I co-founded and lead Outset Capital, an early-stage venture fund investing in AI at the earliest possible stage. Our perspective comes from being both founders and investors.

I lead the fund alongside my two longtime collaborators, Kanjun Qiu and Josh Albrecht. We're unusual in that we're both founders and investors, as Kanjun and Josh are also the founders of a unicorn AI coding agent startup Imbue.

We're backed by partners including Reid Hoffman, Adam D'Angelo, and Drew Houston. We're proud early investors in companies like Browserbase, Datology, Harper Insurance, Hedra, Kindred, Medra, Physical Intelligence, and more.

I work in startups and venture capital because I believe in founders. They make themselves vulnerable in ways most people run from. They put themselves in the arena. They're betting years of their life on an idea most people think won't work. That combination of conviction, vulnerability, and willingness to be wrong is rare. Those are the people I want to support.

Most of my time goes to portfolio founders, but I also support the broader founder ecosystem. Since 2021, I've published Ali Rohde Jobs, a free weekly newsletter sharing high-signal Chief of Staff, BizOps, and VC roles. It reaches 25,000+ readers and consistently connects founders with top-tier operators. I also built VCSheet, alongside Julian Shapiro and Mat Vogels, which helps founders identify investors who are actually likely to say yes, rather than wasting time with funds that don’t invest in their stage or category.

Before venture, I was a startup operator, including Chief of Staff roles at Sourceress (YC S17) and Imbue. Earlier in my career, I worked in politics as a Communications Director and speechwriter for a member of Congress.

I’m an East Coast transplant living in San Francisco. Outside of work, you’ll usually find me walking around Hayes Valley with my dog, Theo.