We like to joke that VCs often advise founders to focus on being great at one thing but rarely heed that advice when it comes to their own seed investing. In 2015, we decided to triple down on this idea of focus.

We’ve always believed in having one great product, but we focused on how to better articulate our place in the startup ecosystem this year: We are high conviction, hands-on seed investors. Period.

This theme of focus extended to the ways we want to help entrepreneurs as well.

First, there was a focus on a single but large problem area: gaining traction.

To help entrepreneurs, we launched a platform of resources as part of our new site, a 5-star-rated podcast specifically to discuss this topic, and several new internal systems and programs to better serve our entrepreneurs facing challenges like hiring or raising their next round.

Second, there was our commitment to focus on Boston and New York, where 80% of our portfolio already lives and works.

Each have unique challenges, and each deserve different kinds of focus from us. As a result, we hired Tim Devane to be our NY-based Principal. (Also on the investment team side, we were pleased that the last three checks we wrote in 2015 were all to companies based in Boston and New York led by female founders. It’s not nearly enough yet, but it’s a positive trend we want to continue.)

Lastly, we focused on being dedicated to true early-stage investing.

The definition of seed rounds has started to mean many different things over the past several years. But for us, we continue to be focused on being the first VC partner of choice for founders at the earliest stages. Of the 10 investments we made in 2015, 7 were pre-product. One of these was an incubation in our office.

We are by nature builders and makers, and partnering with founders to build something from nothing is what we jump out of bed excited to do each day.

Here’s a little more color on the year that was — it was a good year, but there’s a lot more building to do for NextView (and for you, I’m sure). Along those lines, here’s to a great 2015 but an even better 2016 for you, your team, and your business.

Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year from the NextView team!