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Daytrip Ventures is a new ‘pre-scale’ venture capital fund connecting relocated entrepreneurs locally and homegrown talent nationally. Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, Daytrip will invest in pre-seed and seed-stage startups building within a daytrip of opportunity – the rapidly growing New American South.
The process of naming a new company often falls along a spectrum of, ‘I knew for certain this would be the name,’ to, ‘I’ve already changed the name 4-5 times, and it will probably change again!’
In the case of Daytrip, this was always the name, long before I knew I would take the leap to launch a new fund.
What’s in a name?
Daytrip holds several layers of meaning for our growing team, network of advisors and LPs, and the portfolio companies we will collectively invest in.
Put simply, Daytrip represents a core, guiding principle – consistently showing up each day to create long-term, compounding value.
We can view our work as a series of daytrips – a repeated departure from the safety of home to see something new, hopefully learning something along the way, then returning to integrate our learnings.
With Daytrip Ventures, my goal is to assemble a local, regional, and nationwide network of individuals sharing the Daytrip ethos, valuing:
Preparation: Packing ahead
Action: Hitting the road
Learning: Seeking new inputs
Integration: Returning home with new information
This is how we compound value long term -- we move and measure progress in daytrips, not just periodic heroic leaps. Will we get a flat tire? Maybe. Will we return home changed? Always.
We show up daily because we believe in a better future, one that is bigger than any one of us alone. We hit the road because we could never settle for any less.
Value creation requires taking a long view
The first place I learned the value of a strong work ethic was from my dad as he recounted stories from his childhood. As a teenager in the 1940s American Southwest, he left before sunrise to work in the cotton fields, oftentimes driving across state borders before returning home to his rural New Mexico town. He was the youngest of 10 siblings and at times drove 30+ workers piled into the truck bed.
He and his brother eventually landed jobs at the local diner, circa 1950. For fans of the TV show Bonanza, he met the Cartwright brothers once as they stopped in for a burger and fries. (A big deal for their small, rural town.)
One day, a customer asked him a pointed question as he went about his dishwashing duties. “You think you’ll ever amount to something, Max?” He never forgot these words as he later moved to California, pursued his college education, graduate degree, and a 35-year-long career in the county assessor’s office.
Fast forward to 2024 and the progeny of the original 10 siblings (my dad the youngest) contribute exponentially as scientists, entrepreneurs, lawyers, judges, professors, doctors, veterans from every U.S. war since World War II, law enforcement including at least one police chief, small business owners, and executives across corporate America. I attribute my family’s legacy to an embedded work ethic and drive to create lasting value, initiated by family members long before us. My grandfather often said (translated from Spanish), “Today, New Mexico. Tomorrow, the world.”
As for me, the youngest of 76 first cousins, I am a venture capitalist and ecosystem builder, made possible by the countless days my family spent working in the fields nearly 100 years ago. I view the story of Daytrip as over a century in the making.
The next decade of U.S. company building
Daytrip Ventures aims to be the best long-haul partner to pre-scale (pre-seed and seed) startups building from places like Nashville. There are many cities like Nashville across the U.S. and even more people hailing from such places.
Post-COVID, the venture capital industry collectively ‘discovered’ an entire country beyond Silicon Valley filled with economic opportunity. Many knew this long before, though I wrote about the tide shift in TechCrunch on a cold January morning from an Airbnb in Memphis. Leading up to my op-ed, I’d received dozens of calls from prominent venture funds in places like San Francisco and New York all exclaiming the same realization, ‘We believe there could be great companies built outside Silicon Valley’.
There are many reasons why Silicon Valley is and always will be the largest center of innovation. However, my chosen home of Nashville is conveniently located at the epicenter of the New American South – a region claiming 87% of the nation’s population growth in 2023, a higher share of US GDP than the Northeast (attributed to just 6 states in 2022, even higher when counting the whole region), and a growing list of accolades spanning top global startup ecosystems, universities capturing unicorn market share, corporate relocation and innovation investment, and more.
Daytrip Ventures is our name because it embodies something greater than any one person and any one city. Daytrip is about recognizing and leveraging an unfair proximity advantage to the growing U.S. economy and having the nerve to pack a bag to go and find it. Taking small (and sometimes big) steps every day can lead to bigger and better outcomes for all.
Choosing travel companions wisely
Who we choose as travel companions for our daytrips is key. Years ago, a very wise person in VC shared the importance of building and maintaining ‘relationships that matter’. Who do we choose as our travel companions? Who do we want to be trapped in a car with for many hours each day?
We have much to figure out in the coming years and decades and who we choose to travel with will make all the difference.
These are among the foremost tests the best entrepreneurs pass eventually. They prepare, act, learn, and then integrate these learnings, and do so with select companions.
Here is my vision for Daytrip, simply stated:
Daytrip Ventures will invest in the best entrepreneurs building within a proximity advantage to the New American South.
Daytrip will bring together a first-of-its-kind local and national network to support relocated and homegrown entrepreneurs building at the pre-scale (pre-seed and seed) stage.
If this is you, we would love to meet you.
In the meantime, thank you for reading. Wishing you the best of luck on your next daytrip.
Bon voyage.