Paige Finn Doherty on early-stage conviction investing and why she wired into Nox Metals this morning
Sep 10, 2025 with Paige Finn Doherty
Key Points
- Paige Finn Doherty of Behind Genius Ventures wired into Nox Metals on YC Demo Day morning, bypassing the typical investor wait-and-see approach.
- Doherty's four-year relationship with Nox Metals founder Zayn and a rooftop conversation the night before demo day convinced her to move fast rather than deliberate.
- The metals company investment aligns with Genius Ventures' thesis on American reindustrialization and technical founders at the earliest stages.
Summary
Paige Finn Doherty, founding partner of Behind Genius Ventures, wired into Nox Metals the morning of YC Demo Day instead of waiting to see how the company performed first.
The investment had been building for years. Doherty has known Nox Metals founder Zane Hengsperger for roughly four years, starting when she was raising her first fund and he was buying and selling machine shops. She had been sending him manufacturing deals for feedback ever since. When she saw on LinkedIn that he'd gotten into YC, she called him, got excited, and after a conversation on a friend's rooftop the night before demo day, decided not to wait. She called that evening, asked to be part of the company, and sent the wire the next morning.
The investment fits directly into Genius Ventures' focus on what Doherty calls the reindustrialization of America. The fund targets technical founders at the earliest stages, and a metals company coming out of YC maps onto that industrial thesis.
Doherty is wrapping up the final two investments for fund two, with a larger announcement to follow.