Uncommon Denominator Research
Investment Thesis
Uncommon Denominator is an early stage venture capital firm based in New York. Its tagline is "We back companies that are freakishly awesome at something." The firm invests in consumer brands that hit a psychological nerve, software companies that help other businesses make more money or spend less of it, and occasionally frontier technologies. The common denominator across the three is an unusual skill-spike in one key area of the business. The partners say they are not simply looking to check the boxes on strong management, product-market fit and a solid sales strategy. They describe the firm as venture capital for uncommon companies.
Focus Areas
The website splits the focus into three buckets:
- Consumer: technology-enabled consumer brands with authenticity and marketing that hits a psychological nerve (Liquid Death, Final Boss Sour, Snif fragrances, Caliber Fitness).
- Software: SaaS companies that help other businesses either make money or save money, "nothing in the middle" (Order, Allstacks, Nomic, North.ai, Saphira AI).
- Frontier: technology that rapidly closes the gap between a future vision and the present (Alba Orbital, Kernal Biologics, Culture Biosciences, Reverie Labs, Kanvas Biosciences).
Stage Focus
The firm describes itself as early stage. Public deal databases show mostly pre-seed, seed and Series A participation, for example Pickaxe (Seed, September 2025), Kanvas Biosciences (Series A, May 2026) and Rogue Snacks (pre-seed, May to June 2026). The firm does not publish a stage list on its own site.
Check Size
Not published. No check size range is stated on the website and third-party sources do not give a reliable range, so none is recorded.
Lead Tendency
Unknown. The website does not say whether the firm leads rounds, and the sources reviewed do not settle it.
Recent Activity
Fund I and Fund II are both listed on the site. Fund II is the active vehicle, and its selected investments include ab3.ai, Abode, BirthdayApp, Caliber Fitness, Circle Labs, Dandi, Dyrt, Final Boss Sour, Kanvas Biosciences, North.ai, pickaxe, Saphira AI and Simply Bail. The two most recent logos added to the site (January 2026 uploads) are pickaxe and Simply Bail. Third-party trackers (PitchBook, Tracxn, Caplight) show the latest investments as Rogue Snacks (May 2026), Kanvas Biosciences (Series A, May 2026), Pickaxe (Seed, September 2025) and Final Boss Sour (May 2025). The firm appears to be actively deploying.
Portfolio Highlights
Fund I selected investments include Liquid Death, Boxed Wholesale (marked IPO), Burrow, Culture Biosciences, Henry the Dentist, Kernal Biologics, Megabots, Molo Marine, Muze NYC, Mytide, Nomic, Novos Labs, Order, Payment Works, Reverie Labs, ROCEAN, Sanctuary, Snif, Spark Grills, swag.com, Truman's Cleaning, Alba Orbital and Allstacks. Several are marked acquired on the site. The site also lists prior investments made by members of the team before the firm, including Dollar Shave Club, Klout, Grovo, MapMyFitness, Photobucket, Real Direct, Stitch Data, TargetSpot and Zeel. These are team track record, not firm portfolio.
Team
- David Honig, Founder and Partner: 14 years investing across seed, early and growth stage. Founder of Vision Ventures, six years at Insight Venture Partners, Harvard College 1999.
- Skiddy von Stade, Partner: 22 years in the recruiting industry. Founder of Onewire.com (acquired by Recruiter.com), host of the OpenDoor Leadership interview series.
- Doug Perlson, Partner: Founder/CEO of RealDirect (acquired by Zillow Group) and TargetSpot (acquired by Universal Music), former SVP/COO of About.com/Sprinks, former Assistant Attorney General in the Investor Protection and Securities Bureau.
- Matt Evans, Venture Partner: 15 years in venture investing and corporate development, VP Corporate Development at Pearson, six years at Salmon River Capital, co-founder of Imagine H2O.
Decision Process
Not published. With a small partner group of three partners and a venture partner, the process is most likely a partnership, but this is an inference.
Founder Preferences
The firm looks for founders with a distinctive skill-spike in one key area of the business, such as brand and marketing instinct, rather than a generic checklist of strengths. Operators with direct experience building and selling companies make up much of the partnership, which shapes how they support founders.
Geographic Focus
Based at 3 Columbus Circle, New York, NY. The site states no geographic restriction. The portfolio mixes US companies with some international names such as Alba Orbital (UK).