Team
We come from your side of the table.
Mike Stachowiak
Managing Partner
University of Michigan · Computer Engineering
Mike Stachowiak on LinkedInTwenty-five years in the founder's seat: three companies built, leading to three exits.
Mike was building AI long before it was mainstream: in 2004 he hand-coded neural nets to derive the semantic meaning of search queries arriving by text message, work that became the patented core of what was then the largest text-based mobile search engine. He built and scaled an online ad network from $0 to $10M in ARR in 18 months; when the same company became a top-100 traffic website, the infrastructure holding it up was his. He then spent a decade on a short-term rental software platform, from Y Combinator in 2012 through its eventual acquisition. He has written the code, hired the teams, raised the rounds, and answered the acquirer's call.
He started writing angel checks along the way and never stopped: fifteen years of early money, including Zapier, Anduril, Omaze, and Clever. Zero Index is that practice turned full-time, with Mike as the largest investor in the fund.
Two companies co-founded, two exits, and every operating seat in between.
He and Mike landed on the same engineering team at QuinStreet in 2002 and have been building together since. They joined 4INFO's founding team, then co-founded MyVR, where Markus ran go-to-market, customer success, and the team: everything outside the codebase. When Guesty acquired MyVR, he stayed four years to run the division at global scale.
At Zero Index he is the second set of operator eyes: on diligence before an investment, and on call for portfolio founders after it.
For founders
Need help organizing a raise?
Check out Capvia, the startup fundraising platform built and maintained by the team at Zero Index: practice your pitch against a simulated investor, search 10,000+ investors by stage and check size, and run the whole raise from a CRM built for fundraising. Use it whether or not you ever pitch us.
Building something ambitious?
We'd love to hear about it. Day zero is not too early, and no ambition is too big. Reach out and tell us where you're headed.