McNamara Family
Investments
Angel investors in moonshots for a better future.
Who We Are
Hi! I'm Adam.
I'm a computer scientist, entrepreneur, angel investor, and dad. I co-founded Select Start Studios, acquired by Shopify, and helped build Shopify as its first VP Product.
For over a decade, I've been angel-investing in founders working on "moonshots" - wildly ambitious solutions to big, hard, and important problems.
McNamara Family Investments is my family's investment fund, and our mission is to build a better future.
More on that below.
Our Mission
We invest in deep-tech founders building a better future.
Four million years.
That's how long us humans have been around for, give or take a bit.
Imagine those four million years were compressed into a single 24-hour day. For the first 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 50 seconds, life was really hard. We had fire and hand tools and not much else. Then the Scientific Revolution happened, and in the last ten seconds, we invented literally everything else. Life for humans got really good, really fast.
The graphic below from Our World in Data helps illustrate this explosion - four million years of nothing, and then everything all at once.
Our mission is to accelerate humanity's progress even more.
Our strategy is to be the first investor in new technologies that will end up on the chart above.
Our goal is to positively impact the long-term future of humanity.
We're proud investors in dozes of "planet-positive moonshots" like nuclear micro-reactors, grid-scale batteries, and stem cell therapies.
We can back these kinds of high-risk, high-reward startups because, as a family investment fund, we can act more like DARPA than a VC.
Venture Capital
Mission is to make money for its LPs
Culture of minimizing risks
Require oversight of founders
Wants its money back in 5-7 years
Partner may have startup experience
Slow (decisions take weeks or months)
Investor-friendly terms
Us
Mission is to build a better future
Culture of taking risks and tolerating failure
Gives founders trust and autonomy
Wants to build important breakthroughs
Partner is a founder and scientist
Fast (decisions take hours or days)
Founder-friendly terms
If you're working on a moonshot and need an angel investor who specializes in that kind of thing, say hi and tell us what you're working on.
What We Invest In
Founder-Led
Moonshot
We back wildly ambitious solutions to big, hard, and important problems.
Deep Tech
We invest in companies solving problems with deep science, technology, and engineering.
In North America
We back founders where we can use our network to help them.
Early Stage
We invest at the Angel, Pre-Seed, and Seed stages.
How We Invest
One Meeting
We just need to meet once. You Explain Like I'm Five (ELI5) what you're working on and we'll listen and learn.
Quick Decision
We get to "yes" or "no" in a few days, not weeks or months.
$250,000 Cheque
We invest up to $250,000 in the first round and follow-on later.
Founder-Friendly Terms
We invest using the YC Post-Money SAFE because it's fast, fair, and founder-friendly.
Featured Investments
FAQ
What stage do you invest in?
Do you lead?
How do you help companies that you invest in?
Do you take a board seat?
Do you invest in other funds?