Where Are They Now?
The journey continues: tracking the careers of founders and builders who presented at SF New Tech
29
People Tracked
$80B+
Combined Value Created
Join the Community on WhatsApp
Connect with founders, investors, and alumni from SF New Tech. Share opportunities, insights, and stay connected with the community.
Jeff Lawson
Current
CEO & Co-Founder of Inertia Enterprises
Active Ventures
Inertia Enterprises
2025CEO & Co-Founder
Nuclear fusion energy startup aiming to build a working fusion plant in 10 years
The Onion
2024Owner
Satirical news outlet acquired via Global Tetrahedron
Founders Garage
2025Founder
Startup incubator in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood
Highlights
- ✓Grew Twilio from inception to over $4B in revenue
- ✓Led Twilio to NYSE IPO
- ✓Launched fusion energy startup with goal of 1.5 gigawatts of power
Gleb Budman
Current
CEO, Co-Founder, and Chairman of the Board at Backblaze
Active Ventures
Backblaze
2007CEO & Chairman
Cloud storage and backup service managing over one exabyte of data
Highlights
- ✓Led Backblaze to IPO on November 11, 2021 (NASDAQ: BLZE)
- ✓Bootstrapped to profitability with less than $3M raised before IPO
- ✓917% five-year revenue growth
- ✓Serves customers in 175+ countries
David Barrett
Current
Founder, CEO, and Director at Expensify
Active Ventures
Expensify
2009Founder & CEO
Expense management and corporate card platform
Highlights
- ✓Led Expensify to IPO on November 11, 2021 (NASDAQ: EXFY)
- ✓Shares rallied 52% on first day, achieving ~$3B valuation
- ✓Grew to over 12 million users
- ✓Processed over 1.1 billion expense transactions
Michael Schade
Current
Strategic Projects Lead at OpenAI
Active Ventures
OpenAI
2023Strategic Projects Lead
Leading AI research and deployment company
Highlights
- ✓Co-founded Kenchi (2019-2023) - manual process automation tool
- ✓Head of Leverage Engineering at Stripe (2014-2019)
- ✓Transitioned from support → engineering → founder → AI strategy
Erik Martin
Current
Head of Community at Midjourney
Active Ventures
Midjourney
2025Head of Community
AI image generation company
Highlights
- ✓Named one of Time's most influential people in 2012
- ✓6 years as General Manager at Reddit
- ✓Created Assholes on Demand - not-for-profit customer service project
- ✓Community leadership roles at WeWork, Depop, Teal, Commsor
Kord Campbell
Current
Founder and Developer at Mitta AI
Active Ventures
Mitta AI
2024Founder & Developer
AI pipeline management system for document and data processing
Highlights
- ✓Built Splunk's community, event strategy, and early SplunkBase applications
- ✓Founded Loggly in 2009
- ✓Chief Community Officer at FeatureBase (2022-2023)
Julie Thompson
Current
Senior Director of Product Management at Salesforce
Active Ventures
Salesforce
2024Senior Director of Product Management
Leading CRM and enterprise software platform
Highlights
- ✓Transitioned from software engineer to product management
- ✓Previous roles at Apple, Macromedia, Quizlet, Decorist
- ✓Spoke at Salesforce Admin Release Readiness Live
Alexander Wong
Current
Chief Information Officer at 10x Genomics
Active Ventures
10x Genomics
2014Chief Information Officer
Genomics technology company
Highlights
- ✓Early team member at 23andMe, led product development from concept to commercialization
- ✓Over a decade at 10x Genomics
- ✓A.B. and S.M. degrees in Computer Science from Harvard
Di-Ann Eisnor
Current
Chief Strategy Officer at WakeCap Technologies
Active Ventures
WakeCap Technologies
2024Chief Strategy Officer
Construction tech company, acquired Crews by Core
Highlights
- ✓Started the US office of Waze, served as Director of Growth
- ✓Co-founded Crews by Core, acquired by WakeCap in June 2024
- ✓Independent director on Saia, Inc.'s board (2025)
- ✓WakeCap raised $28 million in funding in 2024
Tom Conrad
Current
Chief Executive Officer of Sonos
Active Ventures
Sonos
2025CEO
Smart speaker and sound system company
Highlights
- ✓CTO and EVP of Product at Pandora (2004-2014)
- ✓VP of Product at Snapchat
- ✓Chief Product Officer at Quibi
- ✓CEO of Zero Longevity Science (2023-2025)
- ✓Became CEO of Sonos at age 50+, led major turnaround
Brennan Loh
Current
Director of Brand Marketing at Shopify
Active Ventures
Shopify
2011Director of Brand Marketing
E-commerce platform powering millions of businesses
Highlights
- ✓Joined Shopify when there were fewer than 50 employees
- ✓Director of International Markets, expanded globally into Europe and Asia
- ✓Manages Shopify Rebellion esports and major brand partnerships (MrBeast, Las Vegas Sphere)
- ✓2021 Young Donor of the Year by Telfer Alumni Awards
Joe Robins
Current
Unity Technologies (evangelism/developer advocacy)
Active Ventures
Unity Technologies
2009Evangelist
Leading game engine and development platform
Highlights
- ✓At Unity since 2009, one of the longest-tenured employees
- ✓Works on EMEA Field Team
- ✓Extensive global travel representing Unity
Arthur Garcia
Current
Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Trez Inc
Active Ventures
Trez Inc
2022Co-Founder & COO
First US Latino-focused payroll platform
Highlights
- ✓6 years at Xero, grew Americas to 178,000+ subscribers
- ✓President of ATAX Franchise (2018)
- ✓Named to 2018 Top 20 under 40 Superstar by CPA Practice Advisor
- ✓MBA from University of San Francisco
Patrick Collison
Current
Co-founder & CEO of Stripe
Active Ventures
Stripe
2010Co-founder & CEO
Payment infrastructure for the internet, $91.5B valuation
Highlights
- ✓Appointed to Meta's Board of Directors (April 2025)
- ✓Led Stripe's expansion into cryptocurrency and stablecoin infrastructure
- ✓Named #5 in FinTech Top 100 Leaders for 2025
- ✓Stripe maintains $91.5+ billion valuation
John Collison
Current
Co-founder & President of Stripe
Active Ventures
Stripe
2010Co-founder & President
Payment infrastructure for the internet, $91.5B valuation
Highlights
- ✓Featured in Fortune's 100 Most Powerful People in Business (2025)
- ✓Under their leadership, Stripe grew to $91.5 billion valuation
- ✓Vocal advocate for corporate social responsibility
Steve Huffman
Current
Co-founder & CEO of Reddit
Active Ventures
Co-founder & CEO
The front page of the internet, $21B valuation
Highlights
- ✓Co-founded Hipmunk (2010-2020)
- ✓Returned to Reddit as CEO in 2015
- ✓Led Reddit to IPO, valued at $21 billion (2025)
- ✓Named to TIME's 100 Most Influential People in AI (2025)
- ✓Reddit ranks 7th in top 20 websites globally
Alexis Ohanian
Current
Founder & General Partner of Seven Seven Six
Active Ventures
Seven Seven Six (776)
2020Founder & General Partner
Venture capital firm with $1+ billion AUM
Angel City Football Club
2020Part Owner
Women's professional soccer team
Highlights
- ✓Founded Initialized Capital (2010)
- ✓Acquired 10% stake in Chelsea Women FC for £20 million (May 2025)
- ✓Co-acquired Digg with Kevin Rose (March 2025)
- ✓Portfolio includes 85+ companies with multiple unicorns
- ✓Married to tennis champion Serena Williams
Julia Hartz
Current
Co-founder, CEO & Executive Chair of Eventbrite
Active Ventures
Eventbrite
2006Co-founder, CEO & Executive Chair
Global ticketing and event technology platform
Highlights
- ✓One of only 21 women in history to lead a company to IPO as CEO
- ✓Board member of Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts (since 2017)
- ✓Processed $8+ billion in gross ticket sales
- ✓Distributed 83 million paid tickets for 4.7+ million events (2024)
- ✓Fortune's 40 Under 40 (2015)
Kevin Hartz
Current
Co-Founder and General Partner at A* Capital
Active Ventures
A* Capital
2020Co-Founder & General Partner
Venture capital firm with $300M fund
Sauron
2024Co-founder
Advanced home security platform, raised $18M
Highlights
- ✓Founded Xoom Corporation, sold to PayPal for $1.09 billion (2015)
- ✓Led Eventbrite to IPO (2018)
- ✓Early investor in Airbnb, PayPal, Pinterest, Uber, Yammer
- ✓Founded Sauron which raised $18M in 2024
Anne Wojcicki
Current
Leading TTAM Research Institute (nonprofit)
Active Ventures
TTAM Research Institute
2025Founder & Leader
Nonprofit organization that acquired 23andMe for $305 million
Highlights
- ✓Built 23andMe into pioneering personal genomics company
- ✓Resigned as CEO March 24, 2025 during bankruptcy
- ✓Acquired 23andMe back via nonprofit on June 13, 2025
- ✓Transitioning 23andMe to nonprofit model
Uri Levine
Current
Serial Entrepreneur & Chairman of Zoomcar Holdings
Active Ventures
Zoomcar Holdings
2025Chairman
Car sharing platform
Pontera
2012Co-founder & Chairman
Retirement savings platform
Highlights
- ✓Two-time unicorn builder (Waze $1.1B exit, Moovit $1B exit)
- ✓Founded 9+ companies total
- ✓Launched $40M VC fund in 2025 for Israeli startups
- ✓Professor of Practice at IE University, Spain
- ✓Author of 'Fall In Love with the Problem, Not the Solution'
Renaud Laplanche
Current
Co-founder and CEO of Upgrade, Inc.
Active Ventures
Upgrade, Inc.
2017Co-founder & CEO
Fintech platform with credit, mobile banking, and payment products
Highlights
- ✓Led LendingClub's historic fintech IPO (December 2014)
- ✓Built LendingClub to $10 billion business
- ✓Built Upgrade to $6.3 billion valuation
- ✓Serves 6+ million customers, issued $35+ billion in credit
Travis Huch
Current
VP of Channel and Alliances at Nue.io
Active Ventures
Nue.io
2025VP of Channel and Alliances
Omnichannel quote-to-cash platform for SaaS companies
Highlights
- ✓Held multiple VP positions at Zuora contributing to 2018 IPO
- ✓Built business on Salesforce AppExchange
- ✓Deep expertise in subscription economy and quote-to-cash solutions
- ✓Led educational webinars on subscription business models
Russ Heddleston
Current
Co-founder and CEO at Distill
Active Ventures
Distill
2024Co-founder and CEO
AI-powered platform for professional research and knowledge
Highlights
- ✓Led DocSend to $165M acquisition by Dropbox in 2021
- ✓Scaled to $40M ARR with only $15M raised
- ✓Co-founded Pursuit, acqui-hired by Facebook/Meta in 2011
- ✓Ran Product Management for Facebook Pages
- ✓MBA from Harvard Business School, MS in CS from Stanford
Gadi Shamia
Current
CEO and Co-Founder at Replicant
Active Ventures
Replicant
2017CEO and Co-Founder
AI-powered conversational platform for contact center automation
Highlights
- ✓Co-founded TopManage, acquired by SAP in 2002 (became SAP Business One)
- ✓COO at Talkdesk, helped grow from seed to unicorn in 4 years
- ✓Built Replicant to $550M valuation with Fortune 500 clients
- ✓Board roles at Algolia, EchoSign (Adobe), Intacct (Sage)
Charles Gros
Current
President of Rangi Consulting and Ulu Consulting
Active Ventures
Rangi Consulting
2018President
Holding company in Paris
Ulu Consulting
2018President
Holding company in Paris
Highlights
- ✓Led Tradelab to integration into Jellyfish in 2019 (~£500M valuation)
- ✓Won 4 trophies at MarCom Awards in 2015 (3 Platinum, 1 Gold)
- ✓Built Tradelab into 300-person organization
- ✓Leading European programmatic buyer
Ioannis Verdelis
Current
Managing Director, Development and Investment - Europe at Landmark Properties
Active Ventures
Landmark Properties
2025Managing Director, Development and Investment - Europe
Student accommodation and residential investment platform
Highlights
- ✓Co-founded Fleksy, acquired by Pinterest in 2016 (partial)
- ✓Facilitated Guinness World Record for fastest texting (18.19 sec)
- ✓CIO at Vita Group, led international expansion to Spain
- ✓Developer of the Year from AppleVis community
- ✓15+ years of real estate and investment leadership
Ross Mayfield
Current
Head of Product - Workplace AI and Strategic Integrations at Zoom
Active Ventures
Zoom
2025Head of Product - Workplace AI and Strategic Integrations
Video communications platform
Highlights
- ✓Co-founded Socialtext in 2002, the first enterprise wiki company
- ✓Sold SlideShare to LinkedIn for $120M while at LinkedIn
- ✓Sold Socialtext to Bedford Funding/PeopleFluent in 2012
- ✓Created the Zoom Apps platform
- ✓Leading Zoom's Agent2Agent (A2A) protocol development
Know Someone We Should Add?
Help us track the journeys of more SF New Tech alumni. This is a living archive that grows with community contributions.
Suggest an Update