Six months ago, Rising Tide Partners was mostly me.
There were events, investments, founder hikes, podcasts, office hours, introductions, LP meetings, diligence calls, and countless follow-ups. Every relationship, every decision, every next step mostly lived in one place: my head.
That works for a while.
It doesn’t scale.
This summer has felt like an inflection point.
We opened our first office. We spent a week in Austin studying organizations like Capital Factory (I’ll write more about that trip in my next article). We continue to grow the fund while supporting an increasing number of portfolio companies.
But the biggest change isn’t physical.
It’s organizational.
Somewhere along the way, I realized I had stopped asking:
“What do I need to get done today?”
Instead I started asking:
“What system needs an owner?”
That question changes everything.
They’re technically interns.
We don’t really use that word internally anymore.
Each person owns a real part of RTP. They’re expected to think like operators, build systems, make decisions, and improve how we work—not simply complete tasks.
Instead of assigning projects, we’ve started assigning funnels.
A funnel is simply the journey someone takes through Rising Tide Partners.
An LP moves from prospect to investor.
A founder moves from first meeting to diligence to investment.
A portfolio company moves from having a problem to getting help.
A community member moves from attending one event to becoming someone who contributes back to the ecosystem.
Each of those journeys now has an owner.
Here’s what that looks like today.
Isaac Youngclarke - LP Funnel
Weekly question: Which LPs moved forward this week, and which portfolio companies can they help?Jenny Stewart - VC Relationships
Weekly question: Which VC relationships advanced this week?Andrew Perkins - Portfolio Support
Weekly question: What founder problems did we solve this week?Kate Schneiderman - Community
Weekly question: Who moved deeper into the RTP community?Lorna Karanja - Operations & SPVs
Weekly question: What operational bottlenecks did we remove?Neal Bloom - Investments
Weekly question: Which companies moved toward conviction?
These aren’t job descriptions.
They’re outcomes.
Instead of asking “What did you work on?” we’re beginning to ask questions like:
How many portfolio companies received investor introductions this week?
Which VCs moved from first meeting to active relationship?
How many founders did we help solve real problems for?
Which LPs advanced through the fundraising process?
Where is the bottleneck?
Those answers matter far more than checking another task off a list.
One thing I’ve learned over the years is that every organization eventually becomes constrained by its bottleneck.
For a long time, I was RTP’s bottleneck.
Every introduction.
Every follow-up.
Every relationship.
Every decision.
That wasn’t intentional—it was simply how organizations naturally begin.
Now the goal is different.
Build systems that help people move.
Build processes that make trust visible.
Build ownership so great work happens without waiting for me.
Ironically, the less RTP depends on me, the more valuable it becomes.
We’re still very early.
Many of these dashboards don’t exist yet.
Some of the metrics will undoubtedly change.
Our Airtable will evolve.
The automations will get smarter.
The questions will get better.
That’s okay.
The goal isn’t perfect software.
The goal is making progress visible.
At its core, Rising Tide Partners isn’t trying to build a bigger venture fund.
We’re trying to build an ecosystem where founders, investors, operators, universities, corporations, and community members help one another succeed.
Capital is one output.
Trust is the real product.
Every introduction.
Every meeting.
Every event.
Every solved founder problem.
Every new relationship strengthens that network.
A year ago, Rising Tide Partners was mostly me.
Today, it’s becoming a team.
Eventually, I hope it becomes something even bigger:
A system that helps ambitious people build extraordinary companies together.
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