Before becoming a VC, Masha Bucher worked in PR and marketing — experience that has shaped the way she runs Day One Ventures.
After years of working in communications—including executive roles that gave her deep insight into how startups operate—Bucher realized she could either use her business acumen to become one of the most effective PR agents in the game or grow into something more.
“I was looking at what was going on in business, and because I could understand the context, I understood business, and because I understood business, my PR would be very focused on business,” Bucher told TechCrunch on today’s episode of Equity.
He founded Day One Ventures in 2018 after realizing he could create greater impact – and better returns – by investing in startups and providing them with comprehensive PR support. By combining these two functions, he could help portfolio companies more meaningfully while supporting only the stories he truly believed in.
“The structure of PR services is very flawed,” Bucher said, noting that contract PR firms often lean toward working more slowly so they can stretch client payments. “For startups, it’s very important to move fast.”
Beyond speed, there’s a cost barrier: “Early-stage companies shouldn’t have to pay $10, $20, or $30 a month for six months to get an announcement on TechCrunch. I just don’t think that’s fair and I don’t think that’s sustainable.”
Day One’s integrated model allows Bucher to work with startups at critical early stages, when they need the most support. Younger startups may be pivoting or experiencing founder reshuffles and “need to trust you to advise them and help them make decisions.”
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A firm’s financial backing gives it something that many traditional PR firms can’t: It’s literally invested in the story.
“I have an ambition to be, ideally, the first investor in the most important and ambitious ideas and companies of our time,” said Bucher. “I think that starts with understanding the field, understanding the business, having conviction about the business. And once you have that conviction — which you’ve demonstrated by investing in the company — you have the right to present it to reporters with much more integrity.”
Someone in PR who has access to everything from investor decks to a startup’s data room has serious advantages when it comes to positioning the company and understanding what’s at stake. And for Bucher, it makes the project more exciting. Doing PR for whatever companies are big enough to pay can be good work, “but that doesn’t make it a good story.”
As with any VC, Bucher answers to its investors — in Day One’s case, that’s more than 70 LPs, including institutions, private individuals and more than 15 of the company’s portfolio founders. This means that her bets must be considered carefully. When Bucher selects companies, she not only asks if she wants to see their vision become a reality, but if the founder has the moral and ethical compass to uphold their values as the company scales.
He points to Valar Atomics, a startup developing advanced nuclear reactors, as an example. Day One co-led a $130 million round at launch last month.
“I can’t think of a better founder,” she said, referring to Valar CEO Isaiah Taylor, noting that she trusts him with “literally life and death” decisions.
This moral filter means that there are companies that he would not support, even if they are advertising campaigns. Bucher said she was not swayed by AI startup Cluely’s marketing strategy of “fooling everything.” Instead, it is proud to have invested in some of the most innovative technologies in areas such as reproductive technology (Orchid embryo selection technology), accessible health care (Superpower), and law enforcement software (of Abel AI-optimized reporting tools).
Day One’s portfolio includes early bets on companies like Sam Altman’s World, email app Superhuman and remote work platform Remote.com, with at least 12 unicorns and a portfolio value of $115 billion. Last year, Day One closed Fund III with $150 million, targeting early-stage founders “solving humanity’s most pressing issues,” and has grown over the past six years from $11 million under management to well over $450 million today, Bucher says.
“We want to use comms to solve companies’ business goals, unlock new opportunities and ultimately help them increase shareholder value,” said Bucher.
