About
We were built by one engineer-founder to find and support other engineer-founders (and engineers who will become founders).
what makes us different
Welcome to Zero Prime Ventures, the go-to firm for Day 0 engineer-founders, led by Pete Soderling, the engineer-founder behind Data Council, the world's first (and best!) global full-stack data conference.
You might remember us as the Data Community Fund, but we decided to change things up in 2023 and became Zero Prime Ventures. Why? Because our focus on day 0 is a symbol of our unwavering commitment to supporting founders like you in your earliest stages.
We're here to support you from the start, even if you're not quite ready to take the plunge and leave your day job yet. We're your best brainstorming buddy, your closest confidant, and your most well-connected network, helping you every step of the way.
Ultimately, we lead the charge in your very first funding (think of us as the instigator & largest check of your angel round), and then we go above and beyond to give you unparalleled support on your journey to your series A.
We've got a laser focus on early-stage, engineering-led startups that have arrived at a key insight in the areas of data infrastructure, AI & machine learning, cloud ops, security, blockchain-based systems and developer tools.
a bit more about Pete
Our founder, Pete Soderling, is not your average investor. He’s an engineer-turned-founder-turned-investor. That's right, he's been in the founder’s shoes multiple times, experiencing the challenges and triumphs firsthand. Pete personally had to overcome numerous obstacles, charting his own path to success.
Pete’s tech journey began with an Atari 2600 and a Timex Sinclar (with a tape drive!). He fell in love with computers and as a self-taught programmer was lucky enough to catch the first internet bubble of the late 90s where he developed his experience as a software engineer on professional teams.
In 2003, Pete took his entrepreneurial spirit to the next level and founded his own software development company, mechanikal and in 2009, he launched his startup Stratus Security, a cloud-based data API management & security platform. Next was Hakka Labs, a social network for software engineers where he pulled together investors and advisors who were engineering leaders at Twitter, Salesforce and LinkedIn.
In 2013 Pete realized an emerging need for a data engineering community and launched the first Data Engineering Meetups in NYC & SF — soon after the Data Council conference series was born. For the past 10 years he’s been growing that community into the Data Council we all know and love today.
The ethos of Zero Prime is built around Pete's firsthand startup experiences as an engineer-founder that give him a powerful perspective to guide you. He's here to support founders like you right from day 0, through that first check, and all the way to your big raise.
