Boulton & Watt Research
Overview
Boulton & Watt is a Brooklyn-based company builder that operates as what it calls "perhaps the world's slowest startup incubator." Named after the partnership between Matthew Boulton and James Watt that commercialized the steam engine in 1775, the firm builds one new company per year from inception, does the operational work itself, and then partners with best-in-class operators to create a "second founding moment" to scale. This makes Boulton & Watt fundamentally different from a traditional venture fund — they are founders before they are investors.
Investment / Company-Building Thesis
Boulton & Watt focuses on overlooked and underappreciated vertical markets where incumbent players are sleazy, monopolistic, or private equity-owned and therefore underserve customers. They specifically seek to empower underrepresented entrepreneurs — nurses, independent logistics agents, and funeral service professionals — who have deep domain expertise but lack modern tooling, capital access, or operational infrastructure.
Their philosophy is that "product-market fit is a hard problem that can't be industrialized or handed off." Rather than outsourcing execution, the partners roll up their sleeves and do the work — product, sales, operations — before stepping back and handing the company to an operator CEO.
Stage Focus
Boulton & Watt creates companies from the ground up (pre-seed/zero stage), funds them through Seed and Series A with help from co-investors, and has capacity to support companies through Series C. Their portfolio currently spans Seed through Series C.
Business Model
The firm is not a traditional LP-funded VC. It appears to deploy its own capital and co-investor networks rather than managing a formal fund vehicle. They have backing from "leading investors and founders of public and large private companies." Their operating cadence is one new company per year.
Recent Portfolio Activity
In March 2026, the firm announced three simultaneous milestones:
- Moxie closed a $25M Series C led by Viewpoint Ventures (with SignalFire, Lachy Groom, Haystack), bringing total funding to $51M.
- Meadow Memorials closed a $9M Series A led by Lachy Groom and Haystack (following a $2M seed in 2024).
- Goodlane Logistics was announced as the firm's third portfolio company at Seed stage.
Portfolio Companies
Moxie (2022, Series C)
Moxie is a clinical-grade operating system for aesthetic medicine, focused exclusively on independent nurse practitioners and their aesthetic practices (med spas). The platform combines software, expert coaching, compliance infrastructure, and community. As of 2026, Moxie supports 700+ practices nationwide, growing 60% faster than the industry average with 97% customer retention. Total funding: $51M.
Meadow Memorials (2024, Series A)
Meadow Memorials is a contemporary funeral home without physical real estate. Families arrange services online or by phone; Meadow partners with curated venues (wedding spaces, chapels) rather than maintaining funeral home facilities. Founded by Sam Gerstenzang and Emma Gilsanz, Meadow became California's largest independent funeral home, serving 400+ families per month as of early 2026. Revenue 3x'd from 2024 to 2025 and is on track to 3x again in 2026. Total funding: ~$11M.
Goodlane Logistics (2026, Seed)
Goodlane Logistics helps independent freight brokerage agents break through by offering industry-leading commission splits, modern tools, automation, and back-office support. It targets the large and fragmented freight brokerage industry, similar to how Moxie targets aesthetics and Meadow targets funeral services.
Team
Sam Gerstenzang (Partner): Led a 75-person payments UI team at Stripe. Previously at a16z, Sidewalk Labs, Imgur, and Umbrella. Software engineer background who transitioned to company building. Co-founder of Moxie and Meadow Memorials.
Emma Gilsanz (Partner): Brown University. Ex-Chief Growth Officer at Umbrella (acquired by IAC/ANGI). Co-founder and Strategy Lead at Moxie. Co-founder of Meadow Memorials.
Jan Fiegel (Partner): B.A. in International Affairs from Universität St. Gallen; Executive Education at Harvard Business School. Ex-Director of Business Operations and Head of Talent at Sidewalk Labs. Focused on operational excellence and talent.
Dan Friedman (Partner): Yale University. Thiel Fellow. Co-founder of Thinkful (acquired by Chegg). Previously at RRE Ventures. Brings entrepreneurial and investing experience.
Matt Mouradian (Partner): Yale University. McKinsey Engagement Manager. GM of Healthcare at Noom, where he scaled the division to 200+ corporate clients covering 2M+ lives and launched four products.
Jesse Clurman (Chief of Staff): Supports firm-wide operations.
Geographic Focus
Primarily US, with operational presence in Brooklyn, NY. Portfolio companies are predominantly US-focused (Moxie is nationwide; Meadow began in California/NY).
Decision-Making Model
Boulton & Watt operates as a partnership of active builders. Since they create companies from inception, the "decision" is less about whether to invest and more about which vertical to enter next. Decision-making involves the full partner group.
Founder Profile
Boulton & Watt is unusual in that the partners themselves are the founders of the companies they create. They then recruit operator CEOs to run and scale the businesses. They don't back external founders in the traditional VC sense — they are the founders.
What Makes Them Different
- One company per year — concentrated execution, not portfolio diversification
- Hands-on building — partners do product, ops, and early sales themselves
- Underrepresented verticals — not SaaS or fintech, but aesthetics, death care, freight
- Asset-light models — companies don't require heavy capex
- Operator handoff — recruit experienced operator CEOs to scale once traction established