Notation Capital

Notation Capital Research

Investment Thesis

Notation Capital is the first dedicated pre-seed venture fund in New York, focused on backing product-obsessed founders on day zero—when the idea is just taking shape. The firm's mission is explicit: to increase the odds of success for founding teams that are building fundamentally new experiences for customers, often in fringe or overlooked markets that can become mainstream.

Rather than being thesis-driven in the traditional sense, Notation looks for companies that represent early-stage experiments with compelling teams, clear founder-market fit, and innovative products or business models. They specialize in working with founders before market validation is obvious, often investing as early as an idea with a go-to-market strategy.

Stage and Check Size Focus

Notation is a pure pre-seed investor:

• Primary stage: Pre-Seed ($250K - $750K), typically leading or co-leading the first institutional round
• Average check size: $800K (according to their operating manual)
• Secondary stage: Occasionally "institutional seed" companies (Series A funding for teams with product-market fit), representing ~1-2 investments per year
• Check size range: $250K - $750K minimum threshold

The firm has explicitly avoided the trap of "simply raising as much money as possible," preferring disciplined founders who raise capital thoughtfully and appreciate resource constraints.

Fund History and Size

Notation has closed three funds:

1. Notation I (2015): $7.9M proof-of-concept fund, invested in 28 pre-seed companies
2. Notation II + Notation II-A (LP community fund): $27.8M combined
3. Notation III + Notation III-A (LP community fund): $46M total (includes community LP fund component)

Fund III began deployment in 2021 and has made 20+ investments as of mid-2024. Notable recent deployments include a $5-10M+ check into Photon Health (August 2024), described as "their largest check in a decade," signaling continued active deployment.

Team

Core team (3 full-time):

1. Alex Lines - Partner

   • Focus: Infrastructure, hard tech, and product
   • Background: Software engineer with 10+ years building in New York, experienced in distributed systems and scalability

2. Nicholas Chirls - Partner

   • Focus: Product, growth, and capital raising
   • Background: Previously Head of Seed Investing at Betaworks, led product for multiple Betaworks projects and startups

3. Mackenzie Regent - Head of Operations

   • Focus: Firm operations, community platform, and investment support
   • Background: Director of Business Operations & Chief of Staff at Able.co, Strategy & Operations at WeWork

The firm operates as a community model with 200+ advisors including founders (Naval Ravikant, Alex Chung), institutional investors (Sapphire Ventures, Lightspeed), and operators from leading companies.

Investment Process

• Decision timeline: 1 month from initial introduction to investment decision
• Diligence approach: Avoid over-diligence; understand that founders are often extremely early-stage
• Documentation: NVCA model preferred equity docs or YC SAFEs
• Execution timeline: Final investment execution within weeks after term sheet

Investment Decision Framework

Team: High-integrity leaders with clear communication, complementary skills, builders by nature (technical DNA, product-focused), unique insight and passion for specific problem

Markets: Initially fringe but mainstream-bound, large markets that feel old/broken, science-fiction-like visions, well-timed with external inflection points

Product: Innovative in business model or process, defensible via counter-positioning, scale economies, network effects, or switching costs

Portfolio Overview

Notation's 80+ company portfolio spans 13+ categories:

Developer Tools & Infrastructure: Radicle, QA Wolf, Timber/Vector, BastionZero, Axo, Clay Labs, NuCypher

Enterprise Software/SaaS: Clay CRM, Braid, Circle, Formsort, Podia, Spruce, Spyglass

Fintech/Payments/Better Money: Alice (benefits), Talos, Merkle

Healthcare Digital: SimpleHealth (birth control), Photon Health (modern Rx network), Halcyon (substance use recovery), Stellar Health

Infrastructure/Decentralized: Solana, Arweave, Filecoin, Livepeer, Tally (governance)

Advanced Manufacturing/Science: nTopology, Redesign, Wayfinder Biosciences, Nemedio

Climate/Clean Energy: ChargeLab, Amperon, Runwise

Consumer/Media/Entertainment: Density One, Meld, Bumpers, Seasons, Indify, Chill Pill

Notable exits: Bison Trails→Coinbase, Parsec→Unity, Timber/Vector→Datadog, Carmera→Toyota, StreetCred→Snap, Uru→Adobe

Value-Add Model

1. Milestone Setting: Help founders define key metrics for next fundraise
2. Team Building: Emphasis on keeping early teams lean (5-10 people)
3. Product & Technical Review: Code reviews, product roadmap support
4. Customer Development: Early customer acquisition using network
5. Capital Raising: Story crafting, investor targeting, efficient fundraising
6. Long-term Partnership: "Call before the board" role post Series A/B

Geographic Focus

Primary: New York (Brooklyn-based) Secondary: Boston, Toronto, Los Angeles International: Selective in Europe (London, Berlin) and Asia (gaming/crypto)

Community Programs

Notation Moonlight: 8-week free program for future founders (no equity taken) Origins Podcast: LP-focused podcast about VC firm building Regular events: Quarterly workshops, monthly dinners, annual community events

Recent Activity

• Fund III: 20+ investments as of mid-2024
• Latest notable: Photon Health (August 2024) - largest check in decade
• Recent investment: DEXARI ($2.3M Seed, May 2025)
• Deployment pace: ~8 new companies per year
• Lead tendency: Leads or co-leads first institutional rounds

Key Differentiators

1. True pre-seed focus: Day-zero investments (idea stage)
2. Community-first model: 200+ advisor/LP network in decision-making
3. Radical transparency: Public operating manual, fundraising decks, LP lists
4. NYC-anchor with selective national: Thoughtful expansion beyond New York
5. Product-obsessed thesis: Fundamentally new products/experiences
6. No board seats: Maintains founder alignment
7. Network effects: Cross-company hiring, customer introductions
8. Long-term relationships: Relevant even after founder raises Series A/B