Investor Spotlight: Meet Steve Achatz

Volition Press: Who is Steve Achatz?

Steve Achatz: I’m a Midwestern guy at heart — I grew up in the far northern suburbs of Chicago, in a small town called Green Oaks, Illinois near the Wisconsin border. My mom was a pharmacist and my dad was an entrepreneur, so I gained an appreciation for small business early on — it stuck. I came out to Boston to attend Babson for undergrad, where I studied finance and entrepreneurship.

After college, I began my career in economic consulting, focusing on M&A and capital markets advisory. That experience eventually led me to business school at Duke, strategy consulting, and then ultimately into growth equity and venture investing.

Outside of work, my hobbies are aviation and automotive repair. I am an instrument-rated pilot and enjoy wrenching on everything from rusty commuter cars to hand-built kit cars. I live just outside of Boston with my wife and our two young kids, a son and a daughter.

VP: What’s your approach to working with founders?

SA: I always start by trying to tap into a founder’s enthusiasm — what’s the big idea that’s keeping them up at night (in a good way)? Once I understand what excites them — maybe it’s a unique market structure, or a product advantage — I can start to see the business through their lens. I think it’s important to truly understand the merits at a foundational level; if you don’t first meet them where they are, it’s a recipe for misunderstanding rooted in skepticism on both sides.

That foundation then allows me to step back and objectively evaluate it from an investment perspective. Do the pieces add up? Is something being over- or under-weighted in their assessment? Most importantly, when considering all these variables, what is the path to a meaningful return?

I’ll work as closely with them as they want me to, and I’m not afraid to offer input unsolicited — but I generally try to take their cues. They’re in it day to day, and I have a lot of respect for that. But naturally their perspective tends to be bottoms-up and mine tends to be tops-down so there are a lot of insights to be had on both sides. My job is to bring humility first — and when I know I can be helpful, I’ll lean in and share my point of view.

VP: What’s a sector that excites you? What’s an underrated one?

SA: I recently got back from Shoptalk, and e-commerce is evolving in some really interesting ways. Everyone’s feeling the pressure of diminishing returns from traditional paid channels — Meta, Google, and the like — and there’s a need to find more efficient, scalable growth channels.

That includes building community, stronger brand loyalty, reactivating users post-checkout, leveraging micro-influencers, and creating viral referral loops. It’s a move away from traditional paid acquisition, and toward more sustainable, scalable models. In our portfolio, for example, US Mobile is doing this really well through Reddit and our recent investment in Levanta is an example of a company enabling these kinds of growth strategies.

On the underrated side: I love an obvious potential unicorn as much as anybody, but I also love businesses seeking to dominate moderately sized TAMs — say $300M to $700M – which are often unconventional and quirky markets that fly under the radar. A lot of investors automatically dismiss anything under $1B, but I think that’s a mistake. Smaller markets tend to be less developed (i.e. ready for disruption) and you can build a dominant position that creates real scarcity, both in the product and the asset, which can be a recipe for competitive moats and profitability.

VP: What’s a common theme across successful investments you’ve been part of?

SA: Flexibility. The best founders I’ve worked with know how to adapt. They don’t fall in love with a single plan — they respond to the market, to new opportunities, and to challenges as they come. The same goes for investors – you need to know when to pivot and be willing to make changes.

That adaptability shows up in smart experimentation. The best companies try new levers in a thoughtful, measured way. And if something’s not working, they don’t double down — they adjust. But you can’t be afraid to test and learn or make changes. It’s a mindset that compounds over time and sets a strong foundation for growth.

VP: What’s a book or podcast you love (or often recommend to founders)?

I’m a longtime fan of Planet Money. It’s a masterclass in making complex economic ideas simple and engaging.

Investors and founders often live deep in the micro — the operations, the metrics, the details. Planet Money zooms out and brings helpful macro context, all while telling great stories that make it stick. Despite the subject matter, the content is well presented and digestible by all audiences, which makes it easy to consume casually.

VP: What makes a pitch stand out to you?

SA: Clarity over charisma. The best pitches aren’t trying to sell — they’re trying to show.

What really makes something stand out is when they help you truly understand why it all works — why the product fits the market, why it’s better than what’s out there today, and how the business creates value.

It’s not about having a super polished pitch; it’s about clarity. When that clicks, that’s when conviction starts to build. If you establish that foundation with the investor, then it’s really easy for them to connect the dots and start imagining where it could go. But without that foundation, it can feel like a big vision with not enough behind it.