Good Reason

Good Reason Research

Overview

Good Reason (Good Reason Capital) is an early-stage venture firm founded by Liz Hartley, who is Founder and Managing Partner. The firm is headquartered in New York, with a second location in San Francisco. LinkedIn lists it at 2 to 10 employees. Its tagline is "Earned conviction. Essential economies." The firm backs audacious founders building the future infrastructure for how people work, live, and thrive, in companies that "should exist for good reason."

Investment Thesis

Good Reason invests in what it calls the evergreen economies that drive GDP and underpin humanity. It organizes its focus into four pillars:

• Work: how we produce, build, and prosper. Systems that power how we work, from productivity to learning to tooling that leapfrogs legacy products.
• Health: how we care for ourselves and others. Integrated health and data systems, with purpose-built products across mental, physical, and molecular health for longevity and wellbeing.
• Wealth: how we circulate and compound capital. Financial products and platforms that rearchitect money flows and make prosperity possible.
• Resilience: how we power, protect, and adapt. Critical infrastructure and security systems that act as the foundational layer for work, health, and wealth.

The firm's LinkedIn page adds a lens toward verticalization and personalization. It argues that AI shifts value from broad horizontal software to contextual, fit-for-purpose platforms tailored to specific industries and segments, and that breakout companies of this era will deliver personalized solutions that redefine categories.

Stage Focus

Good Reason invests at pre-seed and seed. Founder testimonials describe the firm helping with first fundraises and closing pre-seed rounds. Check size, fund size, and ownership targets are not published on the site.

Lead Tendency

Not stated. Founder quotes emphasize active help with introductions (one founder says three of four investors Liz introduced ended up investing), which suggests an engaged early partner, but the site does not say whether the firm leads rounds.

Recent Activity

The portfolio page lists two Good Reason investments, both in stealth and unnamed. All named companies are listed under "Investments Prior to Good Reason," meaning investments made before the firm launched, including during Liz Hartley's time at Red Swan Ventures. Notable outcomes among them include Proxy, acquired by Oura, and Momentum, Lex, and Base, which the page marks as acquired. Fund size and fund status are not public.

Portfolio Highlights

Prior investments span all four pillars:

• Work: Anthropic, Infactory, Jones, OpenSpace, Landit, Taxwire, CANOA, Proxy
• Health: Elektra Health, Kindbody, Poppy Seed Health, Tonal, Kitu Life Super Coffee, Base
• Wealth: Aura Finance, MyPlace, Momentum, M-KOPA
• Resilience: Arcadia, Measurabl, EV Realty, The Grand, Lex

Consumer brands such as Une Femme (RTD wine) and Kitu Life Super Coffee show the firm is not strictly software.

Team

• Liz Hartley, Founder and Managing Partner: about 20 years of strategy, operating, and investing experience. Operator roles at Beats (scaling it from a headphones company), Apple (AirPods launch), WeWork (hyperscaling revenue growth), and Ginkgo Bioworks (system resiliency during the pandemic). Previously a partner at Red Swan Ventures, a seed-stage fund investing in consumer, marketplaces, and SaaS.
• LinkedIn also lists Eugenia Ko as an employee; her title is not published.

Decision Process

Appears to be a solo-GP model led by Liz Hartley. Founders describe working directly with her on fundraising, intros, regulatory and commercial questions, and team decisions.

Founder Preferences

Operators who have seen the problem up close and decided to fix it, with domain expertise, technical depth, and a distinct point of view. The firm offers rigor, honesty, perspective, and practical support, including investor and partner introductions. Founders apply via a form at goodreason.fillout.com/apply or email [email protected].

Geographic Focus

No stated geographic limit. The firm is based in New York with a San Francisco presence, and its past investments include a Kenyan fintech (M-KOPA) alongside US companies.