Paige Finn Doherty on early-stage conviction investing and why she wired into Nox Metals this morning

Paige Finn Doherty, founding partner of Behind Genius Ventures, wired into Nox Metals the morning of YC Demo Day instead of waiting to see how the company performed first.

“Zayn and I met probably four years ago when I was fundraising for my first fund. I saw on LinkedIn he was posting he got into YC and I was like dude this is amazing. I was on my friend's roof last night — she said if you just love a company you just got to go in. So I sent the wire this morning.”

The investment had been building for years. Doherty has known Nox Metals founder Zane Hengsperger for roughly four years, starting when she was raising her first fund and he was buying and selling machine shops. She had been sending him manufacturing deals for feedback ever since. When she saw on LinkedIn that he'd gotten into YC, she called him, got excited, and after a conversation on a friend's rooftop the night before demo day, decided not to wait. She called that evening, asked to be part of the company, and sent the wire the next morning.

The investment fits directly into Genius Ventures' focus on what Doherty calls the reindustrialization of America. The fund targets technical founders at the earliest stages, and a metals company coming out of YC maps onto that industrial thesis.

Doherty is wrapping up the final two investments for fund two, with a larger announcement to follow.