About
Old virtues, new technology.
Yesteryear Ventures is a private holding company based in San Diego. We invest our own capital in early-stage technology companies, help build them, and intend to hold the best of them for a very long time.
The story
It started as a way to do the work.
Yesteryear Ventures began as the company our founder, Jesse Forrest, used to take on technical work for founders he believed in: architecture, due diligence, the hard first hires, the version of the product that had to actually ship. Some of those engagements were short. Some became long relationships.
Over time, a few of those relationships became investments. The company grew into what it is today: a private vehicle for investing in, building, and eventually holding businesses — funded with our own capital and run with no outside clock.
We are deliberately small. We write a small number of checks, take a small number of engagements, and know every company deeply enough to be useful at two in the morning.
The name
Why “Yesteryear”
Most of what makes a company endure isn't new.
Patience. Craftsmanship. Plain speech. Doing what you said you would do. Technology changes every year; the virtues that let a team survive long enough to matter do not. We named the company after the part of the past worth keeping, and we try to apply it to things that are brand new.
How we invest
Small checks, long memory, real help.
We are angels in the original sense: people who have built companies, investing personally in people who are building them now.
- StagePre-seed and seed. Occasionally earlier, when it's a founder and a thesis we can't stop thinking about.
- CapitalOur own. No limited partners, no fund cycle, no pressure to deploy on a schedule.
- InvolvementHands-on by default. Architecture reviews, hiring plans, technical diligence, and introductions that actually convert.
- PaceSlow to decide, fast to help. We would rather miss a company than rush one.
- GeographyBased in San Diego. We invest anywhere in the United States and work in whatever time zone the incident happens in.
- SectorsThe care economy, resilience and property, marketplaces, payments infrastructure, and vertical software for serious operators. More on the home page.
Advisory
A few engagements a year, chosen carefully.
A small number of times each year, Yesteryear takes on advisory work where a technical operator at the co-founder level changes the outcome. The shape varies: a fractional CTO seat through a critical stretch, technical diligence for an investor or acquirer, or a short, intense build to get a product to the point where it can be judged.
We do this when the problem is interesting and the people are serious. It is how the company began, it keeps us honest about what building actually costs, and it is how we came to know several of the founders we have since backed.
If you think you have one of those problems, write to us with a few lines about what is at stake.
Looking ahead
Holdings
Over time we intend for Yesteryear to hold long-duration assets alongside its companies: land, property, and the rare business we never want to sell. The logic is the same as everything else here. Things that are hard to build and slow to compound deserve an owner who is in no hurry.
Plain speech: this is a direction, not a portfolio. We will update this page when that changes.