Darean Rhodes, Shanna Pearre
We back founders where
can't be faked.
A pre-seed fund backing founders at the earliest stages.
A pre-seed fund backing founders at the earliest stages.
In the early stages of building a company, no matter the sector, the path to scale runs through people — your first believers, your earliest customers, the voices that carry your name before your brand can carry itself. Community is a unique point of leverage that compounds over time and stays with a company for years to come.
We're looking for founders who are uniquely building community within their industry — specifically in industries where trust matters most: healthcare, education, consumer, and the future of work.
We’re drawn to teams with real founder signal: insight, speed, and a relationship-first mindset. We care about clarity, not theatrics.
Patient trust drives adoption. Community compounds clinical credibility.
Learning is social. The best edtech is built on real relationships.
Brand loyalty starts in community. Word-of-mouth beats paid acquisition.
As humans and AI work side by side, trust between people becomes the layer that holds teams, tools, and organizations together.
Operators with real insight into the problem they’re solving — not just pitch polish.
Teams building with urgency and clarity before external validation arrives.
Founders who want partners, not just capital.
Teams that can learn directly from users and iterate quickly.
Y Combinator-backed founder and community builder who grew a 5,000-person network through 300+ days of consistent content creation. He's built companies from zero, advised early-stage startups across healthcare, education, and consumer, and knows firsthand what it takes to go from idea to traction. Scooter leads with relationships — his network is how West Peek finds founders before anyone else does.
Investment banking background and early employee at YC-backed companies — she's been in the trenches of high-growth startups and knows what building from zero actually looks like from the inside. Sequoia brings financial rigor, operational depth, and a founder-first approach to every conversation. She's the partner who helps you think through the hard questions before they become hard problems.
Our community of founders, creatives, and professionals is where early-stage founders find their next co-founders, find their first customers, and validate their ideas with people who actually get it.
Join Our CommunityTell us what you're building and how community plays a role. We read every submission.
