Rob’s investments at First Round Rob spanned financial tech, the sharing economy, meal delivery, and consumer hardware. He enjoys working with founders who push the boundaries of existing markets.

Prior to joining First Round, Rob became the first venture investor at Omidyar Network, the investment firm started by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. While there, he led most of the initial venture capital deals and later built and ran the technology investing group.

Before that, Rob worked at Palm, where he product managed Palm OS during the heyday of Palm products (Palm III, Palm V, Handspring Treo). He also started the company’s corporate venture fund and managed the strategic spinoff of PalmSource.

“Building something from nothing requires a founder who can go from telling you a compelling story about her market at 50,000 feet to asking whether a radio component in the hardware should be moved 3 microns to the right. The best CEOs have this ability to run up and down the stack.”