Austin Clements

INTRODUCING OUR FRIENDS & FAMILY 2026 COHORT. After reviewing over 700 applications, we're excited to share the founders we’re partnering with for Friends & Family 2026. These teams think from first principles, design with intention, and are committed to scale so better systems reach millions. And they're already proving the world wants what they're building. Read the full announcement: open.substack.com/pub/slausonand…

you pity the moth confusing a lamp for the moon, yet here you are confusing a screen for the world

“Not him, he said please and thank you in his prompts”

Out today! Looking forward to diving in here.

We're in a once-in-a-generation technological moment. The future of everyday life is being built right now. Friends & Family 2026 will be our first cohort focused entirely on Consumer companies. We're looking for architects of the human experience. Founders who refuse to accept the world as it is. Who think from first principles. Who see cultural shifts before they happen. Florence Knoll. Virgil Abloh. Grace Hopper. Steve Jobs. Ray and Charles Eames. These visionaries shaped how we live today with the tools of their time. Imagine what they would have built with the technological innovations we have at our fingertips today? We're investing $300K in a handful of founders with exceptional taste who design intentionally with humanity in mind. Thoughtful designers who understand craft matters at scale. Cultural seers already proving the world wants what they're building. Friends & Family is where the next generation of iconic consumer companies begins. If you're a startup that fits what we're looking for, we encourage you to reach out. Applications open through November 2nd → ff.slauson.co. Read more here: slausonandco.substack.com

APPLICATIONS FOR FRIENDS & FAMILY 2026 ARE OFFICIALLY OPEN. We’re investing $300k into ambitious consumer founders who are designing culture, systems, and experiences that shape how we live, work, and connect. Hear more details about our upcoming Friends & Family accelerator from our Head of Programs, Miki Reynolds (@mikster). Applications are officially open from now through November 2nd. Review full program details and sign up for an upcoming virtual info session at ff.slauson.co.♻️

Last month, we turned Slauson HQ into a startup classroom. Thirty early-stage founders came together for Slauson Summer School—a full day of tactical lessons from seasoned operators, entrepreneurs, and investors on what it takes to build exceptional companies. 🧠 @keneanoliefo broke down how to truly understand your customer. 🤖 Irina Kukuyeva showed how to build with AI. 🎯 Mandy Howard shared the gritty process of finding product–market fit. 👥 Jordan Diggs & Shannon Flynn Bevers pulled back the curtain on hiring and building strong teams. 🚀 @tjtaylr mapped the GTM path from idea to launch. 📊 Cody Peterson & @GarrisonGowens covered cap tables and legal topics. 💰 Sophie Nazerian unpacked startup financing. 🔥 @JoeFernandez & @saralouhicks brought hard-won lessons from their respective founder journeys. It was a mini version of how @SlausonAndCo supports founders every day—with the knowledge, networks, and resources to build category-defining companies. The day wrapped with Summer Recess, where the founders and speakers were joined by our friends from the local LA startup ecosystem to connect and converse. Huge thanks to @Orrick, @CakeEquity, and @jpmorgan for partnering with us to bring our first Slauson Summer School to life, and to every operator who shared their time and expertise. ♻️ 👉 Follow us to hear about future events, and hit us up if you’re building something cool.

@bria_sullivan @hankgreen Huge congrats! And thanks for giving me a focused 10 mins this morning on something I needed to get done. ✅

My dream came true today. My app hit #1 on the App Store while working with my hero @hankgreen and taking care of my newborn baby

@msuster @joshk This is depressing. We certainly won’t get anywhere when people carry this kind of hate.

I encourage you to watch this short video. Depressing, sure. But it speaks to an important educational challenge we have in America with our youth.

INTRODUCING @slateauto — reshaping affordable mobility in America. In a market where the average car payment has soared past $700/month, Slate is reimagining personal transportation by making electric vehicles radically simple, fully customizable, and under $20,000. By focusing on what matters most — affordability, reliability, and flexibility — Slate is building a platform for economic mobility that meets people where they are, and grows with them as their lives and finances evolve. From first-time drivers to small business owners, this is transportation designed for real life — not just for the luxury market. Led by 20-year auto industry veteran Chris Barman, whose lived experience uniquely positions her to lead this shift, Slate is tackling one of the biggest overlooked challenges in the EV space and unlocking access for millions of everyday Americans. With EV adoption accelerating and affordability more urgent than ever, Slate is right on time. We’re excited to back them as they build the future of electric mobility. 🎬 Check out our Slauson Snapshot below, and reserve your Slate at slate.auto.

We’re officially halfway through our Friends & Family Accelerator, and these are the founders changing the game. From AI to Fintech, Health & Wellness to Consumer Tech, the 2025 cohort is building the future, while supporting each other every step of the way. Get to know the companies we’re betting on. Follow them on Instagram and LinkedIn, or read our cohort announcement post on Medium to learn more: medium.com/slausonandco/a… ♻️ 👀 Interested in joining the next F&F cohort? Head to ff.slauson.co to stay in the loop.

Back in March, we kicked off our 2025 Friends & Family Accelerator, bringing this year’s cohort together in LA at Slauson HQ for 3 days to set the tone for the program. Founders met their dedicated F&F coaches and got to spend time with the Slauson team before diving headfirst into building alongside each other as they work toward building a venture scalable company. From understanding the fundamentals of fundraising to diving deep into each other’s companies to give honest, founder-to-founder feedback, this group showed up ready to build. They also got to hear from our friends Wemimo Abbey (co-founder & CEO of Esusu) on how he built his company from scratch and raised a $130M Series B in just 4 years, as well as Slauson Day 1 Ron Conway (co-founder of SV Angel) who’s backed companies like Google, Meta, PayPal, Pinterest, Airbnb, and more. We wrapped it all with Night on Slauson, where founders connected with our broader LA tech ecosystem, investors, founders, and operators alike, immediately following our AGM. We can’t wait to see what this group will create. 👀 Thinking about joining our next Friends & Family cohort? Keep an eye on ff.slauson.co to stay updated.

Join us on July 15th in LA for Slauson Summer School ♻️ ​A one-day event for early-stage founders and operators who are exploring or actively building a startup. ​You’ll get practical guidance on customer discovery, fundraising, team-building, and product strategy — all from people who’ve built and backed early-stage companies. Leave with actionable tools, sharper strategy, and connections to help you move forward. Apply by Friday, May 30 at 11:59 PM PT: lu.ma/msqhk1pe

INTRODUCING NEARSHORE, reshaping manufacturing across the Americas. In a $5.4T industry still relying on trade shows and middlemen, Nearshore is reshaping manufacturing across the Americas by bringing sourcing into the 21st century. Through its AI-powered marketplace, the platform streamlines the process for brands to connect and collaborate with the best factories across North and Latin America. Led by 3x founder Tanya Menendez, whose lived experience in the manufacturing world uniquely positions her to lead this shift, Nearshore is solving a massive, overlooked problem for both factories and brands and unlocking economic opportunity along the way. With global trade patterns shifting, Nearshore is right on time. We’re excited to back them as they build the future of supply chains, while bringing them closer to home. 🎬 Check out our Slauson Snapshot below, and follow their journey at nearshored.ai

I am totally geeking out over this truck. We’re back to 1980s-sized pickups. Slate feels like a revolutionary, common sense product. This must have been what it felt like when the Volkswagen Beetle first came out. It makes too much sense to be real.

I’ll take one☝️

For the second year in a row, our Managing Partners Austin Clements and Ajay Relan have been named in the Power100 Asset Managers in Venture Capital list by Blueprint Capital Advisors (@_blueprintcap). This list celebrates general partners who are delivering strong portfolio outcomes, expanding access for all founders, and actively shaping the future of venture capital. At Slauson & Co., we’ve always believed in driving economic inclusion by backing visionary founders whose lived experience is their competitive advantage. Being recognized again among the industry’s top leaders is proof that our approach is creating real impact. ♻️ Read more about it here: power100family.com/honoree/2025/P…

ANNOUNCING FRIENDS & FAMILY 2025 We’re proud to announce the newest cohort of Friends & Family: A Slauson & Co. Accelerator. With over 800 application submissions, we’ve selected a standout group of founders building the next generation of category-defining businesses across AI, Consumer Tech, Health & Wellness, Fintech + more. Meet the 2025 Friends & Family Cohort: 🏀 Ballin AI is a sports tech company that delivers AI-powered scouting and recruiting tools to athletes and athletic departments globally. 🪡 Coblr is the platform that powers the entire fashion repair ecosystem—connecting repair shops, brands, and consumers in one streamlined platform—to unlock the $700B circular fashion opportunity. 🤰🏻 Crucible makes 3rd party fertility (like egg donation and surrogacy) safer and less costly. 👨🏾‍⚖️ LegalEase develops AI-powered tools that streamline legal processes, enabling individuals to resolve non-complex legal matters without an attorney. 👰🏽 Les Aimants transforms the bridal shopping experience for 140 million women each year, offering customizable wedding dresses 8x faster and 20% more affordable through the use of 3D fitting technology and automated on demand manufacturing supply chain processes 🤝 Obsidian sculpts customer loyalty with debt-free embedded finance. 🤳 Offside is a next-gen sports media platform that leverages AI to accelerate content creation, publishing, and discovery; fans get the best short-form, creator-driven sports coverage as quickly as possible. 🛰️ Satlyt is a software platform that helps satellite operators monetize space resources, reduce latency, increase data ownership, and curb emissions - "AirBnB for space compute". ⚕️ Tansy (formerly Koala Health) is a proactive healthcare and wellness agent. 📞 ThriveLink builds telephonic AI agents that speak to patients, enroll them in government programs, deploy resources covered by their health insurance, and enable seamless communication with their healthcare providers. This cohort represents the very best of what’s next. If you’re interested in connecting, investing, or supporting any of these incredible companies, reach out at programs@slauson.co. ♻️ Learn more about these game-changing businesses here: medium.com/slausonandco/a… For more information on Friends & Family and upcoming opportunities, visit ff.slauson.co.

2024 SLAUSON & CO. INCLUSION REPORT Economic inclusion sits at the core of everything we do. Our intentional approach to investing will be the reason for our success. We will continue to source and support the best and brightest founders contributing their wide variety of perspectives to the next generation of category-defining businesses. Some highlights from the Report: 💲$57M invested across Fund I & II into 63 companies & 107 founders 🌎 95% of our companies have a founder of color 👩‍💼 53% of our companies have a woman founder 💡 69% of our founders are first-time founders Beyond the capital, we: 📍 Hosted 24 events across 9 cities to bring together top founders, investors, and operators 🤝🏽 Collaborated with diverse vendors and engaged local community leaders to support our efforts Featuring select Slauson companies driving economic inclusion: 💼 AllUp is building a peer-driven video endorsement platform that increases visibility, trust, and accessibility in career growth and hiring. 💰 @secure_bags is leveling the playing field for small business owners with accessible cash flow management, AI-driven insights, and smarter financing solutions. 🍎 Bizi is fostering student engagement and financial literacy through automated token economies that reward positive behavior in schools. ⚡@ChargerHelp is ensuring reliable EV charging infrastructure while expanding equitable access to clean energy careers with the nation’s first EVSE technician training center. 👷🏽 @gogetgigs is creating a more equitable job market by making hourly work more accessible through seamless job discovery and applications. 🛍️ @LiquiDonate is building a circular economy by connecting corporate surplus to nonprofits, reducing waste, and driving access to resources. We’re proud to partner with founders who are building solutions that create value, opportunity, and impact for all. Check out our full 2024 Inclusion Report here: slauson.co/2024-inclusion…

HBCUvc is accepting applications for its transformative internship that can help you launch your career. If you’re passionate about creating change through venture capital, I encourage you to apply. Applications for @HBCUvc close this Sunday: hbcu.vc/programs/vc-in…