bryan altman

i invest as an angel and build startups, splitting time between san francisco, toronto, and montreal. before this i built setter — a sequoia-backed home-services marketplace i scaled to ~$12m/yr and sold to thumbtack — and founded chainvine, a slow-backed marketing software company. earlier i was at mckinsey. these days i build AI products and back early-stage founders.

building. some things i'm working on right now: teahose, an automated podcast, newsletter & paper summarizer with a startup-intelligence layer · endless reply, 24/7 AI customer service for SMB service businesses · forktab, open-source trip expense-splitting for friends. earlier i built orbit.city, a solar-powered campervan from an empty mercedes cargo van. 1,968 contributions on github in the last year (06/26) — recent: claude-research-skill · due-diligence-skill.

investing. i angel invest across a dozen-odd companies — flex, causal labs, foundry robotics, alloy river, power, paradigm, rocketable, lotly, kiro health — and i led SPVs into rocket doctor (now public, TSX:AIDR) and a confidential series b buyout. across the book that's worked out to 5.6× tvpi at a 61% irr, over an average 2.7-year hold (06/26).

thinking. i write maybetheway, and i recently put together claude code 101 for founders, a hands-on intro to building with claude code.

fitness. outside of work i race and train — 7,126 km logged running (06/26), at a 63 vo₂ max (06/26). won the ragnar ultramarathon as a team in 2024 · came second in my age class at the ottawa ironman 70.3 · and formerly raced optis competitively, finishing 2nd in quebec. i also love to kitesurf, and have chased wind in tarifa, mui ne, playa del carmen, el medano, paros, sardinia, aruba, and more.

say hello. if you're fundraising — particularly in physical AI or deeptech — or if you could use my help in some way, drop me a note.