NEW: “NOVA AI.”, the first agentic agent to match companies to exited founders and capital
BadgeBadgeBadgeBadge
250+ EXITED FOUNDERS. YOUR UNFAIR ADVANTAGE.

Build With Exited Founders
Who've Built, Scaled & Sold
The AI Edge is Human

SUPERNOVA is a venture fund run by 250+ exited founders sharing their collective genius, wisdom, resources, and networks. ✨

Capital scales companies.
Judgment determines outcomes.

Why this matters now

Less than 1% of entrepreneurs exit
99% founders walk away with nothing
70% of VC-backed startups fail
9% Series A make it to Series B
50% founding ceo's fired/forced out
Founders own <20% by Series C
VC's play games (growth-at-all-cost)
93% of VCs never built a company
83% founders live with chronic stress
72% founders struggle with mental health
50% founders experience insomnia
40% founder divorce rate
70% unicorns from repeat founders
75% founders regret selling/exiting
PE buys, strips and flips
You don't have to learn the hard way
Supernova exists to change the game
See if you qualify
  • We back top founders 💛
  • supernova founder
  • supernova founder
  • supernova founder
  • supernova founder
video thumbnail

Relationships Are The Unfair Advantage

We are 250+ exited founders investing capital and embedding as operators for outsized outcomes.✨
Supernova has a proven track record of scaling companies into zebras, unicorns, and decacorns.

supernovaline

350+ million entrepreneurs worldwide (less than 1% exit). We built, scaled, and sold. We lived the consequences of hyper-growth, near-death quarters, board pressure, and exits. Now we pay it forward. Supernova gives you the rarest resource: Wisdom, when it matters most.

services
founderAre you a Scaleup?
Apply for Supernova
+

Exited Founders

+

Companies Backed

+

Portfolio Company Valuation($B)

+

Exit Value ($B)

Ready to Play a Greater Game?

What if exited founders teamed up with companies changing the world to achieve their missions, faster?

Scaling is a game of high-stakes decisions. Companies fail because the wrong choices compound at inflection points.

That’s why exited founders matter.

At Supernova, founders gain operators, not spectators. We invest, embed, and activate to accelerate critical milestones. We don't sit on the sidelines. We get in the game with you.

The next generation of iconic companies will be built by leaders evolving as fast as the markets around them.

What we build today shapes how billions live tomorrow.

Let's get to work.

pvc

"They advise me. I advise others. That's the Supernova effect! When exited founders team up results happen faster."

Ben Lamm (6x Exited Founder)

Ben Lamm (6x Exited Founder)

CEO & Co-founder of Colossal
($200M Series C: $10B+ Valuation)

How Supernova Works

Get matched to exited founders, operator leverage, and capital.
Optimized for the one thing you can't get back: time. ⏳

1

Apply

Upload your pitch deck. NOVA AI scores you in minutes, not months.

2

Scorecard

Get your free founder scorecard - an honest assessment of where you stand and if you qualify.

3

Matching

We match you with exited founders who've solved your problems. You approve, they opt in, we connect you.

4

Exited Founders

One exited founder joins your team, focused on your most critical milestones.

5

Funding

We invest up to $2MM+ in up to 12 world-changing companies, paired with a tiger team of exited founders built to win.

The AI Reality Check

You can build anything with AI.
But who guides you changes the outcome.

AI isn't the moat

Every company has access to the same models, tools, and playbooks. The real differentiator is the judgment you apply. Judgment is forged through pattern recognition that takes decades to develop. Few get it. They are more valuable now than ever.

Decisions compound – or they don't

Good choices compound. Bad ones cascade. At your stage, one misread on talent, go-to-market, or tech architecture can define your next 12-24 months.

The last revolution left source code

The founders who built and exited during SaaS and mobile developed a muscle for navigating transformation. AI is the next evolution. They know this pattern.

The race isn't to zero
It's to compounding advantage
Who is in your corner matters

Signals

01 - Who we back 👩‍💻

Our primary focus is growth-stage ($10-100M+ ARR), Series A-C, and PE-backed companies. 🎯 We make exceptions for outliers (Seed/Seed+). We know them when we see them.

See If You Qualify In Minutes ⏱️
02 - When we engage ⚡
03 - What We Are Not ❌
04 - What We Are ☑️
05 - What Founders Gain 📊

"Successful founders know the real secret:
it’s all about having the right relationships.”

Barry Stamos, CEO & Co-founder SUPERNOVA

The Supernova Effect

Proof that the right relationships change everything.

They helped us bootstrap to $250MM ARR and merge with the category leader.

JT Marino

JT Marino

CEO & Co-founder

Tuft & Needle. YPO Forum Member

Supernova is a quantum leap in advisory support for growth-stage companies.

Lindsay Nahmiache

Lindsay Nahmiache

CEO & Founder

Jive (Exited)

When exited founders team up, results happen exponentially faster!

Ben Lamm

Ben Lamm

CEO & Co-founder (6x Exits)

Colossal ($200M Series C: $10B Valuation)

Scaling a company is hard AF. Supernova is an answer to our prayers.

Kathryn Fantauzzi

Kathryn Fantauzzi

CEO & Founder

Apollo Nuero ($30M Series A)

I recommend Supernova to my investments because I know they're a force multiplier.

Daniel Dubois

Daniel Dubois

Founder of Key (2x Exited Founder)

Founder of EO & YPO Angels & Partner at Side Door Ventures ($100M Fund)

Supernova matched me to a portco. The fit was so strong, I joined the company full-time (startup veteran: 9 of 11 Exits).

Jonathan Shambroom

Jonathan Shambroom

COO

Healthy Young Minds

As a 2x founder, Supernova is a no-brainer. Stack your team with exited founders!

Abhishek Anand

Abhishek Anand

CEO & Founder

Parkqulility

Supernova is now how I transfer my wisdom to builders of a better world.

Tim Chang

Tim Chang

Founding Partner (2x named Midas List)

Mayfield VC ($3B under management)

Supernova is like a growth-stage Y-Combinator.

Gary Moon

Gary Moon

Managing Partner (Exited Founder)

Nfluence Partners

I've received a ton of value. Supernova delivers what others advertise.

Chanddeep Madaan

Chanddeep Madaan

CEO & Founder

Aya Care

I was skeptic. Supernova proved me wrong - got hands-on to 3x sales!

Patrick Hilsbos

Patrick Hilsbos

CEO & Founder

Neuromore

QUESTION: WHO HAS YOUR BACK AFTER DEMO DAY?

Scaleups succeed or fail based on hitting timely milestones. Many get stuck bridging capital rounds (Series A to C) or burn out before achieving a sizeable exit or IPO. Meanwhile, 97% of VCs claim they are 'value added' investors. 31% of Founders agree. 50% wouldn't accept $ from them again.

ANSWER: SUPERNOVA

Supernova's exited founders significantly improve success rates of Scaleups ($5MM to $100MM+) that go the distance.

pvc
pvc

"Skip the guesswork. Learn from successfully exited founders who’ve already played and won the game."

Christopher Staley

Christopher Staley

CO-FOUNDER OF SUPERNOVA

We Help You Make Million Dollar Decisions

Wisdom Makes A Difference

With a 90+ Net Promoter Score (NPS) Supernova is the highest rated Exited-Founders-As-a-Service.

nps score

Portfolio: Rising Stars

Meet our founders, scaling what matters.

Ben Lamm
Ben Lamm

Ben Lamm

CEO & Founder

World’s first de-extinction company 🦄 ($200MM+ Series C; $10B+ Valuation | Decacorn Status)

Roberto Salcedo
Roberto Salcedo

Roberto Salcedo

CEO & Founder

Smart micro financing for everyone 💵. (Bootstrapped to $110MM+ ARR)

Dr. Leo Rastogi
Dr. Leo Rastogi

Dr. Leo Rastogi

CEO & Founder

Bio-individualized wellness-focused clinics, resorts, and living communities. 🌱

Kathryn Fantauzzi
Read
Kathryn Fantauzzi

Kathryn Fantauzzi

CEO & Founder

First vibration therapy system clinically proven to lower stress 🧘🏻‍♀️. ($30MM+ Series A)

Paul Graf
Paul Graf

Paul Graf

CEO & Founder

Personalized online therapy for kids and teens 🙋🏻 (Seed)

Builders We've Backed

We back conscious companies shaping the future.

Apollo Neuro
Attention Hero
Aya Healthcare
Baubap
Apollo Neuro
Attention Hero
Aya Healthcare
Baubap
Apollo Neuro
Attention Hero
Aya Healthcare
Baubap
Brain Ritual
Vegetable and Butcher
Clinicom
Colossal
Brain Ritual
Vegetable and Butcher
Clinicom
Colossal
Brain Ritual
Vegetable and Butcher
Clinicom
Colossal
EcoTwin AI
GravyWork
Healthy Young Minds
Human Intelligence
EcoTwin AI
GravyWork
Healthy Young Minds
Human Intelligence
EcoTwin AI
GravyWork
Healthy Young Minds
Human Intelligence
Liquidview
Marino
Myndbend
SoulSpring
Soul
Liquidview
Marino
Myndbend
SoulSpring
Soul
Liquidview
Marino
Myndbend
SoulSpring
Soul

250+ Exited Founders

Built, scaled, and exited companies. Now backing founders through the moments that define outcomes.

Embedded operators applying battle-tested judgment where companies break, stall, scale, and win.

AIAI
AlliancesAlliances
FundingFunding
GTMGTM
LeadershipLeadership
M&AM&A
MarketingMarketing
OpsOps
ProductProduct
SalesSales
ScienceScience
ScaleScale
SystemsSystems
TechnologyTechnology

Behind The Scenes

Watch the 'made it' podcast with Barry Stamos, CEO of Supernova

supernova

Our vision: To guide the world's brightest founders and scale their dreams for a Supernova of impact.

supernova

Our mission: To back world-changing companies with exited founders to achieve their missions, faster.

supernova

Our purpose: To accelerate the realization of the founder’s vision - from the only perspective that truly understands, as founders ourselves.

We are a conscious cooperative of founders invested in each other’s success

Frequently Asked Questions

Every portfolio company in Supernova’s fund gets a check up to $2M. That's the starting point, not the whole offer. Each company is also paired with 3–5 exited founders, including a Super Founder with prior exits of $50M+, who gets hands-on involvement, not just a call once a month. They're in the room when it matters: hiring decisions, fundraising strategy, partnership negotiations, inflection points that carry seven-figure consequences. Capital is table stakes. The reason Supernova portfolio companies achieve unicorn and decacorn outcomes is the judgment that sits alongside the check. 90% NPS. The founders we back tend to stay close.
We back up to a dozen scaleups each year. Typically, Series A–C companies, or bootstrapped businesses doing $5M-100M in ARR. For the right fit, we deploy up to $2M+ in capital alongside a hands-on tiger team of exited founders who have already been where you're trying to go. For earlier-stage companies that stand out, we'll sometimes embed an exited founders before we invest, to build the relationship and prove the fit. We're sector-agnostic. AI, HealthTech, Fintech, SaaS, eCommerce, Impact, and Web3 - the industry matters less than the founder and team. What we're drawn to: mission-driven leaders talking real problems, building companies, scaling what matters. Apply online to see if we're a fit.
Leading a $5MM to $100MM+ company doesn't get easier as you scale. New markets, financing rounds, growth, team, M&A - the complexity compounds. What actually moves the needle the most at this stage is making wiser choices that lead to better outcomes. Supernova puts wisdom and lived experience directly on your team. Not as advisors who show up quarterly, but as operators who dig in: guidance, introductions, interim roles, tiger teams or whatever the moment calls for. 70% of unicorns were built by repeat founders of at least one previously successful company. That's not a coincidence. Founders with multiple exits still bring Supernova because they understand what experienced pattern recognition is worth at scale.
If you feel “too busy” for Supernova, that’s usually the signal you need us most. We match each Supernova founder to members of your C-suite, based on where your biggest opportunities and blind spots actually are. For example, your CMO gets paired with someone who's already solved what they are facing right now. Leadership teams typically invest 5–10 hours per month and gain disproportionate returns through direct knowledge transfer: hard-won wisdom, pattern recognition, and trusted relationships that would otherwise take years to build. Our founders are called in at million-dollar decision points. They help teams level up, move faster, avoid expensive mistakes, and compound progress over time. Our guiding North Star is TIME. We don’t waste your time, your team’s time, or our exited founders’.
Most exited founders didn't get there alone. We know the right relationships matter. Supernova is how we give back and pay it forward to fellow founders with real upside. We are a peer group of 250+ exited founders who believe that, together, we can catalyze far more growth and impact than any of us could alone. Exited founders gain the opportunity to invest and/or earn equity in growth-stage companies by contributing their battle-tested wisdom, operating experience, and social capital. You choose your level of involvement. We handle everything else. Supernova sources the deal flow, handles all the structure and back-office work, and shares opportunities to participate as an advisor, mentor, interim executive, investor, or tiger team member. You gain equity (and sometimes cash/distributions), a peer group of people who've actually done it, and the satisfaction of being useful again in a way that matters. We share similarities with organizations like YPO; intimate, high-trust peer groups that serve as powerful sounding boards. The difference is that at Supernova, exited founders don’t just talk about the game, they get back on the field together.
Operational improvements are now the primary driver of PE returns, and nearly 70% of billion-dollar companies were built by repeat founders. Supernova institutionalizes that advantage, embedding outcome-driven operators who bring execution authority, pattern recognition, and personal accountability, delivering measurable EBITDA uplift, faster growth, and improved exits across the portfolio. Supernova acts as a force multiplier for modern VC and PE firms, helping them drive value creation in an era where returns are no longer driven by financial engineering alone, but by operational execution, talent, and speed. We go far beyond office hours, webinars, and traditional expert networks by giving portfolio companies direct access to the largest network of successfully exited founders and operators who have scaled and exited companies from $10M to $10B+, often in the same stage and industry your portfolio companies are navigating today. Supernova provides board-level operator leverage across the portfolio. Our exited founders don’t advise from the sidelines, they engage hands-on to help leadership teams move faster, make better decisions, and avoid costly mistakes at moments where execution risk is highest: post-acquisition stabilization, aggressive growth phases, executive transitions, AI and operational transformation, and exit preparation. Using NOVA, our proprietary AI matching engine, we diagnose each portfolio company’s most critical challenges and rapidly connect them with the right exited founders, often in minutes, not months, creating time compression and immediate execution lift. Learn more at 1supernova.com/pe
A Supernova shines hundreds of billions of times brighter than a single star. One sun sustains life. A Supernova reshapes galaxies. We believe it’s time for solo stars (successfully exited founders) to stop operating alone and start combining their energy, experience, and wisdom. When these founders align, something exponential happens. Insight compounds. Mistakes aren’t repeated. Momentum accelerates. Supernova exists to unite these founders into a living constellation: a founder flywheel where wisdom, capital, and execution move faster and cleaner through companies and ecosystems. Collaboration replaces competition. Experience becomes acceleration. Purpose becomes leverage. At its core, Supernova is about more than scaling companies. It’s about compounding wisdom instead of relearning pain, and helping founders build in a way that is worthy of the power they hold. Because the future won’t be shaped by those who shine alone, but by those who shine brighter together. ✨

Can’t find answers here?
Feel free to reach out.

supernovasupernovasupernova