Hank Vigil

Background

Henry “Hank” Vigil (born September 1, 1958 in New Mexico) is an American business executive and investor ¹. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Stanford University (1982) and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business (1987) ¹.

Vigil spent 25 years at Microsoft, rising to Senior Vice President of Strategy and Partnerships ²³. In that role, he worked directly with CEO Steve Ballmer on developing and managing strategic relationships, mergers, acquisitions, and investment partnerships ³. Steve Ballmer described Vigil as having been “a critical strategic advisor and bridge-builder on some of the biggest industry opportunities we’ve dealt with in recent years” ³.

At Microsoft, Vigil led negotiations for several landmark deals, including Microsoft’s early investment in Facebook, the Nokia partnership to adopt Windows Phone, a $1.95 billion technology cooperation agreement with Sun Microsystems (converting an antitrust lawsuit into a 10-year partnership), a $301 million settlement and music cooperation agreement with Real Networks, and a $240 million five-year technology cooperation agreement with Novell ⁴. He also directed marketing for Microsoft Office, Word, and Excel from 1990 to 1995 and led Microsoft’s TV strategy including partnerships with Comcast and Warner Cable ⁴. Reporter Kara Swisher described Vigil as “one of the company’s most visible and well-liked execs in the tech community, especially in Silicon Valley” ³.

Vigil departed Microsoft in fall 2011, remaining as a strategic advisor, and turned to early-stage investing and advising startup companies ³. He co-founded Acequia Capital in 2010 with Fritz Lanman ⁵⁶. The firm has invested in more than 350 technology companies and claims more than a decade of consistent, top-quartile returns ⁷.

Beyond investing, Vigil serves as a Director at Mercy Corps ⁸ and has served as an advisor to Docugami ⁹ and as a board member at ClassPass and Cargomatic ⁸.

Stated Thesis

Acequia Capital publicly describes itself as partnering “with technical founders building next-generation global businesses” and providing “trusted advice on product roadmap & technology strategy as well as business model & GTM execution” ⁷. The firm positions itself as “a center of a global innovation ecosystem” that sources and attracts “best-in-class founders” through its “Acecap Network,” which is designed to “detect early signals and qualify top-tier deal flow globally” ⁷.

Regarding Woo, Vigil stated: “We were impressed with Woo’s team, technology and vision to introduce a new approach to the broken recruiting model” ¹⁰.

The firm claims to invest across sectors including “3-D printing, mobile marketplaces, and cloud security” and provides “seed capital, secure bridge financing, and Series A in later stages” ⁶.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 21 verified investments (a small fraction of the 350+ claimed by Acequia Capital), Vigil’s actual portfolio reveals the following patterns:

Stage distribution: Vigil invests primarily at the seed stage. Of the 21 verified investments, at least 14 were seed-stage rounds (67%), with the remainder being Series A participations. This is consistent with the firm’s stated seed focus.

Sector breakdown (based on 21 verified investments): - Logistics and commerce: 6 of 21 (29%) — Flexe, EasyPost, Cargomatic, Flexport, Everlane, Wish - Consumer and social: 3 of 21 (14%) — Pinterest, ClassPass, Rec Room - AI and enterprise software: 4 of 21 (19%) — Docugami, Supernormal, Deepset, Hyperscience - Life sciences: 1 of 21 (5%) — SFA Therapeutics - Infrastructure and hardware: 3 of 21 (14%) — Groq, Blockstream, Radiant - Recruiting and HR tech: 2 of 21 (10%) — Woo, inDinero - Other (gaming, fintech): 2 of 21 (10%) — Square/Block, Koyeb

Notable pattern — logistics concentration: Nearly a third of verified investments are in logistics and supply chain companies (Flexe, EasyPost, Cargomatic, Flexport), which is not prominently featured in Acequia’s stated thesis.

Geographic focus: While Vigil is based in Seattle, the portfolio is geographically diverse, spanning the US, Europe (Algolia in France, Tractable in UK, Deepset in Germany), and Israel (Woo). Acequia Capital claims activity in 25+ countries ¹¹.

Co-investor patterns: Fritz Lanman is Vigil’s most frequent co-investor, having co-invested across multiple seed rounds including Pinterest, Wish, Flexe, EasyPost, Cargomatic, ClassPass, and Everlane ⁵¹². Other frequent co-investors include SV Angel, which appeared in both the Flexe and Cargomatic rounds ¹³¹⁴.

Check size: The stated investment range is $100K to $5M with a sweet spot of $1.5M ¹⁵. This is consistent with seed-stage investing.

Sample size caveat: This analysis is based on only 21 of 350+ claimed investments — roughly 6% of the stated portfolio. The actual sector distribution may differ significantly.

Portfolio

This table represents approximately 6% of the 350+ investments claimed by Acequia Capital. Years marked with “~” are approximate, based on founding year proxies or estimated investment timing. Several dates are estimated from the Acequia Capital portfolio page and Tracxn listings, and could not be independently confirmed to exact years.

In Their Own Words

Vigil stated regarding the Woo investment: “We were impressed with Woo’s team, technology and vision to introduce a new approach to the broken recruiting model” ¹⁰.

Acequia Capital’s website states: “Founded in 2010 by Microsoft senior executive, Hank Vigil, Acequia has invested in more than 350 technology companies and has achieved more than a decade of consistent, top quartile returns” ⁷.

The firm describes its approach: Acequia Capital partners are “deeply experienced industry operators who offer trusted advice on product roadmap & technology strategy as well as business model & GTM execution” ⁷.

Steve Ballmer said of Vigil upon his departure from Microsoft: “He’s been a critical strategic advisor and bridge-builder on some of the biggest industry opportunities we’ve dealt with in recent years” ³. (Note: this is a quote about Vigil, not by Vigil.)

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. Woo co-founder and CEO Liran Kotzer commented on the seed round that the investment would “accelerate Woo’s footprint” but did not comment specifically on Vigil’s involvement ¹⁰.

Connections

• Board member, ClassPass ⁸
• Board member, Cargomatic ⁸
• Advisor, Docugami — angel investor and advisor; Docugami is led by Jean Paoli ⁹
• Advisor, Finlync ⁸
• Advisor, LifeQ ⁸
• Director, Mercy Corps — nonprofit board role ⁸
• Former SVP Strategy & Partnerships, Microsoft (1986-2011) — worked directly with CEO Steve Ballmer ³⁴
• Co-founder, Acequia Capital — alongside Fritz Lanman (2010) ⁵⁶
• Frequent co-investor with Fritz Lanman — co-invested in Pinterest, Wish, Flexe, EasyPost, Cargomatic, ClassPass, Everlane, and others ⁵¹²

Sources