Aviel Ginsberg on Catalyzing Seattle’s Startup Ecosystem

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Aviel Ginsberg on Catalyzing Seattle’s Startup Ecosystem

Founders Co-op GP discusses early-stage investing, pattern matching, and community building.

Nataraj

Jun 02, 2025

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Aviel Ginsberg is a general partner at Founders Co-op, co-founder of Foundations, and former managing director at Amazon’s Alexa Accelerator. Earlier, he founded Simply Measured, which was acquired by Sprout Social. Aviel discusses the evolution of his investment thesis, pattern-matching for founders, and how Foundations aims to strengthen Seattle's startup ecosystem.

What you’ll learn

Hear how Aviel transitioned from an early employee at a Founders Co-op portfolio company to a founding CEO and, eventually, a general partner at the fund.
Learn how Founders Co-op focuses on pre-seed and seed investments in the Pacific Northwest, seeking founders who resonate with Seattle's cultural and business environment.
Understand how Aviel’s investment thesis evolved, shifting from a product-centric approach to prioritizing the founder's motivations and resilience.
Discover why Founders Co-op emphasizes identifying founders with intrinsic motivation and a deep-seated drive to build, viewing them as “irreparably broken” individuals.
Explore the concept of local maxima in business, where a company's strategic value peaks due to acquisition or market dynamics, impacting long-term enterprise value.
Learn how Foundations aims to create an anchor point for Seattle’s startup community, fostering connections between early-stage founders and experienced leaders.

Takeaways

Early-stage investing resembles “casino-level risk” due to the heavy reliance on people; de-risk it through experience, pattern recognition, and seeing enough founder journeys.
Prioritize the person: Aviel learned (the hard way) that the most crucial factor in early-stage investing is the founder's qualities, not just the product or market opportunity.
Founders with “infinite renewable energy” are driven by something “broken” inside, compelling them to create and build, which is a key trait to seek out as an investor.
Recognize that a company's value might peak due to strategic acquisition, so entrepreneurs must understand if this local maximum might also be the global maximum.
Seattle's close ties to the Bay Area create a unique dynamic where it sometimes shadows SF, underscoring the need for a stronger, independent startup ecosystem.

Viral quotes

"Ultimately early stage investing is like casino level risk in people. Like that is what you were doing."
"You want to find founders who are irreparably broken. So they're just going to keep charging forward and build."
"Nothing ruins a good story like data."