CRV General Partner Caitlin Bolnick Rellas Advocates for a New Era of American 'Hard Tech' Investment

Caitlin Bolnick Rellas, General Partner at venture capital firm CRV, has issued a compelling call to action for the venture capital community, stating, "Your VC and I are not the same. It’s time to build 🇺🇸." The tweet, posted on September 25, 2025, signals a distinctive investment philosophy focused on tangible innovation and national development. This statement resonates with a broader movement emphasizing foundational advancements over incremental software solutions.

Rellas's investment thesis at CRV centers on what she terms the "plumbers of the reindustrial revolution." This approach prioritizes deep technology and hard tech companies that address real-world challenges and aim for widespread applicability beyond the traditional "coastal elite" focus of Silicon Valley. She seeks to back ventures with significant real-world implications, often in legacy industries ripe for disruption.

Her focus highlights a perceived convergence where software development timelines are extending, while hardware innovation cycles are shortening. This shift, according to Rellas, creates unique opportunities for businesses that build foundational technologies. She emphasizes that the capitalization paths for these types of companies often differ from traditional software-as-a-service (SaaS) models.

The "It's time to build" sentiment gained prominence following Marc Andreessen's 2020 essay, which urged a societal pivot towards constructing essential infrastructure, fostering manufacturing, and tackling critical challenges. Rellas's inclusion of the American flag emoji underscores a patriotic commitment to rebuilding and strengthening the nation's industrial and technological base. Her message suggests a departure from venture capital trends that may overlook these fundamental areas of innovation.