Founder, Product, and Company Investment Criteria:

Founder Criteria— Personal Qualities:

• Passion for the business

• Exemplifies a life of resilience, exceeding expectations, and resourcefulness and a compelling personal story

• Exhibits empathy, humility, integrity, authenticity, perseverance, accountability, decisiveness, and a sense of humor

• Strong and well-honed networking skills (ideally)

• Demonstrated success & long-term commitment to a passion or hobby: music, art, competitive sports (current and/or former NCAA & Pro athletes are especially encouraged to apply), fluent in more than one language, Crossfit, volunteer work, writing, dance, coding, martial arts, etc.

• Dedication to lifelong learning, reading, & travel (either in person or vicariously through books, movies, & music)

• Ability to embrace ambiguity & uncertainty

• A career and life experience that demonstrates your commitment to the success of those around you (i.e., success begets success), adheres to the mantra that “A rising tide lifts all boats”

• Optimistic and supportive leadership style

• “Failure is not an option” for you

• Person of Color co-founder (ideally) or the meaningful presence of at least one Person of Color on the cap table (e.g., executive team, investor, advisory board member, etc.)

• Originally from or currently living in an “overlooked” U.S. city or region (e.g., outside of Silicon Valley & New York City) (ideally)

• Shared Values with New Day Ventures

• Women of Color, U.S. Military Veterans, and Immigrants to the U.S. are especially encouraged to apply

Founder Criteria— Work Experience Qualifications & Philosophical Approach:

• Relevant experience in the enterprise software industry (ideally)

• Deep domain expertise

• Financially prudent

• Previous company founder (ideally)

• Proactively seek constructive feedback and then leverage it to make yourself “better every day”

• Seek a collaborative & strategic investment partner from initial investment to exit

• Commitment to an “early exit” strategy

Product Criteria:

• Address a gap and need in the current enterprise software landscape and/or industry sector

• Working prototype (ideally)

• Product roll out or sales (ideally)

• Intellectual Property including patents & trademarks (if applicable)

Company Criteria:

• Defined acquisition goal typically from 3 to 7 years

• Quality & resilient founder(s)/management team

• A U.S. Delaware C-corporation or agreement to establish itself as one

• Located in an “overlooked” U.S. city or region (e.g., outside of Silicon Valley & New York City) (ideally)

• Seeking investment at the Pre-seed/Seed stage (i.e., pre-Series A)

• Seeking investment in exchange for a % of Equity (preferably) though convertible notes, SAFES, etc., will also be considered

• Shared values with New Day Ventures (And, yes, this is repeated since we feel that this a prerequisite for both the founder(s) and the “company”)

• Commitment to offer competitive employee pay and benefits

• Commitment to a vibrant and supportive culture that encourages and fosters direct and “no nonsense” communication

• Commitment to New Day Equity: help expand the People of Color ecosystem in Enterprise Software (i.e., “drink our own champagne”)

• Strategic, thoughtful, and data/evidence-driven approach to employee recruitment, training, retention, and promotion

• Pledge 1%: 1+1+1 Philanthropic Model = Donate 1% equity, 1% of employees time, and 1% of product (Salesforce.com Model)

• Agreement to G.I.V.E.: The Four Pillars of the Founders’ Commitment (Kapor Capital Framework)

  G.I.V.E. represents the four actions that all Founders’ Commitment companies agree to carry out:

  1. Goals – Establish diversity and inclusion goals that are appropriate for your company’s funding stage, employee size, customer base, and core business. Include progress on diversity and inclusion in quarterly investor updates.

  2. Invest – Invest in people ops technology (POT), voluntary training programs, and/or resources that assist with mitigating bias in the employment life cycle (e.g. sourcing, hiring, promotion).

  3. Volunteer – Organize voluntary opportunities for your employees to volunteer and engage with underrepresented communities, especially those that reflect the company’s employee and customer base.

  4. Educate – Opportunities to voluntarily participate in diversity and inclusion sessions to learn what works and what doesn’t. These sessions may be hosted by Kapor Capital or others and will be made available for virtual participation as needed.

This is neither a complete list nor a compulsory list of check boxes. If you think you might be a good fit, we welcome the opportunity to review your company/idea so please feel free to submit your pitch deck!