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Team Builder Ventures is a venture capital fund that helps founders build teams.
Key people at Team Builder Ventures.
Team Builder Ventures operates as a specialized service venture fund, dedicating its capital and expertise to helping founders build and scale high-performing teams within early-stage technology companies. The firm offers hands-on support in critical areas such as recruiting and talent acquisition, leveraging extensive experience in technical team formation. This approach ensures portfolio companies gain access to top-tier talent, enhancing their operational capabilities without the fund requiring lead investor status or board representation.
The firm was founded in 2013 by Steven Lurie, whose insight into the challenges startups face in talent acquisition stemmed from his distinguished career. Lurie's pedigree includes executive roles at Zynga, where he was Head of Mobile and International, and leadership positions at Ingenio and Microsoft. This background provided him with decades of practical experience in scaling teams within dynamic tech environments, directly informing the fund's unique value proposition.
Team Builder Ventures primarily serves founders navigating the pre-seed, seed, and Series A funding stages, providing essential human capital support when internal HR functions are nascent. The firm’s mission is to empower these founders by contributing directly to the construction of their core teams, recognizing that robust talent is fundamental to long-term success. Its forward-looking vision centers on continuing to be the venture partner dedicated to fostering world-class teams.
Key people at Team Builder Ventures.
Team Builder Ventures operates as a service venture capital fund with a singular, focused mission: helping founders build world-class teams.[1][2] Rather than functioning as a traditional venture capital firm that leads rounds and takes board seats, Team Builder Ventures integrates recruiting and team-building expertise directly into its investment thesis. The fund commits to placing hires across all organizational levels—from C-suite executives to entry-level engineers—and has demonstrated the ability to source high-quality candidates who would not otherwise know the founder or company.[1] This model reflects a fundamental insight about startup success: that team composition is often the limiting factor in early-stage growth, and that access to top talent can be as valuable as capital itself.
The firm's investment philosophy centers on measurable value-add rather than passive capital deployment.[2] Team Builder Ventures invests in early-stage enterprise software and consumer internet startups, positioning itself as a non-dilutive partner that founders can easily include in funding rounds without surrendering board representation or control. This approach has resonated with founders who view recruiting as a persistent pain point, and the firm has built credibility through a portfolio that includes notable exits like Fusion-io (IPO) and acquisitions such as Applifier, alongside investments in companies like AngelList, Zuora, and Platfora.[3]
Team Builder Ventures was founded and is led by Steven Lurie, a former executive at Zynga and other Silicon Valley startups.[1] Lurie's background in scaling teams across multiple ventures provided the experiential foundation for the fund's thesis. Rather than starting as a traditional venture capital operation, the firm emerged from a specific observation: that recruiting excellence and team-building acumen were underutilized as venture capital value-adds, and that founders desperately needed access to talent networks that transcended their immediate circles.
The fund's evolution reflects a deliberate positioning within the venture ecosystem. By focusing exclusively on team building as its core competency—rather than attempting to be a generalist investor—Team Builder Ventures carved out a defensible niche. The firm operates with Silicon Valley insiders as investors, lending credibility and network depth to its recruiting efforts.[1] This founding approach has allowed the fund to build a track record of tangible outcomes: Naval Ravikant, founder and CEO of AngelList, praised Lurie as "an amazing connector to talent" who consistently sources high-quality candidates from unexpected sources.[2] Similarly, Jane Chen, founder and CEO of Embrace Innovations, credited Team Builder Ventures with placing 33% of her early team, including three engineers and a Head of Product.[2]
Team Builder Ventures has explicitly beaten top recruiting firms in placing candidates for portfolio companies.[1] This is not a marginal advantage—it represents a fundamental competitive edge in a market where talent acquisition is chronically difficult. The fund's ability to source candidates who lack prior knowledge of the founder or company suggests deep networks and credibility within talent markets.
Unlike traditional venture firms, Team Builder Ventures does not lead rounds or take board seats.[2] This structure makes the fund easy to include in early-stage financing rounds without triggering governance complications or dilution concerns. Founders retain full control while gaining access to recruiting infrastructure—a clean value proposition.
The fund's advisory approach is grounded in "decades of experience scaling teams in tech start-ups."[2] This is not theoretical venture capital; it is practical, battle-tested knowledge about what works when building organizations from zero to scale.
Critically, Team Builder Ventures does not get paid when candidates take jobs or portfolio companies hire people.[3] This removes the perverse incentive that traditional recruiting firms face, ensuring that placements are driven by genuine fit rather than commission maximization. The fund's returns depend on portfolio company success, not transaction volume.
The fund places talent at all organizational levels—executives, mid-level managers, and entry-level engineers—across whatever roles are prioritized by the company.[1] This flexibility allows founders to address their most acute hiring bottlenecks rather than being constrained by a narrow specialization.
Team Builder Ventures sits at the intersection of two powerful trends: the venture capital industry's shift toward value-add investing and the persistent talent shortage in technology. As venture capital has become increasingly commoditized—with capital itself becoming less scarce than operational expertise—firms that can provide differentiated support beyond check-writing have gained outsized influence.
The timing of Team Builder Ventures' emergence and growth reflects a maturing venture ecosystem. Early-stage founders in the 2010s and 2020s faced a paradox: they had access to capital but struggled to deploy it effectively because they lacked the team to execute. Traditional venture firms, structured around financial returns and board governance, were poorly equipped to solve this problem. Team Builder Ventures filled that gap by recognizing that recruiting is a core competency that can be systematized and leveraged across a portfolio.
The firm's model also reflects broader market forces: the rise of remote work, the geographic dispersion of talent, and the increasing competition for engineering talent have made recruiting more complex and more valuable. By building a proprietary network and recruiting infrastructure, Team Builder Ventures has created a defensible moat that benefits from these structural trends rather than being disrupted by them.
Within the startup ecosystem, Team Builder Ventures influences how founders think about team building. By demonstrating that recruiting excellence can be a venture capital value-add, the firm has legitimized team composition as a first-order investment criterion. This has ripple effects: other venture firms have begun hiring recruiting specialists, and founders have become more sophisticated about talent strategy earlier in their company lifecycles.
Team Builder Ventures has built a durable, differentiated position in venture capital by solving a real problem with a defensible model. The firm manages less than $150 million in assets under management across three private funds, positioning it as a focused, specialized player rather than a mega-fund.[4] This scale is appropriate to its mission—recruiting is inherently a high-touch, relationship-driven business that does not benefit from massive AUM.
Looking forward, the firm's influence will likely grow as the venture ecosystem continues to reward operational value-add. The persistent challenge of talent acquisition in technology shows no signs of abating; if anything, competition for top engineers will intensify as AI and other high-growth sectors compete for the same talent pools. Team Builder Ventures' ability to source candidates across geographies and networks positions it well to capitalize on this dynamic.
The firm's future trajectory will depend on its ability to scale its recruiting infrastructure without losing the personal touch and network effects that make it effective. As the fund grows, maintaining the quality and speed of placements will be critical. Additionally, as the venture ecosystem matures, other firms may attempt to replicate the Team Builder Ventures model, potentially commoditizing the value-add. However, Lurie's personal brand and the fund's track record create switching costs that should provide some protection.
Ultimately, Team Builder Ventures represents a broader thesis: that in venture capital, the best returns flow to firms that solve founder problems that are both acute and underserved. By focusing relentlessly on one problem—team building—and executing with excellence, Team Builder Ventures has created a model that aligns incentives, builds defensible advantages, and generates measurable value for founders. As the startup ecosystem continues to evolve, this focused, problem-solving approach is likely to remain relevant and valuable.
