Vessel views founders as ‘modern day explorers’ embarking on journeys to discover new worlds and build the future of their industries. They embrace a founder-first mentality, emphasizing that they are ‘born of the seas’ with direct experience of both success and failure in building companies. Their philosophy rejects the traditional VC-only model, instead meeting founders ‘where you are with right-fit solutions’ across multiple investment and support mechanisms. They acknowledge the reality of startup risk candidly: ‘We have ships that have made it to land (product-market fit), and ships that rest at the bottom of the waters.’