HF0 Research
Investment Thesis
HF0 (Hacker Fellowship Zero) is a San Francisco-based residency program and venture fund built around a single word it uses as its public thesis statement: "Subtraction." The firm's core bet is that repeat and high-performing technical founders build faster when every non-essential decision is removed from their lives. HF0 runs a 12-week, live-in residency in a 20,000-square-foot San Francisco mansion where housing, meals, and logistics are fully handled so founders can focus exclusively on building. In exchange for entry into the program, HF0 writes up to $1M on an uncapped SAFE for 5% equity, then continues to invest alongside other investors as portfolio companies raise institutional rounds. Founded in 2023 by Dave Fontenot (previously known for On Deck and Startup School work), HF0 has quickly built a reputation as one of the most selective and highest-signal pre-seed programs for repeat founders, with backing and informal advisory support from figures including Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon, Naval Ravikant, and Micky Malka.
Stage Focus
HF0's core check is a pre-seed/seed instrument written at residency entry. The firm also participates as a syndicate member in follow-on Seed, Series A, and occasionally Series B rounds for its residency alumni and other companies in its network (e.g., a Series B follow into Gency AI/AdsGency, and a large syndicated seed into Fish Audio). Primary stage focus is Pre-Seed and Seed, with selective Series A/B follow-on participation.
Check Size
The headline program check is $1M on an uncapped SAFE for 5% equity. HF0 also writes smaller checks as one of many participants in larger syndicated rounds (e.g., its participation in Fish Audio's $52M seed alongside eight other named funds).
Lead Tendency
HF0 effectively leads its own residency check (it is the anchor investor and program operator for that $1M/5% instrument), but in most external, press-covered rounds it appears as one of several syndicate participants rather than the lead — recent rounds for Fish Audio, Hamilton AI, and Catalyx Space were all led by other firms (Coreline Ventures/Capital Today, TTV Capital, and Outlander VC respectively) with HF0 as a participant.
Recent Activity
HF0 closed a $100M fund by early-to-mid 2025 (up from a prior $16M vehicle, per Bloomberg's April 2025 profile of the firm), and has been actively deploying since. In 2025 the firm made roughly 11 new investments; as of mid-2026 it continued to add both residency and follow-on syndicate checks, including Catalyx Space (Oct 2025), AdsGency/Gency AI (Oct 2025 seed, later Series B in Mar 2026), Hamilton AI (Mar 2026 seed), Tenkara (Mar 2026 seed), Featherless (Apr 2026 Series A), and Fish Audio (Jul 2026, $52M seed).
Portfolio Highlights
Early alumni/backers of the founders' prior efforts include Ramp, Pave, and Fabric (each reaching unicorn status), which HF0's marketing cites as validation of the residency model producing outsized founders. More recent notable portfolio companies include Crossmint (Series A, crypto/AI infrastructure), Krea (popular GenAI design tool that predated ChatGPT), Sapien (data-labeling), Bastazo, Roofer.com (AI for the roofing industry), Catalyx Space (orbital logistics/reentry systems), Hamilton AI (execution layer for private aviation), and Fish Audio (AI voice/TTS platform, $21M ARR and 8M+ users at time of its 2026 seed).
Team
HF0 is run by three General Partners — Dave Fontenot (CEO), Emily Liu (COO), and Evan Stites-Clayton (CTO) — supported by Walker Williams (Partner) and Max Mullen (Visiting Partner). The residency itself is operated by a dedicated team: Dan Morse (Head of IR), Chris Hollenbeck (CFO), Rachel Silverman (Director of Program), Ryan Adell (Director of Admissions), Heather Maloney (Director of Operations & Events), Jordan Mitchell (Creative Director), and Brianna Foley (Executive Assistant).
Decision Process
HF0 operates as a small GP partnership (three General Partners) rather than a solo-GP or large investment-committee structure. Admissions into the residency (the primary investment decision) run through a defined program/admissions team (Director of Admissions, Director of Program) alongside the GPs.
Founder Preferences
HF0 explicitly targets repeat and high-performing technical founders — the firm's marketing repeatedly emphasizes prior exits, prior unicorn/decacorn experience, and technical depth. Its "facts" page tracks batch cohorts by the caliber of repeat founders enrolled (e.g., "first repeat decacorn founder," "4 repeat unicorn founders" in a single batch) and revenue traction by demo day (batches routinely include teams at $1M–$20M ARR or valuations averaging $82M post-demo day).
Geographic Focus
HF0 is based in and centered on San Francisco, where the residency physically takes place; nearly all portfolio companies identified are US-based, with one Canadian investment noted in third-party data.