Todd Jackson
“Over the years, I’ve been lucky to work on some of the biggest tech products in the world: Gmail’s user interface, Facebook’s Newsfeed, Twitter’s timeline and Dropbox’s bottom-up revenue engine — all products that are deeply technical under the hood but simple and powerful to the user. Figuring out how to translate complex technology into elegant 'power tools' is a passion of mine and a critical skill for founders to cultivate.”
15
Years as a product leader
1
Company founded (backed by First Round, acquired by Twitter in 2014)
75+
Founders supported through Product-Market Fit Method
I’ve spent the better part of my career unpacking the art and science behind product-market fit — from founding my own company (backed by First Round) in 2013 to working with companies that have reached the highest levels of PMF. Now, as a Partner at First Round, I spend my days helping early founders tackle this most critical, but also most complicated, aspect of company building.
Todd Jackson is a Partner based on the West Coast. Prior to joining First Round, he served as the VP of Product & Design at Dropbox from 2015 until the company’s IPO in 2018.
Before Dropbox, Todd was the Director of Product Management for the Content & Discovery teams at Twitter. Todd joined the social media platform via acquisition of his startup, Cover, in 2014. Todd served as co-founder and CEO of the Android startup, which was seed funded by First Round in 2013. From conception to acquisition, Todd was at the helm as Cover found product-market fit and gained over two million users in the first couple months, with zero money spent on paid acquisition.
Prior to founding a company, Todd served as the Product Manager for Newsfeed, Photos and Groups at Facebook. He started his career at Google as an Associate Product Manager who went on to lead product for Gmail as it went from beta to 200 million users. Todd received his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Computer Science from Stanford University.
SOME OF THE COMPANIES TODD'S INVESTED IN:
- acquired
Rupa Health
Imagine if every doctor could practice root cause medicine.
Fal
Imagine if generative media had an infrastructure partner capable of supporting exponential growth.
Actively
Imagine if companies could scale the deep reasoning of their best sales reps.
Lamini
Imagine if companies could build smaller, faster LLMs and agents based on their proprietary data.
Spline
Imagine if anyone could design and collaborate in 3D.
Daydream
Imagine if companies could programmatically create exceptional content that helped them grow.
HEAR MORE FROM TODD:
Paths To PMF Series on The First Round Review
Todd Jackson interviews startup founders about the most pivotal moments on their paths to product-market fit.
A framework for finding product-market fit: Todd Jackson on Lenny's Podcast
Todd Jackson breaks down the building blocks of finding product-market fit and explains the four levels of PMF, from nascent to extreme.
After 15 Years as a Product Leader, CEO and Now VC, Here’s the Advice I Always Share with Future Founders
Todd Jackson looks back on his career at Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Dropbox (as well as his own chapter as a startup founder) to offer tactical takeaways and frameworks for company builders and product leaders alike.
First Round's Todd Jackson on The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)
Breaking news: Meet First Round's newest partner, how to approach generational transition as a venture firm & the dangers of attribution In venture.
Find, Vet and Close the Best Product Managers
Todd Jackson is skilled at identifying excellent product managers. Now Dropbox's VP of Product and Design, he shares his process here.
Top Hacks from a PM Behind Two of Tech's Hottest Products
Todd Jackson has experience managing products at Google, Facebook and his own startup. Here's what he learned.