Paige Craig
VCFounder & Managing Partner, Outlander VC
Founder-first pre-seed investor, ex-Marine veteran
Background
Paige Craig is the Founder and Managing Partner of Outlander VC, a pre-seed and seed fund he founded focused on backing the most ambitious founders at the earliest stage. Before Outlander, he was an active angel investor in over 110 startups from 2008 to 2015, building a portfolio that included Airbnb, Lyft, AngelList, and Postmates. He served as a U.S. Marine Corps officer and later co-founded the Lincoln Group, a defense intelligence firm. His 38-point Founder Framework underpins all investment decisions at Outlander, which has backed 17 portfolio unicorns including Scale AI and Imbue. Craig earned an MBA from National University and a BS in Information Technology from the University of Maryland.
Investment Thesis
Founder-first pre-seed investing using a proprietary framework to identify exceptional leaders at the earliest possible stage across frontier tech including defense, AI, and robotics.
Investment Focus
Stages
Typical check: $50K–$250K
Sectors
Based in: New York, NY, USA (North America)
Notable Investments
Scale AI
Early angel $150K SAFE at $3M cap in 2016; now valued at $7.3B+
Imbue
Early investment when company was called Sourceress
Lyft
Early angel investment; NASDAQ: LYFT
Airbnb
Early angel investment; NASDAQ: ABNB
AngelList
Early angel investment 2011
Gusto
Early angel investment 2012; payroll and HR unicorn
Early angel investment 2010–2017; now X
Andela
African engineering talent marketplace; early angel