Kevin Colleran

Co-Founder & Managing Director at slow-ventures

Reviewed Updated Jul 6, 2026

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Location Boston, Massachusetts
Check Size $250K-$3M (Slow Ventures); $25K-$100K (angel)
Last Verified Investment Hint (Seed) — May 13, 2026
Social @KevinColleran LinkedIn
Stage Focus
pre-seed seed series-a
Sector Focus
consumer creator-economy fintech saas digital-health crypto

Background

Kevin Colleran is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Slow Ventures, an early-stage generalist venture capital firm with offices in San Francisco, Boston, and New York 1. He is based in Boston, Massachusetts 2.

Before investing, Colleran joined Facebook in early 2005 as one of the company’s first 10 employees and its first advertising sales hire 13. Over 6.5 years he built and ran global advertising partnerships with Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Walmart, and other multinational brands 1. By the time he left Facebook in July 2011, he was the company’s longest-tenured employee other than Mark Zuckerberg 3.

He attended Babson College from 1999 to 2003 2. Slow Ventures was founded in 2011 4; the firm has deployed over $800M across multiple funds, with a Fund VI plus opportunity vehicle raise of $275M under way as of a December 2024 SEC filing 4. Sam Lessin (General Partner) and Will Quist (Partner, joined 2015) are Colleran’s current partners at Slow; co-founder Dave Morin departed to launch Offline Ventures in 2020 4.

Stated Thesis

Colleran publicly describes his focus as backing consumer-facing companies where founders can build durable audience relationships and monetize early. In an interview about his approach, he emphasized four principles: consumer obsession (“products loved by users, not just procured by buyers”), earned secrets (teams with unique insider insight), monetization discipline from day one, and rapid feedback loops 5.

He has publicly framed the creator economy as a legitimate asset class, and Slow Ventures launched a dedicated Creator Fund I in February 2025 with over $60M in commitments from institutional LPs including the University of Michigan and MIT 6. The fund invests approximately $1M-$3M for roughly 10% stakes in creator holding companies 6.

Inferred Thesis

Kevin Colleran’s personal deal record (as tracked publicly on Signal by NFX) shows 66 recorded investments, with 51 disclosed in detail 7. Based on this disclosed sample, the pattern is:

  • Stage: predominantly Seed and Series A, with pre-seed angel checks in the $25K-$100K range and Slow-led investments typically $250K-$3M with a $1.5M sweet spot 75.
  • Sector concentration: consumer, direct-to-consumer, creator economy, digital health, and fintech 7.
  • Consumer bias: the vast majority of disclosed deals (Hint, ROOM, Dash Radio, Porter Road Butcher, Chatous, WAX) are consumer or consumer-adjacent brands, not enterprise SaaS 7.
  • Geography: US-focused with concentration in Boston, San Francisco, and New York — matching Slow Ventures’ three-city office footprint 1.
  • Repeat commitment: multiple companies (ROOM, Chatous) received follow-on capital at both Seed and Series A, indicating a preference for supporting companies across rounds 7.

Sample size is small enough that percentages would be misleading; the qualitative picture is a consumer-first check-writer using Facebook-scale go-to-market experience to help founders with distribution and partnerships. Note that this reflects deals publicly attributable to Colleran personally — Slow Ventures’ broader portfolio (Airtable, Solana, Gusto, Robinhood, Pinterest, Slack, Allbirds, PillPack, Postmates, Nextdoor) reflects the firm’s collective activity across partners since 2011 14.

Portfolio

Deals publicly attributed to Kevin Colleran (via Signal/NFX and verified press):

Company Year Stage Source
Hint 2026 Seed ($10M, led) 8
Journey 2025 Seed ($8M) 7
WAX 2022 Seed ($10M) 7
ROOM 2020 Series A ($13M) 7
Karuna Health 2019 Seed ($4M) 7
ROOM 2018 Seed ($2M) 7
Dash Radio 2018 Seed ($11M) 7
Porter Road Butcher 2018 Seed ($4M) 7
Chatous 2015 Series A ($16M) 7
Chatous 2014 Seed ($2M) 7

Slow Ventures’ broader firm portfolio includes Airtable, Solana, Gusto, Ro, Robinhood, Pinterest, Nextdoor, Allbirds, PillPack, Postmates, Slack, Wealthfront, Casper, Blue Bottle, and AngelList among 300+ companies since 2011 14. Individual partner attribution for those is not always public.

In Their Own Words

On why Hint solves a real consumer problem:

“I own this incredibly valuable asset and I have no idea if I’m taking care of it correctly.” 8

On the risk of marketplace business models in home services:

“Once your bottom line depends on referral fees and take-rates, it becomes very hard to resist nudging people toward whoever pays you the most.” 8

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. Firm website testimonials from portfolio founders are not currently published in a citable form.

Sources

  1. Slow Ventures, “About,” accessed July 2026. https://slow.co/about/↩↩↩↩↩↩

  2. Kevin Colleran, LinkedIn profile, accessed July 2026. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevcoll/↩↩

  3. Kevin Colleran, “Facebook Vet Funding Your First Million,” xraise.ai profile, accessed July 2026. https://xraise.ai/blog/angel-investor-kevin-colleran/↩↩

  4. Luisa Beltran, “Slow Ventures is raising $275 million across two new funds: Filings,” Fortune, December 18, 2024, accessed July 2026. https://fortune.com/2024/12/18/venture-firm-slow-ventures-sam-lessin-kevin-colleran-will-quist-raising-275-million-two-new-funds-filings/↩↩↩↩↩

  5. “Kevin Colleran (Slow Ventures) VC Breakdown,” VCSheet, accessed July 2026. https://www.vcsheet.com/who/kevin-colleran↩↩

  6. “Slow Ventures Creator Fund” — coverage of the February 2025 Creator Fund I launch (>$60M, LPs include University of Michigan and MIT), accessed July 2026. https://quasa.io/projects/slow-ventures-creator-fund↩↩

  7. Kevin Colleran investing profile, Signal by NFX, accessed July 2026. https://signal.nfx.com/investors/kevin-colleran↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  8. Allie Garfinkle, “Exclusive: Martha Stewart’s new AI startup wants to manage your home before things break,” Fortune, May 13, 2026, accessed July 2026. https://fortune.com/2026/05/13/exclusive-martha-stewart-ai-startup-hint-seed-funding-slow-ventures/↩↩↩