Ben Braverman, Thomson Nguyen and Max Altman are looking to back software businesses building for customers in Houston, not Hillsborough.Altman, a Zenefits alum and former investor with brothers Sam and Jack, teamed up with Flexport exec Ben Braverman and two-time founder Thomson Nguyen to back companies building for non-techie customers.
Braverman, the former chief revenue officer at logistics unicorn Flexport, and Nguyen, an entrepreneur who’d recently sold his second startup, had both made smaller investments through Flexport and the Y Combinator network. With Altman, they’d get to be cofounders, while still leveling up their dealmaking and check sizes.
That approach took more of a backseat for a time, however, at Hydrazine Capital, where Altman joined older brother Sam to help manage his expanding venture fund. They would back a number of early Y Combinator companies, including social media site Reddit and smart email service Superhuman, as well as Conrad’s next venture, Rippling, where Max Altman briefly took a job.
Transportation payments startup AtoB previously took separate investments from all three of Saga’s partners; CEO Vignan Velivela told a similar story of Nguyen helping with fintech expertise, Altman with connections, and Braverman with setting up sales. “They genuinely care, and that really stands out,” Velivela said.