Brad Burnham

Managing Partner · Union Square Ventures

Check $500K–$15M

SEED

SERIES A

Consumer

Crypto

Civic

Marketplaces

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?

Selected portfolio

Twitter

Etsy

Tumblr

Kickstarter

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