Natty Zola (Matchstick Ventures) / VC Breakdown & Contact

About Natty Zola

Natty Zola left private equity in 2008 to found his own travel startup Everlater, teaching himself to code and building it into an early Techstars success before its acquisition, then ran six cohorts of Techstars' flagship Boulder accelerator as Managing Director before joining Matchstick Ventures. He actively produces detailed startup toolkits and written playbooks for founders while frequently coaching technical cofounders specifically on how to engage in the fundraising process, positioning himself as both educator and resource-builder rather than just a capital provider.

Where they've Worked

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Natty Zola's Interests

What they've been talking about across their social media accounts

Commitment to the Colorado startup ecosystem, especially around Denver and Boulder, with a specific interest in backing driven local founders under the age of thirty. Regularly participates in regional events like the Denver AI Summit and played a direct role in reviving the Techstars Boulder accelerator program.
Focus on founder obsession and resilience as the ultimate competitive advantages for any new company. Shared thoughts on a recent podcast about the strategy of backing resilient teams and explicitly noted that sheer founder obsession is the only real moat a business can have.
Interest in the operational mechanics of early-stage startups and helping first-time founders navigate the fundraising process. Frequently hosts teardowns of successful pitch decks at local startup weeks and advocates for structural shifts like standardizing eight-year vesting schedules.
Enthusiasm for complex technical innovations, particularly regarding artificial intelligence hardware and well-loved developer tools. Recently highlighted a company developing novel AI chips through superconducting optoelectronic networks and praised a developer tool team for achieving massive user loyalty ahead of a major funding round.
Pride in Colorado culture and professional sports, which serves as a highly relatable icebreaker for casual conversation. Tracks local milestones like the state holding simultaneous most valuable player awards across major sports leagues and watches preseason Broncos games while clearing out the inbox.

Video Interview

On the power dynamic between founders and VCs

Founders don't realize that we need them more than they need us. VC doesn't exist if there aren't people building companies. And I think the power dynamics and venture have been set up in a way that makes it feel like the VCs have all the power. And yes, entrepreneurs do often need money, but without entrepreneurs, we have no job.

Natty Zola

Partner, Matchstick Ventures

On finding the right investors to target

"Your goal is to find the investor who already believes in what you're doing and has been looking for you... it's way easier to get an investor to say yes when they already believe in your thesis or your business model and have been looking for you."

Natty Zola

Partner, Matchstick Ventures

On what VCs look for in a first meeting

"The longer the answer, the worse for me. I wanna cover a lot of ground... What's the classic thing? If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter. That's really what we're looking for is depth of thinking, depth of understanding, clarity of thought."

Natty Zola

Partner, Matchstick Ventures

On multi-stage capital in seed rounds

"You wanna have a partner for whom you're not an option, for whom you really, really, really matter. So I think that it's really important to raise money from firms that focus on your stage."

Natty Zola

Partner, Matchstick Ventures

On the post-raise mistakes and strategies

"Raise the round and don't spend any money for three months and just wait and figure out like, what do you actually need?... the most important ratio for a startup is progress to capital or progress to time, but time and capital are effectively the same thing once you've raised money."

Natty Zola

Partner, Matchstick Ventures

About their Fund

Matchstick Ventures

Sectors

SaaS, Enterprise, Fintech, Ecommerce, Deeptech / Hardware, Chips, Robotics, AI, Space, Cybersecurity, Defense

Rounds

Pre-Seed - Seed

Avg Check Size

$750K - $1.25M

Notable Investments

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Matchstick Ventures focuses exclusively on "between the coasts" ecosystems in the North and Rockies regions, with both partners being ex-founders turned Techstars managing directors who bring deep operator-plus-accelerator experience to underdog and diverse founders in these underserved areas. They operate with an unusually formalized 400+ person network of local founders and operators called "Matchstick Strikers" and have built a reputation as the connective tissue for the North/Rockies startup scene, making them one of the most active early-stage investors in these regions.

Other partners at the fund