Content · Field Notes
Stories from the long middle.
Essays, a podcast and a weekly letter about the unglamorous years between the launch and the headline.
The library · tap to filter
Carreker Venture Fund · Dallas, Texas
The Future
is Now!
A family of founders backing the next ones. Scroll to tour the industries we're building across Dallas, one district at a time.
Scroll to tour the city
Why we exist
Every skyline started as an empty lot and somebody stubborn.
The Carreker family has sat on the founder side of the table for a long time. We've signed leases we couldn't quite afford, made payroll on a personal credit card, and learned that the best advice usually came from someone who had been one bad quarter from closing too.
Carreker Venture Fund is how we pay that forward. We back founders early, we stay for the long middle, and we judge ourselves by one question: would the founders we backed pick us again?
Belief
Patient money is a superpower
Great companies compound quietly for years before anyone notices. We're built to wait.
Belief
Founder first, deck second
Slides change every month. Grit, judgment and taste don't. We bet on the person.
Belief
Show up when it's ugly
Anyone can cheer at the launch party. We're the call you make when the launch slips.
Belief
Nobody builds alone
Our founders get a family: operators, peers and dinners that turn into lifelong friendships.
Three ways in
Pick your door.
Founders raise from us. Individuals and funds invest with us. Every door leads to the same family table.
For founders
I'm building something.
Raise from people who've done it. First checks from $250K to $2M, a decision in 21 days, and a family that answers the phone.
Apply for funding → For individual investorsI want to back builders.
High-net-worth individuals and families investing alongside the Carreker family, on the same terms, with a front-row seat.
Invest as an individual → For funds & institutionsWe allocate to managers.
Funds of funds, endowments, family offices and RIAs looking for emerging-manager exposure built to institutional standards.
Invest as a fund →For founders · Looking for investment
Bring us the idea that won't leave you alone.
We invest from pre-seed through Series A. If you're early, a little unreasonable, and building something you'd use yourself, we want to hear from you.
First check$250K to $2M, leading or co-leading. Room to follow on as you grow.
A real answerYes or no within 21 days of our first call. No slow fade, no ghosting.
Founder familyOperators who've run sales, hiring, fundraising and finance. On call, not on retainer.
Court's doorMonthly office hours with our CEO, for portfolio and non-portfolio founders alike.
Launch pad · tap to explore
Send the short version
Ten minutes. Tell us what you're building and why it has to be you. Decks optional.
Coffee, not a gauntlet
A 30-minute conversation with a partner. Bring your hardest open question.
Build day with the family
A working session on your real problems, so you get value even if we don't invest.
Decision and dinner
An answer within 21 days. If it's a yes, the first dinner is at the Carreker table.
Apply for funding
Tell us what you're building.
Every application is read by a person on our team. Not ready yet? Apply anyway. We love meeting founders before the round.
For investors · Investing with us
A safe place to back what gets built next.
Venture is risky by nature. How a fund is run shouldn't be. We built Carreker Venture Fund the way we'd want our own family's money managed, because it is.
The Carreker family has sat on both sides of the table. We've raised money and we've invested it, and both times we learned the same lesson: trust is built in the boring parts. Who holds the cash. Who checks the math. How fast you hear the bad news.
So we started there. Before the first check went out, the safeguards went in. Five of them hold up everything we do.
Five pillars · tap a column
Safeguards shown are proposed commitments for illustration. Final terms, service providers and policies are set only in the fund's offering documents.
You built wealth. Let it build things.
Most people who've built something meaningful want their capital to do the same. Individual investors sit at the same table as the family: the same companies, the same terms and a front-row view of founders as they grow.
Beside the familyFamily capital goes in first, then yours, on identical terms.
Right-sized accessA dedicated vehicle for individuals keeps minimums sensible.
Co-investmentOptional chances to add to breakout companies alongside the fund.
Learn the gameVenture 101 sessions, Family Table dinners and the annual Founders Summit.
No surprisesPlain-English quarterly letters and tax documents you can count on.
| Vehicle | Individual investor vehicle (proposed) |
| Who can invest | Accredited investors |
| Minimum | Discussed individually |
| Reporting | Quarterly letter and capital account statement |
| Tax documents | Annual K-1 |
| Access | Founders Summit, Family Table, office hours |
A conversation
A call with Court about your goals and how venture fits.
Verification
A quick accreditation check through a third-party provider.
Documents
Subscription documents, reviewed with your advisors.
Welcome dinner
Meet the family and the founders you're backing.
Individuals & families
Let's talk about building together.
Court or a partner will follow up personally with the fund overview and next steps.
Institutional rigor. Founder-level access.
An emerging manager should have to clear a higher bar with allocators. We welcome it. Carreker Venture Fund is built to institutional standards from day one, with the deal flow and operator access only a founder family brings.
Direct LP commitmentInvest in the main fund alongside the Carreker family's own capital.
A seat at the tableLP Advisory Committee seats for anchor investors.
Reporting you can modelQuarterly reporting aligned with ILPA templates, plus clear valuation methodology.
Open diligenceDDQ, policies and data room ready before the first meeting.
Co-investmentAllocation rights in follow-on rounds for qualifying LPs.
| Vehicle | Carreker Venture Fund I, LP (proposed) |
| Investor types | Funds of funds, endowments, foundations, family offices, RIAs |
| Governance | LP Advisory Committee |
| Reporting | Quarterly, ILPA-aligned |
| Audit | Annual, independent |
| Side letters | Considered for anchor commitments |
Intro meeting
Strategy, team and pipeline with Court and the partners.
DDQ and data room
Policies, service providers, track record and models.
References
Talk to our founders and co-investors without us in the room.
Commit and close
Documents, side letters if needed, and a seat at the Summit.
Funds & institutions
Request the DDQ and data room.
We'll set up an intro meeting and open the data room for your team.
Focus areas
Six districts. One city we want to live in.
We invest where we've operated, so our help is worth more than our check. Each district below is a lit building in the city up top.
Portfolio
The skyline so far.
Every building is a company and every company is a founder who decided the world needed one more thing. Hover the skyline or browse below.
Portfolio skyline · hover a building
Programs
Scaffolding for every stage of the build.
Capital is one tool. These programs are the rest of the toolbox, and most are open to founders we haven't invested in yet.
Job site · tap a structure
Team
Builders first. Investors second.
A family of founders and the operators they trust most. Between them: a global banking technology company, public-company boardrooms and national brands run at scale. Tap anyone to read their story.
Company
A family business whose business is founders.
Carreker Venture Fund grew out of the kitchen table. For years, friends' kids and friends of friends would call the Carreker household with a business plan and a question. The answers turned into introductions, the introductions turned into checks, and eventually it was clear: this needed a proper home.
So we built one. Same family, same phone numbers, more firepower.
Candor over comfortWe tell you what we see, early and kindly.
Generations, not quartersWe plan in decades and act this week.
Open doorsTalent is everywhere. Access isn't. We fix that.
Earn the second yesThe founder choosing us again is the only score that counts.
The homestead · tap to explore
- Where it started
The kitchen table
A family of founders, a lot of late nights, and the lessons that only come from building.
- The angel years
Paying it forward
Informal checks and introductions for founders who reminded us of ourselves.
- Making it official
Carreker Venture Fund opens
Court Carreker leads the launch of a dedicated early-stage fund with outside partners.
- Next
The future is now
Programs, a founder family and a skyline that grows one company at a time.
Press releases
News from the job site.
Announcements, new investments and program launches. Members of the media can reach us at press@carrekerventurefund.com.
Broadcast tower · tap for news