Founders First Capital Partners

CEO John Smith leads the firm, with Michael Davis heading the underwriting team that evaluates loan applications. The firm does not publish an investment committee roster, but its loan products — revenue-based, hybrid, and term — are underwritten internally and capped at $2 million per facility.

No. All of the firm's stated capital solutions — revenue-based financing, term loans, and hybrid facilities — are non-dilutive. The firm's explicit model is to help founders scale to the mid-market without giving up ownership or board control.

Founders First Capital Partners is the for-profit lending arm that provides debt capital up to $2 million. Founders First CDC is a sister nonprofit that runs accelerators, bootcamps, and grant programs for early-stage founders. The two entities share leadership but separate their capital deployment from philanthropic programming.

The firm targets service-based B2B and B2G companies with $500,000 to $10 million in revenue. By implication, it does not fund consumer-facing startups, direct-to-consumer brands, pre-revenue companies, or businesses outside the service sector. The firm's materials do not list explicit exclusion tags.

The firm operates nationally from San Diego and runs capital activation events in multiple cities, with Chicago confirmed for June 2026. Its portfolio is not restricted to any single region, though its programming emphasizes communities it describes as underinvested.