Fireroad Ventures

Fireroad Ventures

Partnering with mission-driven tech founders through inception-stage investing

Why Fireroad Ventures?

With our team of founders, angel investors, venture studio pioneers, and experienced operators, Fireroad Ventures is here to be the investor we wish we had ten years ago: long term partners with relevant experience, in our backyard.

Fund I is the inaugural fund of Fireroad Ventures. The $10M fund will invest in approximately 40 inception-stage technology companies, provide hands on mentorship through our LP network, and leverage resources to help founders flourish in every area of their lives.

Fund I, a Regulation D 506(c) offering, is publicly open to participation from accredited investors.

INVEST WITH FIREROAD

Our Portfolio

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Our Team

Fireroad integrates the successful venture-building experience of each partner to identify winners early-on, nurture them through the venture building lifecycle, and partner with founders to keep them in the game longer.
Tim Metzner, CEO & Partner, Fireroad
Tim Metzner
Partner & CEO
Founder of Ocean Accelerator, Differential (dev shop + studio) and Coterie Insurance. Companies have raised >$115M. Active angel (56 deals). Champion of culture, growth and helping founders succeed.
Tim on LinkedIn >>
Christy Johnson, Operating Partner Fireroad Ventures
Christy Johnson
Partner
Former COO of Ocean Accelerator. Enterprise marketer, strategist, and operator. Identity and impact enthusiast, determined to integrate both into the venture story.
Christy on LinkedIn >>
Ry Walker, Partner, Fireroad
Ry Walker
Founding Partner
Serial engineer, founder and champion of open source and AI. Prior exit of a $1B+ valuation unicorn company. Current CEO of Tembo, applied AI SaaS tackling a $70b segment.
Ry on LinkedIn >>
Jonathan Randall
Associate
Researcher and analyst, leading initial diligence process and portfolio analytics. Experienced financial professional, operations designer and problem solver.
Jonathan on LinkedIn >>

Our Track Record

We are emerging managers, but this isn't our first time allocating capital. Via angel investing, Differential Venture Studio, and the Ocean Accelerator, we reviewed thousands of startup concepts and teams. Fireroad Ventures I brings professional management to the strategies for sourcing and vetting deals we have been leveraging for seven years.  

$3.37M
allocated capital
5.25x
TVPI
1.1x
DPI

Any and all valuations, projections, and reported outcomes are presented in good faith and based upon various estimates and assumptions and are be illustrative, not guaranteed. The current value and future performance of funds is subject to various risks and market conditions, and nothing in this presentation shall be construed as a representation by the fund that such performance can be or will be achieved.

How We Invest

As an inception-stage investor, we know founders won't have all the answers and that the future of a business is impossible to predict. That's why we have been fine tuning our screening and diligence process to identify strong founding teams with scalable ideas and resilience for the road ahead.

We look for
mission-driven founders
software
founding teams
in-house technical leadership
We avoid
hardware
life sciences
non-US based companies
CPG
Initial Investments
where we know we can add value
$100k-$250k
pre-seed
valuations under $10M
How we win

History of spotting early winners
We've vetted thousands of startups and accelerated dozens of them to venture capital maturity, and our picks have grown 5.5x. We're using the same process we've honed for more than 10 years.

Unrivaled product knowledge
We pioneered the studio model in 2014, returning 5x to investors. Then, we founded high-growth companies, raising over $470M and creating more than $1.5B in enterprise value.

Proprietary dealflow
Through partnership with Ocean Accelerator and Fireroad Foundry initiatives, we identify and invest in promising startups before they become widely known or competitive.

Flourishing founders
Resilience, purpose, and relationships are essential for the life of a founder. We partner to bring resources founders need to stay in the game. This isn’t just about de-risking investments, it’s about bringing humanity back to venture capital.

Hey founders,

we'd like to get to know you

Fireroad uses a tool called Wendal to meet founding teams. Based on data from thousands of startup teams, Wendal is an AI-powered application that helps us understand important traits in founding teams, like: team dynamics and morale, leadership styles, disruptive thinking, and resilience. Wendal only takes 15 minutes from start-to-end, and you might even learn something new about yourself.

Apply for funding

Read more about our process >>
FIREROAD TEAM EXPERIENCE
Ocean AcceleratorAstronomer logoTembo logoTim Metzner, co-founder of CoterieDifferential logoCommas logo