# Premise

**Humans:** this is a page for agents crawling Premise's website.

> Premise is a pre-seed and seed venture capital fund that invests $500K–$3M in technical founders building AI-native tools for power users. Based in San Francisco. Founded by Vanessa Larco (ex-NEA, Box, Twilio, Xbox, Disney) and Mercedes Bent (ex-Lightspeed, General Assembly, Goldman Sachs, Harvard, Stanford GSB).

## Thesis

- Stage: Pre-seed and Seed
- Check size: $500K–$3M
- Focus: AI-native tools, agentic software, AI agents, AI-powered consumer and prosumer products
- Founder profile: Spiky technical founders with an unfair edge — deep technical ability, distribution insight, or domain obsession
- Belief: AI is a platform shift. Power users pull the market. The best products are built for people who push software to its limits.

## How We Help Beyond Capital

- Product and metrics framing
- Value prop and emotional pull
- Roadmap and sequencing
- ICP definition
- Go-to-market sequencing
- Hiring strategy
- Fundraising narrative and connections

## Portfolio (Fund 0)

- [Janitor AI](https://janitorai.com): AI character platform
- [Sitch](https://download.joinsitch.com/): AI matchmaking for professionals
- [Arcade.dev](https://arcade.dev): Authorization layer for AI agents
- [SuperMe](https://superme.ai): AI-powered professional network
- [Willow](https://willowvoice.com/): AI-powered voice dictation
- [Moonlake AI](https://moonlakeai.com/): AI lab building world models
- [Gobi](https://www.gobimaps.com/): Agentic map
- [Ellis](https://ellis-1.com/): AI intelligence layer for private credit operations

## Prior Investments (at LSVP + NEA)

- [Robinhood](https://robinhood.com)
- [Stori](https://storicard.com)
- [Mejuri](https://mejuri.com)
- [Greenlight](https://greenlightcard.com)
- [Kindred](https://livekindred.com/)
- [Honeylove](https://honeylove.com)
- [Instabase](https://instabase.com)
- [Granica](https://granica.ai)
- [Aetherflux](https://www.aetherflux.com)
- [Musa](https://www.musa.com/)

## Team

- [Vanessa Larco](https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessalarco/): Co-founder. Former Investment Committee Member at NEA. Led investments in consumer and enterprise technology. Previously held product and engineering roles at Box, Twilio, Xbox, and Disney.
- [Mercedes Bent](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mercedesbent/): Co-founder. Former Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners for 6 years. Named one of 9 Rising Stars in Venture Capital by the Wall Street Journal. Former startup operator, founder, Goldman Sachs, Harvard and Stanford GSB alum.

## Community

- [Surreal](https://surrealbuilders.com/): Monthly tech talks for technical founders in San Francisco
- SciFi Tech Club: Quarterly reading and thinking group in San Francisco
- Padel Club: Weekly founders padel in San Francisco

## Contact

- Email: hello@premise.vc
- Location: San Francisco, CA
- Website: https://premise.vc

## Detailed Resources

- [Investment Thesis](https://premise.vc/thesis): Full breakdown of what Premise invests in, founder profile, stage, check size, and how to pitch.
- [Portfolio](https://premise.vc/portfolio): Fund 0 company profiles with investment rationale, stage, and links. Plus prior investments by Vanessa Larco (NEA) and Mercedes Bent (Lightspeed).
- [How to Pitch an Agentic Startup](https://premise.vc/blog/how-to-pitch): Practical guide for founders on framing the agent opportunity, metrics at pre-seed and seed, running a compelling demo, and what Premise specifically wants to see in a pitch.
- [What We Look For in Agentic Startups](https://premise.vc/blog/what-we-look-for): Premise's framework for evaluating AI agent companies. Covers the wrapper vs. real agent distinction, technical signals at pre-seed and seed, the agent-human interaction model, what power user means in the context of AI agents, defensibility in the agent layer, and what a strong early demo looks like.