Jeff Clavier pioneered the micro-VC model in Silicon Valley, going from writing $25-50K personal angel checks in 2004 to raising one of the first institutional micro-VC funds in 2007, which helped establish the now-standard seed fund model. He's known for his Three Asses Rule for evaluating startups—backing a smart-ass team building a kick-ass product in a big-ass market—and was one of the first seed investors to back consumer hardware like Fitbit in 2008 when it was still viewed as non-obvious. Jeff Clavier pioneered the micro-VC model in Silicon Valley, going from writing $25-50K personal angel checks in 2004 to raising one of the first institutional micro-VC funds in 2007, which helped establish the now-standard seed fund model. He's known for his Three Asses Rule for evaluating startups—backing a smart-ass team building a kick-ass product in a big-ass market—and was one of the first seed investors to back consumer hardware like Fitbit in 2008 when it was still viewed as non-obvious.