Chris Saum (@christophersaum) / X

Chris Saum

2,333 posts

Chris Saum

@christophersaum

Partner, Active Capital. Backing AI-native founders building the future of software. We’re backing at least one new team every month with $500k to $1M checks.

Austin, TX

Joined March 2016

Chris Saum
@christophersaum
Oct 25, 2025
SF loves the story of the college dropout founder. Our last 3 deals were with founders in their 30s and 40s. We back young founders too but it’s not the only way.
22K
Chris Saum
@christophersaum
Oct 20, 2025
Got an incredible cold email today. Founder led a $__M company → exited → now building in the same space. Email was clean, no fluff: -who he is -what he’s solving -how big it is -why they’ll win -what they’re raising It wasn’t fancy. Just structured, credible, easy to
34K
Chris Saum
@christophersaum
Nov 10, 2025
Most pitches sound identical these days. Safety is overrated. The founders who get my attention are chasing weird, contrarian bets. I'd love to hear yours! Reminder: we’re backing at least one new team every month with $100k to $1M checks.
Gorkem Yurtseven
@gorkem
Nov 10, 2025
what is the german word for "everyone is building the same thing"
49K
Chris Saum
@christophersaum
Oct 14, 2025
5 founder meetings today. Asked for demos in 2 of them. Both didn't work. Not a dealbreaker, but always be ready to demo. Having it ready is such an easy way to show you're prepared and technical execution matters. Small details, big impressions.
15K
Chris Saum
@christophersaum
Oct 23, 2025
The reality is if a VC stops responding or acts like below, they aren't interested. We do our best to run our process differently.... -We reply to every email. -No warm intros needed - 6 of our recent deals were cold -We schedule calls same week, sometimes same day & even
Aviral Bhatnagar
@aviralbhat
Oct 23, 2025
Challenges faced by founders in fundraising from VCs: - No reply to emails - Need a warm intro to even get a response - Nobody reads the form - 1st call takes 3 weeks to schedule - Nobody has even read the pitch deck - No clarity on the next call - Next call scheduled without
45K
Chris Saum
@christophersaum
Oct 10, 2025
We were first money in with a $500k check, then stepped in with additional $200K to help @shreyko break his NYC lease, move to SF, and build IRL with his @RLenvs team. This is what I love....backing founders before the rest of the world catches on, and helping drive real change.
Shrey Kothari
@Shreyko
Oct 10, 2025
raised some money moved to sf hiring ml engineers (dm if you want to train models and make games)
47K
Chris Saum
@christophersaum
Oct 11, 2025
Several founders I’ve met recently are stuck in 4th or 5th VC meetings. By the 3rd meeting, a VC should have high conviction or not; anything beyond is just dragging things out or wasting your time. We don’t decide in 2 days, but we don’t drag it out either.
12K
Chris Saum
@christophersaum
Nov 5, 2025
The best founders don’t just build products, they sell a new reality. Just funded our 16th deal, $1M check & our biggest yet Massive AI models on micro compute. A local AI coding assistant that runs right on your Mac. - No token or usage limits - Fully private - <500ms
7.8K
Chris Saum
@christophersaum
Oct 22, 2025
A founder said I was the *only* investor out of dozens who signed up for their own onboarding flow. The bar to stand out is unbelievably low. Funny thing is, I wasn’t trying to stand out. I just wanted to use the product!
5K
Chris Saum
@christophersaum
Nov 8, 2025
Most founders dread investor updates or don’t write them at all because they write novels & it takes forever. Keep it simple: what’s working, where you need help, and key numbers like ARR, burn, and runway. Do these for both current and potential investors you want close.
Harry Stebbings
@HarryStebbings
Nov 8, 2025
Founders, for the love of God; send investor updates. 1. Leverage them for help with customer intros, hires and fundraises. 2. Use them to create excitement and conversation about you in market. 3. Because these people have trusted you and given you their money. Not doing
14K
Chris Saum
@christophersaum
Nov 14, 2025
Dear algo, show this only to the super technical founders solving real business problems with something to prove who could use a $500k investment
83K
Chris Saum
@christophersaum
Oct 27, 2025
I don’t care what school you went to or if you graduated I care if a founder can produce 10 solid references in the past 10 years. The best founders never struggle to produce those. Shoutout to @girdley for teaching me Topgrading in 2017. Pre-seed enterprise founders: I'd
14K
Chris Saum
@christophersaum
Apr 6, 2022
The @activecapitalvc squad. @patmatthews @CatDizonTx @moving2fast & Avery.
Chris Saum
@christophersaum
Dec 4, 2020
🔥Big news!👇🏼 So happy to announce @activecapitalvc's second fund. Proud to be working alongside such rockstar teammates and fortunate to be supporting such a great group of founders! And we're just getting started!
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