Rick Smith

Rick Smith is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Crosscut Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Los Angeles, USA, where he oversees regional seed investments. Alongside fellow co-founder Brett Brewer, Smith has helped build the firm into a prominent institutional investor, recently raising capital for the firm's Crosscut 6 fund to back emerging technology startups. Before establishing Crosscut Ventures, he gained extensive traditional venture capital experience and subsequently took a brief professional sabbatical to focus entirely on his family. He frequently discusses his institutional investment philosophy and market observations on various industry media platforms, including notable appearances with host Jim Baer on The Puck podcast. Drawing from his Midwestern blue-collar background and early entrepreneurial ventures like newspaper delivery, Smith currently focuses on identifying early-stage founders who demonstrate exceptional grit, hustle, and humility.