Brad Burnham

Managing Partner · Union Square Ventures

Check $500K–$15M

SEED

SERIES A

Consumer

Crypto

Civic

Marketplaces

Quick profile

Investment thesis

Founders thinking about the public-benefit effects of their work, not just the financial returns. I back businesses aligned with broader civic interests.

Communication style

Slow, philosophical, asks about long-term effects on the world.

Red flags

Founder purely optimizing for short-term growth at the cost of users

No awareness of the bigger system their product sits in

Signature questions

1.How does this business make the world better?

2.What are the second-order effects of this product at scale?

3.Who is included or excluded by your design choices?

Fund facts

Fund size $275M

Vintage 2022

DEPLOYING

Twitter

Etsy

Tumblr

Kickstarter

How to win Brad Burnham

AI prep brief from persona data + real pitch history · first section free

What convinces them

•A business that makes money and makes the world better. Both, not one or the other.

•You understand the system your product sits in: who it touches, what changes at scale, what breaks.

•Design choices made on purpose. Who is included, who is excluded, and why you chose that.

•Founders who treat him as a peer and think in decades, not quarters.

5 more sections in the full brief

Unlock the full tactical brief, benchmarks, and all discovery matches with Core.

See plans →

AI simulation. This persona is an AI-generated profile built from public data. Claim this profile to customize its accuracy. It does not represent any real individual's actual views or availability. If you pass, your report won't reach anyone at Union Square Ventures until this profile is claimed.

Is this you? Claim →