Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Union Square Ventures (USV)Check size: $1M-$25M
Backs 'trusted brands that broaden access to knowledge, capital, and well-being by leveraging networks, platforms, and protocols.' The access thesis is the through-line: every investment should make something important more accessible to more people. Willing to invest in companies without a business model if the product will attract millions. Lives with uncertainty. Now investing in climate tech (both bits and atoms) through a dedicated fund. Fred is thesis-driven — USV publishes its investment thesis publicly and updates it periodically. Each fund has a specific thesis, and every investment must fit. Historically moved through phases: Web 2.0 networks → mobile → crypto/web3 → climate. One of the earliest VCs to take crypto seriously (invested in Coinbase in 2013). Co-founded USV with Brad Burnham in 2003 after learning hard lessons from the dot-com bust at Flatiron Partners.
Products millions of people will use. Network effects and platform dynamics. Founders building for broad access, not niche premium. Companies where value compounds as the network grows. Protocol-level innovations that create new market structures. Companies that would be impossible without the internet/crypto.
Enterprise-only SaaS without network effects. Companies serving narrow, premium audiences. Businesses without community or network dynamics. Companies that don't broaden access. Pure financial engineering. Companies where the founding team isn't mission-aligned with the access thesis.
Lead with the network effect. USV thinks in terms of networks and platforms. If your product doesn't have a network dynamic, it's probably not a fit. Show how you broaden access to something important. Don't pitch a tool — pitch a platform. Demonstrate that you understand the difference between a product people use and a network that grows on its own. If you're in crypto, show utility not speculation. If you're in climate, show both the impact and the business case. Fred is deeply intellectually curious — show that you've thought deeply about the market dynamics, not just the product features. Read his blog before you pitch — understanding USV's published thesis is table stakes.
Every USV investment should broaden access to something important — knowledge, capital, well-being, markets, education. If a company doesn't make something previously scarce more available to more people, it doesn't fit the thesis.
USV's investment universe: companies that leverage network effects (more users = more value), platforms (create ecosystems that others build on), and protocols (foundational infrastructure that enables new markets). Every investment must have at least one of these dynamics.
Fred frequently references Perez's framework: new technologies go through an 'installation phase' (speculation, infrastructure building) followed by a 'deployment phase' (real utility, broad adoption). He used this to maintain crypto conviction during the crypto winter, arguing it was between installation and deployment.
Every fund has a specific, published thesis. Every investment must fit the thesis. This discipline prevents opportunistic investments that look good in isolation but don't compound the firm's knowledge. Learned the hard way from Flatiron Partners' undisciplined dot-com era investing.
For network-effect businesses, usage and engagement matter more than monetization in the early days. A product with millions of engaged users can always find a business model. A product with a business model but no users is dead.
One of the longest-running and most influential VC blogs. Fred wrote almost daily for 20+ years covering startup ecosystems, investing philosophy, crypto, climate, music, and NYC tech. Transitioned to avc.xyz. Known for engaging comment sections that became a community. The blog itself embodied the 'network' thesis.
USV publishes its investment thesis publicly. Core: 'large networks of engaged users, differentiated through user experience, and defensible through network effects.' Updated over time to include crypto/web3 and climate.
Reflection on how USV's thesis evolved from 'large networks of engaged users' to 'trusted brands that broaden access' — the through-line is always access and networks.
Fred frequently references Carlota Perez's framework on technological revolutions — installation phase vs. deployment phase. Argued that crypto was in its installation phase and the deployment phase (real utility) was coming.
Multiple posts over years making the case for crypto/blockchain as the next computing platform. Argued for decentralization as both a technology architecture and a political philosophy. Maintained conviction through multiple crypto winters.
“If a service gets millions of users but has no business model, I'm not worried. If it has a business model but can't get millions of users, I'm worried.”
— AVC blog / interviews
“Large networks of engaged users, differentiated through user experience, and defensible through network effects.”
— USV Thesis 2.0
“I've been investing for 30 years and the biggest lesson I've learned is that thesis-driven investing beats opportunistic investing every time.”
— Interviews
“The Flatiron Partners experience taught me that you can lose everything in venture capital. That lesson made me a much better investor.”
— Interviews / AVC blog
“Crypto is the next computing platform. Not because of the speculation, but because of what you can build on decentralized protocols.”
— AVC blog / crypto posts
“The best way to broaden access is to build a product so good that millions of people use it. Then figure out the business model.”
— AVC blog
“I blog every day because it forces me to think clearly. Writing is thinking.”
— Multiple interviews
One of the most influential venture capitalists in history and arguably the godfather of the NYC tech scene. Career spans three decades of VC investing. Started at Euclid Partners in the late 1980s. Co-founded Flatiron Partners in 1996 — invested in multiple internet companies during the dot-com era, including Geocities (acquired by Yahoo) and StarMedia. Flatiron was devastated by the dot-com bust, which profoundly shaped Fred's investing philosophy — he became much more thesis-driven and disciplined. Co-founded Union Square Ventures with Brad Burnham in 2003 with a clear thesis around networks and platforms. USV became one of the most successful venture firms of the web 2.0 era with investments in Twitter, Tumblr, Etsy, and Zynga. Was one of the earliest establishment VCs to embrace crypto/blockchain, investing in Coinbase in 2013 when most VCs wouldn't touch it. Based in New York, has been a key builder of the NYC startup ecosystem. Known for his daily blog, AVC.com, which he's maintained for 20+ years — one of the most influential VC blogs ever written.
Long-running weekly series explaining business concepts: cap tables, term sheets, burn rate, unit economics. Became essential reading for first-time founders. Later compiled into a book.