GitHub Cofounder on Becoming a VC: Five Questions With Tom Preston-Werner
By Hunter Walk
Tom Preston-Werner on now becoming a VC himself, and four other questions I asked him.
Early stage capital for technology founders
Ideas start with founders. Founders start with PWV.
PWV provides early stage capital for technology founders building the future. The above selected portfolio is a non-exhaustive representation of investment highlights from PWV Fund I, the PWV Rolling Fund, and earlier investments by Tom Preston-Werner.
Message from Tom
"My goal, with every PWV investment, is to back ideas that truly create a differentiated future. Ideas that change the fundamental rules of what’s possible. Ideas that both embrace technology and celebrate people as the most important factor in the better future we want to build.
That's how I created and scaled GitHub to a $7.5B exit."
Tom Preston-Werner
General Partner, GitHub Cofounder
What Founders Say
"PWV is the fund you want on your cap table in the early days. They ask the right questions, help solve the hard challenges, and their support has been incredibly effective in setting us up for long-term success. The community they’ve built is a real unfair advantage—nothing I’ve found anywhere else."
Ralf Schonherr CEO & Co-founder, Myriad
"I found PWV to be one of the rare funds that took the time to deeply understand our market and strategy. Their team’s extensive experience in crafting exceptional products, fostering vibrant communities, and scaling successful businesses shines through in the unwavering passion they bring to supporting founders like me."
Pedro Piñera Buendía Co-founder, Tuist
"The PWV team has been super supportive on our journey. Always happy to help with advice, feedback, and intros, but never getting in the way and letting us run our race."
Matt Perrott CEO & Co-founder, BuildPass
"The PWV team just understands developer tools and the entire space. They're technical and strategic. They're ready to jump in to support, but also give us space to cook."
Dan Farrelly CTO and Cofounder, Inngest
"We love working with them because they're former founders who have built in the dev tools space and are super technical, which makes explaining complex technical concepts so much easier. Their expertise and partnership have made a huge difference."
Jessie Frazelle CEO and Founder, Zoo
"Tom, DT, and DP are all super helpful. Tom helped us navigate messaging, and DT jumped knee-deep in code and became a customer and friend I could depend on. In my book, that's extremely rare. That's why I recommend them."
Ahmad Awais CEO and Founder, Langbase
Latest News
Railway raises $100M Series B to unburden the builders
By Jacob Cooper
Railway has raised $100M to unburden the builders, unlock the creatives, and unleash human potential
PWV Year in Review: 2025 Highlights
By PWV Team
From founder conversations and private salons to portfolio milestones and community announcements, PWV spent the year doing what we believe matters most early on: staying close to builders, tracking early signals, and creating space for community and connection.
Graphite is joining Cursor
By Cursor Team
Graphite has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Cursor.
Meet the private space company building satellites—cheaper, faster, and better—in an old San Francisco shipyard
By Harry McCraken - Fast Company
Astranis is modernizing an essential piece of modern communications infrastructure—and doing it in its own urban factory.
Our Series D: Scaling fal
By fal
Generative Media is growing faster than imagined. New use cases, from design to the future of commerce, are emerging every day. To meet this accelerating demand, fal is continuing to scale. Today, we're excited to share that fal has raised a $140M Series D, welcoming new investors Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins
The Real Genius of AI Investing: Why Venture Capital Isn’t a 1980s Frito-Lay Sweepstakes
AI investing isn’t Lazlo’s Real Genius sweepstakes machine. VC isn’t closed, founders choose, and even infinite capital can’t guarantee outcomes. The real genius of AI investing is judgment, timing, and knowing when not to invest.
Meta acquires AI device startup Limitless
By Sarah Perez
Limitless said it shares Meta's vision of bringing personal superintelligence to everyone.
Powering compliance for High-Stake AI agents
By Alinia
At Alinia AI we have raised a $7.5 million seed round led by Mouro Capital, with participation from Raise Seed For Good, Speedinvest, and Precursor Ventures. Our technology makes scalable AI control and compliance a reality for regulated organizations seeking to deploy generative AI, by embedding real-time auditing, policy enforcement, and risk control directly into their AI systems.