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Open For Investors
Strong margins and unit economics
Optimizing for sustainable pace of growth
Capital efficient. Not reliant on outside capital.
Building a team + company that avoids burnout/founder drop off
Focused on "unsexy" and overlooked markets
Building with proven technologies in known markets = much higher success rate
Lifecycle phases of a steadily growing profitable software company
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Eg. Bootstrapping, Friends & Family and Calm Company Fund
Eg. Pipe, Capchase, Clearbanc, Founderpath, Lighter Capital, Reformation, Blueprint.
Eg. Summit Partners, General Atlantic, Five Elms, Arthur Ventures, Growth Street.
Eg. Vista Equity, Constellation, Turn/River, Thoma Bravo, Diversis, and many more!
Calm Company Fund is a new approach to investing in technology companies with a completely different risk profile from traditional venture capital. We back the profitable ventures that would normally bootstrap.
We call it Early Stage Growth Equity.
Building a team + company that avoids burnout/founderdrop off
Profit-sharing in 1-3 years, exits in 5-7 years
Focus on profitability = 1 write-off in 3 years across 69 investments
Businesses where “first check, last check” is a viable strategy
Calm Companies can still raise VC/growth capital and achieve IPO-sized outcomes, but our returns aren't dependent on outlier successes
Our unique thesis, which allows us to avoid “hot” markets, and our founder friendly approach (we literally invented a new agreement so founders could succeed on their own) have resulted in the "calm company" philosophy gaining momentum—and the fans are formidable.
Founders choose us, often only us.
We love the simplicity of "first check, last check."
Our active global community sends a wealth of deals our way.
"I don't need to raise capital, but...I really like the Calm Company Fund investment thesis. The structure offers a win-win for both the investor and company."
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anon applicant
"Calm Fund is one of the most consistent, tactical, and helpful investors we have. They lean in with brainstorms, sounding board calls, intros to customers and other investors, whatever we need."
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YAC
"Being part of Calm Company Fund makes an enormous difference in our company. We’ve grown more than ever purely because we’re part of this community. Amazing."
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Memberspace
"Calm Fund lit the opportunity fuse for our company at a critical time, allowing us to become the #1 company in the world in food safety for small and mid sized businesses."
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Food Ready
"I've not sought out any other type of VC, but the Calm Fund approach seems different to others."
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anon applicant
"Our company is profitable. I was happy to run it as it is without external funds. But when I discovered the philosophy of Calm Company Fund, I thought that I can change my mind."
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anon applicant
"Calm Fund is one of the most consistent, tactical, and helpful investors we have. They lean in with brainstorms, sounding board calls, intros to customers and other investors, whatever we need."
-
YAC
"I've not sought out any other type of VC, but the Calm Fund approach seems different to others."
-
anon applicant
"Calm Fund lit the opportunity fuse for our company at a critical time, allowing us to become the #1 company in the world in food safety for small and mid sized businesses."
-
Food Ready
"Our company is profitable. I was happy to run it as it is without external funds. But when I discovered the philosophy of Calm Company Fund, I thought that I can change my mind."
-
anon applicant
"Being part of Calm Company Fund makes an enormous difference in our company. We’ve grown more than ever purely because we’re part of this community. Amazing."
-
Memberspace
"I don't need to raise capital, but...I really like the Calm Company Fund investment thesis. The structure offers a win-win for both the investor and company."
-
anon applicant
"I've not sought out any other type of VC, but the Calm Fund approach seems different to others."
anon applicant
"Our company is profitable. I was happy to run it as it is without external funds. But when I discovered the philosophy of Calm Company Fund, I thought that I can change my mind."
anon applicant
"I don't need to raise capital, but...I really like the Calm Company Fund investment thesis. The structure offers a win-win for both the investor and company."
anon applicant
"Calm Fund is one of the most consistent, tactical, and helpful investors we have. They lean in with brainstorms, sounding board calls, intros to customers and other investors, whatever we need."
YAC
"Being part of Calm Company Fund makes an enormous difference in our company. We’ve grown more than ever purely because we’re part of this community. Amazing."
Memberspace
"Calm Fund lit the opportunity fuse for our company at a critical time, allowing us to become the #1 company in the world in food safety for small and mid sized businesses."
Food Ready
Founder of Storemapper, a SaaS product, taking it from side project to exit in 5 yrs
Coined the term "Micro-SaaS" and literally wrote the book on it
Formerly led Bloomberg's project economics modeling for all globally renewable energy technologies
Creator of the Shared Earnings Agreement [SEAL] investment structure, an improvement to traditional revenue-based financing structures
Named "Rising Star VC" by Business Insider + featured on Bloomberg, New York Times, and Crunchbase
25,000+ followers on Twitter
When we say "community"— we don't just mean followers or readers. We mean builders committed to (and for many, invested in) making Calm Company Fund a long-term success.
We have 1,000+ true fans; 1,000+ operators amplifying our impact.
Leaders & innovators are showing up to
support us
Our investors know Calm Companies.
Of our 200+ LPs across all funds, the vast majority are successful software entrepreneurs.
Bonus: Nearly all of them allocate time to mentor our portfolio.
Our investors know Calm Companies.
Of our 200+ LPs across all funds, the vast majority are successful software entrepreneurs.
Bonus: Nearly all of them allocate time to mentor our portfolio.
We're a remote-first (pre- COVID), global team, investing in the best the world has to offer.
We primarily invest on a rolling basis using a financing structure that we created called the Shared Earnings Agreement (“SEAL”) that allows us to back founders who want to build sustainable profit-focused businesses without the pressure of having to continually raise capital or sell.
Short for Shared Earnings Agreement, a SEAL is a financing structure created by us to invest into calm companies to create a win-win situation all round. It is not debt, doesn’t have a fixed repayment schedule, and doesn’t require a personal guarantee. Investors make an upfront capital investment and then are entitled to receive Shared Earnings which is a percentage of Founder Earnings (a mix of founder salaries, dividends and retained earnings). Shared Earning payments only kick in once founders are able to pay themselves at least the amount agreed before hand (we call this the Founder Earnings Threshold) — we want you to thrive not just survive! To understand more about SEALS, check this out.
Nope. But an easy mistake to make. Revenue-based debt products are repaid as a percent of top-line revenue. By using Founder Earnings plus a threshold, a SEAL is much closer to a profit-share. Investors expect a growth period after the investment before any Shared Earnings begin to be paid.
Currently, we are able to invest in the US, Canada, most of the EU, Australia and New Zealand. Probably a few other places. Apply for funding and we'll try and figure it out.
If you would like to start a US-based entity, our portfolio company FirstBase is the easiest way to launch a US LLC or C-Corp. Use the code “earnest” for $20 off.
Yep. You can apply for funding here.
We love bootstrapped companies! You've launched, have some paying customers, and some feedback. We don't invest in idea stage, pre-product companies — that is not our realm of expertise. We invest in MVPs, not proof of concepts. Loads more on this here.
We invest between $75k – $250k and can lead rounds of $500k-$1m.
We have a preference for C-Corps and believe they are frequently the best option for founders as well, but LLCs are not a dealbreaker for us. We've invested in a number of non-US businesses and are happy to continue doing so. There is a little bit extra diligence and legal work required but it is truly just a little and not a big deal.
If you would like to launch a US C-Corp our portfolio company FirstBase is the easiest way to do that. Use the code “earnest” for $20 off.
An application! Our custom application tool that lets you apply to us for funding at a pace that works for you. Check it out.
That is not our vibe. Our terms have something called a Founder's Earnings Threshold which is explained more here, but the gist of it is that founders have full control over their salary. It is actually a minimum earnings floor. The opposite of a cap.
Our center of gravity is B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS). Recurring revenue, high margin, software businesses are our bread and butter and represent the bulk of our investments.
Some things we are particularly interested in right now are:
Read more about what we invest in.
You can check out all of our investments here.
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