WHAT WE DO
MEET Elise
Elise Houren
Elise Houren

Elise will navigate the media and PR world with you to get the best coverage when it matters. Crafting your message, captivating diverse audiences and defining successful communications strategies to effectively achieve distinction and influence, she will help you get there.

San Francisco, CA
Elise Houren
MEET David
David Sloo
David Sloo

David bridges the great divide between complex technology and me, the person. How does this thing fit into my life? What’s it telling me? How do I tell it something? He will guide your journey from successful (or failed!) lab experiments to delightful product experiences.

Paris, France
David Sloo
MEET Anton
Anton Oenning
Anton Oenning

Selling an idea to investors, designing a 360° customer journey, making a brand famous — Anton can help you do these things. He’ll coach you to write the right story, develop powerful creative, and invest your marketing dollars wisely.

San Francisco, CA
Anton Oenning
MEET Tony
Tony Fadell
Tony Fadell

With over 300 patents to his name, Tony’s a prolific engineer. He’s also a product guy, marketer, entrepreneur, CEO, author, investor and mentor. As a devoted family man, he wants to leave the world in a better shape for his kids.

Paris, France
Tony Fadell
MEET Michael
Michael Quillinan
Michael Quillinan

As our gatekeeper of all things legal, Mike creates the contractual foundations for our investments. His experience negotiating agreements streamlines the process. His guidance is provided in plain English and sets the stage for productive partnerships.

San Francisco, CA
Michael Quillinan
MEET Vicky
Vicky Lu
Vicky Lu

The lifeblood of the company, keeping everything and everyone moving in sync — across our portfolio, across two continents. She’s your go-to if you don’t know where to go.

San Francisco, CA
Vicky Lu
Build Collective Team Build Collective Team Build Collective Team
WHO WE ARE

Quality works.

We’ve taken everything we’ve learned working at Nest, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Levi’s and numerous start-ups all the way back to General Magic and bottled it up for the benefit of our portfolio companies. We’ve learned what to do and, lucky for you, what to avoid.

You’ll quickly realize we push and prod and ask tough questions. It’s how we get you from good to great. But you’ll also see that working with us is immensely rewarding. And fun.

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We invest:

Early

We’re primarily interested in seed funding — sometimes Series A. We’re set on helping you get it right from the start.

Beyond the Valley

The Valley doesn’t have a monopoly on good ideas. Our portfolio is based mainly in the EU & US, with some great companies in Asia and the Middle East.

In deep technology

We want to get involved when it’s still raw. Before we know what it’ll be when it goes to market. We look for ways to use it for good in growth segments like:

• Agriculture & Food
• Transport & Auto
• Medical Diagnostics & Pharma
• Robotics & Semiconductors
• Financial
• Consumer Products

In general, we stay away from Advertising, Marketing, Music, Movies, Gaming and traditional Food, Beverage, Restaurant, Retail and Real Estate things.

We are:

Seasoned

We’ve lived start-ups from the inside, like General Magic, Fuse Systems, WebTV, Nest. We’ve invested for 20+ years. We’ve stood behind 500+ companies and their founders. We bring all of that to the table when we advise entrepreneurs like yourself.

Not a VC firm

We don’t have LP’s to report to and we don’t close funds after 5 years. Our incentives are different, our approach is more hands-on, and we’re in it for the long haul.

On your side

We don’t lead rounds, set terms, or require board seats. However, we can write large checks and can support you with follow-ons all the way. Most important to us: You let our investment extend beyond financing.

“Future Shape arms their founders with decades of hard earned experience. I give Future Shape referrals top priority and welcome them into our portfolio knowing they’re getting coached by the best.”

Randy Komisar
KPCB

We understand:

Your situation

If you’re like most founders we work with, this is likely the first company you’re running. Which means you’re suddenly in charge of many new things beyond your core expertise. If we’re investing in you, that expertise is probably engineering or research.

Your deficits

Lack of experience is a tax on the company’s momentum, on multiple levels:

• Funding and resulting runway
• Resources, the most important one being your time
• Strategies and decisions across Marketing, Sales, Procurement, Manufacturing, etc.
• Executing at required levels of fit and finish

“Know what you don’t know. And do something about it. If you can’t build a business around your innovation, it won’t matter how great it is.”

Tony Fadell
Your needs

Product and marketing people…you might think they’re not needed in the early days. But, you don’t know when you need them, who you need, and at which stages their input is critical to save you time and money.

The problem is, they’re very hard to hire. You’re too small to hire seasoned execs – they’re making too much money, have teams doing the work for them, and don’t need to take the risk. Advisors with a track record and committed to you are a rare gem. Consultants can be great, but they’re expensive and their incentives aren’t always aligned with your needs.

We offer:

Money

Yes. But we put our money where our mouth is: we invest, so that we can be your mentors.

Collaboration

We want to be involved early, so that we can get it right from the start. We’ve seen what works and can help you replicate success. Just as much as we’ve lived the pitfalls and can help you avoid mistakes.

“Tony and his team push us. They ask hard questions. Challenge our answers. It’s an intense process, but it builds our confidence. It led to bold, game-changing decisions during critical early stages and keeps us focused as we scale. Getting money is great. Getting hard-won guidance is invaluable.”

Valérie Robitaille
Xpertsea
Coaching

We’ll help you identify the inflection points. We’ll help you prioritize what you need at each stage of the journey. And we’ll get you the answers at the right time, saving you months and expensive mis-steps.

Track record

We have unique approaches and models that have proven successful for different companies, in different industries. We get these things right:

• Investor and board relations
• Product/Market fit
• Product definition
• Building a brand
• User experience
• Intellectual property
• Go-to-market strategy
• Marketing and corporate communications
• Business ecosystems
• Org design