Captain Ventures

Captain Ventures Research Overview Captain Ventures is a generalist seed-stage venture capital firm founded by Tyler Hogge, officially launched on June 18, 2026. The firm has offices in Salt Lake City, Utah (SLC) and San Francisco, CA (SF). As of its launch, Captain Ventures operates as a solo GP firm — it is currently just Tyler Hogge, though he plans to build a team over time. Investment Thesis: The Captain and the Current Captain Ventures is built around a core belief: the founder — the Captain — is the primary determinant of a startup's success. Tyler Hogge's investment framework, which he calls "The Captain and the Current," has two key dimensions: The Captain (Founder Quality): Tyler believes the founding team is the prime mover of any exceptional startup. He evaluates founders on: Are they an "intelligent fanatic" — intense, obsessive, and relentlessly resourceful? Do their unique superpowers match the biggest risks of their specific startup? Do they have an earned, non-consensus insight upon which the business is built? Have they successfully navigated the idea maze? Are they exceptional storytellers and talent magnets? Would Tyler want to work for them? The Current (Market + Product): The market and product matter greatly, but Tyler views them as secondary to founder quality. A great Captain can navigate to a new current if the original one fails. He looks for: Signs of genuine market pull — customers desperately want this Powerful technological or market tailwinds Non-consensus, differentiated insights Products that are 10x better, not incrementally better Potential for a compounding competitive moat A path to become one of the 30 most important companies started in a given year As Tyler wrote in his December 2024 thesis post: "What I'm arguing is that the prime mover, the core of the whole thing, is the captain. The current (which could be thought of as the combination of the market and the product) matters a great deal as well." Stage Focus Captain Ventures focuses exclusively on seed-stage investing. Tyler has historically written seed checks in the $1-5M range during his time at Pelion, and the firm's focus on leading rounds at seed reflects his conviction-based approach. Why Tyler Started Captain Ventures Tyler launched Captain Ventures because he felt he needed to "be worthy of the best founders" — having never started a company himself. He wrote at launch: "I want to be worthy of the best founders. I'm not saying every investor has to start something to be a worthy partner. I don't think that's true. But I know it is true for me." He is starting the firm with a large portion of his net worth to align outcomes with the founders he backs. Tyler Hogge's Background Tyler brings a deep operating background to the firm: Divvy (acquired by BILL for $2.5B): SVP of Product & Risk through acquisition Wealthfront ($1.5B valuation): Led core product teams Clearwater Analytics ($CWAN, ~$7B market cap): Led sales Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) : Internship Pelion Venture Partners (January 2023 – June 2026): Partner, led seed and Series A investments Education: Finance from SUU (D1 baseball team captain); MBA from Cornell; CFA Charterholder Previous Investing Track Record (Pelion + Kindling Capital) Before Captain Ventures, Tyler made investments through Pelion and his personal fund Kindling Capital (~29 companies since 2021). Lead Investments at Pelion: Jump (jump.ai): AI platform for financial advisors; grew to 27,000+ advisors; raised $4.6M seed → $20M Series A → $80M Series B ($105M total) Remi (remihq.com): Roofing marketplace, Lehi UT; $21M Series A at $90M valuation; 650% growth Kapital : Latin American fintech unicorn ($1.3B valuation); co-led Series C with Tribe Capital Redo (redo.com): Ecommerce returns automation, Draper UT; Forbes/Bessemer Cloud 100 Rising Star; incubated from Pelion's office Valinor (valinordiscovery.com): Multiomics AI for clinical trial design; $13M seed (co-led with CRV, Harpoon); San Francisco Honey Health (honeyhealth.ai): Autonomous AI agents for healthcare back office; $7.8M seed (led by Pelion); founded by former LinkedIn AI leaders Agree (agree.com): E-signature + integrated payments platform; $7.2M seed (led by Pelion) Angel Investment Highlights (Kindling Capital era): Flexport, Wander, Outsmart, Linq, Coast, Yendo, Merge, Sprig, Zonos, Nursa, Neighbor Geographic Focus US-focused, with particular emphasis on the Salt Lake City / Utah startup ecosystem and the SF Bay Area. Captain Ventures has offices in both cities. Decision Process As a solo GP, Tyler makes investment decisions independently. He has signaled he is highly responsive ("responds in 24 seconds not 24 hours") and values being the kind of investor founders want to call first with bad news or good news. What He Looks For Tyler is explicitly generalist — he does not restrict to any single sector. However, his track record reflects a strong affinity for AI-enabled startups, fintech/payments, healthcare technology, and marketplace businesses. He is particularly attracted to founders with: Operator experience at exceptional startups Non-obvious insights that come from deep domain immersion The intensity and resourcefulness of someone who "finds a way or makes one" (Aut inveniam viam aut faciam) Sources Tyler Hogge personal website: https://tylerhogge.com Captain Ventures Day 1 launch post: https://tylerhogge.com/blog/today-is-day-1-of-captain-ventures/ Captain and the Current thesis: https://tylerhogge.com/blog/the-captain-and-the-current/ Captain Ventures LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/thogge Twitter/X: https://x.com/thogge