Elizabeth Santiago
Today, New Stack Ventures announced the hiring of Nate Pierotti as Deal Lead.
Nate will be responsible for sourcing, filtering, evaluating, and closing new investments. Prior to New Stack, Nate was Co-Founder and CEO of Monarc, a robotics sports technology company.
Founding Partner Nick Moran was asked about the hire, “Nate brings a skill set that we’ve never had before. He has deep technical skill and knows what it takes to grow an investor-backed startup. There’s nothing like building a deep tech company from scratch. Those are skills that can’t be taught.” When asked about the off-cycle hire, Nick stated, “We were not planning to expand the team. Nate joined us as a summer associate. He ramped quickly and has taken our game to a new level. We just couldn’t pass up on a talent like this. Nate will be a very successful Venture Capitalist and we’re thrilled to see what he can build with us here at New Stack."
“I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to be a part of such a great team and continue my investing career.” Pierotti stated. “New Stack has felt like home since day one, and I couldn’t be more excited to be staying on as a Deal lead.”
Chief Operating Officer, J.R. Moran, manages the team and roles at New Stack. When asked why New Stack calls the role ‘Deal Lead’ instead of the standard Associate or Analyst titles, J.R. responded, “The standard titles in the industry send the wrong signal. We do not operate as a traditional venture firm, where junior team members run around supporting Partners with diligence and research. Each New Stack deal team member is responsible for running their own deals. Those that have the right mindset and can learn the New Stack playbook are empowered to lead deals and have earned the position of Deal Lead.
Earlier this year New Stack brought on Austin Ju as a Deal Lead. Austin manages the dealflow funnel at New Stack and has helped get Nate up-to-speed quickly. “Nate is a natural startup investor. This is a challenging position with complex variables. Decision-making and conviction don’t come easily to most.” Austin continued, “Nate has the ability and demonstrated that early. He’s become a great thought partner and will help take us to the next level.”
The hiring comes as a bit of a surprise as New Stack has not announced a new fund this year. Their original fund was $6M. Their staff of six is quite large for a fund of this size. New Stack GP, Nick Moran, was asked to explain, “We have not begun raising our next fund but will do so before the end of the year. Due to the strong performance of our current fund, there is a great deal of interest.” When asked how they are able to support such a large staff currently, Nick replied, “Many of our peer funds are single woman or single man shops. We’re in the fortunate position to have a team of six. I think the secret is out and many realize that The Full Ratchet, our podcast, has benefited the firm in more ways than just network and dealflow. As the audience grew far beyond our expectations, sponsorships have become quite valuable. TFR alone pays salary for three FTEs. This allows us to have a staff of similar size to funds with 10x the Assets Under Management."
Nate Pierotti can be reached at: nate@newstack.vc