Why hacker houses are launching their own VC funds

Detailed summary

Mission Street is part of a small but growing group of hacker house communities trying to become investors, not just temporary crash pads for founders.

San Francisco hacker houses have produced a long list of multibillion-dollar startups, from Perplexity to OpenRouter. Most of the riches have usually flowed to outside investors, but now more houses want to change that, raising their own capital to back very early founders before traditional VCs find them. Investing early has become imperative in the AI boom, as the hottest companies can reach staggering valuations just months after launch. Former Mission Control roommates Surabhi Todi and Lisa Shmulyan are the latest to announce a fund. They recently came out of stealth mode to announce Mission Street Capital.

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