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Ugo Vollmer
Backstory
I’m a Partner at Hexa with a deep passion for all things tech, especially AI, dev-tools, cybersecurity, and open-source. I’m a software engineer by training, but I embrace a variety of challenges, not just tech-related ones. I spent over seven years in Silicon Valley working on cutting-edge projects like self-driving cars before founding Shone (YC W18, 30u30) to make cargo ships autonomous. Since then, I’ve helped launch a cyber insurance startup backed by A16z, led product at Alan and built cyber defences against troll farms on social media.
I thrive in the 0-to-1 phase, finding innovative ways to achieve product-market fit. I enjoy working alongside founders as a co-founder during this pivotal stage and transitioning into a coach role once the foundation is set.
Outside of work, I like to travel for surfing, kitesurfing, and enjoy artistic activities like acrylic painting. I once spent months living on the road, traveling from California to Panama in a van to chase waves, and I’ve never been on Instagram!
What he looks for in founders
I’m not focused on where you come from—it’s where you want to go that truly matters. I spend significant time getting to know founders, often without discussing ideas initially. This helps figure out if we’re the right fit to embark on this journey together. Here’s what I typically look for:
- Clear why: founders who deeply understand why they want to build a company, and where they want to be in 5 years. Starting a business is a 5-to-10-year rollercoaster ride, and knowing your purpose is essential to weather the highs and lows.
- Big ambition: I’m drawn to founders who dream of building category-defining companies. This often means being willing to make bold moves, such as relocating to the US, if that’s what it takes to achieve their vision.
- Scrappy hackers: resourceful founders who can stretch a dollar, hack solutions to test ideas quickly, and focus on the critical 20% that drive 80% of results. They don’t wait for perfect conditions; they make things happen with what they have.
- Honest and transparent: integrity is non-negotiable. I value founders who are upfront about challenges, transparent, and comfortable addressing tough truths head-on.
- Humble fast learner: I admire founders who combine humility with a hunger to learn. Being humble doesn’t mean lacking confidence—it means being open to feedback, acknowledging what you don’t know, and constantly seeking growth.
Areas of interests and ideas
The rise of the creator economy and WhatsApp-first businesses has created a new class of prosumers who need powerful but accessible tools. We're interested in creating AI-powered solutions that help these users operate more efficiently and professionally without requiring technical expertise. The opportunity is to democratize capabilities that were previously available only to large organizations, enabling a new wave of digital entrepreneurs and creators.
As AI becomes more central to business operations, we're seeing growing demand for open-source alternatives to proprietary platforms. I's about control, transparency, and customization. We're looking for founders who can build robust, enterprise-grade open source solutions that give organizations more flexibility and control over their AI infrastructure. The best opportunities will be in areas where trust and transparency are particularly critical.
The developer tool ecosystem continually reinvents itself to meet evolving needs. From PHP and C-like languages 20 years ago to JavaScript, Python, and Rust today, the landscape is always shifting. We believe LLMs will fundamentally transform the developer's role, with a greater short-term impact than on blue-collar jobs. Many tools in use today will be replaced in the coming years to align with AI and emerging languages.
We help companies ship great AI features, better and faster. Basalt allows you to prototype quickly, evaluate easily and deploy with confidence your prompts. We already have customers and an incredible CTO, we are looking for a cofounder to join us.
As AI agents increasingly perform autonomous actions, we need to build new infrastructure to enhance their performance. This includes systems for payments, data management, and human oversight. For example, Coinbase AI wallets will enable AI agents to pay autonomously to get through paywalls, use paid APIs, subscribe to services, etc. We are currently identifying opportunities to reduce friction for these AI agents and prepare businesses for this new era.
As ChatGPT and Perplexity searches gain ground over Google, brands need to track their visibility and conversion rates on these AI platforms. A new analytics category will emerge to help brands manage their digital presence and messaging in the AI era—think Google Analytics, but for AI-powered searches.
The rise of AI is creating entirely new categories of security threats and compliance challenges. Traditional security tools weren't designed for an AI-first world, creating an urgent need for new approaches. We're looking for founders who can leverage AI to protect against emerging threats while helping organizations navigate increasingly complex regulatory requirements. The opportunity is to create new frameworks for security and compliance in an age of AI. This includes everything from protecting against AI-powered attacks to ensuring AI systems themselves operate within regulatory boundaries.
CodeX is an AI-powered tool that helps developers detect security vulnerabilities in their code. Unlike other tools that can overwhelm developers with false alarms, CodeX is designed to reduce these false positives, making it reliable and efficient. Additionally, CodeX considers the context of the code to show whether a detected vulnerability is actually a real risk. This way, developers can trust the tool to highlight only the most relevant issues, making their workflow smoother and more effective.
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We’re launching Hexa Open Source to bring trust and transparency to software’s core
