Hannah Grey

# Hannah Grey: A Thesis-Driven First-Check Venture Capital Fund

High-Level Overview

Hannah Grey is a $50MM first-check venture capital fund based in New York City and Denver that invests in customer-centric founders reimagining everyday experiences to improve work and life.[2] The firm operates as a thesis-led investor, tracking underlying societal tensions and cultural shifts to identify outsized market opportunities before they become obvious.[1] Rather than chasing trends reactively, Hannah Grey builds investment theses around how changes in consumer and worker behavior create new categories and markets.

The fund's investment philosophy centers on early-stage, customer-obsessed founders who are redefining daily experiences for employees, patients, business owners, caretakers, creators, students, and consumers.[1] Hannah Grey targets pre-seed and seed-stage companies with initial check sizes ranging from $350K to $1M, with a preference for leading or co-leading first institutional rounds.[1] The firm maintains a network of 6,000+ co-investors to help founders construct strategic syndicates and has completed its first close with backing from fund of funds, foundations, blue chip VC firms, and family offices.[2]

Origin Story

Hannah Grey was founded in 2020 and is named after the daughters of its founding partners.[3] The firm was established by Kate Beardsley (formerly of Lerer Hippeau) and Jessica Peltz-Zatulove (from Stagwell Group), bringing complementary expertise from both venture capital and strategic investment backgrounds.[3][4] This combination of experience—one partner rooted in traditional VC networks and the other in corporate strategy—shaped the firm's distinctive approach to identifying emerging opportunities through cultural and societal analysis.

The founding partners recognized a gap in the market for a dedicated first-check fund that could move quickly at the earliest stages while maintaining a thesis-driven perspective. Rather than being generalist investors reacting to deal flow, they built Hannah Grey around the conviction that understanding cultural shifts and consumer behavior changes could predict where venture capital returns would concentrate. The firm's establishment during the post-2020 period positioned it to capitalize on accelerating trends in remote work, digital health, creator economy dynamics, and workplace transformation.

Core Differentiators

Thesis-Led Investment Approach

Hannah Grey distinguishes itself through its "Cultural Vibrations" platform, which systematically tracks societal tensions driving commercial and cultural change.[1] This is not a passive observation tool but an active framework for identifying investment themes before they become crowded. Rather than waiting for entrepreneurs to pitch problems, the firm proactively maps where market opportunities are emerging.

First-Check Positioning

The fund explicitly positions itself as a first institutional capital provider, comfortable investing at pre-product or pre-revenue stages.[1] This early-stage focus allows Hannah Grey to establish meaningful ownership stakes (targeting 6-8% minimum) and build deeper founder relationships before Series A investors enter the picture.[1] The firm's willingness to lead or co-lead inaugural institutional rounds gives founders strategic flexibility in building their cap tables.

Sector Breadth with Focus

Hannah Grey invests across a diverse range of sectors—SaaS, Future of Work, Healthcare, Wellness, Commerce, FinTech, Consumer, AI, EdTech, Sustainability, and emerging categories.[1] However, this breadth is anchored by a unifying thesis: customer obsession and everyday experience improvement. This prevents the fund from becoming unfocused while allowing it to move across multiple domains where the same underlying principle applies.

Geographic and Structural Constraints

The firm maintains a disciplined investment mandate, only investing in US-incorporated companies.[1] This geographic focus allows for deeper operational support and network leverage rather than spreading resources globally. The dual-office structure in New York and Denver also provides access to both coastal venture networks and emerging innovation hubs in the Mountain West.

Syndication Network

With 6,000+ co-investors in its network, Hannah Grey can facilitate complex, multi-party syndicates that align incentives and bring strategic value beyond capital.[1] This network strength is particularly valuable for early-stage founders who benefit from diverse perspectives and connections during critical early phases.

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Hannah Grey operates at an inflection point in venture capital where thesis-driven, early-stage investing is becoming increasingly competitive and sophisticated. The firm's emergence reflects a broader recognition that first-check capital is underserved—most top-tier VCs have moved upmarket to larger rounds, creating an opportunity for disciplined early-stage specialists.

The fund's focus on "everyday experiences" and cultural shifts positions it to benefit from several macro trends: the permanent acceleration of remote work, the consumerization of enterprise software, the rise of creator and gig economies, and the increasing integration of AI into daily workflows. By anchoring its thesis around how people actually live and work rather than technology for its own sake, Hannah Grey is positioned to identify founders solving real problems rather than chasing hype cycles.

The firm's emphasis on customer obsession also reflects a maturation in venture capital thinking. After years of "growth at all costs" mentality, there's renewed appreciation for founders who deeply understand their users and build products people genuinely want. Hannah Grey's thesis-led approach essentially bets that this customer-centric philosophy will outperform in the next cycle.

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Hannah Grey represents a meaningful shift toward disciplined, thesis-driven early-stage investing in an era when many VCs have abandoned the pre-seed and seed stages. The firm's combination of cultural analysis, founder-friendly terms, and robust syndication network positions it well to identify and support the next generation of category-defining companies.

Looking forward, Hannah Grey's influence will likely grow as founders increasingly seek capital partners who can offer strategic insight beyond just funding. The firm's "Cultural Vibrations" platform could evolve into a more visible thought leadership asset, attracting deal flow and establishing Hannah Grey as a trusted interpreter of emerging trends. As AI, remote work, and creator economy dynamics continue reshaping how people work and live, the fund's thesis-driven approach should remain relevant across multiple market cycles.

The key question for Hannah Grey's trajectory is whether its disciplined early-stage focus can scale without losing the founder-friendly, collaborative ethos that defines it. If the firm can maintain its thesis rigor while building a strong track record of follow-on participation and exits, it could establish itself as a premier first-check partner for the next decade of venture-backed innovation.