Crosscut Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm in Los Angeles that invests in startups that have the potential to scale, disrupt, and build large markets. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Crosscut Ventures co-founder and managing director Brian Garrett to learn more about the firm.
Brian Garrett’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background? Garrett said:
“I’m Brian Garrett, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Crosscut Ventures, and I’ve spent over 20 years building and investing in the Southern California entrepreneurial community. Today, my focus is on solving some of humanity’s biggest challenges through FrontierTech, which spans space, defense, energy, climate, advanced manufacturing, robotics, and near-shoring of our supply chains.”
“I’m deeply involved in LA’s startup scene, working closely with the founders of some incredible SoCal tech companies, including Umbra Space, Hivewatch, Pearl, BuildOps, Intro.co, Compa, Carbon Ridge, Outpost Space and Proteus Space. Beyond SoCal, I’ve also invested in and supported entrepreneurs nationwide, partnering with founders at companies like Aalo, Airloom Energy, Solestial Solar, SoloPulse, Heliux, Monarx, Nostra.ai and Sutro.”
“With over two decades of experience in both investing and hands-on entrepreneurship, I strive to bring humility and empathy to the challenging journey of building and scaling startups, working tirelessly to help my entrepreneurs succeed.”
“Before founding Crosscut, I was a Partner at Palomar Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm in Santa Monica, where I spent six years managing and investing in two funds totaling over $400 million. During my time at Palomar, I sponsored and served on the boards of nine portfolio companies, including successful exits like Entone (acquired by Harmonic), Lombardi (acquired by IBM), and Datallegro (acquired by Microsoft in 2008).”
“Prior to Palomar, I was the Director of Business Development at Niku Corporation, and before that, I worked at R.B. Webber & Company, a boutique strategy consulting firm, where I partnered with early-stage tech companies like CommerceOne, Inktomi, Sagent, Aurum, and Broadbase.”
“I earned my MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and hold a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.”
Evolution Of The Firm’s Thesis
How has your firm’s thesis evolved? Garrett noted:
“In 2008, our mission was to catalyze the SoCal tech ecosystem with support and capital – no other goal than to help build large sustainable businesses across the region. I do feel that our brand and reputation have kept us in the flow, and we’ve been lucky to back over 170 companies with our initial capital (roughly $210 million). That support and capital has led to over $7.2 billion of follow-on capital from mostly Tier 1 Silicon Valley funds. With reflection, I can say – ‘mission accomplished.’”
“SoCal tech has never been so robust or important at the national and international level. Deal activity and innovation are at an all-time high and we are thrilled to see the new capital sources aggressively chasing the best entrepreneurs across the region. The diversity of opportunity has also never been greater. When we started Crosscut, we were fairly limited in our opportunity set – primarily Adtech and eCommerce and that led to fund 1 investments like Shoedazzle, Ipsy and GumGum.”
“As a generalist fund, we tried hard to support all the categories of tech (25 by our ontology). As a small fund, that has been a difficult task. In today’s venture world, it seems you have to invest in your brand, be a thought leader and stand for something to differentiate your capital. In all honesty, we’ve been less than stellar at the marketing of Crosscut. We’ve relied on our entrepreneurs to sing our praises and referrals from our portfolio have been our greatest source of new deals. One deal at a time, one intro at a time – show up, be approachable and do the work to earn favor with your entrepreneur. This has been our mantra and it has served us well.”
“But, ultimately, I’ve come to the conclusion that if you don’t stand for something, you kinda stand for nothing and if you don’t invest in your brand, the market defines your brand for you.”
“In my 23 years as an early-stage investor in LA, I’ve never been more excited about the potential of this market, the diversity of talent and the hard problems that I see amazing entrepreneurs tackling every day. We are just at the beginning stages of this techno-manufacturing revolution that will drive SoCal and produce some of the best returns of the next two decades. I feel lucky to wake up every day and have the opportunity to support the SoCal founders who are tackling these problems. I look forward to seeing the tremendous impact these solutions can have on global decarbonization, our energy systems and the continuing commercialization of space.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for your firm so far? Garrett reflected:
“We have invested a lot of time in building a true partnership at Crosscut. To do this, you have to understand the human that you are doing business with – his or her motivations, insecurities, strengths and weaknesses. We’ve done numerous offsites and coaching retreats, but none more memorable than our firm’s fishing trip to Alaska, staying at our Partner, Clinton’s family home.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of your firm’s most significant milestones? Garrett cited:
“In our sixteen-year history, Crosscut has backed over 170 companies with initial capital of $210 million, leading to over $7.2 billion of follow-on capital. We’ve seen the rise of 5 independent $1 trillion verticals in SoCal – media, gaming, transportation and logistics, digital health, and FrontierTech. SoCal has grown to be the 3rd most active venture ecosystem in the US, with over 1000 venture-backed deals each year. We feel very lucky to have seen this evolution with a front row seat and to have played a small role in its growth and success.”
Investment Success Stories
Would you like to share any specific investment success stories? Garrett highlighted:
“Our first deal was GumGum, which used early forms of computer vision to revolutionize the AdTech industry. The founder/CEO, Ophir Tanz, then spun out a piece of the technology to focus on ‘AI for Dental’ in the form of Pearl. Pearl had announced a $58 million Series B as they scale their solution across the dental industry.”
“As for space and defense, we made our first investment – Umbra Space – in February of 2018, writing a first check behind founders David Langan and Gabe Dominocielo, and their vision for an antenna design innovation and small form satellite for SAR (synthetic aperture radar). Umbra has gone on to raise close to $200M, has grown at close to 500% year over year, will be profitable this year and is hovering near unicorn status.”
“Our efforts in energy, climate and frontier have continued with investments in companies Inspire Energy (acquired by Shell), Measurabl, and Umbra Space, while paving the way for the next generation of mission-driven businesses, through more recent investments like Carbon Ridge, Cambium Carbon, SoloPulse, Haxion, Aalo, Proteus Space,Solestial Solar, Metox and Radiant Nuclear.”
AUM And Other Metrics
Can you discuss total AUM or any other notable metrics? Garrett revealed:
“Since 2018, Crosscut has deployed more than $210M, with an AUM of more than $300M over the course of 170+ deals.”
Industry Focus
What are some of the industries that your firm is focused on? Garrett pointed out:
“Moving forward, Crosscut will exclusively focus its capital and company-building efforts on frontier technology, including energy and power, space exploration, defense innovation, advanced materials and manufacturing — sectors that push the boundaries of technological development to solve critical market problems.”
Differentiation From Other Firms
What differentiates Crosscut from other firms? Garrett emphasized:
“To start, we defied conventional wisdom by founding a venture capital firm in Los Angeles instead of Silicon Valley in 2008. Our very first bet was right; LA has what’s needed to support a thriving tech ecosystem. What sets Crosscut apart is our commitment to following and supporting the exceptional talent coming out of Southern California. From the start, we focused on community-building and hosting events that naturally connected us with visionary entrepreneurs shaping big ideas. These efforts have consistently positioned us at the heart of SoCal’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.”
“Our network is a crucial differentiator—through it, we can identify emerging markets, access deep domain expertise, and tap into an advisory network that truly helps us add value beyond just capital. This approach enables us to support founders in a meaningful, hands-on way, giving them the strategic resources and connections they need to grow.”
Challenges Faced
What are some of the challenges you faced while working at the firm? Garrett acknowledged:
“Infinite patience and confidence in yourself. This is a tough career—one of the few where you can still question if you are any good at it after 16 years on the job. I try not to take each failure personally and stay focused on the collective body of work. There are great highs, and low lows, so you can’t live in a constant state of self-doubt. I try to stay focused on the quality of the relationships that I build with my entrepreneurs—both in success and in failure.”
Future Goals
What are some of your firm’s future goals? Garrett concluded:
“Crosscut is launching a growth investment platform designed to back later-stage rounds in frontier tech. With over 100 investors already committed, the invite-only network will syndicate a select set of underwritten growth deals to a network of mission-aligned investors, including family offices, endowments, and foundations with a focus on frontier technologies such as nuclear fission, synthetic fuels, and next-generation transmission and grid solutions. We hope to build the platform from there to include a project finance and infrastructure offering to enable FrontierTech companies to scale from FOAK to NOAK – bringing commercial scale to these transformative product offerings.”
