The Operators Fund

Co-founders Trae Vassallo and Susie Kimport Vassallo share investment committee authority and execute all final partnership decisions jointly. Trae Vassallo’s background — including nearly 12 years at Kleiner Perkins and prior product-design roles — anchors the technical side of diligence, while Susie Kimport Vassallo contributes operating and go-to-market perspective.

The fund sources heavily from the operators’ own networks inside Silicon Valley engineering and product communities, relying on introductions from former colleagues at Kleiner Perkins, IDEO, Apple, and the portfolio-founder diaspora. In addition, the firm’s practice of embedding technical review during diligence typically surfaces entrepreneur referrals well ahead of any institutional process.

The firm strongly favors direct equity stakes and occasional special-purpose vehicles, avoiding blind-pool fund-of-funds commitments. To date, the partnership has not disclosed any LP commitments into external venture funds, preferring to build exposure one name at a time.

Seed and Series A represent the core deployment zone, with initial check sizes that start in the low seven figures. Limited follow-on capital is reserved for breakout portfolio companies through Series B, but the firm does not pursue late-stage or pre-IPO growth rounds.

The firm has not invested in consumer-internet, pure-play fintech lending, advertising technology, cryptocurrency protocols, or biotech drug development. Its product-review diligence process naturally filters out sectors where the partners lack technical depth or operating credibility.

The wealth base has not been publicly disclosed. The fund structure strongly resembles a single-family office vehicle built around the co-founders’ personal capital, augmented by a discreet group of close operator LPs, though no outside family has been confirmed.

The fund occasionally accepts co-investors into SPVs on a case-by-case basis, typically limited to former operators or domain specialists known to the founders. It does not maintain an open co-investment platform or formally syndicate deals to third-party family offices.