John Zeratsky

Co-Founder & General Partner, Character
John Zeratsky works with founders primarily via Design Sprint and Foundation Sprint methods he co-created, buying founders time using product design experience from YouTube and FeedBurner and intentional life choices.
How to contact John Zeratsky
Stages their fund invests in
N/A
Sectors their fund invests in
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Avg Check
Up to $2M for Core Investments; $200K for Character Labs
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Does their fund Lead?
No
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Geos their fund invests in
Europe and North America
John Zeratsky
Stages their fund invests in
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Sectors their fund invests in
AI
Health
Fintech
SaaS
Enterprise
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Avg Check
Up to $2M for Core Investments; $200K for Character Labs
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Leads?
No
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About John Zeratsky

John Zeratsky invests by running the same Design Sprint and Foundation Sprint methods he helped create at GV, using them as his main way of working with founders on product-market fit rather than as a side offering, and he frames his job around buying founders time in a field built from years of hands-on design work at YouTube and FeedBurner. After leaving GV, he spent 18 months sailing through Central America with his wife before settling in Milwaukee, a choice that fits his broader focus on being intentional about how time and effort get spent, both in building companies and in life.

About their Fund

Sectors
AI, Health, Fintech, SaaS, Enterprise
Rounds
Pre-Seed - Seed
Avg Check Size
Up to $2M for Core Investments; $200K for Character Labs

Character is a venture capital fund built around the Design Sprint method, co-founded by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky, the creators of the Design Sprint and co-authors of Sprint, Click, and Make Time, who previously ran over 100 sprints at GV with companies like Slack, Flatiron Health, and Uber. The firm treats founders as customers, focuses on frontier applications of software like AI in science and medicine, runs a small accelerator called Labs that caps cohorts at 15 companies to keep direct access to partners, and openly teaches its methods through books and workshops rather than treating them as secret sauce.

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