Negative Burn Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Negative Burn Ventures (NBV) describes itself as a team of founders who invest in other founders. The firm's pitch is operational: it helps portfolio companies focus on execution, hiring, and strong unit economics. The name is the thesis. NBV wants founders who know that a business only fails if it runs out of money, and who obsess over cash runway rather than growth at any cost. The site's tone is blunt: startups are a war of attrition against yourself, and what decides success is the founder's and team's willingness to keep battling through it. NBV says it wants to be the first call when a founder needs help and to dig in rather than assign blame, and it meets regularly with portfolio companies.
Stage Focus
Pre-seed to seed. NBV prefers to be the first institutional money in, or close to it. Of the eleven portfolio companies listed, eight are labeled pre-seed and three seed (Atlas Wearables, Redefine Surgery, Super). The site also frames the focus as B2B.
Check Size
A standard $500K check, positioned as enough to give meaningful runway. The site publishes a single figure rather than a range.
Lead Tendency
Not stated. The $500K standard check and first-money-in preference suggest NBV can anchor a pre-seed round, but the site does not say whether it leads, so lead tendency is recorded as unknown.
Recent Activity
The portfolio page lists eleven companies. Newer logos (Cronwell, QMS2GO, TechNovaTime, Redefine Surgery) carry asset timestamps from mid-2026 onward, which points to continued deployment, but no investment dates or press releases were found, so no dated activity events are recorded. No fund size or fund vintage is published. PitchBook lists the firm in Austin, Texas and counts about ten investments.
Portfolio Highlights
- Atlas Wearables (seed): fitness-technology company, listed as bought by Peloton. The one exit on the page.
- BuildBuddy (pre-seed): build and test acceleration platform for software teams.
- Redefine Surgery (seed): AI trained by master surgeons for the operating room.
- Super (seed): conversational travel booking with hotel deals through messaging.
- Sift Evidence (pre-seed): video analysis for law enforcement and local governments.
- IQLand and MainBranch (pre-seed): AI platforms for local government and city planning.
- Clever AI (pre-seed): SaaS for commercial land developers.
- Cronwell (pre-seed): procurement visibility for manufacturers.
- QMS2GO (pre-seed): AI-built and monitored ISO 9001 quality systems.
- TechNovaTime (pre-seed): screen-recorded automations for healthcare back-office work.
Team
- Ryan Farley, Managing Partner: spent over a decade building LawnStarter, a lawn-care marketplace that has done over $500M in sales and grew to 500+ employees. Stepped back from operations to invest full time. Backs pre-seed companies where founder grit matters more than pitch decks. Contact: [email protected].
- Ryan Dodge, Managing Partner: professional poker player who has won millions. Applies pattern recognition, risk calculation, and reading overselling founders to early-stage investing.
Decision Process
Fast and partner-driven. NBV says it will meet a founder about two times in a week and give a clear decision within a week. The line on the site is that nothing is worse than a slow no. Two managing partners suggest a partnership decision.
Founder Preferences
- Founders crazy enough to believe and hard-headed enough to make it happen.
- A real problem and a unique perspective on how to solve it.
- Businesses with standalone potential.
- Cash-runway discipline and sound unit economics.
- First money in or close to it.
Geographic Focus
No geographic restriction is stated. The firm appears to be Austin-based (PitchBook), and the lead partner's operating background is in Austin-area marketplace and field-service businesses. Portfolio companies are US-oriented B2B and government-facing software.
Gaps
No fund size, AUM, fund vintage, dated deals, co-investors, or stated sector exclusions were found. The site is a single page.