Picks & Shovels

General contacts
Investor type

VC

Founded

-

AUM

-

Location

Santa Monica, California, United States

Investment Ticket

$0-1 m

Investment Stage

Pre-seed Seed

Region of investment

North America
Investor profile last updated: 18 August, 2026

Profile

Picks & Shovels is an operator-led venture capital firm based in Santa Monica, California, founded by Schlisserman, a former Chief of Staff at Series. The firm specializes in investing in pre-seed and seed stage startups that provide tools and infrastructure, particularly in the fintech and crypto sectors. With a focus on operational guidance, the team leverages its deep industry experience to support the growth of its portfolio companies.

The firm primarily targets investments in sectors such as Web3, AI, fintech, and developer tools, offering initial check sizes of up to $100K. Picks & Shovels operates with a venture capital strategy, managing funds like Picks & Shovels Fund II, which closed in 2023. The firm is backed by limited partners such as Zenda Capital and focuses its investments within the United States.

Notable investments by Picks & Shovels include startups that have made significant advancements in their fields, although specific company names were not disclosed in the available sources.

Industry

Infrastructure Business Services (B2B) Fintech Blockchain/Crypto AI Developer Tools

Picks & Shovels Funds

Name Type
Questionare
Industry
Questionare
Stage
Questionare
Region 		Size AUM Launch date
Picks & Shovels Fund II
Venture Capital (VC)
Business Services (B2B)
Infrastructure
Pre-seed
Seed
North America
$1-5 m
—
January 2023

Contacts

Name
Title
Email
Social Networks
avatar
Josh Schlisserman General Partner
General Partner
j•••@•••
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Investment-team contacts for Picks & Shovels — including verified work emails and LinkedIn profiles — are available to Private Equity List subscribers.
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FAQs about Picks & Shovels

Picks & Shovels is a venture capital firm. It backs companies at Pre-seed and Seed, writing tickets of $0-1 m.
Picks & Shovels is located in Santa Monica, California, United States.
Picks & Shovels was founded in .
Picks & Shovels invests in companies and startups in Infrastructure, Business Services (B2B), Fintech, Blockchain/Crypto, AI, Developer Tools.
Picks & Shovels invests in companies and startups in North America.
Picks & Shovels invests in companies and startups at Pre-seed, Seed.
Picks & Shovels usually invests $0-1 m on average.
Picks & Shovels can be reached through its website picksandshovelsvc.com and its X account. Its general enquiries address is [email protected]. Cold-mailing a general inbox rarely reaches a partner, so Private Equity List also lists the investment-team contacts for Picks & Shovels — names, roles, verified work emails and LinkedIn profiles — available on a Pro plan from $129/month (see pricing). Contacts are sourced from the firm's website and LinkedIn and re-verified on a rolling cycle. Spot a stale contact, or none at all? Report it — we re-run that firm within 48h and get back to you.
Yes. Every field on this page — profile, funds, investment criteria, portfolio and investment-team contacts — is available programmatically through the Private Equity List REST API and MCP server, so AI assistants such as Claude and ChatGPT can query Picks & Shovels directly instead of scraping this page. One subscription covers both the web app and machine access — see API & MCP.
Private Equity List re-verifies investor profiles on a rolling cycle, pulling from the firm's own website and LinkedIn rather than a one-off import. This profile was last updated on 18 August, 2026. Something out of date here? Report it — we re-run that firm within 48h and get back to you.