**All VCs Claim to be Founder Friendly, but Detroit's Ludlow Ventures Takes it to Another Level**

Cover Image

"If we are not standing up in their wedding, we've failed."

VCs Jonathan Triest and Brett deMarrais attribute their venture firm's 15-year success to their ability to read people and build lasting relationships with founders. This "Midwestern nice" approach may seem old-fashioned, but it has helped Ludlow Ventures thrive in a competitive industry.

Before founding Ludlow, neither Triest nor deMarrais had significant operating or investing experience. Triest was fresh out of school when he started the firm in 2009, and deMarrais joined him three years later after winding down his first job, a wedding videography outfit.

Fast forward to today, and Ludlow has $250 million in assets under management, including a new $50 million fifth fund that recently closed with commitments from notable investors such as billionaire Dan Gilbert and the financial services company Northern Trust.

Triest and deMarrais's people-centric approach has led to successful investments, including a Chrome extension that helped customers score deals. They wrote the first check to entrepreneurs Ryan Hudson and George Ruan, who later founded Honey, a shopping and rewards platform that sold to PayPal for $4 billion in 2020.

"I see my peers 'out diligence' themselves, when in reality you can only look at the people," says Triest. "Our biggest miscalculations have come when we invested in verticals or ideas that we loved but the people were not exceptional."

While many VCs claim to invest in people, Ludlow's approach has been particularly effective. The firm has maintained a strong bond with Hudson, who recently raised a $5 million round for his new startup, with Ludlow writing a $3 million check.

Ludlow's investments are diverse, with no geographic or sector focus. The firm has funded hundreds of startups, including Flex, a flexible payments platform; Density, a workplace analytics company valued at $1 billion; Captions, a video editing app that raised $25 million in Series B funding; Notarize, an online notary network valued at $760 million; Backbone, a startup that turns iPhones into gaming devices; and Copilot Money, a budgeting app that raised $6 million in Series A funding.

Asked about the unifying threads among these companies, Triest again emphasizes the importance of people. "If we are not standing up in their wedding, we've failed," he says.