What is Hustle Fund?

Hustle Fund is a venture capital (VC) firm founded in 2017 by Elizabeth Yin, Eric Bahn, and Shiyan Koh.

• Their mission: “Back hustlers at the earliest stages of building a startup.”
• They invest in pre-seed and seed-stage startups globally (often the very first check).
• Typical investment: $25K–$500K early-stage capital.
• Portfolio includes 500+ startups across industries like fintech, SaaS, AI, consumer, and healthcare.
• They also run Founder community programs (Hustle Fund Angels, Angel Squad, Hustle Fund GP program).

👉 Hustle Fund is known for being founder-friendly, fast-moving, and more accessible compared to traditional VC firms.

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🎯 Why is Hustle Fund Important for Startups?

1. First Believers
   They invest at the idea or very early stage, when most VCs won’t take the risk.
2. Global Network
   Their community of angels, founders, and mentors helps startups get distribution, partnerships, and follow-on funding.
3. Educational Resources
   They run accelerators, newsletters, and programs that teach founders fundraising, marketing, and scaling.
4. Access to Capital & Credibility
   Having Hustle Fund on your cap table makes it easier to raise from larger VCs later.
5. Supportive Brand
   They focus on speed + execution (hustle) rather than pedigree or fancy credentials.

✅ In short: Hustle Fund is important because they bridge the gap between an idea and Series A funding—where many startups die without early support.

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🛠 Tools Hustle Fund (and Startups They Support) Use

Hustle Fund itself is a VC firm, so they run deal sourcing & founder outreach campaigns. The tools they (or startups in their ecosystem) commonly use:

Deal Sourcing & Lead Generation

• Clay → to find and enrich founder/startup data (fundraising activity, industry, stage).
• Crunchbase / PitchBook / CB Insights → to track startups & funding rounds.
• AngelList / Dealroom → to discover early-stage startups.

Outreach & Campaigns

• Opps.ai → automated cold outreach to founders & LPs (limited partners).
• Apollo.io / ZoomInfo → for enriched founder contact info.
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator → for connecting with startup founders directly.
• HubSpot / Affinity CRM → to manage deal flow and relationships.

Community & Education

• Slack / Discord → for founder communities.
• Substack / ConvertKit → for newsletters & content distribution.
• Airtable / Notion → for internal deal tracking & knowledge sharing.

Analytics & Ops

• DocSend → for pitch deck reviews.
• Carta → for cap table & equity management.
• Google Analytics + Data Studio → to measure community growth & funnel conversions.

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✅ Summary

• Hustle Fund = early-stage VC firm backing “hustlers.”
• Importance = they fill the early capital gap, provide community, credibility, and education for startups.
• Tools = Clay, Opps.ai, Crunchbase, Apollo, Affinity, HubSpot, Slack, Substack to run campaigns, source deals, and support founders.

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👉 Do you want me to also compare Hustle Fund vs Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) → showing why small funds like Hustle are sometimes more valuable for very early startups?

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🔎 How Hustle Fund Chooses Startups

Unlike traditional VC firms that focus on pedigree (Stanford, ex-Google, ex-McKinsey) or traction (already $1M ARR), Hustle Fund looks for hustle and execution.

Here’s their approach:

1. Founder Hustle Over Credentials

• They believe execution speed > resume.
• Do founders ship fast, test ideas, and iterate quickly?
• They don’t care if you’re a first-time founder with no Ivy League background.

2. Market Potential

• Is the problem worth solving?
• Does the market have large-scale or growing demand (big TAM)?

3. Early Signs of Execution

• Instead of full revenue traction, they look for:

• MVP or prototype built quickly

• Creative ways founders got first users
• Evidence that founders can learn fast and pivot

4. Unique Insight / Edge

• Do founders have insider knowledge or a fresh take on the problem?
• Are they working in an emerging market (AI, healthtech, fintech, climate, etc.)?

5. Community Fit

• Hustle Fund is community-driven (Slack, Angel Squad, etc.).
• They back founders who are collaborative, resourceful, and willing to help others.

6. Stage

• They invest very early (pre-seed, seed).
• Typical check size: $25K–$500K.
• Geography: They invest globally.

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🛠 How They Source & Evaluate Startups

1. Deal Flow Sources

2. Referrals from their community, Angel Squad, and portfolio founders

3. Inbound applications on their website
4. Outreach campaigns (using tools like Clay, Opps.ai, Crunchbase)

5. Initial Screening

6. Quick calls with founders

7. Focus on team, execution, and problem space (not detailed financials at this stage)

8. Fast Decisions

9. Known for being fast movers → sometimes deciding in a few days.

10. Ongoing Support

11. If they invest, Hustle Fund helps with introductions, content, and fundraising prep for future rounds.

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✅ Summary

Hustle Fund chooses startups by betting on founders with hustle, speed, and creativity — not just fancy resumes or revenue numbers.
They look for:

• Execution ability (can ship & iterate fast)
• Big market opportunities
• Unique founder insight
• Community-driven mindset