What's a Second Believer Really?

A few months ago, we shared our mission at Long Journey: “We are second believers in the magically weird.” Since then, people keep asking: “Who is the second believer? You want to be the second check? I don’t get it.”

Fair enough. Let me explain.

Childlike Wonder

When Augustus from Rainmaker approached us — 23 years old, physical trainer/software guy, mullet, clearly brilliant — telling us he was going to make it rain. When he talked about cloud seeding, he was wide-eyed, gleefully reveling in what he’d discovered. Like a kid running up to you in the hallway: “Look what I found!”

That’s what we look for at Long Journey. The entrepreneur brings that childlike wonder — and with that comes vulnerability. When you’re sharing something the world hasn’t seen before, something that exists only in your mind, you risk being dismissed, mocked, told you’re wasting your time. You need someone on the other side who walks in curious, not cynical. Second believer energy is the willingness to see what they see.

I could not not believe him. It was so clear he believed he could do it. My role was just to stand beside him and believe with him. In the 2 short years since we invested, Rainmaker is making it rain across several states.

Lunatics to Leaders

There is a temptation in our industry to wait for consensus. To follow instead of lead. To invest in something someone else already deemed investable. There is a short-term reward system built around markups and trend-chasing. But that isn’t how movements begin.

Movements begin with belief. Belief is holding something to be true without knowing why. It’s faith. It’s irrational. It is, in many ways, the seed of everything meaningful.

In one of my favorite TED talks, Derek Sivers shows a video of a shirtless guy dancing alone at a music festival. Everyone’s watching him like he’s crazy. But then something magical happens — one person decides to join him. That first follower is what transforms a lone nut into a leader. Within minutes, a third person joins, then a fourth, and suddenly everyone’s rushing to be part of it. A movement is born.

Chase from Crusoe recently told us that what we do at Long Journey is turn “lunatics into leaders.” That’s right.

Justin Mares was that lone dancer when he first told me about Kettle & Fire. He’d just given up his gig selling bikes back and forth from Oakland to San Francisco — which already sounded pretty random — to pursue something even more absurd. He said he was going to take some leftover bones no one wanted, throw them in a kettle, and turn them into broth to sell at Whole Foods for $10 a carton. Most people told him to get a real job. I gave him a check. Now Kettle & Fire has opened up a bone broth facility the size of 3 football fields.

The Witness

In Judaism, we light two Shabbat candles, never one. A single candle burning alone — who knows if it really happened? With two candles, one witnesses the other.

When Sacha Schermerhorn from Babylon Biosciences approached us — 22 years old, no PhD — claiming he’d solve neurodegenerative diseases, I could see it burning in him. Past the credentials, past the probability calculations, that belief was undeniable. The entrepreneur lights the first candle with their vision. The second believer is the witness.

Our belief becomes part of their belief. It’s generative. When that second believer shows up, something shifts. This isn’t just my crazy idea anymore. This is real.

Why We Are Generalists

This is why we can’t box ourselves into themes or sectors at Long Journey. The wide-eyed kid in the hallway might show you anything — a new way to cure disease, control the weather, transform bones into broth. Your job is to follow with curiosity, not confirm your existing thesis.

We’re second believers because we understand that transformational companies aren’t built by probability calculations. They’re built when someone has an irrational belief in a future only they can see, and someone else witnesses that flame.

I’ll be honest — the moments I’m least proud of running this fund are when I’ve let my inner skeptic rule the day. When the light of belief in our team, the people around me, and the entrepreneurs grew dim. What resulted was a skepticism that I worry created negative outcomes. The opposite is what we strive for: belief that creates positive outcomes.

Every transformation starts with someone brave enough to light the first candle — and someone else to confirm that yes, that light burns.

Lee Jacobs is the Founder & Managing Partner of Long Journey Ventures