Mischief

Mischief is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm that invests $1-5 million in early-stage software companies. The firm operates as a generalist investor, with a broad focus across various industries, including healthcare, climate, consumer marketplaces, and crypto. Mischief aims to be the kind of firm its founders would have wanted on their own cap tables, offering empathetic and collaborative support to early-stage founders.

Founded in 2021, Mischief was established by a small partnership of four experienced operators who collectively bring a wealth of knowledge from raising over $1 billion in venture capital, hiring more than 1,000 executives, and generating over $1 billion in revenue. The firm's genesis stems from the partners' desire to institutionalize their approach to founder-to-founder support, recognizing a gap in the market for VCs with true zero-to-one product-market fit experience.

Mischief's portfolio spans a diverse range of software companies. Recent investments include firms in fintech such as Gravy, Backpack, and Cardless, and infrastructure & security companies like Polar, iVerify, and Crafting. The firm also backs innovations in healthcare with companies like Bridge and Tivara, climate tech with Spark AI, and crypto projects such as Rainbow and Farcaster. Other notable investments include Faire, Modern Treasury, Figma, Coinbase, and Ramp.

The four partners at Mischief leverage their extensive operational backgrounds to support their portfolio companies. The team includes Dustin, a former head of product at Cash App since its launch; Lauren, a former founder of Dote Shopping; Nate, a former head of product at Front and a founder; and Zach, the current CEO and founder of Plaid. Their collective experience provides founders with practical guidance on the challenges of building and scaling early-stage companies.