Baukunst

More photos from our NeXT product teardown at Baukunst studio! Thanks to everyone who joined and made it such a great night.

Thanks to all who joined us a couple weeks back for the NeXT computer teardown with Ken Haven of Acorn Product Development, who worked closely with Steve Jobs after his initial exit from Apple to help create one of the first computers built with systems and design thinking at its core. A shout out to Ken for sharing your insights, and to Baukunst GP Tyler Mincey for putting this all together! We'll see you at the next teardown event.

Is AI a fission or a fusion moment? AKA is AI technology coming together to make something new, or is it breaking things apart? A question we posed in the recent Baukunst study group on the seminal work by Marshall McLuhen, Understanding Media with Andrew McLuhan. What do you think? (Holly Herndon & Mat Dryhurst: All Media is Training Data)

If you’re a founder who is cold e-mailing a VC like me, please DO NOT do this ?? (and plz share your best / worst cold pitch story in the comments!!): 1. Do NOT write a generic note in the body of the email that reads “Please receive my pitch. Deck attached.” This is not how you woo people! I want you to entice me, intrigue me, and invite me to open your deck.?The body of your email should tell a compelling, tight story. Pitch me on your pitch! 2. While some will hate me for saying this...Do NOT send a powerpoint deck attachment. There's just a weird correlation between file type and founder quality, and rarely is a quality pitch made in ppt. I don't make the rules, but these are the rules. PDF, Docsend, pitch.com...all good options. At Baukunst, we endeavor to have a human look at all cold inbound. It’s tough, though, when bad email gums up the works. ______ ?? I'm Kate McAndrew, co-founder and GP at Baukunst where we lead pre-seed rounds with $500k-$1.5m checks in companies at the frontiers of technology and design. Follow my page for more on #startups #venturecapital #vc and more.

Tomorrow evening at Baukunst’s SF studio, we’re hosting a special hands-on session with a NeXT computer with Ken Haven from Acorn Product Development who worked on the product with Steve Jobs Public RSVPs are at capacity but we have a few spots left. Give me a like + comment if you want to come and I’ll dm you more info

Founders, start interviewing your investors. Amar Hanspal just announced that he raised $46M in stealth for Motif. But here’s the twist: He wasn’t just pitching VCs—he was vetting them. ?? Within 30 minutes, he could tell if an investor truly understood engineering software. The red flag? Short-term thinking. If a VC asked, “What will revenues be in Year 3?” ?? Buh-bye. Building a category-defining company—especially in ‘deep tech’—takes time. Too many investors want the next Figma but don’t realize how long it took to build: ? 3 years before they had a product. ? 5 years before they had real revenue. ? 7 years before they were an “overnight success.” ? 10+ years before Adobe offered to acquire them for $20B (which fell through, but that’s a topic for another day) The lesson? Great engineering software takes time—but when it wins, it REALLY wins. Amar’s strategy? Find investors who get the long game. He’s played key roles in engineer software bohemouths. (Autodesk, PTC) He knows that in winner-take-most markets, the right investors aren’t just check writers—they’re partners in vision and patient with execution. ?? That’s why we were the first to commit to Amar’s round Baukunst. We saw his vision, his track record, and his ability to build a generational company. So founders, flip the script. Don’t just take capital—recruit your investors. _______ ?? I’m Kate, co-founder & GP Baukunst. We are leading pre-seed rounds in companies at the frontiers of technology and design from our inaugural $100M fund. Follow me for more on startups, VC, tech + design. #startups #venturecapital #founders #leadership #engineeringsoftware

Hello, World - After nine months of stealth development in San Francisco, we are thrilled to unveil Estes Energy and our chemistry-agnostic battery platform built for the next era of mobility. Our third-generation technology powers commercial, defense, off-highway, marine, rail, and emerging physical AI markets, delivering the performance and unit economics required for mass electrification. The challenge is clear: for electrification to win in the U.S., it must outperform internal combustion on cost and capability—while securing a U.S.-based supply chain. Estes Energy is here to deliver. By pioneering innovations in novel light-metal alloys, elegant high voltage battery architecture, and giga-scale manufacturing, we're reshaping the U.S. industrial base for the electrified future. This journey would not be possible without the support of our visionary Pre-Seed investors: Baukunst, Rally Cap VC, Trucks Venture Capital, DCVC, and Gigascale Capital, along with our strategic and individual investors. Together, we are building something massive. If you'd like to learn more, visit estes.energy and drop us a line. The Estes Team #BatteryTech #Electrification #MadeinUSA #AdvancedManufacturing #LightMetals

Motif, a Baukunst portfolio company, is emerging from stealth today with the announcement of $46M in initial funding. Founded by former Autodesk co-CEO and Chief Product Officer Amar Hanspal, Motif's mission is to transform the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. Their platform merges geometry, cloud computing, and machine learning to enable more seamless collaboration in building design. "Digital tools play an important role in the collaborative, iterative process necessary to deliver a well-designed building," says Hanspal. "However, the evolution of these tools over the past 25 years has been disappointingly stagnant." Baukunst is proud to be the first investor to commit funding to Motif, participating in both their seed and Series A rounds. Motif has also secured investment from Redpoint and CapitalG, further validating the opportunity to bring long-overdue technological progress to a large market. We're excited to support the Motif team in their journey to transform AEC. #AEC #architecture #engineering #construction #design #autodesk #venturecapital

Huge thanks to ELLE Magazine for this in-depth coverage of the central question that drives us. We firmly believe that tastemakers, who have large audiences of engaged readers with whom they are in constant dialogue, are well positioned not only to identify tomorrow's biggest hits, but help those stories get into the hands of readers who will love them.

Kate McAndrew from Baukunst on how 10x talent can help you build a great team #startups #hiring