Brian McCullough and Chris Messina present
The Ride Home AI Fund
We see the next technology waves form — by reporting on them in a top daily tech podcast and by helping founders nail their first public launches on Product Hunt.
Pre-seed • Seed • Series A
A partnership forged in the tech trenches
Chris and Brian are “nerd famous” — respected in the founder and developer communities and get unique access to new opportunities as they arise.
We have first-look at projects that others don't.
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We intend to be a startup's first check in and take the round where possible so founders can get back to building.
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Technology is necessary but insufficient to win the market. We will seek out and support product-led initiatives.
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Our deep network and built-in audiences give us visibility into high quality deals and the credibility to close them.
Strategy
Chris Messina
Best known for inventing the hashtag. Yes: the hashtag.
#1 Product Hunter — with over 3500 launches to date.
Previous founder in the AI space; backed by
Y Combinator, First Round, Betaworks, Alpha Bridge and others.Worked at Google, Uber, and Republic and many startups.
Helped Mozilla Firefox reach its first 100 million downloads; co-organized the first BarCamp and spread the event to over 350 cities around the world; opened the first coworking spaces in the world, giving rise to a global movement.
Brian McCullough
GP of the Ride Home Fund.
4x founder of technology companies since 1999.
Host of the Internet History Podcast and Techmeme Ride Home podcast, Silicon Valley's trusted news source.
Author of How the Internet Happened - From Netscape to the iPhone.
Named an “Emerging 50” fund manager by Signature Block.
Theses
Adversity begets grit
Post-pandemic, post-ZIRP market volatility, with layoffs in tech, talent is pooling on the sidelines. This sleeper cohort has a chip on its shoulder and is eager to prove itself with big wins.
Data as terroir
Data is the new oil is the refrain, but we believe a more nuanced, hands-on approach is needed to unearth the most promising plays. "AI Varietals" captures our sentiment.
Reset assumptions
It's insufficient to graft an LLM onto a spreadsheet and call it a day. How we define software and apps will shift as Airbnb and Uber shifted the definition of a hotel and transport respectively.
Advantages
The Techmeme Ride Home Podcast
50k-70k Daily Listeners
The most connected collection of tech industry denizens In any one place. From the C-Suite of FAANG companies to VC firms to founders.
In Silicon Valley’s Ear
The tech industry’s, must-listen, podcast. Based in the tech hub of New York City. An unparalleled reputation for authority in the space.
An Engaged Audience
Founders, operators, software engineers, developers, all working in the trenches at startups — right now, today.
Advantages
Product Hunt Royalty
Many of Chris's discoveries top the Product Hunt leaderboard and go on to earn critical acclaim and investment.
What started out as a lifelong obsession with new apps turned into a golden opportunity to source dealflow from the most eager and capable founders.
As the top hunter on Product Hunt, Chris sees several dozen deals a week, often before a company has made its first splash in the market.
Having hunted over 3600 products since 2014 (and increasing), he is able to spot unique and compelling launches before anyone else — and is sought after for his coaching, insights, and his launch and product strategies.
