Member Spotlight: Oana Olteanu, Founder of Motive Force

Oana Olteanu is the Managing Director and Founder of Motive Force, a pre-seed and seed investment firm backing founders with the internal drive to sustain momentum through uncertainty. Based out of our new San Francisco North Waterfront location, Oana brings a rare blend of technical fluency and investor instincts to the work of finding and supporting exceptional builders.

When she’s not meeting with founders, she keeps an open door for engineers and entrepreneurs who want to talk design, beautiful software, and, notably, tanks.

What’s Motive Force all about?
Motive Force is a pre-seed and seed investment firm dedicated to founders with high “motive force,” the internal drive that sustains motion through uncertainty. We invest in “beautiful software,” where code architecture mirrors user intent so cleanly that complexity disappears.

What’s the mission?
Our mission is to replace social signaling with craft, investing in software designed to amplify human agency in unprecedented ways.

How did you get into venture capital?
Truthfully, I got into VC to secure my Green Card. But my time at a top-tier firm revealed a beautiful marriage between my technical roots in Computer Science and the humbling work of being in service of entrepreneurs.

What about CENTRL works for you?
The location is ideal for walks with founders. There’s a lot of greenery on Telegraph Hill, and Butter & Crumble, the best bakery, is five minutes away. I love the interior design; people pay attention to detail. The people are great, and bonus points for the cuddly office dog.

Any books or media that have inspired your work?
The Art of Atari by Tim Lapetino.

Follow Oana Online
motiveforce.ai
linkedin.com/in/olteanuoana
@oanaolt