Key Takeaways
- • Mission Street Capital, launched by former Mission Control hacker house roommates Surabhi Todi and Lisa Shmulyan, has closed a "Fund 0" of less than $2 million to make very early bets on AI founders, according to Business Insider.
- • The fund's limited partners include researchers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta, along with investors from Andreessen Horowitz, CRV, and Emergence; cloud computing startup Fly.io is the anchor investor.
- • Mission Street's early portfolio of roughly a dozen startups includes Smallest (voice AI), Aside (AI browser, $6 million seed led by Y Combinator), and HydraDB (knowledge graph infrastructure for AI agents).
- • Mission Street scouts reportedly spend up to 100 hours with prospective founders, compared with a few hours for a traditional VC meeting, a sourcing model built around observed day-to-day behavior.
- • Other hacker houses, including AGI House (AGI House Ventures) and HF0 (Hacker Fellowship Zero), are also moving from housing into direct investing as the AI boom compresses the window to back founders.
Summary
Hacker houses in San Francisco, which have incubated multibillion-dollar startups such as Perplexity and OpenRouter, are increasingly raising their own capital to invest in founders before traditional venture firms engage, according to Business Insider. The shift is driven by the AI boom, in which leading companies can reach very large valuations within months of launch, making early-stage access more valuable.
Former Mission Control roommates Surabhi Todi and Lisa Shmulyan recently emerged from stealth to announce Mission Street Capital. The firm raised less than $2 million for its "Fund 0", a modest sum by current venture standards that Todi described as sufficient for very early bets and a track record to support larger vehicles. The limited partners include researchers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta, as well as investors from Andreessen Horowitz, CRV, and Emergence. Fly.io, a cloud computing startup, is the anchor investor.
Mission Street's early portfolio includes about a dozen startups, among them Smallest, a voice AI company; Aside, an AI browser that raised a $6 million seed round led by Y Combinator; and HydraDB, which is building knowledge graph infrastructure for AI agents. Todi said the fund's scouts can spend up to 100 hours getting to know prospective founders, including informal activities such as washing dishes and doing laundry together, versus a few hours of coffee meetings typical for traditional VCs. She cited a resident who replaced the house's couch cushions unprompted as an example of the leadership traits the firm looks for. Founders do not need to live in Mission Control to be considered, and Todi has moved out of the house since launching the fund.
Mission Street is part of a small but growing group of hacker house communities turning into investors. AGI House, a rival hacker house in Hillsborough, launched AGI House Ventures to invest in startups from its network, and HF0, which began its San Francisco live-in founder program in 2021, provides housing and capital for small groups of technical founders. Mission Control, founded in 2013 by Thiel fellows, counts Hightouch, now valued at $2.75 billion, among its alumni. As Todi put it, "Founders want to live with other founders. They don't really love hanging out with VCs."
Former Mission Control roommates Surabhi Todi and Lisa Shmulyan recently emerged from stealth to announce Mission Street Capital. The firm raised less than $2 million for its "Fund 0", a modest sum by current venture standards that Todi described as sufficient for very early bets and a track record to support larger vehicles. The limited partners include researchers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta, as well as investors from Andreessen Horowitz, CRV, and Emergence. Fly.io, a cloud computing startup, is the anchor investor.
Mission Street's early portfolio includes about a dozen startups, among them Smallest, a voice AI company; Aside, an AI browser that raised a $6 million seed round led by Y Combinator; and HydraDB, which is building knowledge graph infrastructure for AI agents. Todi said the fund's scouts can spend up to 100 hours getting to know prospective founders, including informal activities such as washing dishes and doing laundry together, versus a few hours of coffee meetings typical for traditional VCs. She cited a resident who replaced the house's couch cushions unprompted as an example of the leadership traits the firm looks for. Founders do not need to live in Mission Control to be considered, and Todi has moved out of the house since launching the fund.
Mission Street is part of a small but growing group of hacker house communities turning into investors. AGI House, a rival hacker house in Hillsborough, launched AGI House Ventures to invest in startups from its network, and HF0, which began its San Francisco live-in founder program in 2021, provides housing and capital for small groups of technical founders. Mission Control, founded in 2013 by Thiel fellows, counts Hightouch, now valued at $2.75 billion, among its alumni. As Todi put it, "Founders want to live with other founders. They don't really love hanging out with VCs."
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