What Burst Capital does

Burst Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2017 by Geoff Donaker, the former Chief Operating Officer of Yelp. The firm is built around a tight team of senior former Yelp operators — General Partners Donaker (ex-Yelp COO), Mike Ghaffary (ex-Yelp SVP BD and Eat24 CEO), and Rob Krolik (ex-Yelp CFO who took the company public in 2012), plus Partner Wendy Lim (ex-Yelp revenue operations and investor relations) and advisors Michael Stoppelman (ex-Yelp SVP Engineering, former early Googler) and Rachel Williams (ex-Yelp and StubHub Head of Recruiting). The partners collectively scaled Yelp from inception to $1 billion in revenue and through its IPO, and the firm pitches that operator pedigree as its core differentiator versus purely financial VCs.

The firm invests primarily at the seed and Series A stages, with a documented track record spanning consumer, SaaS, marketplace, healthcare, and AI-enabled businesses — including Ada ($130M Series C, 2026), Honey Health ($7.8M seed, 2025), Woz ($6M seed, 2025), and Pickle ($12M Series A, 2025). Burst Capital does not lead rounds; it participates alongside tier-one investors such as Spark Capital, Tiger Global, Accel, Bessemer, FirstMark, Craft Ventures, Y Combinator, and Cervin Ventures. The firm sources deals through direct founder relationships augmented by a content-marketing engine: a topic-organized blog and a semi-regular newsletter ('Bursts of Color' on Substack) covering CEO staffing, finance, hiring, sales operations, and company culture, plus a curated resources page that cross-promotes portfolio-company services. With 5 core team members plus advisors, the firm operates as a small, relationship-led shop rather than a scaled multi-stage platform.

The revenue model is standard venture fund economics: management fees on committed fund capital plus carried interest from portfolio exits, generated through equity ownership in portfolio companies. No fund size, AUM, or LP base is publicly disclosed. Burst Capital does not charge portfolio companies for its operational advisory services — the value-add of partner-level guidance on hiring, board management, and scaling is the firm's positioning rather than a separately monetized service line.

Name

Burst Capital

Legal name

Burst Capital

Website

https://burst.vc

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Burst Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2017 by senior former Yelp executives, investing at the seed and Series A stages in consumer, SaaS, healthcare, and AI-enabled startups alongside tier-one lead investors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (52394), Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (525)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B) (FSANAAAB)

Keywords

• Venture capital
• Seed stage investing
• Series A funding
• Early-stage startups
• Operator-led investing

Headquarters

HQ city

Palo Alto

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Venture Capital Returns: Burst Capital generates returns through equity investments in early-stage startups, typically participating in seed and Series A rounds. Returns are realized through portfolio company exits via acquisitions or IPOs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Burst Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in startups at the seed and Series A stages in exchange for equity. Beyond capital, the firm provides hands-on operational guidance drawn from its partners' experience scaling Yelp from $0 to $1B revenue and through its 2012 IPO, advising portfolio founders on executive hiring, financial management, board governance, sales operations, and go-to-market strategy. The firm also publishes educational content for founders through its 'Bursts of Color' newsletter and categorized writing library.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Seed-stage equity investments Early-stage equity capital deployed into startups in exchange for equity, typically participating in seed funding rounds. Targeted at early-stage startups seeking initial institutional capital.
• Series A equity investments Equity capital deployed into startups at the Series A stage in exchange for equity. Targeted at growth-stage startups that have demonstrated early product-market fit.
• Operator-led portfolio advisory Hands-on operational guidance for portfolio company founders covering executive hiring, financial planning, board governance, sales team building, revenue operations, and go-to-market strategy, drawn from partners' experience scaling Yelp from $0 to $1B revenue and through its 2012 IPO. Targeted at founders and executive teams of Burst Capital portfolio companies.
• Bursts of Color newsletter (founder thought-leadership content) Free written content resource for startup founders and executives, organized into topical categories (CEO Stuff, People & HR, Finance, Sales & Marketing) and distributed through the 'Bursts of Color' Substack and the burst.vc writing section. Functions as a top-of-funnel community-building asset rather than a paid offering.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Cowboy Ventures: Seed-stage fund led by Aileen Lee with operator DNA; thesis-driven investing in technical founders — directly comparable in size, stage, and operator-investor positioning to Burst Capital.
• Bonfire Ventures: Seed-stage fund investing in B2B software with operator involvement and value-add services — closely comparable stage and operator-investor positioning.
• Eniac Ventures: Seed-stage fund focused on technical founders with operator support — same stage, fund-size profile, and operator-investor archetype as Burst Capital.
• Craft Ventures: Founded by David Sacks (PayPal/Yammer operator), Craft is an operator-led seed and Series A fund that invests in and actively works with founders — directly comparable to Burst's model, and notably co-led a round Burst also joined (Pickle Series A).
• Lerer Hippeau: Seed-stage investor with operator background; thesis-driven seed and Series A investing with portfolio services — same stage and operator-investor archetype as Burst.
• Floodgate Fund: Long-running seed fund led by Ann Miura-Ko and Mike Maples, focused on technical founders with operator support — directly comparable stage, fund size, and operator-investor profile.
• Forerunner Ventures: Early-stage fund led by Kirsten Green with deep consumer and operator thesis; invests across seed/Series A in companies like Warby Parker and Glossier — comparable operator-led early-stage model.
• Initialized Capital: Early-stage fund co-founded by Alexis Ohanian and Garry Tan, both operators. Invests seed/Series A and emphasizes hands-on founder support — closely matching Burst's operator-led, content-rich approach.
• Homebrew: Seed-stage fund run by former operators Hunter Walk (YouTube, Second Life) and Satya Patel (Google, Twitter). Same operator-led, hands-on seed model with published thought leadership for founders.

Broad incumbents

• First Round Capital: One of the original seed-stage funds with strong brand, community programming (First Round Review), and operator network — comparable stage and founder-services approach, though significantly larger and more established than Burst.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/burstcapital

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments56 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Burst Capital