Investment Criteria

We seek to work with exceptional entrepreneurs who are highly motivated and experienced leaders, with differentiated, defensible and scaleable products. We look for the long term potential to transform industry segments, the potential to achieve significant market share in large and growing markets and to grow independent of market conditions.

Stage:

Contour invests in seed and early stage companies that exhibit a clear path to profitability. The professionals at Contour have been active in all stages of venture capital and operations throughout their careers and understand the unique set of challenges facing management teams at each phase as our portfolio companies mature.

Industry Focus:

We invest in companies that provide innovative technology solutions into Northeast industry hubs where we have a deep understanding of the targeted markets, including financial services, enterprise software, vertical B2B software and digital media.

Geography:

Based in New York City, we take advantage of the depth of companies, managers and entrepreneurship within the major industry sectors located in the Northeast portion of the United States.

Board Representation:

The principals at Contour play an active role in the leadership of our portfolio companies. This includes taking a seat on the board of directors where we assist management with recruiting, sales, growth strategies, general operations, business development, finance and exit strategy. We look for opportunities where there is a mutual interest in entering into a deep long-term partnership with management to jointly build successful and sustainable businesses.

Management Team DNA:

Great entrepreneurs and management teams are critical determinants of success. We look for qualities in our management teams that include deep industry/sector expertise, solid judgment, strong leadership skills, managerial experience and intuition, long term commitment, high level of integrity and passion for their business.

Investment Size:

Contour invests between $500,000 and $2 million in the initial round. We prefer to act as the lead or co-lead investor as well as represent the first institutional capital in the company.

Exit:

Contour typically invests between $500,000 and $2 million in the seed round and supports its companies through additional investment in future rounds. We are prepared to support our portfolio companies for many years.