Summer Strengthens our Connection Currency
August 2026
Melissa Freeman
The summer months bring a disruption to the usual routine for parents when kids are out of school. New rhythms develop as kids stay up later and take more prodding to get out the door to attend a sports camp or art lesson across town for half the day. However, showing up in new venues to keep my kids entertained and off screens for most of the day, has allowed me to spontaneously run into our portfolio company founders, limited partners and other acquaintances that I don’t typically see during the school year. My kids became friends with Thread CEO Justin Vandehey’s kids at a sports camp in Tualatin and I ran into Jeff and Sandy Grubb [pictured] kayaking on the Willamette River just last week (Sandy and Jeff are long-time investors in OVF. Sandy is the author of Just Like Click and Jeff is a lifetime trustee of M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust).
While the chauffeuring takes extra time and work hours often extend into the evenings to make up for clunky summer schedules, I am reminded about the power of our network at Oregon Venture Fund and the competitive edge we enjoy because we live in community with our constituents: world class founders and startup leaders, limited partners, wealth managers, ecosystem partners and, the best part, their kids!
Oregon Venture Fund invests in the most competitive startups who have a presence in Oregon and Southern Washington. While we review 250-300 business plans per year, we invest in only 3 to 4 new companies annually and make 4 to 5 follow-on investments in portfolio companies meeting their milestones. Our portfolio has earned an average 16% net IRR and produced a 3.1X average net return across all funds since 2007 (19 annual funds!).
Because many entrepreneurs who vie for OVF investment are pre-revenue or may not even have a product yet, we are hyper-focused on the founders. Our investing team has only so much time to get to know the founders, understand their business model and product or solution, evaluate the market and decide whether to invest. But once we invest, the portfolio company founders, board members and staff become our partners as we all work together to help each company grow and scale.
A huge contributing factor to a company’s success is the ability to leverage relationships within the OVF network to assist with customer introductions, talent recruitment, sourcing professional services like legal, accounting, banking and real estate, board development and, most importantly in my mind, moral support. Our founders trust us to help their big dreams become reality. We believe our ability to get to know our founders and their teams in person in the boardroom and the parking lot while dropping off kids, fosters relationships that are well-rounded, meaningful, transparent and trusted. Our founders are well known and our network views them as heroes. We are cheering them on, responding to their requests, offering guidance, and are there to help through the tough times and exits. We can even assist with an occasional carpool for their kids or sunscreen on the river.
Our relationships and close connectivity with our constituents are not things that can be easily quantified, but it is how we add value beyond a check. It is a complementary currency that builds trust, support, resilience, and makes everyone more efficient. Communication flows more freely and problems get fixed more rapidly because of the comfort of being in the same room, same community, and same time zone.
At a time when some funds are pivoting to a national strategy to source deal flow, OVF is doubling down on finding and investing in the best talent in our region. It’s a differentiator that gives our funds a competitive advantage and, in the summer, it makes work and life even more fun!
For more information about investing with OVF and our collaborative model, please contact Melissa Freeman, Director, Investor Relations, Melissa@OregonVentureFund.com