Vanesa Pazos

I’m the Founding Partner of NoBa Capital, an early-stage venture firm I co-founded with Kevin Fuller. NoBa stands for “no barriers” and that principle shapes everything we do. We back pre-seed and seed-stage, tech-enabled companies transforming how people work and earn, from AI-powered hiring and workforce tools to employee wellbeing platforms and learning for desk less workers. Alongside the fund, I run an investment club that brings new and experienced angels into rounds together. The barriers cut both ways: founders struggle to access capital, while many capable people never find a route into investing. I’m a hands-on investor, supporting founders with governance, team building, commercial strategy and the often-unseen operational decisions that determine whether a young company succeeds. I came to investing through operations rather than finance. Before building NoBa, I worked across people, HR and chief-of-staff roles, including at Grove Capital Management and BCI Finance. That experience shapes how I support founders - particularly around hiring, organisational design, culture and turning strategy into action. I sit on advisory boards including Good Nugget, was a founding advisor to This is LUMIN, and founded EmpowerHER: a growing community bringing together women across the startup ecosystem - as founders, investors and allies - to build meaningful relationships, unlock opportunities and create a more ambitious, connected and inclusive future for entrepreneurship. If you’re preparing for a pre-seed or seed raise, want to understand what UK early-stage investors really assess, or are building your first serious team, that’s the ground I know well. And if you’re in the middle of career or life chaos and need a sounding board for what comes next, come and pick my brains - I know the messy middle well. I’m also a mum of five, so I’m comfortable with ambiguity, and have very little patience for waffle.