We are entrepreneurs ourselves. We have experienced both the challenges and rewards that come from starting, growing, and scaling businesses. We put that knowledge and perspective to work for the companies that choose to partner with us.
Founded in 2014 and investing as Cascade Angels Fund across five funds, we became Cascade Seed Fund in 2019 building on more than five years of early stage investing experience. Today we continue to seek out opportunities to work with amazing entrepreneurs in the Pacific Northwest and rising entrepreneurial hubs throughout the US.
Julie and Robert discuss the Cascade Seed Fund investment philosophy on PDX Executive Podcast.
Julie Harrelson, Managing Director
Julie Harrelson has over 30 years of experience as an investor, founder, sales executive and consultant. She is Managing Director of eight funds and an investor in 75 startups as well as a founder and executive in six early stage companies. She launched Cascade Seed Fund with Robert Pease in 2019 having founded the previous Cascade funds.
Harrelson was previously a tech executive in multiple companies variously acquired by Earthlink, Time Warner and others. Following an exit from a telecommunications startup, she worked as a trusted advisor and investor with regional entrepreneurs, Fortune 500 companies, as well as leaders of global change efforts in healthcare, education and sustainability before starting Cascade.
When not on the road on behalf of the fund, Julie can be found at the Oregon Coast.
Quotables:
“Many things motivated me to found a seed stage fund – a chance to be creative, success as measured by financial gains by diverse leaders and problem solvers, scaling success with fair investments, sharing my lessons learned.”
Notables:
Harrelson has jumped off a cliff in Iceland into the Hvita River and run sled dogs in Alaska.
Robert Pease, Managing Director
Robert Pease is Managing Director of Cascade Seed Fund and has over 25 years of experience as a software executive, founder, and investor. He launched Cascade Seed Fund with Julie Harrelson in 2019 after being fund manager and venture partner to the five predecessor Cascade Angels Funds. He has led over 50 investments across the Cascade Funds and has been a seed stage investor since 2011.
Prior to Cascade, Pease was a founder, member of the executive team and product lead across six venture-backed startups experiencing success, failure and everything in between. He began his career as a management consultant with Accenture’s Global Communications and Technology practice based in Washington, DC. He holds a BBA in Finance from the University of Georgia and an MBA from the University of Tennessee. He resides in Bend, Oregon with his wife, two daughters and amazing dog Cameron.
Quotables:
“Be serious about what you do, but don’t take yourself too seriously.”
“There is an inverse relationship between how long you take to introduce yourself in a meeting and the value you are going to add to that meeting.”
“This is not a question of is this a business. If you sell it for more than it costs you to make it, you have a business. This is about the investment case we have to build to justify making an investment in your business.”
“I don’t disagree with that.”
Notables:
Pease is a ‘local legend’ according to Strava, logging 3000+ miles in one season on his mountain bike.
For more information, contact us.
44North Ventures LLC manages the Cascade Seed Fund under the leadership of Julie Harrelson and Robert Pease. 44North also serves as Fund Manager of Cascade Angels Fund V. The Fund Manager for the prior Cascade Angels Funds (2014-2017) was HGI under the leadership of Julie Harrelson.