“Today, 40 percent of car trips are less than two miles long. Our goal is to replace as many of those trips as possible with electric scooters so we can get cars off the road, curb traffic and greenhouse gas emissions.”
— TRAVIS VANDERZANDEN, FOUNDER/CEO OF BIRD.
SERIES A LED BY CRAFT IN 2017.
“Today, 40 percent of car trips are less than two miles long. Our goal is to replace as many of those trips as possible with electric scooters so we can get cars off the road, curb traffic and greenhouse gas emissions.”
— TRAVIS VANDERZANDEN, FOUNDER/CEO OF BIRD.
“Cloud9 is part of a massive movement that is transforming the way the world experiences competitive sports. But just like with traditional sports, it’s all about sportsmanship. That’s what builds and sustains a great team.”
— JACK ETIENNE, FOUNDER/CEO OF CLOUD9.
SERIES A LED BY CRAFT IN 2017.
“Just as email transformed written communications because it was faster, cheaper and easier than mailing a letter, tokenized private securities will transform private capital because it’s faster, cheaper, and easier to issue and trade than paper securities.”
— JOSH STEIN, CO-FOUNDER/CEO OF HARBOR.
INCUBATED BY CRAFT IN 2017.
“Today, 40 percent of car trips are less than two miles long. Our goal is to replace as many of those trips as possible with electric scooters so we can get cars off the road, curb traffic and greenhouse gas emissions.”
— TRAVIS VANDERZANDEN, FOUNDER/CEO OF BIRD.
SERIES A LED BY CRAFT IN 2017.
“Cloud9 is part of a massive movement that is transforming the way the world experiences competitive sports. But just like with traditional sports, it’s all about sportsmanship. That’s what builds and sustains a great team.”
— JACK ETIENNE, FOUNDER/CEO OF CLOUD9.
SERIES A LED BY CRAFT IN 2017.
“Just as email transformed written communications because it was faster, cheaper and easier than mailing a letter, tokenized private securities will transform private capital because it’s faster, cheaper, and easier to issue and trade than paper securities.”
— JOSH STEIN, CO-FOUNDER/CEO OF HARBOR.
INCUBATED BY CRAFT IN 2017.
We are Craft
We are Craft
Craft Ventures is an early-stage venture fund dedicated to the craft of building great companies. Comprised of former entrepreneurs and operators, we are founders helping founders. We invest in outstanding teams who are creating market-defining products.
Bill Lee
General Partner
Bill is co-founder and general partner at Craft. He has been a successful tech entrepreneur and investor for two decades. He was the founder/CEO of Remarq (acquired by Critical Path for $265 million in 2000), CEO/co-founder of the incubator of Self Aware Games (acquired by Bigfish in 2012) and on the Board of Bigfish until its acquisition by Churchill Downs for $885 million in 2014.
Investments include: Autonomic, Bitgo, Civic, Cloud9, Hootsuite, Postmates, SpaceX, Tesla, Twitter, and Yammer.
Areas of Interest: Being first. New/emerging technologies such as VR/AR, crypto and esports. Sneakerhead, cardboard fan, surfing.
Brian Murray
Vice President, Investments
Brian leads Craft’s investment team. As one of the first employees at Craft, Brian built the infrastructure that powers the firm’s investment process, and hired a talented team to expand Craft’s growing portfolio.
Prior to joining Craft, Brian was the VP of Business Operations at Zenefits where he led many of the company’s largest, cross-functional initiatives. Brian spearheaded Zenefit’s transition to a pure SaaS business, established the company’s most important channel partnerships, and led the compliance overhaul of its benefits management product.
Bryan Rosenblatt
Principal
Bryan is a principal at Craft, and is based in New York City. Prior to joining Craft, Bryan built Reddit’s New York brand partnership team, cultivating partnerships with brands like Coca-Cola, Google, P&G, and HBO. Bryan was an early member of Twitter’s New York team where he worked with emerging brands like Casper, Harry’s, Jet.com, and Blue Apron on their acquisition marketing efforts. Bryan has been an active investor both personally and via Riverside Ventures, which he founded in 2017. His investments include Bonobo’s, Slack, Citizen, Lambda School, CryptoKitties, and Inkbox. Bryan is a mentor for Backstage Capital, helping advance underrepresented founders and entrepreneurs.
David Sacks
General Partner
David Sacks is co-founder and general partner at Craft. He has been a successful tech entrepreneur and investor for two decades. David was founder/CEO of Yammer, which was acquired by Microsoft for $1.2 billion in 2012. Previously, he was COO and product leader of PayPal during the famed “PayPal Mafia” founding era. He also served as interim CEO of Zenefits in 2016. David produced the award-winning independent movie Thank You For Smoking.
AngelList’s Naval Ravikant has called David “the world’s best product strategist.”
Investments include: Affirm, Airbnb, Bird, Facebook, Houzz, Opendoor, Palantir, Postmates, Slack, SpaceX, and Uber.
Areas of interest: Products that can go viral.
Ethan Ruby
Associate
Ethan is a member of Craft’s investment team. Prior to joining Craft, Ethan worked in operations and strategy at Zenefits during its period of hyper-growth. Ethan began his career in product management working for a mobile gaming startup in Beijing. He graduated with the highest distinction from Duke University.
Jeff Fluhr
General Partner
Jeff is a general partner of Craft. He has been a successful tech entrepreneur and investor for two decades. Jeff dropped out of Stanford Business School to found StubHub and served as founder/CEO until the company’s acquisition by eBay. He has been the recipient of several awards including the Joseph Wharton Award for Young Leadership, San Francisco Business Times’ Forty Under 40 list, Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 list and Entrepreneur Magazine’s 24 Best and Brightest Young Entrepreneurs. Earlier in his career, Jeff worked at The Blackstone Group.
Investments: Houzz, Trulia, Twilio, Warby Parker, and ZocDoc.
Areas of interest: Marketplaces and ecommerce.
Jessica Hoffman
Operating Partner, Marketing & Communications
Jessica oversees marketing and communications for Craft and its portfolio companies. Previously, Jessica was VP of Communications at Zenefits. Prior to Zenefits, Jessica helped SquareTrade build a global consumer insurance brand as VP of global communications. Jessica served as VP of marketing at Ask.com, (now an IAC company) where she led communications for the company’s international expansion as well as marketing for the enterprise software division. Jessica began her career at Worldwide Television News in NYC.
Joe Cheung
Operating Partner, Talent
Joe develops Craft’s talent network for the firm’s portfolio companies. Joe has held senior technical recruiting roles at Microsoft, Salesforce, Netflix, Greylock Partners, and Google. He has built the talent functions at eero, Medium, and Yammer. Most recently, Joe supported the talent team at Sequoia Capital. Joe began his career building the Windows Live and Hotmail teams for Microsoft.
Lainy Painter
Principal
Lainy is a principal at Craft on the investment team. Prior to Craft, Lainy worked at Battery Ventures on the team responsible for investments in BounceX, Prodigy Software, and Wag!, among others. Previously, Lainy worked at Gainsight, a B2B customer success startup where she helped lead business operations and strategy across the organization, including initiatives to grow services revenue and drive product adoption. Lainy started her career at Goldman Sachs on the technology, media, and telecom investment banking team, advising companies including PayPal, LinkedIn, Zendesk, and 2U. Lainy is an active member of All Raise, the non-profit dedicated to increasing representation in venture capital. She served as Program Lead for the 2018 Women Who Venture Summit.
Mark Woolway
Chief Operating Officer
Mark leads Craft’s non-investment functions, including operations, finance, legal, fundraising, and LP relations. Prior to Craft, Mark served as CFO of Zenefits, COO of Intercom, and EVP of Yammer. Previously, Mark ran Peter Thiel’s family office and served as Managing Director of Clarium Capital (now Thiel Capital). Mark started his career in tech as an early PayPal VP.
Michael Tam
Principal
Michael is a principal at Craft on the investment team, based in Los Angeles. Prior to joining Craft, he was an investor at Crosscut, where he led investments and participated on the boards of consumer and enterprise companies. As an operator, Michael managed Uber’s business in six Southern California markets and launched L., a direct to consumer brand. Michael began his career in venture at Bullpen Capital. Michael serves on the investment committee of the USC Marshall Fund, which invests in startups in the SoCal tech ecosystem.
Bill Lee
General Partner
Bill is co-founder and general partner at Craft. He has been a successful tech entrepreneur and investor for two decades. He was the founder/CEO of Remarq (acquired by Critical Path for $265 million in 2000), CEO/co-founder of the incubator of Self Aware Games (acquired by Bigfish in 2012) and on the Board of Bigfish until its acquisition by Churchill Downs for $885 million in 2014.
Investments include: Autonomic, Bitgo, Civic, Cloud9, Hootsuite, Postmates, SpaceX, Tesla, Twitter, and Yammer.
Areas of Interest: Being first. New/emerging technologies such as VR/AR, crypto and esports. Sneakerhead, cardboard fan, surfing.
Brian Murray
Vice President, Investments
Brian leads Craft’s investment team. As one of the first employees at Craft, Brian built the infrastructure that powers the firm’s investment process, and hired a talented team to expand Craft’s growing portfolio.
Prior to joining Craft, Brian was the VP of Business Operations at Zenefits where he led many of the company’s largest, cross-functional initiatives. Brian spearheaded Zenefit’s transition to a pure SaaS business, established the company’s most important channel partnerships, and led the compliance overhaul of its benefits management product.
Bryan Rosenblatt
Principal
Bryan is a principal at Craft, and is based in New York City. Prior to joining Craft, Bryan built Reddit’s New York brand partnership team, cultivating partnerships with brands like Coca-Cola, Google, P&G, and HBO. Bryan was an early member of Twitter’s New York team where he worked with emerging brands like Casper, Harry’s, Jet.com, and Blue Apron on their acquisition marketing efforts. Bryan has been an active investor both personally and via Riverside Ventures, which he founded in 2017. His investments include Bonobo’s, Slack, Citizen, Lambda School, CryptoKitties, and Inkbox. Bryan is a mentor for Backstage Capital, helping advance underrepresented founders and entrepreneurs.
David Sacks
General Partner
David Sacks is co-founder and general partner at Craft. He has been a successful tech entrepreneur and investor for two decades. David was founder/CEO of Yammer, which was acquired by Microsoft for $1.2 billion in 2012. Previously, he was COO and product leader of PayPal during the famed “PayPal Mafia” founding era. He also served as interim CEO of Zenefits in 2016. David produced the award-winning independent movie Thank You For Smoking.
AngelList’s Naval Ravikant has called David “the world’s best product strategist.”
Investments include: Affirm, Airbnb, Bird, Facebook, Houzz, Opendoor, Palantir, Postmates, Slack, SpaceX, and Uber.
Areas of interest: Products that can go viral.
Ethan Ruby
Associate
Ethan is a member of Craft’s investment team. Prior to joining Craft, Ethan worked in operations and strategy at Zenefits during its period of hyper-growth. Ethan began his career in product management working for a mobile gaming startup in Beijing. He graduated with the highest distinction from Duke University.
Jeff Fluhr
General Partner
Jeff is a general partner of Craft. He has been a successful tech entrepreneur and investor for two decades. Jeff dropped out of Stanford Business School to found StubHub and served as founder/CEO until the company’s acquisition by eBay. He has been the recipient of several awards including the Joseph Wharton Award for Young Leadership, San Francisco Business Times’ Forty Under 40 list, Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 list and Entrepreneur Magazine’s 24 Best and Brightest Young Entrepreneurs. Earlier in his career, Jeff worked at The Blackstone Group.
Investments: Houzz, Trulia, Twilio, Warby Parker, and ZocDoc.
Areas of interest: Marketplaces and ecommerce.
Jessica Hoffman
Operating Partner, Marketing & Communications
Jessica oversees marketing and communications for Craft and its portfolio companies. Previously, Jessica was VP of Communications at Zenefits. Prior to Zenefits, Jessica helped SquareTrade build a global consumer insurance brand as VP of global communications. Jessica served as VP of marketing at Ask.com, (now an IAC company) where she led communications for the company’s international expansion as well as marketing for the enterprise software division. Jessica began her career at Worldwide Television News in NYC.
Joe Cheung
Operating Partner, Talent
Joe develops Craft’s talent network for the firm’s portfolio companies. Joe has held senior technical recruiting roles at Microsoft, Salesforce, Netflix, Greylock Partners, and Google. He has built the talent functions at eero, Medium, and Yammer. Most recently, Joe supported the talent team at Sequoia Capital. Joe began his career building the Windows Live and Hotmail teams for Microsoft.
Lainy Painter
Principal
Lainy is a principal at Craft on the investment team. Prior to Craft, Lainy worked at Battery Ventures on the team responsible for investments in BounceX, Prodigy Software, and Wag!, among others. Previously, Lainy worked at Gainsight, a B2B customer success startup where she helped lead business operations and strategy across the organization, including initiatives to grow services revenue and drive product adoption. Lainy started her career at Goldman Sachs on the technology, media, and telecom investment banking team, advising companies including PayPal, LinkedIn, Zendesk, and 2U. Lainy is an active member of All Raise, the non-profit dedicated to increasing representation in venture capital. She served as Program Lead for the 2018 Women Who Venture Summit.
Mark Woolway
Chief Operating Officer
Mark leads Craft’s non-investment functions, including operations, finance, legal, fundraising, and LP relations. Prior to Craft, Mark served as CFO of Zenefits, COO of Intercom, and EVP of Yammer. Previously, Mark ran Peter Thiel’s family office and served as Managing Director of Clarium Capital (now Thiel Capital). Mark started his career in tech as an early PayPal VP.
Michael Tam
Principal
Michael is a principal at Craft on the investment team, based in Los Angeles. Prior to joining Craft, he was an investor at Crosscut, where he led investments and participated on the boards of consumer and enterprise companies. As an operator, Michael managed Uber’s business in six Southern California markets and launched L., a direct to consumer brand. Michael began his career in venture at Bullpen Capital. Michael serves on the investment committee of the USC Marshall Fund, which invests in startups in the SoCal tech ecosystem.
© 2019 CRAFT VENTURES