Essence VC

We invest in infrastructure companies before they exist. We don’t try to be “value add”. We only succeed if we make a difference. How We Work ▪ We develop stories Technical founders are exceptional builders, but communicating their vision to non-technical audiences such as investors, customers, and partners often requires a different skill set. With deep technical background and hands-on operating experience, we work closely with founders to go deeper than surface-level storytelling, exploring fundamentally different possibilities and crafting clear, compelling narratives without oversimplifying what makes their technology powerful. ▪ We develop founders The transition from a deeply technical background to CEO is a unique and often challenging journey. Drawing from our founder, operator, and close advisory experience with early-stage companies, we listen carefully and help founders work through both the emotional and tactical challenges of growing into effective leaders. ▪ We develop communities Building developer and open source communities requires intention, consistency + trust. With experience supporting developer ecosystems and a deep technical network, we provide both strategic guidance and practical distribution to help founders build new communities and achieve early product traction. ▪ We develop engineering teams Hiring engineers is one of the hardest parts of building a company, yet it has an outsized impact on long-term outcomes. With experience as founders, recruiters, and senior engineering leaders + access to a deep technical talent network built through years of working with early-stage teams, we help companies hire founding engineers, early engineering leaders, and build strong technical teams from the start.