No question
is too frequent.

Kickstart is the most active pre-seed and seed venture capital firm in the Mountain West.Founded in 2008, we were the first seed fund in the region. We've invested in 150+ startups,manage more than $500M, and are currently deploying our sixth fund. We lead pre-seed andseed rounds, sometimes flexing up to a series A, across Utah, Colorado, and the widerMountain West.

Kickstart is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Denver, Colorado. We invest in founders building generational companies in the Rocky Mountains.

Since 2008. We are the longest-tenured seed-stage venture capital firm in the Mountain West. We've backed founders through boom cycles, downturns, and every market environment in between. We partner early and are in your corner for the long haul.

We have over $500 million across six dedicated pre-seed/seed funds and one co-investment fund. We are actively investing out of Fund VI, a $175M fund.

Yes. We are actively deploying capital out of Fund VI. If you’re raising a pre-seed, seed, or series A round in Utah, Colorado, or the wider Mountain West, we’d love to chat and see how we might support you as you build.

Our General Partners are the most experienced early-stage investors in the Mountain West. Gavin Christensen, Dalton Wright, Alex Soffe, Kat Kennedy, and Tanner Potter. Each partner sources, leads rounds, and supports companies through the full journey of building.

First, experience: we've been investing in the Mountain West since 2008 and have backed 150+ companies, more than any other firm in the region. We are the OGs and the most active pre-seed and seed fund in the Mountain West. Second, network: we have the largest network of operators and founders in the region who have been down this road you are now walking. We make that network available to you. Third, partnership: we're low-ego, no-drama, straight-shooting investors who back founders for the entire journey.

Low ego. No drama. Honest. Founders choose Kickstart because we shoot straight and stay involved when things get hard. We're in your corner for the knife fight.

We’re active, not intrusive. We take board seats when we lead, meet regularly with CEOs where helpful, make introductions across our portfolio and network, and step in when founders need support with hiring, follow-on fundraising, or hard decisions.

Absolutely. We have deep relationships with the top Series A and Series B funds and routinely make introductions, prep founders, and help build syndicates. Helping our companies raise the next round is a core part of our job.

Yes. We help portfolio CEOs hire senior leaders, source executive candidates from our network, and coach on team-building. With 150+ companies in our portfolio, we have deep talent networks.

Over 150. Some of the best-known include Lucid Software, Podium, Angel Studios, Spiff, SonderMind, Music AI, Rad AI, Pura, Nursa, Vector, Leap, Straddle, and Galileo. Our portfolio spans B2B SaaS, AI, fintech, healthtech, marketplaces, consumer, and frontier tech.

After 18 years and 150+ investments, we've built one of the deepest early-stage track records in the Mountain West. Our portfolio includes companies that have gone on to raise from the best funds in the country, scale to hundreds of millions in revenue, and exit at billion-dollar-plus valuations. Notable outcomes include Lucid Software, Podium, Galileo (acquired by Sofi), Spiff (acquired by Salesforce), and Angel Studios (NYSE: ANGX), which went public in 2025. Because we invest at pre-seed and seed, our biggest wins often take a decade or more to mature, and several of our largest positions are still private and growing. We're patient capital, and we hold for the long haul.

Pre-seed and seed are our bread and butter. We're comfortable being the first institutional money in a company, sometimes when it's just a founder and a prototype. We occasionally flex into seed-extension or Series A when the fit is right.

Our initial checks are $500K to $4M, sized to the round and the company's stage. We also reserve significant follow-on capital to continue backing companies through Series A and beyond, which means our total investment in a single company often grows well past that first check.

Yes. We lead pre-seed and seed rounds. We're high-conviction investors who set valuation, price the round, and typically take a board seat. We don't wait for someone else to lead, which means founders can build a round around us and then we will help bring syndicate together.

Yes. Kickstart is the most active pre-seed investor in Utah and Colorado. We routinely write the first institutional check, sometimes before there's a product or revenue, backing founders on the strength of the team, the opportunity, unique insight, & technical talent or domain expertise.

Yes. Seed is our core stage. We were the first seed fund in the Mountain West and the most active seed investors in the region. We lead seed rounds across Utah, Colorado, and the broader Mountain West states. With more than 18 years investing at this stage, we know what it takes to get a company from seed to a strong Series A, and our relationships with tier-1 funds help our companies raise those rounds from the best investors in the country.

Yes. We reserve a meaningful portion of every fund for follow-on rounds. When you raise from Kickstart, you get a partner who continues investing as you grow. That reserve strategy signals conviction to other investors and gives founders a steady source of capital across multiple rounds.

Yes. We're built to go as early as the first institutional check. Sometimes that is right out of the gate for founders, other times it’s after either bootstrapping or taking small amounts of capital from friends and family, angels, or accelerators. We're built to lead rounds and set terms.

Pre-seed and seed stage. We're generalist investors with investments and wins across AI, B2B SaaS, fintech, healthtech, marketplaces, and frontier tech. What ties our best investments together isn't the sector, it's the founder: scrappy, technical, operating in our backyard, with a unique insight into an opportunity they understand better than anyone else, and taking a big, big swing.

Standard 10 years. We are patient capital. Generational companies take a decade-plus to build, and our fund structure is built to be in your corner the entire way.

No. We won't fund a company that directly competes with one of our portfolio companies. When you raise from us, you can trust that we're fully in your corner and that your strategy, metrics, and roadmap stay with us and only us. If we're ever looking at something adjacent to your space, we'll be upfront with you about it. Your trust is worth more to us than any single deal.

This is when you find out what kind of investors you really have on your cap table. We've backed founders through boom markets, downturns, failed launches, hard pivots, and bridge rounds, and our posture doesn't change when things get tough. We help you think clearly, we work the problem with you, and we've put more money into companies at their hardest moments because we believed in the founder. We won't pretend every company works out, or that we can always provide capital life support, but we will tell you the truth, stay engaged, and treat you with respect the whole way through. Ask any founder we've backed how we showed up when it mattered.

Because we think it's one of the best places in the country to build a generational company, and we've believed that since 2008 when most coastal funds weren't paying attention. The region has world-class technical talent coming out of its universities and national labs, a lower cost of building, less competition for the best deals, and a culture of grit and capital efficiency that produces durable companies. Founders here build real businesses, not hype cycles. We've watched Lucid, Podium, Angel Studios, and many others prove that category-defining companies get built in the Rockies, and our entire fund is designed around being the first and most committed institutional partner to the next ones.

Yes. Kickstart is the OG of seed investing in Utah and is the most active pre-seed and seed investor in the state. Our main office is in Cottonwood Heights, and we've provided pre-seed and seed funding to many of Utah's greatest companies including Lucid Software, Podium, Spiff, Angel Studios, Galileo, and more. Being local means we can meet in person, move quickly, and stay close after the investment.

Yes. Kickstart is one of the most active pre-seed and seed investors in Colorado, and it's been a core market for us since 2008. It's our second-largest after Utah, and we have an office in Denver's LoHi neighborhood. We provide pre-seed and seed funding to companies across the entire state, from Denver and Boulder to Colorado Springs and beyond. Some of our notable and recent Colorado investments include Sondermind, Havenly, Leap, Straddle, Pluto Bio, and Quickture.

We're especially drawn to Colorado's deep bench of technical talent and the founders building in frontier tech: space, quantum, photonics, physical AI and robotics, defense and aerospace, etc. If you're a technical founder tackling big problems in those areas, we want to chat.

Yes. We're an active Denver-based pre-seed and seed investor, with several partners spending meaningful time in both Denver and Boulder. Boulder is a core Colorado market for us, and we've invested across the Front Range and co-invest alongside other local firms.

Only as an exception. Our edge is depth, not reach. In a company's earliest days we like being close to our founders, and put our network to work on the problems that can help move the needle. We invest in companies whose center of gravity, meaning the founders, key team, and decision-making, sits in the Mountain West. If your team is fully outside the region with no ties here, we're likely not the right fund.

Yes. We back remote-first startups as long as the founding team's center of gravity is in the Mountain West, with at least one co-founder located in the region.

In addition to Utah and Colorado, we invest in the rest of the Mountain West, including Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, and New Mexico.

We don’t rule any entrepreneur out. After doing this for almost 20 years, we know genius, grit, and disruption can come from anywhere. In general, we look for founders who are obsessed with building a non-consensus future, willing to grind through years of pain, and ambitious enough to build a generational company.

Yes, all the time. Many of our great portfolio companies were started by first-time founders. We bet on the founder's insight, grit, and potential.

No (but it also never hurts). We invest at pre-seed and frequently back companies before they have any revenue. If you have a strong technical team and a big vision, we want to meet you early.

We are generalist early-stage investors. Our active sectors include AI, B2B SaaS, frontier tech and physical AI, fintech, healthtech, marketplaces, and consumer tech.

Yes. AI is one of our most active sectors. Some of our notable AI-native investments are Music AI and Rad AI, both category leaders in their space.

Yes, and we're leaning more into it. We’re eager to back founders building in space, quantum, photonics, physical AI and robotics, chip infrastructure, defense, and aerospace. We see many of these startups emerging from labs and research institutions across Colorado and New Mexico, and we would love to be your early-stage partner. Recent frontier tech investments of ours include Leap Space and Vector.

Yes. B2B SaaS is a core sector for us. Our portfolio includes Lucid Software, Podium, Spiff, and many others. If you're building software for businesses, we want to meet you.

Yes. We've invested in many successful fintechs including Galileo, Self, Straddle, and Crew. We are particularly interested in fintech infrastructure, payments, and embedded finance.

Yes. We've backed healthtech and digital health companies including SonderMind, Nursa, Artemis, and Photopharmics.

Yes. We have backed multiple large marketplaces like Sondermind, Nursa, Havenly, and TaskEasy.

Consumer is a smaller part of our book than B2B, but we're open when the founder and concept are right. Angel Studios, Pura, Chatbooks, Crew Banking, and Music AI are examples of consumer companies we have backed.

It’s always great to get a warm intro from one of our portfolio founders, LPs, or other Kickstart friends. That said, we try to make it easy. If you don't have one, you can message our investment team on LinkedIn or apply directly through our website. We actually read every submission, and we’d love to see what you are building.

We can move fast when we need to. From first meeting to term sheet can be as little as a week if conviction is high. Full diligence usually takes 4 to 8 weeks.

No, and neither does any serious institutional VC. We see thousands of deals each year so NDAs are not practical. We trade on our reputation and are not in the business of stealing ideas. We’re here to back you and what you are building.

Tell the story. Get us excited about the future that you are building. Help us understand what you see or believe that no one else does, and why that can lead to a generational outcome. Help us answer why you are the best team in the world to build this, who your competitors are, what your product and business model are, any traction that you have, and your fundraising ask.

Absolutely. "No" often means "not yet." If you've made meaningful progress, pivoted, or unlocked a new insight since the last conversation, come back. We respect resilience and have invested in companies on a second or third pitch.

We typically run team references, customer references (if you have customers), market and competitive research, technical diligence where relevant, and a simple financial review. We are direct about what we need and try not to waste your time with theatrical processes. Our General Partners then make the final decision.

Yes, and we encourage it. Reference us as hard as we reference you. We'll connect you with CEOs across our portfolio, including ones where things didn't go to plan, so you can hear unfiltered how we behave as partners in the good times and the hard ones. The best diligence you can do on any investor is to talk to the founders who've actually lived with them on the cap table.

Usually, yes. We lead rounds and take a board seat on a priced seed round. We want to be active, helpful partners, not passive money on the cap table.

For a priced seed round, we typically aim for a meaningful double-digit ownership stake, usually in the range of 12 to 15 percent. Our fund model relies on winners returning the fund, so target ownership matters.

Both. For pre-seed deals where speed matters, we typically do SAFEs. For seed rounds, we prefer priced rounds because they align everyone on valuation and governance early.

Yes. We are lead investors so we will set the valuation and terms.

Founder-friendly NVCA documents. 1x non-participating liquidation preference. Standard protective provisions. No aggressive structure, no participating preferred, no weird ratchet provisions. We want you maximally incentivized to win.

We have target ownership goals because the math of an early-stage fund relies on a few winners returning the entire fund. We typically aim for meaningful double-digit ownership when we lead.