HARD PASS VENTURES
Protecting LP capital from generational returns since 1844.
- The airplane.
- Penicillin.
- The internet.
- Nuclear energy.
- Credit cards.
- Amazon.
We passed on all of them—and slept soundly at night.
Our Investment Thesis
Disciplined Capital Allocation
At Hard Pass Ventures, we remain committed to timeless principles.
Our Convictions
- Horses have demonstrated thousands of years of product-market fit.
- Information scarcity is a feature, not a bug.
- Geography is nature's rate limiter.
- Successful customers should remain customers.
- Scarcity creates healthy markets.
- Human memory is an underappreciated technology.
- Existing infrastructure deserves respect.
We Avoid Investments That
- Depend on pornography as a growth channel.
- Require rebuilding civilization.
- Eliminate recurring revenue.
- Assume Americans will suddenly change their behavior.
- Attack markets that already work.
Recent Passes
We pride ourselves in our disciplined investment process which has protected LP capital from exposure to speculative opportunities.
Recent passes include
Kalshi
“If people could predict the future, they'd simply become venture capitalists.”
OnlyFans
“We respect women and do not invest in them.”
Uber
“It is entirely unsafe to get in a stranger's car.”
Cursor
“Engineers build grit from manually typing semicolons.”
Facebook
“People have a finite number of friends.”
OpenAI
“Human intelligence has demonstrated strong product-market fit for several thousand years.”
Request Funding
Our investment committee reviews all submissions with the discipline our LPs deserve.