Nick Tippmann

Founder & GP @TipTopVC - Vertical AI, Operator-led, Pre-seed/Seed. Previously founding CMO @GreenlightGuru. Angel & LP.

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

Big news: I’m thrilled to officially unveil @TipTopVC — a new pre-seed/seed stage, operator-led venture firm backing the next-gen of Vertical AI founders.

After an amazing 8+ year run as founding head of marketing and CMO at Greenlight Guru — from $0 to tens of millions in ARR, creating the medtech QMS category, and raising $120M+ — I knew I had two paths:

a) start another software company
b) start a venture fund built the way I wish VC worked when I was a founder

For nearly 13 years, it’s been a personal goal to build a top-tier VC firm that the best founders want to work with. But the marketer in me always said: “the world doesn’t need another undifferentiated B2B SaaS fund.”

So I unplugged. Got a cabin in the Rockies with my then girlfriend, and now wife. And after some much-needed clarity, I had four big realizations:

1. I didn’t have one problem I wanted to solve for 10-15 years—but I had unique experience operating in vertical markets that founders could lean on

2. The future of software (and AI) is vertical

3. My experience gave me a unique right to win with the top founders

4. The best VC firms of the next decade would operate like AI-native startups themselves—brand-led, data-driven, community-built

That’s when TipTop Ventures was born.

The Vertical SaaS+ thesis I shared nearly 2 years ago unexpectedly went viral. That post pulled me forward. Fast forward to today—and after 30+ vertical SaaS+ angel deals, over a dozen LP checks written, and 9 TipTop investments closed—I’m proud to announce we’re live.

While I’m just now announcing the firm, here’s what we’ve quietly built so far:

- 9 investments across legacy and underserved industries

- 3 companies marked up out of 6 investments made in 2024

- Raving founder feedback on our support-per-dollar invested

- 30+ founding LPs from the likes of ServiceTitan, Procore, Mindbody, Greenlight Guru and more

It hasn’t been easy going zero-to-one in this market—but the momentum is real.

In fact, based on Carta’s latest fund data, if we were a 2023 vintage (we’re 2024), we’d already be tracking top decile.

And yes, TipTop is led by a solo-GP, but not solo-built.

I’d like to express my deep gratitude for all the support from these early believers:

Thank you to my amazing wife Mari Tippmann for your unwavering support since day-minus-one

Thank you to our LPs for your early belief and trust–it’s taken very seriously

Thank you to Bill Loss for being a rock as founding advisor and LPAC member

Thank you to Ershad Jamil for joining me as a Venture Partner

And most of all — thank you to our founders. You chose us when we didn’t even have a website (or a fund in some cases). I’ll never forget that.

We believe AI is the biggest platform shift since the internet.
We believe the future of AI is vertical.
And we believe the best founders aren’t just building tools — they’re reinventing industries.

If you’re one of those founders: we’re writing $150k–400K checks at pre-seed/seed. Let’s build together.

Join us on the journey to the TipTop.

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

@TuckerDordevic @AustinSensingCo ‼️👀🇺🇸

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

@boardyai @TipTopVC @ClutchVC @CapitalFactory @DLA_Piper @rhobusiness @KPMG Ofc Boardy. Checks only.

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

Austin founders: @TipTopVC, @ClutchVC, @CapitalFactory + fellow pre-seed/seed funds are taking over Butler Pitch & Putt.

Meet investors writing early checks + founders building here. Golf optional.

Oct 28 · 5-9 PM
Thanks to @DLA_Piper , @rhobusiness + @KPMG!

RSVP 👇

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

Spots are already tight - request to join here: https://t.co/2kxhY6umZ2

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

@MariaDavidson @usekojo Congrats Maria!

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

@oanaolt @AustinSeningCo @TipTopVC Thanks Oana!!

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

Couldn't be more impressed by Tucker, Isaac, and the @AustinSeningCo team. Massive mission and the pace of execution has been remarkable.

Proud to have backed them early @TipTopVC and thrilled to double down alongside an incredible group of investors!

[Tucker Dordevic @TuckerDordevic]

Today, @AustinSeningCo is excited to announce our $11 million seed round, bringing our total funding to $15 million. The round was led by Bow Capital, with participation from Bling Capital, Draper Associates, mark vc, GTMfund, Ensemble VC, and others.

Austin Sensing Company exists to build the world’s best sensors and sensor fusion. We’re a manufacturing-first company that measures success by the number of systems deployed in critical areas across the globe. We design for performance, low cost, and high-volume production, with systems as simple to use as your phone and easy to integrate into our customers’ vehicles, platforms, and networks.

Since launching this summer, we’ve deployed our systems with more than 40 police departments, fire departments, military units, universities, and professional sports teams. They’ve been deployed at wildfires, around airports, and with the U.S. military.

In addition to our funding news, we recently moved into a 20,000-square-foot factory in Austin, Texas, where we’ll develop, test, and manufacture our radar, RF, and acoustic sensors. Next year, we’ll begin high-volume production of our radar and acoustic systems, including critical components manufactured in-house.

If you want to work on extremely hard problems with exceptional people, we’re hiring across all parts of the business, including engineering, manufacturing, sales, and operations at our factory in Austin. Apply on our website or shoot me a note: [email protected].

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

@timreha Appreciate it my friend!

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

Officially coming back online today after paternity leave.

My wife and I are thrilled to share that we welcomed our first baby, Charlotte Eleanor Tippmann.

The past few weeks have been full of family time, tiny outfits, and the best kind of perspective shift. She’s already brought a lot of joy into our world.

Somehow, @TipTopVC also managed to have a pretty busy stretch while I was out: 3 new investments made, 1 new SPV closed, and one of our portfolio companies signed a Series A.

It’s been the best kind of whirlwind.

I’m jumping back in this week and will be in SF for a couple of events, then on the road quite a bit over the next 4-5 weeks.

Grateful for the family time and excited to be back!

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

@ErinCollard Thanks Erin! Appreciate it!

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

@AmberIllig 😊 thanks Amber!!! Really appreciate it.

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

@SaaSletter Thanks Matt!!

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

@nickhATX Thanks Nick!! As TipTop’s newest team member, was mandatory she suited up early 😆

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

@hiVanessaLiu Boom, nailed it! She’s going to be hard to top :) thanks Vanessa!

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

@AnjneyMidha Heyy! 👋

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

@yoheinakajima 👋🫡

[Ryan O'Hara @Ryohara]

"SaaS is dead" is what all the cool kids say on online these days.

But while they are collecting their heat like Pokemon cards, and getting people to smash that "like" button, there's something else happening in the private venture capital market that they shouldn't sleep on:

The evolution of vertical software turning into vertical AI.

These are companies who already have distribution, lots of customers, and oh yeah... real revenue that isn't just "potential revenue."

VCs are keeping an eye on this too, so I sat down and talked with @ntippmann from @TipTopVC this week for the Capital Report to discuss everything we've wanted to know about "vertical" world in venture capital.

[Nick Tippmann @ntippmann]

@Magyer Had a ton of fun jamming on all things Vertical AI with you, Joe! Thanks again for having me on, and great write-up! Hopefully some good nuggets in there for founders building today.

[Joe Magyer @Magyer]

Excited to share my conversation with @ntippmann! Nick is a vertical AI and GTM expert so it was great to talk shop with him about AI, how B2B SaaS evolved, and how distribution has changed.

Here are some takeaways and insights from the conversation:

Vertical AI changes the value proposition from efficiency to execution. Nick’s core framing is that SaaS helped people save time, while vertical AI can actually do the work. That shift changes the buyer, the budget, the pricing model, and the ceiling for how large these companies can become.

The real TAM unlock is services and labor, not software. Traditional vertical SaaS was constrained by software budgets. Vertical AI can compete with outsourced services, internal labor, and professional work that previously sat outside the software spend category. That is why Nick sees the opportunity as dramatically larger than the prior wave of vertical SaaS.

The best vertical AI companies will not be thin wrappers. Nick’s bet is on companies that combine workflow software, domain-specific context, proprietary data, and agentic execution. The model is not “AI replaces SaaS,” but “SaaS evolves into a system of work.”

Incumbents are vulnerable when their strength becomes rigidity. Legacy systems of record often have distribution, data, and customer relationships, but they can also be slowed by old architecture, existing pricing models, and organizational inertia. Nick is most interested in markets where the incumbent is entrenched but not especially nimble.

Distribution and trust may matter more in AI, not less. Because software is easier to build, it is harder to stand out. Nick argues that content, community, events, brand, empathy, and domain expertise remain critical. In vertical AI, credibility with the buyer can be a moat before the product moat fully compounds.

Outcome-based pricing is becoming the new frontier. AI products are pushing companies away from seat-based SaaS pricing and toward pricing tied to completed work: per resolved ticket, per document, per workflow, per enriched record, or against avoided professional services spend. The best pricing models will align with the value customers actually experience.

Forward-deployed services are not a weakness; they may be evidence of where value accrues. Nick sees OpenAI and Anthropic building services-heavy motions as a sign that intelligence alone does not solve enterprise problems. Context, implementation, workflow integration, and judgment still matter — which supports the vertical AI thesis.

Seed investors need to look past the demo. In a world where a founder can vibe-code a polished product quickly, Nick focuses on deeper questions: Does the company get better with usage? Is there proprietary data exhaust? Are there reinforcement loops? Can the wedge expand into adjacent workflows? Is there a real vision beyond the initial tool?

The wedge still matters, but the expansion timeline is compressing. Nick acknowledges that AI lets companies build more faster, but he still wants a sharp entry point. The difference is that founders may need to move from wedge to broader workflow coverage much earlier than in the SaaS era.

GC AI is a case study in founder-market fit plus distribution. Nick backed the company because Cecilia Ziniti brought deep credibility in legal, had early community instincts, and chose a focused wedge in in-house legal. The insight was not just that legal work fits LLMs; it was that in-house legal has distinct workflows, budgets, and pain points from law firms.

VCs and founders are often talking past each other. Nick thinks VCs underappreciate how brutally hard execution is, while founders often misunderstand fund math and why “good growth” may still not be enough for the next round. The AI era has raised expectations, especially as investors compare every company to the fastest-growing AI breakouts.

Nick’s contrarian view: foundation labs moving up the stack does not kill vertical AI. His argument is that the labs’ move into applications and services actually proves the opposite: raw model intelligence is not enough. Durable value may accrue to companies that own the workflow, the customer relationship, the domain context, and the system of work.

Really enjoyed this episode of @InvestNStartups. Thanks to Nick for coming on!