A talent and research-driven investment firm // Publishing research on private tech companies @contrary_res

San Francisco, CA
Joined June 2016
Contrary's Venture Partner applications are due TONIGHT at 11:59pm PT. If you're in school and want to build in tech, we'd love to meet you. Apply here: contrary.com/vp-apply
Every summer we bring together current and past Venture Partners for our Retreat weekend. It's an amazing weekend with lifelong memories. Our community is now 300+ strong and filled with incredible founders, operators and investors. For those who are in school and want to build in tech, Venture Partner applications are open until this Sunday, September 13th. Apply here: contrary.com/vp-apply
2
11
808
Every summer we bring together current and past Venture Partners for our Retreat weekend. It's an amazing weekend with lifelong memories. Our community is now 300+ strong and filled with incredible founders, operators and investors. For those who are in school and want to build in tech, Venture Partner applications are open until this Sunday, September 13th. Apply here: contrary.com/vp-apply
1
1
14
1,147
Out of 300+ Venture Partner alumni, more than 30% are now founders. Another 45% work in engineering/product/ops at exceptional companies like @OpenAI , @physical_int , @tryramp and others. 12% are investors at firms like @BessemerVP and @BainCapVC . If you're in school and want to build in tech, come join us at @contrary . Apply here: contrary.com/vp-apply
2
8
219
Contrary retweeted
Contrary Venture Partner applications are now open! If you're a builder on campus, interested in investing in exceptional startups, and want to be part of one of the most selective communities in tech, apply now. Contrary invests and works directly alongside exceptional founders to build enduring companies, from seed to scale. With this approach, we’ve been fortunate to back iconic companies like Ramp, Anduril, Zepto, and many others. Our Venture Partners are great builders and future founders who become the go-to resource for others on campus. As a VP, you’ll learn first-hand what it takes to build and invest in exceptional companies, from taking part in investment decisions to sitting in on fireside chats with seasoned founders and investors. Best of all, you’ll be joining and learning from the best community in tech. Most VPs go on to become venture-backed founders, early engineers/operators, or investors, and enjoy the support of Contrary’s network for life. Read more here: contrary.com/blog/venture-pa… Apply here by Sept 13th: contrarycap.typeform.com/Con…
2
22
17
113
49,494
Today, we’re launching The Anduril Thesis, a 300-page book 2 years in the making. Of 500+ companies we’ve covered, Anduril could be the most important of all. Because if it mission is successful, it could single-handedly deter a catastrophic global conflict. Here's the story:
87
122
30
2,025
309,120
Today, Ramp raised another $300M at a $32B valuation. In the past year our revenue has doubled to over $1B, growing 10x faster than the median public SaaS. We all know money talks — we're teaching it to think. Getting big no longer means getting slow.
237
168
189
2,834
3,423,974
Today we're announcing Valar Atomics' $130m Series A, led by Doug Philippone at Snowpoint Ventures and co-lead by Day One and Dream. Also joining Team Valar are Balerion, Contrary, DTX, Alumni, Crosscut, Triplepoint, Palmer Luckey, Shyam Sankar, and more great funds and angels.
181
144
98
1,593
699,589
We recently wrapped our Retreat weekend in Austin, TX, where we brought together current and past Venture Partners. It's always one of the most energizing weekends each year for me to reconnect with and be inspired by my Contrary peers. Our community is now 300+ strong and filled with incredible founders, operators and investors. For those who are excited about joining us, applications are open until this Sunday, September 14th. Apply here: lnkd.in/g66ZumBD
1
7
2
30
5,573
I'm excited to announce our $22M Series A here at Orchard!🍎 Here @Orchard_Robots, we’re securing America’s food supply by building the AI farmer that automates our nation’s farms. Our mission is to make farming profitable, efficient, and sustainable again.
192
166
110
2,186
1,648,169
Join us tonight at Contrary's National Info session, where we'll chat about Contrary and the VP program in more detail. If you’re excited about joining the very best community in tech and startups, we’d love to meet you. RSVP here: lnkd.in/gY6bb-dz Apply here: lnkd.in/g66ZumBD
Out of 300+ VP alumni, more than 25% are now founders. Another ~40% work in engineering/product/ops at exceptional companies like Ramp, SpaceX, Warp, and others. 15% are investors at top-tier venture firms like Bessemer Venture Partners and Bain Capital Ventures. Almost 100% in tech, in some capacity. If you're excited about tech and want to chart your own path, Contrary is the place for you. Join us tomorrow night at our National Info Session, where we'll chat about Contrary and the VP program in more detail. RSVP here: lnkd.in/gY6bb-dz Apply here: lnkd.in/g66ZumBD
2
15
1,826
Excited to announce the annual Contrary Tech Trends Report. When extraordinary people build companies, they canvas for opportunities at the cutting edge of either technological or societal shifts (or both) This is a 300+ report shining light on those cutting edges. Link below.
1
13
1
71
8,136
Announcing Leland's $12M Series A led by @ForerunnerVC! Forerunner has an incredible track record of backing iconic consumer brands and marketplaces like @WarbyParker, @Chime, @glossier, @ouraring, @faire_wholesale, @Zola, and others. We couldn't be more excited to welcome @eurie_kim to the board and partner with her and Forerunner to take Leland to the next level. Also participating in the round are @gsvventures, inVest Ventures, and our early investors like @FjLabs, @contrary, @PetersonVenture, and @GSBackers. We’re also proud that dozens of Leland coaches and customers participated, in addition to leading marketplace founders, operators, and angels from companies like Instacart, Handshake, LinkedIn, Pluralsight, Mercado Libre, and others. With this fresh capital and support, we're well positioned to accelerate our vision of unlocking human potential by making the world's expertise more accessible. In the past year alone, our coaches have helped hundreds of thousands of people in over 70 countries break into top schools or companies, develop new skills, prepare for interviews or tests, and pursue goals across dozens of unique categories. While a fundraise is never a destination, it certainly represents an opportunity to reflect on the progress we’ve made and thank the community who has helped us get this far. So, THANK YOU! We know the biggest opportunity is ahead of us, and we’re excited to be building a world-class team to go after it. If you want to join us, we're hiring. if you want to partner with us, shoot me a DM. And if you are interested in working with a coach or coaching the next generation, we'd love to have you in our community.
23
15
6
155
20,154
There is a specter haunting agriculture — soil erosion and degradation. This week, I wrote about the threats facing America’s most fertile and arable lands. contrary.com/foundations-and…
2
4
37
3,627
Although Nvidia grabs the spotlight in AI, there’s one chip company that is threatening to steal the crown. Chips 56x BIGGER than an Nvidia H100, packed with 50x more transistors. We unpack Cerebras' goal to enable bigger & better AI models in our latest 12K+ word deep dive...
2
8
2
61
11,553
Two years ago, Contrary Research was born. Since then, we’ve covered hundreds of companies, dozens of industries, written nearly 1 million words, and grown to 75K+ subscribers! Looking back, Contrary Research is a pulse on the world of technology! You can see it in the data... • November 2022: The launch of ChatGPT (@OpenAI) • February 2023: @stripe announces $4B fundraise + line of sight to $1 trillion in payments • Summer 2023: @huggingface dominates the news with new features and a massive fundraise • August 2023: @ZeptoNow becomes a unicorn, raising $200M • September 2023: @Instacart goes public! • October 2023: @RevolutApp makes moves to get a UK banking license • November 2023: @SHEIN_Official files paperwork for an IPO • February 2024: @Neuralink announces its first human patient • April / May 2024: @Rippling announces a Series F at $13.5B and @tryramp announces a Series D-2 at $7.65B • August 2024: @HadrianSpace acquires its first company Follow along to see our coverage of the world’s most important private tech companies, and be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest updates in your inbox!
4
9
2
43
11,211
supercomputers are some of the coolest tools in the national + scientific arsenal — as we now enter the era of exascale computing, they're getting even cooler contrary.com/foundations-and…
2
6
1
24
4,194
Over the last month, Contrary Research has gone deep into Hadrian's business. This included a 12K+ word deep dive into how they're building an automated factory... Plus, an hour long conversation with Hadrian CEO and founder, @2112Power Full memo + links in thread below:
11
13
3
118
24,801
the new era of mining — in video essay form! 🏔️
7
10
3
88
11,087
we're rounding up the impact of GLP-1s on healthcare and the economy in this week's F&F insights piece! contrary.com/foundations-and…
5
1
38
4,016