Leap Forward Ventures

Craig Hanson, as Founder and General Partner, makes all investment decisions. The firm operates with a single-GP structure, which means Hanson personally evaluates each opportunity, conducts technical diligence, and negotiates terms. This concentrated decision-making model allows the firm to commit to terms within days rather than the weeks or months typical of multi-partner funds, a speed advantage that matters acutely at the pre-seed stage where founders are often choosing their first institutional investor.

The firm's sourcing engine is built on Hanson's personal network among senior engineers, CTOs, and technical founders in the Bay Area. Rather than relying on inbound pitch decks or demo-day pipelines, Leap Forward Ventures finds companies through deep technical reference checks, back-channel conversations with engineering leaders at major tech companies, and referrals from a small circle of co-investors who have previously partnered on deals. This network-intensive approach surfaces founders who are often not yet actively fundraising.

Leap Forward Ventures leads or co-leads pre-seed and seed rounds, typically as the first institutional check into a company. By anchoring rounds at formation, the firm earns the right to set terms and establish the governance structure from day one. The firm reserves capital for follow-on investments in its strongest portfolio companies, though the specific follow-on ratio is not publicly disclosed given the firm's deal-by-deal capital structure.

The firm actively co-invests alongside a curated set of venture partners and angels, particularly when a round benefits from domain-specific expertise that complements Hanson's own technical diligence. Co-investors are typically individuals or small funds rather than large institutional platforms — a deliberate choice that keeps syndicates small and decision-making rapid. The firm has publicly indicated a preference for rounds where the investor group can fit in a single room.

The firm does not invest in consumer social, hardware, or capital-intensive deep tech that requires tens of millions in pre-revenue funding. Leap Forward Ventures focuses on capital-efficient enterprise models where the primary cost is engineering talent rather than physical infrastructure. This exclusion is pragmatic — the firm's lean capital base and pre-seed check sizes are structurally mismatched for industries where follow-on rounds reliably run into eight figures before revenue.