Forerunner is a consumer-focused firm that invests "at the intersection of invention and culture," mapping business potential to evolving human needs, wants, emotions, and cultural nuances. They back category-defining founders who "see what people need before markets demand it," betting on two rare forces: values shifts (a fundamental evolution of human needs) and technological shifts. In the AI era they argue "human instinct is now emerging as the ultimate competitive edge," and they invest in products that edit and simplify a consumer's over-accessed life rather than offer more options.
A real, felt human need behind the product, not a technology in search of a use. Forerunner anchors on what people actually want and the friction or fatigue they experience today; the strongest problems address consumer overwhelm from hyper-access and hyper-consumerism.
“This access is now working against consumers, who feel paralyzed by the sheer volume of choice.” — Winning With Consumers In AI
“Consumers' broad sense of fatigue and overwhelm from a culture that's now dominated by hyper-access and hyper-consumerism.” — Kirsten Green
“The biggest opportunity was in the mundane: helping people understand why they feel tired, when they're getting sick.” — Eurie Kim
“PMF helps; but Product Human-Need Fit is what endures.” — Eurie Kim
Solutions that edit and simplify rather than add options, doing things for consumers and presenting the best choice. In the AI era the bar is 'magic and trust' and quality over price/convenience.
“Services that edit the vastness of what's available, present the best possible options instead of more options, and do things for us instead of enabling us to do it ourselves.” — Winning With Consumers In AI
“Magic and Trust: These are the two essentially building blocks in this new era.” — Kirsten Green
“consumers don't just want automation—they want support, clarity, and control” — Kirsten Green
“using AI is about so much more than just reducing costs, but fundamentally elevates the quality” — Kirsten Green
Large markets grounded in consumer spending (two-thirds of US GDP) and reframed by a values or technological shift. They use original data to argue consumer outcomes rival or beat enterprise, and prize a counterintuitive stat that reframes the opportunity.
“consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of the U.S. GDP” — Let the Data Speak: Consumer Startups Stack Up to Enterprise Startups
“Consumer companies are just as likely as enterprise companies to be valued at more than 10 times their annual revenue at IPO (42% consumer versus 40% enterprise)” — Let the Data Speak: Consumer Startups Stack Up to Enterprise Startups
“Less than 5% of the population exercises regularly, but 95%+ sleep every night.” — Eurie Kim
“The real opportunity lies in translating these shifts into investable ideas that challenge incumbents, create new markets, and define the next generation of category leaders” — Kirsten Green
Evidence of loyalty and retention, not just acquisition; the ability to track churn, AOV and gross margin and roll them up to LTV. Hard performance metrics that beat legacy benchmarks and rapid revenue growth signal real momentum.
“Do you have the ability to easily track churn, AOV (average order value) and gross margin, and roll that up to an LTV calculation?” — Your CAC Doesn't Matter
“in 2024, Monarch's revenue grew 6x from the year prior” — Eurie Kim
“resolution rates 2-3x higher than legacy solutions” — Kirsten Green
“the next decade will push forward loyalty and create opportunities for businesses to invest as many resources in loyalty as they do in acquisition.” — Jason Bornstein
Founders who understand the human as clearly as the technology, who see needs before the market does, and who have an unwavering commitment to understanding human needs, wants, emotions and cultural nuances. They prize the rare 'purple squirrel' who pairs bold vision with disciplined execution and relentless customer obsession.
“An unwavering commitment to understanding human needs, wants, emotions, and cultural nuances” — Human Insight in the Age of AI: Announcing Fund VII
“Kirsten backs founders who see what people need before markets demand it.” — Kirsten Green
“Tom Hale is a purple squirrel” — Eurie Kim
“CEO and Cofounder Jesse Zhang and all the Decagon leaders live and breathe the customer obsession” — Kirsten Green
Models where new tools, technologies, or behaviors enable a fundamentally better economic engine, with LTV and loyalty weighted as heavily as CAC. They favor structures that convert engagement into recurring revenue (e.g. hardware-plus-subscription data moats).
“We look for categories where new tools, technologies, or behaviors can enable better business models.” — The Future Forerunners; Fund VI $1B
“While we maniacly focused on the 3x LTV:CAC benchmark, CAC received more airtime and resources than LTV.” — Jason Bornstein
“The hardware creates the data moat, the subscription model...drives recurring engagement and retention.” — Eurie Kim
“consumer companies have innovative and category redefining business models” — Let the Data Speak: Consumer Startups Stack Up to Enterprise Startups
Defensibility built on personalization and accumulated user context ('cognitive effects') rather than scale alone. The product that knows the user best becomes painful to switch away from; vertical mastery beats horizontal expansion.
“The product that knows you best doesn't just win your business—it wins against future businesses, because no one else can replicate the cumulative context.” — From Network Effects to Cognitive Effects: The New Rules for Platform Dominance
“When cognitive effects take hold, switching services isn't impossible, but it's painful and often unjustifiable.” — Kirsten Green
“The path to defensibility no longer requires winning the entire market first. You can build an unassailable position one user at a time.” — Kirsten Green
“In this era, vertical mastery beats horizontal expansion.” — Kirsten Green
A genuine values shift or technological shift that makes the opportunity newly possible. In the AI moment, as machines handle the objective, human instinct, cultural resonance and consumer connection become the decisive edge.
“human instinct is now emerging as the ultimate competitive edge” — Human Insight in the Age of AI: Announcing Fund VII
“AI's ascension is paired with consumers increasingly expecting far more assistance and quality” — Kirsten Green
“cultural resonance and consumer connection is what will rule the day” — Kirsten Green
“Now more than ever, individuals are motivated to step into the role of 'CEO of their own lives.'” — Kirsten Green
Forerunner leads and is most often the first institutional check, sizing $1M-$20M from seed to Series A; the ask should fit a plan for a category-defining, life-changing company they can partner on long-term. They invest from earliest stages through later-stage growth.
“Our early-stage investments are $1M - $20M across seed to series A” — Human Insight in the Age of AI: Announcing Fund VII
“Forerunner has invested in 149 companies, and we were the first investors in 66% of the portfolio.” — Kirsten Green
“Being a true partner to founders is the core of everything we do.” — Kirsten Green
“The most consequential companies are built by founders who understand the human as clearly as the technology.”
“PMF helps; but Product Human-Need Fit is what endures.”
“While we maniacly focused on the 3x LTV:CAC benchmark, CAC received more airtime and resources than LTV.”