Tim Morrissey came to venture capital with a PhD in materials science and firsthand experience building things, having cofounded and run Artimus Robotics to turn his own research on artificial muscles into a real company. At Drive Capital, he writes about how Git's structured data transformed software in his Git-ification of the World thesis, moves fast on funding decisions, hosts regular coworking days and pitch events for Colorado founders through First Pitch Colorado, and keeps up maker side projects like the avalanche-safety tool Snow Visa and a camping YouTube channel—all under the tagline "Optimizing for interesting."
Video Interview
On why he's doing a good job when he's the first call with bad news
"I like to say that I'm doing a good job when I'm the first call with bad news... We'll figure it out. Like, okay, things aren't going right. We didn't we didn't invest in this because we knew this was a slam. Like we invested in this because we want it to exist and it'll create value in the world... So bad news is normal."
On why a twenty-year problem is a sign the market already said no
"You motivate a problem really well. And then also it's like, and this is problem's been a problem for twenty years, and it's gonna be a problem for another twenty years, because the markets have told us it's not worth solving, unfortunately... a continuation of a problem is a really good sign of the market not adopting a solution, and you're gonna be just kind of run into a wall."
On why shopping a same-day term sheet around is how you lose the partner who already took the risk
"I hate the VC hype stuff of we gotta call with A16Z... there's this hype type of thing, like all these other people are in. And then it turns out they're actually not in and they're actually trying to get a term sheet from you that they can shop around... we've met these people for a total of an hour and a half, maybe two hours, and we're like, here's a term sheet, you can have money in your bank account tomorrow... And then all of a sudden they'll try to like shop that around. Like, no, we're taking this huge risk here."
On why hard time stops close a round better than fake FOMO
"Hard time stops are really healthy for all parties, honestly. Hey, we actually really do have a term sheet for the lead. We can close this thing at anywhere between two and a half and three and a half million dollars. And we are gonna have final allocations by Friday, right? It's Monday and it's by Friday. So just I need real ins or outs as soon as possible... that's not pressure, that's not solid circles or not, that's like real, like just like this is the process with factual time stamping."
On why the point is not to get everyone to like you
"The point is to not get everyone to like you. The point's to get the right person to like you. So just keep like authentically being yourself, saying exactly what you're gonna do and why it's the right thing to do... don't go building a company that shouldn't be built. Like that's the worst. Like if you do that lying thing where you just try to get money and you focus too much on the near term, it's pretty easy to slip into that."
About their Fund
Drive Capital
Sectors
Health, Fintech, AI, Robotics, Enterprise
Rounds
Pre-Seed - Series B+
Avg Check Size
$1M - $30M
Notable Investments
Drive Capital was founded by two ex-Sequoia Capital partners who left Silicon Valley to build a Columbus, Ohio-based firm focused on the "Driveway" region from the Hudson River to the Rocky Mountains, serving founders often overlooked by coastal investors. The firm practices a contrarian strategy optimizing for frequent $3B-scale exits rather than rare unicorns, typically taking ~30% stakes as the sole venture investor so that even sub-$1B exits can be "near fund-returning."
Other partners at the fund
Notable Fund
Investments
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