Baseline Ventures

About

Baseline Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2006 by Steve Anderson ¹². The firm is headquartered in Jackson, Wyoming ³. It operates as a solo-GP micro-VC, with Anderson personally handling all sourcing, decision-making, and founder relationships ³⁴.

Anderson founded Baseline to bridge the gap between individual angel investors and institutional venture capitalists, filling a seed-funding gap at a time when few firms focused on very early-stage companies ¹⁵. Forbes has called Baseline “one of Silicon Valley’s most successful — and smallest — investment firms” ².

The firm has invested alongside over 100 founding teams since inception, with 50+ profitable exits for founders and investors ¹². Anderson was recognized on Fortune’s 2012 list of “50 Businesspeople of the Year” and was included on the Forbes Midas List from 2015 to 2020 ¹².

Baseline’s most famous investment was as the first seed investor in Instagram, which was acquired by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012 ². Anderson’s typical check size ranges from $100K to $1M ³⁴.

Prior to founding Baseline, Anderson held positions at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (investment analysis), eBay, Microsoft, Starbucks (store manager, later general manager for the Seattle region), and Digital Equipment Corporation ¹⁵. He holds a degree from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business ⁵.

Stated Thesis

(Self-reported: These represent what Baseline Ventures says publicly about its approach. See Inferred Thesis for analysis of actual investment behavior.)

Baseline Ventures is designed around realistic $50M-$200M outcomes rather than chasing billion-dollar exits, which Anderson believes allows founders to keep substantially more equity than traditional Sand Hill Road deals ⁴.

Anderson has stated that most of his investments are pre-product launch: “Generally speaking, most of my investments are pre-product launch; they’re just an idea. So, getting product-market fit is the most important goal of the round. My goal as an investor is to make sure there’s enough financing to give companies time to do that, a year to 18 months” ⁵.

On his approach to evaluating founders, Anderson has said: “I find it really hard to believe that any one person will have the perfect maniacal vision right from the start” ⁵. He emphasizes founders’ passion for their product and the belief that they are creating something of value ⁵.

Anderson makes investment decisions in roughly 30 minutes when he has conviction, emphasizing founder quality over elaborate financial modeling ⁴.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 16 verified portfolio investments, the following patterns emerge. Note: This represents approximately 16% of 100+ claimed investments, so percentages should be treated as directional.

Sector Distribution (16 verified investments): - Consumer / Social: 5 of 16 (31%) — Instagram, Twitter, Clubhouse (OMGPop), Weebly, TaskRabbit - Enterprise / SaaS: 4 of 16 (25%) — Heroku, ExactTarget, PagerDuty, Crashlytics - Fintech: 3 of 16 (19%) — SoFi, Expensify, Figure - Marketplace / Commerce: 2 of 16 (13%) — Stitch Fix, Dishcraft - Other: 2 of 16 (13%) — WeWork, Dusty Robotics

Stage: Almost exclusively seed. Anderson invests pre-product launch in most cases ⁵.

Notable patterns: - Despite designing the firm around $50M-$200M outcomes, Baseline’s most famous exits (Instagram at $1B, Twitter IPO) were outlier-scale outcomes - Strong track record of exits via acquisition: Instagram (Facebook), Heroku (Salesforce), TaskRabbit (IKEA), ExactTarget (Salesforce), Crashlytics (Twitter), Weebly (Square), Pocket (Mozilla) ¹² - Multiple fintech investments (SoFi, Expensify, Figure) despite not prominently featuring fintech in stated thesis - Solo GP model means highly personal, relationship-driven investing with fast decision-making (30-minute decisions) ⁴ - Geographic outlier: based in Jackson, Wyoming rather than Silicon Valley, suggesting deal sourcing relies heavily on personal network rather than proximity ³ - The firm’s check size ($100K-$1M) and solo structure suggest very small fund sizes, consistent with the micro-VC model ³⁴

Portfolio

Note: Years marked with “~” are approximate based on company founding dates and Baseline’s investment timing. This represents approximately 16% of 100+ claimed investments.

In Their Own Words

On his investment philosophy: “Generally speaking, most of my investments are pre-product launch; they’re just an idea. So, getting product-market fit is the most important goal of the round. My goal as an investor is to make sure there’s enough financing to give companies time to do that, a year to 18 months” ⁵.

On evaluating entrepreneurs: “I find it really hard to believe that any one person will have the perfect maniacal vision right from the start” ⁵.

On deal sourcing: “As a seed investor, I don’t know what exists until I find it… for me, it’s all about networks” ⁵.

On resilience and founding Baseline: “My advice to everyone, myself included, is to always keep your options open. When I founded Baseline Ventures, I believed strongly in its potential for success, despite receiving negative feedback from mentors, investors, and other peers in the venture community. Nevertheless, I remained steadfast in my belief while also preparing a backup plan” ⁵.

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. Anderson’s portfolio founders have not been widely quoted in publicly accessible sources about their experience working with Baseline Ventures specifically.

Sources