First Round Capital

First Round Capital is one of the original modern seed funds, founded by Josh Kopelman in 2004 and built on the premise that the seed stage deserves its own dedicated capital and its own dedicated operating playbook rather than being treated as a smaller version of a Series A. The firm is famously hands-on at the seed stage, runs an annual CEO Summit that is one of the most-respected founder-only events in venture, publishes the First Round Review, and operates a network of platform services (recruiting, design, marketing, community) that materially compounds at the seed stage in a way that brand-name multi-stage firms generally do not match. For healthcare and AI founders, First Round is a credible seed partner but not a healthcare specialist; the firm has done healthcare deals selectively across the years, with a tilt toward digital health, healthcare workflow software, and consumer health platforms where a software-native go-to-market story is the wedge, rather than therapeutics or regulated devices. Stage focus is overwhelmingly seed, with a typical first check in the half-million to three-million range, often as the first institutional money in, and a strong reserve posture to participate in Series A, although First Round is not a multi-stage firm and will not lead Series B or beyond. Geography is US-centric with offices in San Francisco, New York, and Philadelphia, and the firm invests across the country with a working preference for founders who are willing to engage deeply with the platform community. Founders who should approach First Round are seed-stage technical or product founders, ideally with a healthcare or AI insight that is differentiated, who want a partner who will spend real time with them in the first eighteen months, who want access to a high-density founder community, and who are willing to trade slightly smaller checks at slightly more conservative valuations for that platform value. Healthcare founders specifically should approach First Round if they are building software, marketplaces, or care-coordination platforms with a software-native economic model, and should look elsewhere if they are running a clinical-stage biotech, a device company that needs PMA, or a brick-and-mortar care delivery model where the capital ask exceeds what a seed fund can sensibly bridge. The entry path that works best is a warm intro through a First Round portfolio founder, ideally one who has been through the program recently enough to vouch credibly for the partner you are targeting; First Round’s network density inside its portfolio is unusually high, and a portfolio CEO referral carries real weight. The Dorm Room Fund and Graduate Fund programs are also legitimate side doors for student and recent-graduate founders. When you pitch, lead with the founding-team insight (why this team, why now, what does the team see that nobody else does) because First Round indexes harder on team quality at seed than most firms do, and lead with the smallest possible piece of evidence that the insight is correct (a working prototype, a non-trivial pilot, a pre-launch waitlist with real engagement). Caveats: First Round is unapologetic about ownership and will sometimes pass on rounds where it cannot get the ownership target it needs at seed, so founders running tight competitive rounds should set expectations early; the firm also tends to take a board seat and stays involved in a way that founders who want passive seed capital may find heavier than expected; and First Round will not lead later rounds, so founders should plan to bring in a multi-stage lead at Series A and use First Round’s network to make those introductions.