Very Serious Ventures

Josh Goldman and Brandon Kessler run the firm as managing partners and make all investment decisions together. The partnership structure is intentionally flat, with no extended investment committee process that founders must navigate. Both partners are active in sourcing, diligence, and portfolio support.

The firm writes initial checks typically between $250,000 and $1 million at the pre-seed and seed stages. It leads or co-leads rounds and is structured to move quickly once conviction is reached. Follow-on capacity exists for select portfolio companies as they scale.

Very Serious Ventures sources primarily through founder referrals and its network of Bay Area angel investors and micro-funds, including Weekend Fund and Shrug Capital with whom it has co-invested. The firm does not run a large content marketing or outbound sourcing operation, relying instead on reputation and community ties within the San Francisco tech ecosystem.

It is a traditional venture capital firm structured as an asset manager, not a family office. The firm raises external limited-partner capital to deploy into seed-stage companies. The name is deliberately ironic — a signal to founders that the firm takes substance more seriously than the self-importance common in early-stage venture.

The firm invests across consumer internet, enterprise SaaS, marketplace businesses, and developer infrastructure. Since 2023, it has also signaled conviction in applied AI-native companies, participating in a seed round for a generative AI workflow tool. The portfolio reflects a preference for founder-led product companies rather than capital-intensive biotech or hardware plays.

Very Serious Ventures both leads and co-invests depending on the round. It has co-invested alongside firms like Weekend Fund and Shrug Capital in Bay Area deals. The firm is comfortable taking a lead position when it has strong conviction in the founding team and category.

The firm is run by two managing partners — Josh Goldman and Brandon Kessler — who operate without a large platform team, extended IC processes, or a content marketing engine. This lean structure means founders get direct partner attention from first pitch through portfolio support, a different experience from seed platforms where deal volume requires more delegated processes.