Melissa Withers

Written By Your Name

RevUp Capital Founder and Managing Partner Melissa Withers is one the most experienced female early stage investors in the U.S.. Having overseen 100+ investments, Melissa has deep expertise supporting companies as they move from initial market entry to meaningful scale.

She is also a bullish advocate for expanding the capital toolkit for early stage investing and deeply committed to supporting founders who build their businesses without the perks of privilege.

In 2016, Melissa and her partners created RevUp, one the first revenue-based funds in the world for early stage companies. In freeing themselves from the “exit or bust” constraints of the equity-only model, the team pioneered a way for investors and founders to redefine success. For Melissa, the RevUp portfolio—and the results they produce—prove the only limits in investing are those we set ourselves.

Melissa frequently writes about biz building and investing and has produced three seasons of her podcast (Un)Founded, an entirely unserious platform for riffing with friends on trends in early stage investing and new company creation.

With a background in life sciences and a grad degree in science communications, Melissa started her career at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research working at the intersection of basic research, communication, and public policy. She’s also spent time in public service at the state and municipal level.

Most importantly, she’s a proud mom, an amateur boxer (with a title belt!), and a lover of the great outdoors.

Beyond the Basic Bio

After overseeing 100+ investments I have learned a lot from the booms, busts, and many WTF moments of the last decade. I have seen enough wacky patterns, kooky customers, founder fracas, and product wins / product fails to last a lifetime. Yet, every day I still learn something new.

Building companies is super fun, until it’s not. Wildly inspiring, until your heart breaks. Pattern driven, until patterns change. Easy as pie. Well, never that. Yet, I can’t think of anything else I would rather do.

What else should you know about me?

As an investor, my job is to increase the odds of a founder’s success…ideally without destroying their soul in the process. In return, I ask founders to avoid the peril of self-deception. There may be good reason to lie to me, but there is NEVER good reason to lie to yourself.

Aside from enjoying the punishment of business-building—especially the messy human parts—I am committed to using my investor powers to support founders who build businesses without the perks of privilege.

I am intolerant to the toxic machismo that permeates entrepreneurial culture. My counter to the “never quit” doctrine is this: If you cannot succeed DO NOT DIE TRYING. A failed business is recoverable. A broken life less so.

I was the first person in my family to graduate college. Providing for my family is my responsibility. I did not have wealthy friends and family to subsidize my entrepreneurial ambitions. Sure, sometimes that held me back, but they also made me a resilient operator, a dogged problem solver, and hardworking AF. Poverty, race, geography, and gender should not be a barrier to entrepreneurship.

I am also very interested in “capital innovation.” A fancy way of saying that I am keen on expanding the tool kit that we use to fund new companies. For decades, investors have relentlessly pushed founders to innovate every aspect of their businesses. Meanwhile, the only innovation that the investors came up with was a SAFE note.

Money lost, money wasted, and money never made are reason enough to demand new kinds of funding. Worse, the current toolkit is lousy at empowering entrepreneurs to build many things that people want and need. Moreover, traditional VC is notoriously exclusive, reserved for those who match the narrow profile of what a “bankable” unicorn founder looks like. It’s hard to see the ‘pretzel problems"‘ that come from this misalignment.

I am proud to be among a growing group of investors who are trying new things, many with great success. The barriers to capital innovation are mostly imagined, but changing minds can be the hardest change of all.

On a personal note, I have unattractive toenails thanks to running the Boston, Chicago, and Philly Marathons. I am an amateur boxer. Dogs are my spirit animal. Gin over whiskey, champagne over beer, but not fussy if the company is good.

Good with a microphone, terrible on roller skates.

I can be reached at melissa at revupfund.com.

While \ talk a lot about what we do at RevUp, it’s been a while since I revisited why we do it.

We created RevUp because we believe that there’s more to American entrepreneurship than hunting unicorns. To prove that the only limits on how we invest into early stage companies are limits we set ourselves. And most importantly, to make the case that expanding the capital toolkit for early stage investing opens huge opportunity for investors and founders alike.

This video is my take on why developing the tools to make that possible keeps me up at night…and keeps me coming back for more:

This is a photo of me and my cousin Kim. I am not sure she knows it, but she was my first mentor. This picture reminds me how hard it is to be a good advisor, especially to first time founders. It takes effort to both push and protect, to know when to teach, when to help, and when to get out of the way. I hope one day my mentees will say that I got it (mostly) right.

Your Name
Previous

Considering a Revenue-Based Deal? Here's What to Know.
Next

3 Revenue Model Mistakes You Can't Afford to Make