# Welcome to Hayseed Capital By Jeff Stowell · 2026-02-26 · Announcements > Welcome to Hayseed Capital, where I am trying to rethink how startups get funded and how people learn about the venture ecosystem. ### Why I Built Hayseed Capital: Rethinking Venture Capital's Broken Model The data on venture capital is pretty stark. At the time I'm writing this, the median VC fund barely returns its capital. Smaller funds consistently outperform larger ones... by a lot. Yet the industry keeps raising bigger funds, writing bigger checks, and chasing the same shrinking pool of billion-dollar outcomes. I've watched this up close for nearly fifteen years and I've come to a pretty simple conclusion: the model is broken, and it's broken by design. > I started Hayseed Capital because I believe venture capital needs a fundamental reset. Not incremental improvements, but a completely different approach to investing, beginning at the earliest stages. Traditional VC operates on a broken playbook: raise massive funds, deploy large checks, push companies to raise multiple rounds, and pray for billion-dollar exits a decade later. This model creates a vicious cycle where funds need increasingly large outcomes to justify their existence, leading them to overlook strong unit economics built within capital-efficient businesses that could deliver exceptional returns through earlier exits. Further, each subsequent, unjustified raise relies on a herd mentality of subsequent funds being willing and able to fund businesses at larger and larger valuations. I built Hayseed Capital around a different idea. Capital efficiency isn't a consolation prize for companies that couldn't raise more money. It's a strategy. The companies I'm most interested in are ones that can reach meaningful revenue quickly, get to profitability when it makes sense, and maintain real options about what comes next - for founders and for investors. B2B software, AI-enabled businesses sitting on proprietary data, vertical SaaS where a focused market position commands a real acquisition premium. These aren't lifestyle businesses. They're just built smarter than the VC consensus gives them credit for. The other thing worth saying is that Hayseed isn't a fund in the traditional sense. I've built a network of aligned investors who are looking for exactly the kinds of opportunities I describe above. That structure lets us invest earlier and lighter, keeps founders off the fundraising treadmill, and actually prepares companies for acquisition rather than just hoping one happens. The goal is exits that make sense for everyone, not just the fund. Sound interesting? Stick around! /JLS --- Canonical URL: https://hayseedcapital.com/blog/welcome Site: The Hayseed (https://hayseedcapital.com) — writing, coaching, teaching, and early-stage investing by Jeff Stowell. Operated by Hayseed Capital, LLC, Park City, Utah.