Silver Buckshot Ventures

Nicole Perlroth, the firm's Founding Partner and Managing Director, leads all investment activity. Perlroth was previously the lead cybersecurity reporter at The New York Times, where she covered the global cyber arms race for a decade. Her decision-making process is informed by an active advisory network across the U.S. intelligence and incident-response communities, including her role on the DHS Cybersecurity Advisory Committee.

Deal flow is sourced primarily through Perlroth's direct line to government threat intelligence and the incident-response ecosystem. Her roles advising CISA and the DHS Cybersecurity Advisory Committee provide early, non-public insight into systemic vulnerabilities. This is complemented by her venture partnership at Ballistic Ventures, where the two firms share a pipeline and frequently co-invest in companies built to counter newly identified threat vectors.

The firm conducts direct, early-stage deals rather than committing as a limited partner to external funds. Its model is built around concentrated, hands-on bets where Perlroth's specific domain expertise and network can materially shape a company's go-to-market strategy. The co-investment pattern is not a fund-of-funds allocation but a deal-by-deal partnership with specialist cybersecurity firms like Ballistic Ventures.

Nicole Perlroth serves as a Venture Partner at Ballistic Ventures, a dedicated cybersecurity venture capital firm. The two entities maintain a close co-investment relationship rather than a formal parent-subsidiary structure. The partnership gives Silver Buckshot Ventures access to Ballistic's operational platform and portfolio support while allowing Ballistic to leverage Perlroth's unique threat-intelligence network for deal origination.

Perlroth serves as an advisor to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and is a member of the DHS Cybersecurity Advisory Committee. She previously served on the Council on Foreign Relations Cyber Task Force. These positions give the firm direct insight into the government's most urgent defensive priorities, functioning as an informal source of market intelligence rather than as a contracting or grant-dependent relationship.