I'm the CEO and Co-founder of a venture backed startup in stealth mode. Prior to this company, I was a General Partner at Lightbank, an early stage venture firm based in Chicago. Lightbank was an early investor in Udemy, ElaCarte, Sprout Social, Bellycard, Snapsheet, Fooda, and several other companies successful startups.
I spend most of my time looking for founders with meaningful traction outside of Silicon Valley, then leverage my network to introduce the portfolio companies to follow on investors in Silicon Valley. As a result of this strategy, I'm investing at valuations significantly lower than their SV based counterparts while leveraging the uptick in valuations possible once a Sand Hill Road investor leads their subsequent round.
I will syndicate deals where I have an opportunity to take a larger than average allocation for myself.