Liz Wessel

Background

Liz Wessel is a Partner at First Round Capital, based in the firm’s San Francisco office, where she has invested since September 2023 ¹². She was named to the Forbes Midas Brink List in 2025, recognizing her as a rising star in venture capital ³.

Before joining First Round, Wessel co-founded WayUp at age 23 in 2014, an early-career recruitment platform that grew to serve over 7 million candidates (71% of whom self-identified as underrepresented) and thousands of employers ¹⁴. She served as CEO for seven years, raising over $40 million in venture funding from investors including General Catalyst and Index Ventures ¹⁵. In July 2021, WayUp merged with Yello, a campus recruitment software company, with the combined entity operating under the Yello brand with approximately 200 employees ⁶.

After WayUp’s exit, Wessel became a Visiting Group Partner at Y Combinator, where she worked directly with over 110 early-stage startups across multiple batches, coaching founders on enterprise sales, B2B marketing, storytelling, and fundraising ¹².

Wessel has been an angel investor since 2016, personally backing over 40 startups at the earliest stages ¹². She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in Political Science, Mathematics, and Japanese ⁴. Prior to founding WayUp, she worked at Google as an Associate Product Marketing Manager, including a year-long assignment in India ¹⁴.

She was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Enterprise Technology in 2016 ⁴.

Stated Thesis

Wessel has publicly described her investment focus as generalist, investing across all industries at the seed and pre-seed stages ². She has stated she has “a soft spot for companies reimagining old-school industries or that exist as a result of new or breakthrough technologies” ².

On founder selection, Wessel has said: “90% of the reason I’m going to do investments is because of the team, and 10% is because of the idea or space that they’re working on” ⁷.

On her approach to portfolio support, she has stated: “I will work harder than any other investor on your cap table. That’s a guarantee. Whether it’s painstakingly reviewing every sales call recording together to fine-tune your customer pitch, interviewing candidates for your earliest go-to-market hires, doing fundraising pitch practices on weekends for your Series A, or anything else – I’ll be there for every moment, big and small” ².

She leads First Round’s YC investing strategy, reflecting her deep experience as a YC Visiting Group Partner ².

Inferred Thesis

Based on 28 verified investments in the portfolio table below, the following patterns emerge. Note: with 28 of 40+ claimed investments verified, these percentages reflect the publicly discoverable portion of her portfolio.

Sector Allocation (computed from 28 verified investments)

• Enterprise SaaS / B2B Software: 8 companies (29%) – HockeyStack, Enable.us, Solidroad, Claro Analytics, Cinder, Every, Gumloop, Data Mechanics
• AI / Machine Learning: 5 companies (18%) – Scale AI, Reducto, Giga ML, Salient, David AI
• Fintech / Payments: 4 companies (14%) – Ramp, Capi Money, Tank Payments, Mendel
• Healthcare: 3 companies (11%) – Ro, Artera, M7 Health
• Consumer / Marketplace: 4 companies (14%) – Snackpass, Lalo, Sundays, Wagmo
• HR Tech / Recruiting: 2 companies (7%) – Altru, FreeWill
• Infrastructure / Developer Tools: 2 companies (7%) – SimpleHash, Weav

Stage Distribution

• Pre-seed / Seed: 28 of 28 verified investments (100%) – Wessel invests exclusively at the earliest stages, consistent with her stated thesis.

Geographic Patterns

Predominantly US-based companies, with a concentration in New York and San Francisco. Some portfolio companies (Gumloop, Capi Money) are based outside the US (Vancouver and international payments respectively).

Founder Profile Patterns

Wessel has a strong affinity for YC alumni, having led First Round’s YC investing strategy. Multiple portfolio companies (Gumloop, Reducto, Snackpass, Scale AI) came through YC. Her background as a founder who built a company from age 23 to exit suggests an affinity for young, driven founders.

Co-investor Patterns

Based on the Reducto and Gumloop seed rounds, common co-investors alongside Wessel/First Round include: Y Combinator, BoxGroup, SV Angel, Liquid2 Ventures, WndrCo, and a network of prominent founder-angels (Arash Ferdowsi of Dropbox, Andrew Ofstad of Airtable, Immad Akhund of Mercury) ⁸⁹.

Notable Gaps

While Wessel claims to be a generalist, her portfolio skews heavily toward B2B/enterprise (29%) and AI (18%), with consumer investments (14%) concentrated in earlier angel years (2018-2019). Her recent investments since joining First Round appear more concentrated in AI and enterprise software.

Portfolio

This table represents 28 of 40+ claimed investments. Additional investments at First Round (M7 Health, Solidroad, Scotch) are referenced on the First Round website but could not be independently verified with round details ².

In Their Own Words

“As a founder, I lived and breathed my company for over seven years. I now work with founders who bring that same level of intensity – the individuals who will run through walls to overcome challenges, and who understand the problem they’re solving in a way that 99.9% of the population doesn’t.” – Liz Wessel, First Round Capital website ²

“If you’re in the partner meeting, someone in the room already believed in what you’re building enough to put you there.” – Liz Wessel, First Round Review ¹¹

“The best founders can paint a picture of what they’ll be doing in 10 years and then zoom all the way down into the weeds of today.” – Liz Wessel, First Round Review ¹¹

“I feel like the least a Seed investor can do is make several high quality intros for a portfolio co when they go out to raise their A. While my favorite part of my job is definitely spending time with founders, I still meet w other VCs so I can be capable of making lots of these intros.” – Liz Wessel, X/Twitter ⁷

“Whatever you think you need to raise for your seed round, try raising double that.” – Liz Wessel, Crunchbase interview ⁵

“My philosophy for building a business and fundraising is: You try, you learn and you adapt. And you always surround yourself with smart people.” – Liz Wessel, Crunchbase interview ⁵

What Founders Say

When First Round conducted backchannel references on Wessel before hiring her as Partner, the firm reported a consistent theme from founders who had worked with her: “She was in the top 1% of founders in terms of what she put into the company” and “Liz is the hardest working person I’ve ever met” ¹. Wessel was also described as “a top-tier human” who is “open and kind” ¹.

Note: These testimonials were published by First Round Capital as part of their announcement of Wessel joining the firm and should be considered in that context. No independently sourced founder testimonials from portfolio company founders were found through dedicated searching.

Sources