Batshit Crazy Ventures

What Batshit Crazy Ventures does

Batshit Crazy Ventures (BCV) is a privately held, early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2016 and headquartered in Boulder, Colorado. The firm invests at the earliest stages — pre-revenue, pre-seed, and what it terms "pre-everything" — and explicitly avoids imposing vertical or geographic constraints on its deal sourcing. BCV does not develop proprietary technology products; its core activity is the deployment of investment capital into founding-stage companies, supplemented by operational support and mentorship to portfolio founders.

The firm is led by founder Dane McDonald, who previously spent over three years sourcing deals and managing deal flow at Foundry Group, and partner Alex Bogusky, the former principal of advertising firm Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Brenton Shafer serves as Principal. BCV generates returns through equity stakes in portfolio companies, realized via exits such as acquisitions or IPOs, and operates without disclosed fund vehicles, LPs, or institutional backing. The firm maintains a long-form blog ("Ramblings") as its primary outward-facing channel, publishing thought-leadership essays on topics ranging from population dynamics to technology evolution.

BCV's go-to-market is relationship-driven rather than sales-led: deal sourcing relies on founder networks, industry connections, and the principals' personal track records rather than outbound sales infrastructure. The firm has no publicly disclosed revenue, AUM, portfolio composition, fund size, or partnership agreements, and the input data is insufficient to triangulate these figures.

Name

Batshit Crazy Ventures

Legal name

Batshit Crazy Ventures

Website

https://batshitcrazy.is

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Batshit Crazy Ventures is a Boulder, Colorado-based pre-seed venture capital firm founded in 2016 that invests in pre-revenue startups across all verticals, led by former Foundry Group deal-flow operator Dane McDonald and ex-Crispin Porter + Bogusky principal Alex Bogusky.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Miscellaneous Financial Investment Activities (523999), Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (525)

akta.pro primary industry

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

Keywords

• Venture capital investing
• Pre-seed funding
• Early-stage startups
• Startup capital
• Seed stage investments

Headquarters

HQ city

Boulder

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Investment Returns / Equity Gains: BCV generates returns through equity investments in early-stage startups. The firm takes ownership stakes in portfolio companies and realizes returns through exits (acquisitions, IPOs) or secondary transactions.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Batshit Crazy Ventures (BCV) is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests equity capital in pre-revenue and pre-seed startups. The firm provides funding and operational support to founders at the earliest stages of company development and does not limit its investments to specific verticals or geographic regions.

Product overview

Batshit Crazy Ventures (BCV) is an early-stage venture capital firm, not a product company. BCV is an investor that focuses on pre-revenue, pre-seed, and early-stage startup companies without specific vertical or geographic focus. The company does not offer a unified product platform or software-as-a-service; instead, it operates as a VC firm providing capital and support to portfolio companies. BCV's portfolio includes various startups across consumer products, technology, and other sectors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Precursor Ventures: Precursor Ventures is a pre-seed and seed venture firm that invests in founders before product-market fit, directly mirroring BCV's pre-revenue, pre-seed mandate with a similar small-team, high-touch model.
• Hustle Fund: Hustle Fund is a pre-seed venture firm that invests across a wide range of sectors at the earliest stages, comparable to BCV's horizontal, pre-revenue focus and micro-fund structure.
• SV Angel: SV Angel is a seed-stage venture fund that makes early bets across consumer and enterprise, sharing BCV's earliest-stage, vertical-agnostic investment orientation.
• Liquid 2 Ventures: Liquid 2 Ventures is a pre-seed and seed fund that invests across a broad set of verticals at the earliest stages, comparable to BCV in stage, size, and horizontal thesis.
• Unpopular Ventures: Unpopular Ventures is a pre-seed venture firm focused on backing founders in less popular or unconventional categories, sharing BCV's earliest-stage, high-conviction approach.
• Lerer Hippeau: Lerer Hippeau is an early-stage venture firm investing in pre-seed and seed consumer and enterprise startups, comparable to BCV in stage and horizontal orientation.
• Y Combinator: Y Combinator is the largest pre-seed accelerator, providing capital and support at the earliest stage to founders across sectors — directly competing with BCV for the same pre-revenue founder pool.
• First Round Capital: First Round Capital is a seed-stage venture firm known for its deep community and platform support, comparable to BCV in stage focus and breadth of sectors covered.
• Right Side Capital Management: Right Side Capital Management is a pre-seed and seed fund that invests across many verticals with a portfolio of small checks, mirroring BCV's earliest-stage, horizontal approach.

Broad incumbents

• Foundry Group: Foundry Group is a larger, established early-stage venture firm where BCV's founder previously worked; it invests across multiple stages and sectors, providing a benchmark for the type of firm BCV aspires to scale into.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/BCV_Boulder

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments9 records

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

Frequently asked questions about Batshit Crazy Ventures