VC Fund Dossiers

Sands Capital is the rare fund that actually walks the walk on long-term investing — they've been backing winners like DoorDash and Snowflake since before they were cool, then riding them all the way to IPO and beyond through their integrated public-private platform. With 93% of employees recommending the firm and a 4.9/5 Glassdoor rating, they're clearly doing something right internally. The three managing partners (Clarke, Graninger, Martin) have serious domain expertise and aren't just check-writers — Clarke led major enterprise software investments, Graninger brings national security tech experience from In-Q-Tel, and Martin has been grinding at Sands for 16+ years. Their portfolio shows 11 unicorns, 15 IPOs and 24 acquisitions, which is solid execution. The downside? They're institutional-focused with high minimums, so if you're not raising $10M+ Series A/B rounds in their sweet spot sectors, you're probably not on their radar.

Scout's military-first thesis isn't marketing fluff—Harrison's personal mission after losing a West Point classmate gives them genuine conviction that most defense-focused VCs lack. They're the real deal for veteran founders and dual-use tech, with actual exits like Tomahawk Robotics ($120M to AeroVironment) and moonshot successes like Lonestar literally putting data centers on the moon. The team knows how to navigate both Silicon Valley and the Pentagon, which is rare. However, their military network bias might mean non-veteran founders get overlooked, and their $2-5M seed checks put them in competition with bigger funds who can write larger follow-on checks.