Power with Purpose
Sheridan Road captured something in their recent cover story that I want to expand on: the idea that transformative ideas come from everywhere — not just the coasts, not just the same networks, not just the same faces that have always been in the room. We headquartered Velveteen in Chicago intentionally. The Midwest is full of extraordinary founders and domain experts and most of all that Midwest grit and staying power.
The name Velveteen has always meant something specific to me. My grandmother gave me a Velveteen Rabbit from Goodwill when I was five, and I believed — with everything I had — that if I loved it enough, it would become real. That is precisely what founders do every day. They pour love, care, and attention into an idea until it breathes. I wanted every founder who walks through our door to know: I have walked that path. I believe in the magic of what you're building.
What makes Velveteen different isn't just who we back — it's how we back them. Katherine Stabler runs our operations with institutional discipline that is genuinely rare among first-time funds. Karla Brollier, an Ahtna Athabascan from the Arctic region of Alaska who built Patagonia's Home Planet Fund and worked with Al Gore's Climate Reality Project, leads our climate vertical with a depth of expertise and lived perspective that simply cannot be replicated. Together, we don't just write checks. We show up as operators who have done the hard thing and come out the other side.
Our carry pledge to Native American tribes is not a footnote — it's the DNA if the firm. It ties our financial outcomes directly to communities that have been historically excluded from wealth creation. If Velveteen wins, our communities win. That's what it looks like when capital becomes a tool for justice, not just profit.
I am the first Native American woman to raise a venture-backed Series A. I built companies not because the path was clear, but because the problems were personal and the why was unshakeable. That experience — navigating systems not designed for people like me — is exactly what makes me a better investor. I know what it costs to build without a golden parachute. I know what it means when someone finally believes in your vision. That's the energy I bring to every founder meeting.
We invest between $250,000 and $2 million at Seed and Series A, across healthcare, climate, consumer, and community. We aim to back 20 companies in our first fund. But beyond the checks, we're building something larger — a community around our portfolio, a model for what inclusive capital can look like, and proof that purpose and performance compound together.
The future is being built right now, in places and by people that traditional venture has overlooked. We intend to be there first.
Read the full Sheridan Road cover story here.