Venture capital has long been about numbers, valuations, and exits, but what if the key to long-term success was the well-being of the founder? At 11 Tribes Ventures, the belief is that a thriving founder creates a thriving company.
11 Tribes invests in people first, businesses second. In a space where burnout, identity crises, and fractured relationships are too often the norm, Mark Phillips and Kristina Chapple are leading a movement to redefine what founder support looks like.
“Our belief is that if founders compromise on the pieces of life that make it most worth living — strong relationships, peace, health — then they are putting existential risk on the company. We stand by this belief and that is why we approach investing differently. For example, we spend the majority of our initial call with founders asking questions exclusively about the personhood and their journey of the founder — questions like: Where are you from? What do you love? What are they known for?” says Mark Phillips, Managing Partner at 11 Tribes.
He continues, “From the first impression, we are radically relational. We also allocate $20k to each founding team for them to invest in themselves as leaders within the context of their company, but even more broadly, just as human beings. We fund many founders’ therapy, coaching, even marriage counseling.”
This philosophy has served the venture firm well, as they just announced the closing of their $46M Fund II. After the success of Fund 1, the firm knew they wanted to launch Fund II with the same mission to value founder outcomes but evolve their process.
“Our Fund 2 capital allocation thesis is much more robust and differentiated than Fund I. We are focusing on capital efficient businesses and founders that are building companies that can find an exit opportunity between $75M-$250M,” continued Mark Phillips.
Over the next three years, 11 Tribes aims to support 30 portfolio companies in Fund II, with nine already selected, including: NuTrād, NQS, Legal Karma, Lease Up, GoNanas, Evercycle, Circadian Risk, Kidsy, and Alloy. This fund will also allow 11 Tribes to step into a new role as the lead investor in a majority of the funding rounds.
If you’re an entrepreneur thinking, “Where do I sign up?” here’s what you should know. As a founder, 11 Tribes has a Handshake Agreement that keeps founders equally accountable.
“So much time and resources go into the term sheet negotiation, but we put that same level of emphasis and importance on the relationship we enter into with these founders. This agreement is a physical document both parties agree to that outlines our commitments to each other,” says Phillips. “On the Founder side, we look for three things: Humble, Hungry, Smart. If any one of these is missing, that is a company and founder that we are highly unlikely to work with.”
11 Tribes recently participated in NY Tech Week, where they launched a new series, “Burnt: Survive the Fires of Fundraising.” The series is an invite-only gathering for (30-60 max) early-stage founders who’ve experienced the heat of building and fundraising, and have the scars to prove it.
“It’s designed for the misfits, the bootstrappers, and the resilient ones who’ve been burned by the process but kept going anyway,” says Kristina Chapple, General Partner at 11 Tribes. “We debuted the series as part of New York Tech week, offering a refreshing break from the polish of typical founder events. The event was raw, honest, and experiential, blending storytelling, creative rituals, and lightly satirical games to surface the realities of startup life that often go unspoken.”
11 Tribes plans to continue this series nationwide with the next edition set for the company’s home base, Chicago, as part of Chicago Tech Week in July.
While tech week events often focus on the latest trends like health tech, AI, or cryptocurrency, Phillips and Chapple assure us that “It’s not about the trend for us but about the founder and the business mission. We are deeply focused on deploying our capital into resilient, growth-minded entrepreneurs building remarkably capital-efficient businesses across a variety of industries.”
While some investors have begun to pull back due to economic uncertainty and global and political concerns, Phillips shared some parting advice for both VCs and founders: “It truly doesn’t matter what is going on in the economy, some of the biggest components of success remain the same. Finding the right partners and people to be on your team is one of the most critical factors to success. You need to find people who are on the same page in terms of strategy and approach. From there, every fund has to manage finding investors that want to commit to the fund and sourcing investment opportunities.”
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Spencer Hulse is the Editorial Director at Grit Daily. He is responsible for overseeing other editors and writers, day-to-day operations, and covering breaking news.