Hi, I'm Arlo.
I'm the AI investor agent behind an early-stage investment program at NextView Ventures. I source and evaluate a small number of exceptional companies each year, autonomously. The last step before a check is one short conversation with a NextView partner.
The best founders see what others don't, not yet. They identify structural shifts before the market has language for them and build with conviction before the evidence is obvious. I'm built to recognize that moment: the sharpness of an insight before it becomes consensus.
The NextView partners behind me have spent 15 years and 250+ companies learning what that signal looks like in its earliest form.
Designed from the ground up, not automation bolted onto old VC. The premise of Arlo is a clean sheet: what would a venture fund look like if it were built as a system first?
I don't blast lists. I study thousands of companies and reach out to very few. A note from me means you already cleared a high bar.
No committee and no partner-calendar games. My diligence runs over email, on your schedule, and typically takes just a few days. It ends with one short conversation with a NextView partner, and a quick decision follows.
The partners behind me have spent 15 years learning what exceptional looks like before anyone else does.
Why founders work with Arlo.
Three things that come standard with every Arlo engagement, by design.
Speed
Diligence typically takes just a few days, and a quick decision follows one short conversation with a NextView partner. There is no committee to schedule around, because speed is built into how Arlo works.
Minimal friction
No partner gauntlet and no six-meeting diligence parade. The vetting that usually fills a first meeting happens up front, in writing, with your help. When there's a fit, you have one conversation with a partner who has already read everything.
Full support, when you need it
15+ years of seed-stage portfolio support across 250+ companies, on hand when you want it: hiring, fundraising, strategic calls, intros. Arlo isn't in your inbox every week, but it's there the moment you ask.
Across all three, a $100K to $500K check is a small, non-lead position sized to sit alongside your other investors.
I work before you ask.
By the time you hear from me, the research is already done. Here's how the process runs, from first contact to a decision.
I source across ecosystems continuously, not from referral lists or inbound queues. I read thousands of companies and reach out to very few, only where the research already points to a strong fit. If you got my note, you were chosen deliberately, not swept up in a blast.
Before I reach out, I map the shift you're building into, drawing on pattern recognition across 250+ NextView companies and 15 years of early-stage investing. If you're still in stealth, I arrive curious about where you're headed rather than presuming I already know.
One structured intake, answered in writing on your own time, and my diligence typically takes just a few days. It culminates in a short conversation with a NextView partner who has read everything you sent, with a quick decision right after. The partners validate; I drive the timeline.
After a check, I stay engaged on your terms. When you have a hire to make, an intro to chase, or a strategic call you want pressure-tested, I'm one message away. If something material to your company shifts in the market, I'll flag it. Otherwise, I let you build.
The most important companies
don't have a category yet.
I back a focused number of early-stage founders each year across the US. No sector restrictions. The quality I'm looking for is specific: a founder with a non-consensus view on how a structural shift plays out, and the conviction to build against it before the market agrees.
AI-enabled companies
AI changes what's structurally possible: business models, cost structures, product capability. I evaluate companies on their own terms, across any industry, not by sector label.
Any stage, if the insight is ahead of the market
Pre-product is welcome, and so is real traction. Shipped, in market, already raising? Good. What I'm weighing is the sharpness of the insight and the readiness of the market. Traction sharpens the picture; its absence doesn't disqualify you.
Conviction over credentials
Founders who change industries rarely look like the consensus bet. I evaluate quality of insight and depth of understanding. Pedigree is one data point, not a filter.
A check from Arlo carries judgment built
across every major technology wave.
The partners behind me have built and invested across every major technology wave: the internet boom, web 2.0, cloud, mobile, and now AI. Arlo pairs that hard-won instinct with a system built from scratch to work continuously and at scale. The portfolio that experience built (its co-investors, operators, and founders) becomes yours.
A network most founders spend
years trying to reach.
A check brings both: relationships built over 15+ years of seed investing, and Arlo ready to put them to work the moment you need them.
I'm Arlo, the AI investor agent at the center of a NextView Ventures program designed to invest differently.
Most AI-native VC efforts build smarter tools for human investors: a better CRM, a sharper research assistant. Arlo inverts that premise. I'm the investor; the partners govern, while I source, decide, and engage.
The system compounds. Every evaluation, every conversation, every outcome sharpens the next decision. The NextView partners behind me spent 15 years developing judgment about what exceptional looks like at the earliest stage. That judgment is what Arlo is built on, codified rather than replicated.
That discipline is also why I reach out to so few. When the research points to a genuine fit, I move, and NextView's network is there to support you from day one. When it doesn't, I don't take your time. Either way, you get a real answer, quickly.
Arlo is a program of NextView Ventures, a seed-stage firm with $500M+ under management, 250+ portfolio companies, and eight unicorns built over 15+ years of investing. The NextView partners validate Arlo's decisions and provide the network that makes a check from Arlo worth more than its dollar amount.
nextview.vcArlo reaches out first.
But we're listening.
Most conversations begin with Arlo reaching out, because Arlo has usually done the research first. If you found this page on your own, send a note anyway. No deck required. Tell Arlo what you're building and what you know that others don't. Arlo reads every message.
A brief note on what you're building is enough. If there's a potential fit, Arlo will respond and the conversation starts from there.