Josh Kopelman

Partner

“I’ve weathered my share of booms and bust cycles, taken a company I co-founded public and had sleepless nights before I had to lay people off. I know the excitement and loneliness that founders feel on a weekly basis. I do my best to translate those experiences into advice, and in doing so, I try to provide two things: my unvarnished opinion and my unwavering support. I’ll tell you what I think, but recognize that I’m just one data point – and that great companies are built by great founders…not great investors. I think it’s often more important to ask a founder the right question than to give the founder the right answer.”

3

Companies founded (1 IPO, 2 acquired)

100+

Companies invested in

1

Second place ribbon in the 2011 Nantucket Watermelon Eating competition (I was robbed.)

The first 24 months of a company’s life are a magical time. It’s when founders invent their product, hunt for customer love, figure out positioning, pricing, distribution, hire their key team, and solidify the company culture. When I started First Round, I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my career focused exclusively on this period.

Josh Kopelman has been an active entrepreneur and investor in the Internet industry since its commercialization.

He’s been a founder three times (four if you include founding First Round). In 1992, while in college, Josh co-founded Infonautics Corporation – and took it public on NASDAQ in 1996. Josh co-founded Half.com in 1999 and led it to become one of the largest sellers of used books, movies and music in the world. Half.com was acquired by eBay in 2000, where Josh remained for three years. In late 2003, Josh helped to found TurnTide, an anti-spam company that created the world’s first anti-spam router. TurnTide was acquired by Symantec just six months later.

Josh co-founded First Round Capital in 2004. Since that time, First Round has invested in over 500 startups and Josh has frequently made the Forbes “Midas List” which ranks the top 100 tech investors. He’s the proud winner of a second place ribbon in the 2011 Nantucket Watermelon Eating competition and an inventor on 13 U.S. Patents. In June 2000, he was awarded Ernst and Young’s prestigious “Entrepreneur of the Year” award for the Greater Philadelphia region. Josh earned a Bachelor of Science degree cum laude in Entrepreneurial Management and Marketing from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.