Pillar VC
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Other firms might find it too risky to turn PhD students and professors into entrepreneurs, but that's Pillar's sweet spot - they love rolling up their sleeves and helping them find a market. This is a firm that tries to be friendly to founders, because partner Russ Wilcox had a very painful life as a founder himself. Founders give them glowing reviews - one called it a 'great VC experience - refreshing. Very responsive and thoughtful.' They write checks of $1-2M in rounds of $3-4M and put in serious time and energy supporting founders, with emotional support provided by their CEO investors. The 32 founding CEO 'pillars' who co-own the fund aren't just window dressing - they actually roll up sleeves to help portfolio companies, which is rare in VC land where most 'advisors' are purely decorative.
- —Best for: Academic founders spinning out deep tech from MIT/Harvard who need hands-on help finding product-market fit
- —Known for: Actually useful founder support from 32 CEO co-owners who've been there, not just empty networking
- —Sweet spot: $1-2M checks for technical breakthroughs that sound impossible but have real commercial potential
Pillar invests in technical breakthroughs that overcome the world's greatest challenges. Founded and led by technical founders, scientists, and PhDs who themselves have built science-based companies, Pillar partners at inception with technically brilliant founders who see past 'impossible' to 'inevitable.' The fund evaluates scientific opportunities through the lens of both commercial potential and human impact, seeking rare innovations that promise both.
Pre-seed investments ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 and seed-round investments between $2 million and $6 million. About three-quarters of Pillar's investments come out of academia. Over 150+ portfolio companies across biotech, advanced computing, manufacturing, and fintech, with top sectors being Enterprise Applications (37 investments) and High Tech (25 investments).
Founded in 2016 by Jamie Goldstein, a long-time venture investor who got his start in tech at an artificial intelligence speech recognition startup in the 1990s that was acquired by Nuance. Prior to Pillar VC, Jamie was an investing partner for 18 years at North Bridge Venture Partners. He co-leads Encode: AI for Science, backing companies at the intersection of AI and computational biology, and regularly publishes tactical content for founders on VC mechanics.
Received his PhD at MIT; he was working at the Broad Institute and was running the MIT BioMakerspace when he joined the team full-time in Fund III to build their bio practice. Tony's life's mission is to help more scientists become founders, and in 2021, he wrote The Future of Biotech is Founder-Led, later developing the Founder-Led Biotech Summit which has attracted close to 4,500 scientists and founders around the globe.
The first person to ever draw a paycheck at the firm, spending two summers before joining full-time in 2018. He is a born investor; his insatiable curiosity pulls him deep into new topics from data infrastructure and construction tech to robotics and crypto. Parker co-founded their Co-Founder Matching program and has been a frequent presence in the halls of MIT and Harvard, spending time in labs meeting with scientists pursuing commercial applications.
Joined two years ago from Flagship Pioneering, where he was working on new company creation. Prior to Flagship, Thomas was Co-Founder and CEO at Amylon Therapeutics, a spinout of ProQR focused on RNA therapeutics to treat rare neurodegenerative disease. Thomas has walked in the shoes of a Founder and brings deep empathy and experience developing new companies, with his network leading to multiple Pillar portfolio founders.
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