This Entrepreneur Co-Founded A $100 Million Venture Fund To Support Founders And Businesses At The Frontiers Of Technology And Design

In today’s rapidly evolving venture capital landscape, one of the most exciting developments is the rise of investors like Kate McAndrew. Kate, a visionary founder and leader, recently launched a $100M fund.

This fund is specifically targeted at pre-seed investments—an impressive feat garnering attention. In our conversation, Kate took us through her journey from Pasadena, California, to Silicon Valley, elevating brands and conversations.

Kate talks about her transformative experiences in venture capital and how she’s building a firm that’s already making waves. She outlines some of the typical patterns in investment when identifying great entrepreneurs and how she’s had her finger on the pulse of the ecosystem.

Listen to the full podcast episode and review the transcript here.

Early Life and Entrepreneurial Spirit

Kate was born and raised in Pasadena, California, where her upbringing fostered the strong work ethic and bold ambition that would later define her career. She shares how her hardworking parents instilled in her the belief that anything was possible if she applied herself.

While her family wasn’t filled with entrepreneurs, Kate had the entrepreneurial bug from an early age. “I was that kid who made my friends sell Oreo cookie milkshakes around the neighborhood,” she recalled.

Growing up surrounded by a robust network of women—thanks to her all-girls school and camps—Kate developed a strong sense of leadership and collaboration. As a child, she dreamed of being a CEO, drawn to leadership and teamwork.

Kate loved being the boss and breaking new ground and territories. People with complementary skills magnetized her. She always had the knack of inspiring people and bringing them on board with whatever mission she was on. Building teams was an art at which she excelled.

Kate quickly understood that companies were just excuses for groups of people to come together and make things they believed in. That ethos has guided her as she dived deeper into company building.

Discovering Venture Capital

Kate’s path to the venture world wasn’t straightforward. After attending McGill University in Montreal and dabbling in consulting, she took a year off to build houses with Habitat for Humanity.

Kate wanted to give back to the community while deciding whether to build a company or attend business school. This break led to a pivotal moment when a group of angel investors asked her to help them start an accelerator program.

Though Kate had no experience in venture capital at the time, the opportunity opened her eyes to how investment worked and the powerful impact of combining money with mentorship to help entrepreneurs build companies.

“I didn’t understand that people actually invested money in entrepreneurs to help them grow their businesses,” Kate explained. “That blew my mind.” She learned how information and money could flow and how businesses were built. She grabbed the opportunity and ran with it for two years.

Kate knew she wanted to immerse herself in the world of venture capital. She soon moved to Silicon Valley, a place she described as “a magical time” full of creativity, innovation, and a tight-knit community of entrepreneurs.

Through the accelerator, Kate invested in a hardware biotech company and enjoyed exposure to the brain trust of geniuses and interesting people. She even slept on the floor of a communal warehouse shared by future tech giants like those now leading OpenAI and Google AI.

It was a bootstrapped, scrappy beginning, but it gave Kate a deep immersion into the world of startups and innovation. It was about young people excited about work and community and helping each other find opportunities.

By attending events and networking, Kate got her first venture job.

Climbing the Venture Ladder at Bolt

Kate’s formal venture capital career began when she joined Bolt, a pre-seed fund focusing on hardware and software and the intersection of the two fields. She started at the bottom as an associate but quickly rose to the rank of partner over eight years, a transformational journey.

What made Bolt stand out for Kate was the complete trust and autonomy she was given. As the only employee on the West Coast, she was given free rein to explore the San Francisco startup scene. She joined just before closing the first pre-seed funding round worth $32M.

This freedom allowed her to grow as an investor and a leader. More importantly, it taught Kate the inner workings of venture capital—from deal sourcing to managing a portfolio and executing exits.

“I learned not just how to invest, but also how to build a fund,” Kate said. “I got a rare apprenticeship from a partner with 30 years of venture experience, learning everything from sourcing great M&A transactions to managing a board.”

Kate also learned valuable lessons in managing a portfolio, exiting stock, and building a venture fund from scratch. She calls this “building the plane while you’re flying it.” This mentorship and hands-on experience gave Kate the confidence and skills to consider her next big step.

Eight years into Bolt, Kate was ready to start her own venture fund. Although Bolt was an incredible platform and training ground, she was investing against someone else’s thesis. Kate wanted to develop her own areas of interest and thesis areas.

Founding Baukunst Ventures

Though Kate, a woman with a decade-long experience in venture capital, received numerous offers from large funds, the idea of building something from scratch excited her the most. She teamed up with three partners–an engineer, a principal, and the original senior partner.

Kate herself had just been promoted. That’s how Baukunst Ventures was born. Its focus is beyond Bolt’s hardware and software—a broader thesis that reflects Kate’s evolving interests and her belief in backing bold, high-conviction bets at the pre-seed stage.

Starting a venture firm from scratch is no small feat, especially when the goal is to raise $100M for a first-time fund, particularly in the pre-seed space, which is often viewed as highly risky. Kate faced numerous challenges, including raising this substantial capital as a new mother.

“Failure was not an option,” Kate emphasized. She was working with a team of people she trusted and who executed at the highest caliber. In retrospect, she stresses that you’re only as good as the team, whether analysts, admins, or co-founders.

The Power of Relationships in Fundraising

Though the $100M fundraise might seem like a breeze in hindsight, Kate was quick to dispel that myth. The journey was difficult, especially given the challenging fundraising environment, with global uncertainty and a sluggish market.

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What ultimately made the difference was the power of personal relationships. “It wasn’t the institutional LPs we thought we would get,” Kate revealed. “It was the personal relationships—people we had been on boards with, people we had worked closely with—who came through for us.”

Most of the fund came from people with whom Kate and her partners had built deep, trusting relationships over the years. These included 33% from multi-billion dollar single-family offices with entrepreneurial roots and 33% from corporate strategics at the cutting edge of technology and design.

Individuals and founders they had invested in previously, as well as engineers and designers from top companies like Apple, also partnered with Kate and her co-founders. These entities appreciated the work ethic, craft, and thoughtfulness behind what the founders pitched.

Baukunst’s Strategy: High Ownership, Focused Investments

Baukunst Ventures stands out in the pre-seed landscape with its high-conviction, concentrated strategy. With $100M to deploy, Kate and her team plan to make 30 to 35 investments, with check sizes ranging from $500K to $1.5M.

Their strategy focuses on high ownership stakes, aiming for an average of 15% ownership in each company. “We’re all about conviction,” Kate said. “If we believe in a company at the pre-seed stage, we go all in.”

As Kate sees it, the pre-seed market is very fragmented at present. There aren’t a lot of angels out there, and their checks are relatively small. They are small pre-seed funds investing from 250K to as little as $500K.

Baukunst actively supports mid-career entrepreneurs looking for a high-quality partner to support them on their journeys. They would prefer financing from a single investor who can do the due diligence and underwrite the founder-market fit.

Core Archetype at Baukunst

Kate reveals that the core archetype in Baukunst is an experienced professional in the top 1% of their field who is starting a company. Essentially, these are people who are attempting to revolutionize that field.

Baukunst has people from the collaborative manufacturing space. For instance, the CEO of the company where he ran the Model X manufacturing at Tesla and the R1 launch at Rivian–someone who was at the top of the manufacturing game. He was also called the Elon Whisperer.

This person is building the software tool to help the rest of the manufacturing world catch up to what he knows. Baukunst is also investing in an interesting company that is revolutionizing publishing by turning influencers or tastemakers into publishers.

This company was started by the former head of product for Patreon, who has been in the book startup world for a long time and has been a book packaging executive for 20 years.

The Baukunst portfolio also includes people who have exited previous companies for a billion dollars, former CEOs of publicly traded companies, and younger first-time founders. But, most of their investment has been in seasoned professionals revolutionizing their profession through technology.

The Inspiration and Vision Behind Baukunst

As Kate explains, Baukunst takes its name from the German word for “the art of building.” Bau means building, and Kunst is art or craft. The goal is to advance the art of building companies at the frontiers of technology and design, which are the core drivers of monetary and cultural value.

Kate believes the venture capital asset class has become too obsessed with technology in isolation. They should be thinking about how design and technology can improve things.

Baukunst attempts to advance the art of building companies toward a more eco-centric instead of an ego-centric model that doesn’t fetishize tech for tech’s sake. At Baukunst, they are not anti-technologists, as Kate underscores, but believe design is critical to creating a more abundant version of capitalism.

Kate advises aspiring founders to pick the smartest people to work with, a core strategy for building great businesses. They should seek out the best collaborators who are better than the founders, adopting a bold belief that their mission is worthy of the absolute best.

This will set the tone for how the company is built, its quality, and creativity. “Getting that ungettable talent is the number one thing” Kate recommends.

Building a Legacy and Elevating Brands

In addition to her venture work, Kate has recently published a book, The Goddess Guide to Branding, that focuses on elevating brands, particularly how startups can scale their businesses effectively while building a solid foundation.

In the book, Kate introduces founders and aspiring founders to eight goddess archetypes who have overtaken paper-thin, decades-long stereotypes. These archetypes are thriving, powerful, profitable, and significant businesses today.

Some great examples include Sally Krawcheck from Ellevest, a fintech company, and Laura Modi from Bobbie, an infant formula company that Kate backed at the pre-seed level in 2018. The book is an accessible, fun, and powerful way to connect with female founders and builders.

In Conclusion

Looking back, Kate’s journey—from her entrepreneurial roots in Pasadena to launching a $100M venture fund—has been marked by bold decisions, a strong network, and an unwavering belief in herself and the teams she supports.

Kate is passionate about mentoring entrepreneurs and helping them navigate the often tricky path from pre-seed to success. Her story inspires anyone with a dream to build something lasting and meaningful.

Listen to the full podcast episode to know more, including:

• Kate McAndrew launched Baukunst Ventures, a $100M pre-seed fund that focuses on high-conviction investments in innovative companies.
• Her journey from Pasadena to Silicon Valley exemplifies resilience, ambition, and a passion for leadership, fostered from an early age.
• Her venture career began with Bolt, where she gained hands-on experience building a fund and managing portfolios, eventually inspiring her to start her own.
• Baukunst’s strategy centers on high ownership stakes and a focused approach. It aims to support seasoned professionals revolutionizing their industries.
• Kate emphasizes the power of relationships in fundraising, securing two-thirds of her fund from personal connections and trusted collaborators.
• Baukunst combines technology with design, championing an eco-centric model that values creativity and collaboration over technology alone.
• Kate’s recent book, The Goddess Guide to Branding, encourages founders to elevate their brands through archetypes that resonate with modern audiences.

 

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