Highnote Foundry

David Teten serves as Founder & General Partner and leads all investment and venture creation decisions. He previously ran the New York office of ff Venture Capital and co-founded the Venture Capital Practice at Harvard Business School. The firm's investment committee includes Teten and the fractional specialists leading each portfolio company (per public record).

Instead of sourcing external deals, Highnote Foundry generates its own deal flow by systematically identifying market whitespace. The studio conducts top-down market analysis and interviews hundreds of potential buyers in each target segment. It then matches these opportunities with seasoned operators from its network who become founding CEOs (per the firm's public communications).

Highnote Foundry is structured as an independent venture studio and early-stage fund, not a family office. It raises capital from a small group of family offices and high-net-worth individuals on a deal-by-deal or fund basis. The studio does not manage permanent family capital (per the firm's description and common structure).

Highnote Foundry focuses exclusively on the pre-seed and seed stages, forming each company from scratch. It does not invest in external startups or later rounds. The studio provides between $250,000 and $500,000 in initial capital and continues to support portfolio companies through their Series A (per the firm's public materials).

Highnote Foundry avoids consumer software, life sciences, hardware, and any business that requires more than $1 million in initial capital before generating revenue. The studio also does not pursue blockchain or crypto-based ventures (per the firm's stated criteria in public documents).