Peterson Ventures is a seed-only fund with an unusual "Utah + Stanford" geographic focus, using capital to connect scrappy Utah founders with Bay Area networks while running a formal Stanford GSB MBA Fellowship that creates a live venture laboratory with students. The firm built its reputation as an under-the-radar early backer of iconic consumer brands like Allbirds and Bonobos, with general partner Ilana Stern being a Peterson-backed founder herself who later joined as GP after scaling and exiting her company with the same firm.