Founder's Follow-On Fund

The world's only venture fund where founders are the customer.

Every other venture fund answers to outside LPs — pensions, endowments, family offices — and the founder is the product they package and sell. The FFOF takes no outside capital. Its only investors are founders, who fund their stake by rolling EFLF and ECLF proceeds forward. That single constraint is what lets it charge below-market fees, get into deals others can't, and compound your equity into venture-grade returns.

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The Problem

Every venture fund has one customer.
It isn't the founder.

A VC fund makes its money two ways: a management fee — typically 2% a year — and carry, usually 20% of the profits. Both of those checks are written by limited partners: the pension funds, endowments, and family offices who fund the fund.

The founder pays the VC nothing. The founder pays in something else: equity, board control, and the right to be replaced. The LP is the customer. The founder is the inventory — sourced, packaged into a portfolio, and sold, at a markup, to the people the firm actually works for: The LPs.

It isn't malice; it's just the org chart. A GP who returns 3× to their LPs raises a bigger fund. A GP merely beloved by founders does not. The incentive points in exactly one direction — and it's not at Founders.

Which would be fine, if the Founders were getting a fair deal. But they aren't. We wrote the whole case out here — but the short version is below.

>75%
of venture-backed companies never return cash to investors. The person last in line for the payout is the founder.1
~60%
of founder-CEOs are replaced within four years — by the board the check-writers control.2
$0
founders can walk away with nothing even after a nine-figure exit, since the liquidation-preference stack is paid first.1
Show me the incentive, and I'll show you the outcome.
Charlie Munger
How It Works

A fund funded by founders, for founders.

The only way to make the founder the customer is to never take money from anyone else. So we don't.

01
Founders fund it — with equity, not cash.
There are no outside LPs. Founders become the fund's limited partners by rolling proceeds from their EFLF or ECLF positions directly into an FFOF stake — in a tax-optimized way, so more capital stays invested and compounds.3
02
A founder-led committee deploys follow-on capital.
The fund invests follow-on rounds into the strongest companies already inside the Rising Tide ecosystem — the same startups behind the EFLF and ECLF pools. The investment committee is composed of founders, picking with signal and access no conventional fund has (see below).
03
Returns compound, then convert to liquid stock.
Capital is redeployed across successive vintages. As winners mature toward the public markets, profits route through the All Hands ETF Section 351 conversion† — turning illiquid fund stakes into diversified, tradable, borrowable public shares.
The Edge

Three advantages no conventional fund can copy.

The FFOF isn't a better-marketed venture fund. Because its capital comes only from founders inside our own pools, it has three structural super-powers that no other fund can replicate:

01

God-view across the market.

Through the EFLF and ECLF pools we will hold equity exposure to thousands of companies — more ground-truth signal on private-company performance than virtually any investor alive. In an opaque, inefficient market, that edge is the difference between consistently mediocre and consistently top-quartile.

02

Deal access others can't get.

The founders of the most competitive rounds are frequently already Rising Tide clients, inside our pools. That relationship gets us into deals that are otherwise closed — before the rest of the market.

03

Value-add no one else can match.

Our network is a portfolio of founders. We put domain experts on boards, source the right advisors, and turn portfolio companies into each other's first customers. We don't just write the check — through the network, we make the company worth more.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
Desiderius Erasmus
The Fees

We answer to founders, so we charge like it.

The Standard VC Fund
"2 and 20"
The FFOF
Management fee
2.0%
1.5%
Carried interest
20%
15%
Whose capital
Outside LPs — pensions, endowments, family offices.
Founders only. No outside capital, ever.
Who you are to the fund
The product, packaged and sold to the LPs.
The customer. The only one we have.

Lower fees plus the structural edge above are why we expect the FFOF to meaningfully outperform comparable venture funds for its founder-LPs.4

The Other Side of the Fund

Raising your next round?

The FFOF has two sides. Founders put capital in — and Rising Tide ecosystem companies receive it.

If your company is already in an EFLF or ECLF pool, the FFOF can lead or join your follow-on round with capital from a source you already trust — backed by LPs who are founders themselves, and who can add real operational value rather than just a check.

What ecosystem companies get

· Follow-on capital from founder-LPs, not arm's-length outside investors.

· An investment committee of operators who have built and scaled companies.

· Warm introductions, board talent, and early customers from across the portfolio.

Talk to us about your round
Fund Details
Structure
Closed-end, founder-only LP base
Management Fee
1.5% annual5
Carried Interest
15% of profit5
Manager
Rising Tide Management LLP
FAQ

Common questions.

Who can invest in the FFOF?

Founders only — specifically founders who hold a position in an EFLF or ECLF pool. The FFOF does not raise from outside LPs, family offices, or any non-founder capital.

How do I fund my LP stake?

You roll proceeds from your existing EFLF or ECLF position directly into an FFOF stake, in a tax-optimized way — converting paper ownership in the pool into a stake in the fund. No new cash is required.

What does the fund invest in?

Follow-on rounds in the strongest companies already inside the Rising Tide ecosystem — the startups behind the EFLF and ECLF pools — chosen by a founder-led investment committee.

Why are the fees below market?

Because the fund has no outside LPs to serve. Indicative terms are a 1.5% management fee and 15% carried interest, versus the standard 2-and-20. We answer to founders, so we pass the savings back to them.

Can my company raise capital from the FFOF?

If your company is already in an EFLF or ECLF pool, yes — the FFOF can provide follow-on capital, with founder-LPs who add operational value alongside the check. Reach out and we'll walk through fit and process.

Founders Backing Founders

Stop being the product. Be the customer.

The FFOF is reached through the Founder Wealth Ladder — it starts with an EFLF position at seed. Already on the ladder, or want to be? Let's talk.

Request Information See the Founder Wealth Ladder

1 Failure rate & liquidation preferences — Roughly 75% of venture-backed companies do not return cash to investors (Shikhar Ghosh, Harvard Business School, analysis of ~2,000 venture-backed companies). Liquidation preferences pay preferred investors before common shareholders, and can leave founders and employees with nothing even in a nine-figure sale. Definitions and samples vary; figures are illustrative of the base rate, not a prediction for any company.

2 Founder-CEO replacement — Noam Wasserman, The Founder's Dilemmas: nearly 60% of founder-CEOs are replaced within four years, and the probability rises with each financing round. Boards controlled by investors decide who runs the company.

3 Tax-optimized roll-over — The availability and tax treatment of rolling EFLF or ECLF proceeds into the FFOF depend on fund terms and applicable tax law at the time, and on each investor's circumstances. Nothing here is tax advice; consult your own advisor.

4 Forward-looking performance — Statements about expected FFOF outperformance are the manager's expectations, not guarantees, and assume the described structural advantages are realized. Past performance of the venture asset class is not indicative of future results; most venture funds do not achieve top-tier returns. Benchmarks referenced elsewhere on this site are drawn from Cambridge Associates, Carta, and Preqin.

5 Fees — Indicative terms (1.5% management fee, 15% carried interest) shown for comparison to the conventional "2-and-20." Final fees, hurdles, and terms are set in the fund's offering documents and may differ.

† Section 351 conversion — Conversions must comply with IRS and SEC regulations in effect at the time of conversion; availability, NAV thresholds, and tax outcomes are not guaranteed. The regulatory landscape governing 351 exchanges is subject to change. Consult your tax advisor before making any investment decisions based on anticipated tax treatment.