Kickstart

Core Fit

Scrappy, ambitious, often technical founders building generational companies in the Mountain West. Kickstart is a generalist with active interest in AI, B2B SaaS, fintech, healthtech, marketplaces, consumer tech, and frontier/physical technology including space, quantum, photonics, robotics, defense, aerospace, and chip infrastructure.

Stage & Check

Pre-seed and seed are the core; occasional Series A. Initial checks are $500K-$4M, with significant follow-on reserves. Kickstart leads, sets terms, builds syndicates, and usually takes a board seat on priced seed rounds.

Ownership/Security

Typically targets 12%-15% ownership in a priced seed; often uses SAFEs at pre-seed and prefers priced rounds at seed.

Traction Signals

Revenue is not required. At pre-seed, the team, unique insight, technical talent, domain expertise, prototype, and size of the opportunity can carry the case. At seed, customer evidence and a clear path to Series A strengthen fit.

Founder Signals

Grit, non-consensus thinking, obsession, technical or domain depth, capital efficiency, honesty, and willingness to take a very large swing.

Geography

The founding team's center of gravity should be in the Mountain West; remote-first is acceptable when at least one co-founder is in-region.

Value-Add

Hiring, customer and operator introductions, follow-on fundraising, syndication, board support, and a deep regional founder network.