their model, they celebrate the success of two unicorns and envision the future of seed investing.

What happens when you combine moonshot ambition with radical empathy? You get Atypical Ventures, the early-stage fund investing in what they call “plausible science fiction” … think data centers on the moon.In our conversation with Lili and Chris, we unpacked how they think about frontier investing and why “engineers with empathy” win.Chris got into venture after years of working with quietly awesome people solving hard problems. He was the first employee at satellite company Spire, then worked in early ops at Clearbit and Vercel. He started Atypical to build something different. Lili joined a year later, bringing experience from running her own law firm, helping companies from pre-incorporation through Series A.“The brightest minds in the world should have every single advantage,” Chris told us. “If they win, we all win.”Atypical bets on founders who pair breakthrough technical ideas with real emotional intelligence.But what does that actually mean? “Empathy is an amorphous thing,” Chris said. “But what we really mean is intellectual humility. You can be one of the top people in the world, but you realize the shores of your ignorance are wider than the shores of your intelligence.”The best founders know how to walk the line. They share their vision with confidence, but they also show taste. They want more than just capital. They want a real partner.Atypical holds themselves to that same standard. Fund I was $7.5M. For Fund II, they scaled back to $15M from a $25M target.“Early-stage frontier tech is the loneliest job. You’re incentivized to look crazy and be right,” Chris said. Instead of spreading themselves thin, they leaned into focus. $1–3M checks, 10% ownership, 10 companies per fund. If they’re right about just 10 bets, they can go deep on each.That’s the thesis in action. Question your assumptions, follow the evidence.So how do you find the people building data centers on the moon? You don’t wait for them to show up in your inbox. Chris reads papers, cold emails researchers, and follows ideas most investors overlook. Some of their best referrals come from founders they’ve passed on. But the real insight? “The outliers aren’t ever in the group chats.”Their LPs think differently too. SpaceX engineers who get it right away. Real estate investors who understand high-risk, high-reward. Carefully chosen partners who are fully aligned. To date, they’ve executed ~$34M in syndicates. A signal that their thesis resonates.At the core of Atypical is a simple belief: perspective shapes experience. “To believe that change is possible is to make it so.”You won’t find an “Uber for X” or “Airbnb for Y” in their portfolio. They look for ideas that create new markets and net new value, not just a sliver of something that already exists. They invest across atoms, bits, and cells because the frontier is always moving. What feels early today won’t be in two years or five Sundays from now.And while most startups fail for predictable reasons, not everything shows up in a spreadsheet. Some lessons are only learned through trust, self-awareness, and how you treat people when things get hard.In a world where founders are expected to perform a certain kind of persona, Atypical asks different questions. Can you sit in silence and actually listen? Do you seek discomfort as a way to grow? Are you accountable for the downstream impact of what you’re building?They’re not trying to predict the future. They’re backing the people bold enough and grounded enough to build it.Thank you Fede for the intro to Chris & Lili! 🙏 To hear more, visit slicefund.substack.com

Most VCs are systematically terrible at recognizing patterns when it comes to women's health. Not because they're dumb – these are smart people. But because they fundamentally lack the lived experience to see what's staring them right in the face.Madeline has grown into the role of an emerging manager, seasoned by her time as a consultant. Instead of going to a multi stage firm, Madeline chose to build something of her own.. To “zag when others zig”. And this makes sense when you peel back a layer, and get to know where she comes from.She's one of 13 kids from a blended family in Australia, parents who met working at Domino's, moved to the US as a teenager, and watched her mother navigate chronic conditions within the Medicaid system."When we started to talk about GDP, we didn't account for work that was done at home, meaning if you are taking care of your aging mother. That does not account for GDP. Yet the moment that you get an outside care worker into the home now that's part of GDP."Think about that for a second. We're measuring economic activity completely wrong, which means we're sizing markets wrong. No wonder most funds think women's health is niche when it's actually the majority of healthcare spending.Investment in women's health companies increased 314% since 2018, while overall investment for the health sector increased 28%. (SVB’s Innovation in Women’s Health Report) Sounds impressive until you realize that's just catch-up from a ridiculously low baseline. The global FemTech market was estimated at USD 39.29 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.37% from 2025 to 2030, with some estimates suggesting it could reach USD 130.80 billion by 2034. (Research and Markets)Madeline thinks even these numbers are conservative because they're based on the narrow definition of women's health that VCs love to box themselves into, and this is where Madeline’s thesis differs. While most funds are still stuck thinking about fertility apps and period trackers, she's looking at Alzheimer's, heart disease, osteoporosis – conditions that disproportionately affect women or affect them differently."70% of our healthcare is largely driven by chronic conditions. Women are living longer, which means they are more likely to be the caretaker of their spouse versus the other way around. They are more likely to be involved in end-of-life decisions. They are more likely to inherit financial decisions. And this is all part of health, too."Suddenly you're not talking about a niche market. You're talking about the future of healthcare itself.Here's where things get really interesting. Madeline's observed something that should make every LP pay attention: investors calling markets "saturated" after just 2-3 companies hit near-billion-dollar valuations. She digs deeper in her article with Forbes. "I have observed that the investor group tends to think things get saturated fairly quickly. So you might hear from many investors, 'Infertility is saturated. We now have 2-3 startups that have reached almost that billion-dollar mark. We're done.'"Infertility. One of the most fundamentally human markets that exists. Saturated after three companies. The same thing is happening with menopause after companies like Flo Health ($200 million), Maven ($150 million) and Midi Health ($63 million) raised large rounds in 2024. These aren't saturation signals… they're proof of concept for much larger opportunities.Her core investments span the care economy, pre-seed and seed stages, backing companies like Proov (infertility), Swehl (breastfeeding), Elektra Health (menopause), and Guaranteed (end-of-life hospice care). But it's her thesis that extends far beyond traditional women's health categories that makes her interesting.Special thanks to Talal for the intro to Madeline. To hear more, visit slicefund.substack.com

In Latin American venture capital, there's a script. It starts with Stanford or Harvard, maybe an MBA. English fluency. A clean resume. Ideally, a few years at McKinsey. Ivan Montoya never read the script.Born in Colombia and raised in Silicon Valley, he's the solo GP behind NuMundo Ventures, a pre-seed and seed-stage fund investing in Latin American fintech, property tech, and supply chain startups. While most funds in the region are still betting on polished pedigrees, Ivan is betting on overlooked potential.His best example? A founder he calls "the Mexican Bill Gates.""I didn't even have the fund yet," Ivan recalls. "So I put in $20K of my own money. After I closed my first fund, I wired him $150K. Eight months later, another $150K."That founder, Mairon, had no college degree. No connections. No VC polish. Every other firm in Mexico passed.Fast forward to today: $30 million ARR, $25 million raised in equity, Series B closed. And still, most of his capital came from the U.S. and Brazil, not Mexico."When I met Mairon, I just thought…I can do something different here."Latin American venture capital has long followed what Ivan calls "central casting"—looking for founders with specific profiles."Most VCs here look for a certain founder profile," he explains. "Someone who went to a top school in the U.S., speaks English well, because at some point, they'll probably need to raise from U.S. investors."This approach has produced winners. Look at Nubank (David Vélez, Stanford GSB) or MercadoLibre (Marcos Galperin, Stanford GSB). But it's also narrow."There's a kind of 'central casting,'" Ivan says. "And if you don't fit, it's very hard to raise money."The result? Massive blind spots where exceptional founders get filtered out before they ever reach decision-makers.As a solo GP, Ivan has structural advantages that larger funds can't replicate."In Latin America, Mairon would've met the most junior person at a fund, if he got the meeting at all," Ivan explains. "Then that person has to convince a partner. But the partner doesn't know him, and he hasn't been to college, so… they pass."Emerging managers like Ivan are pattern-matching on different signals: hustle, market insight, execution ability. They're finding exceptional founders that the traditional playbook misses.Ivan's success reflects his broader thesis about timing. He believes Latin America is entering its "Fairchild Semiconductor moment” that generational inflection point when ecosystems mature and start producing exponential outcomes."Fairchild kicked off a cycle in Silicon Valley: 1962 to 1977," he explains. "I think Latin America started its cycle with Nubank, around 2010. Now we're in 2025, 15 years in."If he's right, emerging managers are perfectly positioned to capture this wave. They have the flexibility to bet on unconventional opportunities and the time to develop deep conviction.The Latin American venture ecosystem is evolving rapidly. While established funds continue to play important roles, emerging managers like Ivan are proving that size isn't always an advantage.For founders who don't fit traditional molds, emerging managers offer an alternative path to capital. For investors looking at Latin America, emerging managers offer access to deals and perspectives that larger funds might miss.The next wave of Latin American unicorns might not come from central casting. They might come from emerging managers willing to bet on overlooked potential…just like Ivan.Special thanks to Sahej for introducing us to Ivan. To hear more, visit slicefund.substack.com

With its third fund now closed at $54 million, Dynamo continues to lead investment in the technologies that make, move, and monetize the world's goods.When Santosh Sankar co-founded Dynamo Ventures in 2016, supply chain tech wasn't trendy. Today, the Chattanooga-based firm has become the go-to investor for founders reimagining global commerce infrastructure."Our thesis has always been about the backbone industries of the economy…When we started ten years ago, people questioned why we'd focus solely on supply chain and logistics. Now, everyone understands that these foundational systems need modernization."What struck us in our conversation was how Santosh maintains the hunger of a first-time fund manager while demonstrating the strategic clarity that comes with three successful fundraises.Dynamo's evolution shows an increasing focus on getting in earlier. While Fund II maintained a 50/50 split between pre-seed and seed investments, Fund III is leaning more heavily into pre-seed, with two-thirds of investments now happening at this earliest stage."The pre-seed stage is where we can add the most value," Santosh explained. "We're making high-conviction bets when others are hesitant, writing meaningful checks, and providing hands-on support when founders need it most."He adds that too many investors want to see traction metrics before committing. They’re comfortable making decisions based on the founder's vision and their understanding of the market opportunity. That's their edge. “We oftentimes look for insight at the early stage that we're investing at because if I can find and buy into your insight behind why you're doing what you're doing and the way you're doing. I can then help you craft that into something that's defensible. When you compound that over time, it turns into a moat. It drives me nuts when some investors ask a pre-seed company what their moat is, or seed company, or arguably in a series A company, they’re in the middle of building it.”Recent news on Stord’s $200m round at a $1.5b valuation confirms Dynamo’s thesis. As the first check in 2016 from Dynamo’s $18m Fund I, Stord has since* Sustained profitability since 2024* 5.5x growth since 2022* Over 30M orders delivered in 2024* Expanded to 11 Stord fulfillment nodes with a network of partner centers around the globe"Supply chain isn't just having a moment," Santosh observed in a recent LinkedIn post. "It's experiencing a fundamental shift in strategic importance. What was once viewed as a cost center is now recognized as a competitive advantage."When we asked about timing their third fund during market uncertainty, Santosh was clear: "The macro conversation helps us. The push for reshoring, nearshoring, and supply chain resilience isn't cyclical—it's a generational shift. Leaders now understand that optimizing for efficiency alone creates fragility. We're investing in the companies building robust, anti-fragile systems."Unlike VCs clustered in tech hubs, Dynamo embraces its Chattanooga location at the center of America's industrial economy. Santosh emphasizes believing in the power of place. "Being headquartered in Chattanooga gives us proximity to the real economy – the warehouses, distribution centers, and manufacturing facilities that make modern life possible. We're not just investing in technology; we're investing in transforming industries that have been the backbone of the global economy for generations."While rooted in America's heartland, Dynamo's vision is global. Two-thirds of their investments are in North America, with the remaining third internationally distributed."Maybe what we haven't addressed so far is we’ve invested globally since our first fund," Santosh shared. "Two-thirds of our fund has been invested in North America, and the balance overseas. There's a concentration in Europe, but Latin America is clearly becoming very important to us, and we have a smattering of companies elsewhere in the world as well."Innovation has no zip code, and Dynamo stands apart by making carefully selected investments where they provide substantial capital and hands-on support:* Deep industry connections to potential customers and partners* Operational expertise in supply chain and logistics* Tactical support on go-to-market strategy and talent acquisition"We're not in the business of making a hundred bets hoping a few work out…We make fewer, more concentrated investments where we can truly partner with founders. That approach requires confidence in your thesis and the discipline to say 'no' a lot."With Fund III now closed, Dynamo is set to continue transforming global commerce infrastructure through its high-conviction, hands-on approach to pre-seed investing."Our vision hasn't changed since day one," Santosh reflected. "We believe the future of supply chain isn't just about incremental efficiency…it's about reimagining these systems from the ground up. The founders we back are building that future, and we're honored to support them at the earliest stages of their journey."Congratulations to Santosh and the entire team! We're excited to follow your journey as you support founders building technologies that make our world go around a bit smoother.Special thanks to John Gleeson for introducing us to Santosh. To hear more, visit slicefund.substack.com

In a world where many venture capitalists shy away from the complexities of the food industry, Cam Crowder and Shane Larisey are charting a different course with Redstick Ventures. This early-stage fund is laser-focused on transforming the food ecosystem, addressing challenges from labor shortages to supply chain inefficiencies.Cam Crowder's journey into venture capital is rooted in hands-on experience. As a former operator of six Tim Hortons franchises, he managed over 200 employees and faced firsthand the operational hurdles of the food industry. These challenges sparked his interest in solutions that could alleviate such pain points, leading him to angel investing and eventually co-founding Redstick Ventures. His deep understanding of the industry's intricacies informs the fund's investment strategy, focusing on areas like food waste reduction, packaging innovation, and food technology.Shane Larisey brings a complementary perspective to Redstick Ventures. With a background in hardware entrepreneurship and engineering, he understands the technical demands of building scalable solutions. His experience in manufacturing and supply chain management allows the fund to assess and support startups that operate at the intersection of software and hardware within the food industry.The food industry continues to grapple with significant labor challenges. As of Q1 2024, staffing levels in food service remain 2.1% below pre-pandemic levels, representing approximately 270,000 unfilled positions nationwide. According to the National Restaurant Association's 2024 State of the Industry Report, 62% of food operators cite staffing as their top challenge, up from 57% in 2023.The labor shortage has driven average hourly wages in food service up by 23% since 2019, far outpacing the industry's traditional growth rate. This wage inflation has compressed already thin margins, with the average full-service restaurant seeing profit margins decrease from 6.2% in 2019 to 4.7% in early 2024.Redstick Ventures sees these challenges as opportunities to invest in automation and technologies that can streamline operations, reduce human error, and lower costs. The food automation technology market is projected to reach $35.7 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 9.5% from 2024.Key growth areas include:* Kitchen Automation: Robotics for food preparation has seen investment increase by 78% in 2023-2024 compared to the previous year* AI-Driven Inventory Management: Reducing food waste by 30-50% in early adopters* Smart POS Systems: Integrating ordering, payment, and loyalty programs while providing actionable data insightsWhile corporate venture funds like Tyson Foods and Chipotle have entered the food tech space, Redstick Ventures differentiates itself by investing at earlier stages and taking calculated risks on emerging technologies. In 2023-2024, corporate food industry venture investment totaled $3.2 billion, but focused primarily on later-stage companies with proven revenue models.Redstick's operator-led approach provides unique insights and support founders at the earliest stages, making them a valuable partner in the food tech ecosystem.Beyond labor, Redstick is focused on supply chain resilience. COVID-19 exposed critical vulnerabilities, and recent geopolitical tensions have further strained global food logistics. In response, 76% of food companies are now pursuing some form of supply chain localization, creating opportunities for startups that enable:* Regional processing and distribution hubs* Farm-to-table logistics optimization* Shelf-life extension technologies* Alternative protein production closer to consumption pointsCam and Shane are not just investors; they're catalysts for change in the food industry. By leveraging their combined expertise, they're identifying and supporting startups that have the potential to revolutionize how we produce, distribute, and consume food.With food service technology adoption accelerating, 93% of food operators plan to implement or upgrade their technology stack in 2024-2025 according to Square's Future of Restaurants report. Redstick Ventures is positioned at the intersection of critical industry needs and emerging technology solutions.Their work is a testament to the impact that focused, knowledgeable, and passionate investors can have on an industry ripe for innovation.Special thanks to Nakul for introducing us to Cam!! To hear more, visit slicefund.substack.com

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

In the next era of enterprise software, general-purpose tools are fading. Verticalization is no longer a niche strategy. It's the battleground. And at the forefront is Nick Tippmann, founder and GP at TipTop Ventures, who’s betting on a new generation of software: intelligent, embedded, and purpose-built for specific industries. It’s not just SaaS anymore, it’s Vertical SaaS 3.0.From his operator roots in the Midwest to his front-row seat at Greenlight Guru, Nick’s journey is a playbook for how specialization, fintech integration, and now AI are reshaping the software stack. And like all the best founders-turned-investors, he’s building the fund he wishes had backed him.Before founding TipTop Ventures, Nick helped scale Greenlight Guru, a Vertical SaaS pioneer serving the MedTech industry. He wasn’t just along for the ride, but building the playbook. As CMO and part of the founding team, he saw firsthand how purpose-built tools outperformed horizontal solutions by deeply understanding workflows, regulations, and customer pain points.That experience seeded a thesis: vertical software wins not just by focusing on one market, but by embedding itself into the core operations of that market. Add payments, financial services, and now you don’t just have a better tool. You have a platform that redefines the job.TipTop backs Vertical SaaS founders at pre-seed and seed with a vertical focus. Every investment aligns with TipTop’s core belief that the future belongs to software built for one specific customer, not every customer. Looking at SaaS + Fintech + AI, they invest in companies that don’t just offer software, but reimagine workflows, automate decisions, and create new revenue streams through embedded finance.TipTop Fund I is a $15M pre-seed and seed-stage vehicle targeting 35 investments over three years with $100K–$400K initial checks. No follow-ons, but just SPVs in winners. The portfolio already includes companies like:* GC AI: AI platform for in-house legal* Frontiers MarketL SaaS-enabled marketplace for cattle ranchers* Revin: AI ops for home servicesTo understand where TipTop is going, you have to understand where SaaS has been.* SaaS 1.0: Pure cloud: industry-agnostic tools like Salesforce and Zoom.* SaaS 2.0: Verticalization: products like Toast and ServiceTitan that go deep in one sector.* SaaS 3.0: The new frontier. Vertical software powered by AI and embedded finance, capable of replacing entire workflows. Not just digitizing them.In this model, AI isn’t just an add-on. It’s the engine. It handles documentation, compliance, forecasting, even underwriting. And because these companies own the data and the transaction layer, their defensibility compounds.As Nick puts it: “The best Vertical SaaS companies don’t stop at software—they become agentic operating systems.”We’re now at an inflection point. As AI reshapes horizontal tools, mid-market SaaS is being squeezed. Generic is getting commoditized. Meanwhile, vertical winners like Owner.com (113% YoY Growth Rate) are proving that depth, not breadth, is where the margin lives.Markets like construction, elder care, commercial trucking, and specialty manufacturing are ripe for this kind of disruption. And founders with deep domain knowledge are realizing that the future isn’t just building for an industry, but rather that it’s building into it.Nick’s view? This isn’t a trend. It’s a structural shift. And the best GPs will be those who can underwrite it before the category has a name.Where some funds chase logos, TipTop builds trenches. Their edge lies in deep market mapping before deployment and a tight knit LP and operator community to support founders early.They’re not just investing in tools. They’re investing in teams who know the customer better than anyone else, and can move faster than legacy players weighed down by horizontal bloat.As more GPs enter the verticalization conversation, TipTop’s early bets, operator DNA, and structured strategy give it a head start. In a world chasing breadth, they’re choosing depth, and building a portfolio that reflects it.For LPs, founders, and operators watching the future of SaaS unfold, one thing’s clear: Vertical SaaS 3.0 isn’t coming. It’s already here. And Nick Tippmann is betting early.Special thanks to John Gleeson (Success VP) for connecting us to Nick! To hear more, visit slicefund.substack.com

While most VCs avoid industrial tech because it’s too complex, too physical, and too far from the cloud, Cameron Porter and Talal Atteih are doing the opposite. At Steel Atlas, they’re doubling down on the overlooked frontier between software and heavy industry, where hard problems and real-world systems collide.The industrial economy is in the midst of a major transformation. In just the first nine months of 2024, private equity and venture capital firms invested $14.87B into industrial automation. That’s more than double the total for all of 2023, and nearing the all-time high set in 2021. It’s a clear signal that demand is surging for technologies, modernizing the industrial backbone.While late-stage capital floods in, Steel Atlas is focused on backing these transformations at the earliest stages, identifying and funding the most promising early-stage teams before the crowd shows up. But they’re not just investing in the technology; they’re investing in the infrastructure that will power the next industrial era.The fund model is extremely disciplined and deliberate. Fund I is a $10M vehicle backing just eight companies, each handpicked based on deep research, conviction, and a strong understanding of how systems-level changes occur in complex industries. Fund II is looking to do more of the same but with 12 companies.Take Valar Atomics, one of their early bets. It’s building nuclear reactors that make clean hydrocarbon fuels (oil and gas) very cheaply. Most VCs steer clear of nuclear. This blog post highlights the depth of research Steel Atlas undertakes, and it’s no surprise that other investors have relied on their diligence to support their own convictions. In just 10 months, Valar has already built a full thermal version of their reactor. Steel Atlas’s expertise extends beyond hardware to software, where they’re backing companies like GenLogs, which they led the seed round for. GenLogs is revolutionizing freight and logistics with a proprietary platform built on truck sensor data, enabling freight brokers to make smarter decisions. With 700 million truck detections and 1.6 billion attributes processed, the company is already helping major players like CH Robinson and Uber Freight optimize its operations. This exemplifies Cameron and Talal’s knack for identifying software plays that create real, long-term value by being “data makers,” not “data takers.”“You can't just shoot from the hip with this style of investing,” Cameron shares. “That’s why we invest at one per quarter.”But it’s not just Steel Atlas's approach that sets them apart; it’s the partnership itself. Talal brings a wealth of industrial knowledge and unparalleled global access. Growing up in a multigenerational steel family and later leading venture efforts at a multi-billion-dollar advisory platform, he’s developed a unique understanding of the global industrial landscape. He’s worked alongside top-tier firms like a16z, Founders Fund, and Union Square Ventures, giving him the strategic acumen to navigate complex international markets.Cameron brings an operator’s mindset and impressive technical fluency. A Princeton computer science graduate turned startup builder, he honed his expertise at AlleyCorp, working on a range of early-stage companies across industries. His time as a professional soccer player also shaped his resilience and competitive spirit. This mix of grit, systems thinking, and startup pattern recognition uniquely positions him to thrive in the high-friction world of industrial tech.For founders, Steel Atlas isn’t just another source of capital. They’re strategic co-builders with deep credibility in the industries they invest in. Their value goes beyond money; it’s about building relationships and understanding the real-world challenges that founders face. In Steel Atlas’s view, successful industrial startups don’t just need funding; they need partners who fully understand their space and can help them navigate the complexities of scaling in tough markets.At Slice, we’re always on the lookout for managers who combine precision, patience, and purpose. Few venture firms exhibit this level of dedication, but Steel Atlas has proven their ability to dive deep into tough markets and build companies that can drive the next industrial revolution. Industrial tech may be a long game, but Steel Atlas is playing it with unwavering conviction, focusing on the intersection of software and hardware to capture the massive opportunities unfolding in this space.🎧 Tune in to hear how Steel Atlas is building a venture firm designed for the next industrial revolution. One based on deep research, real relationships, and the belief that the biggest wins will come from the messy, powerful middle ground between pure software and pure hardware. To hear more, visit slicefund.substack.com