Regulated Markets Used to Be the Ones to Avoid. Now They’re the Ones to Seek.

Dumpsters. Fraud detection. Nicotine mints. On paper, the companies I’ve backed have nothing in common. But they all share a common thread.

Regulated markets used to be the ones to avoid. Now they’re the ones to seek out. Moats are hard to find, and choosing the ‘hard’ path can help keep competitors behind you.

I’m a generalist by design. FC is deliberately anti-thematic. We follow exceptional founders into spaces they can uniquely win in. No thesis, few sectors we won’t touch. So it caught me off guard to look at our portfolio and find a strong through-line: a large portion are disrupting heavily regulated markets.

🚛 Sourgum: a platform that unifies 5,000+ local waste haulers into one audit-compliant platform, navigating town-by-town permit requirements for 4M+ locations serviced.

🕵️ Baselayer: a business-identity and fraud bureau taking in data from 1 in 5 US banks and credit unions, selling legally mandated products to highly regulated customers.

🚭 Jones: a clinically backed and FDA-governed nicotine replacement to quit vaping, an age-gated category.

…and so many others across medtech, fintech, hardware, consumer, and more.

AI makes building cheaper, but it makes compliance more expensive. Regulated markets are still slower and riskier, but they also lead to more defensible businesses. The right founder, with insider insights and strong relationships, can clear regulatory hurdles that take outsiders months or years to copy. While competitors are still figuring it out, you become the name people trust in the category you’ve already cracked.

These markets reward founders who’ve lived the problem for years and are determined to create a better way. Joe and Luciano at Sourgum are fourth-generation New Jersey haulers; their great-grandfather was collecting waste with a horse and buggy in 1897. They grew up working every part of the family business. That depth of operational knowledge is an edge PE rollups can’t replicate.

Who > What. That’s what keeps me coming back to regulated markets. You have to be a very special founder to want to take on a Goliath. And I only want to work with very special founders with a clear viewpoint on winning.