Dave McClure has been geeking out in Silicon Valley for over twenty years as a software developer, entrepreneur, startup advisor, angel investor, blogger, and internet marketing nerd. Dave currently runs FF Angel, a seed-stage investment program for Founders Fund, and ran the 2009 fbFund REV incubator program on behalf of Facebook, Accel Partners, & Founders Fund.
Dave’s passion is helping startups with marketing, product strategy, and startup metrics, and he has been an advisor or investor for over 50 companies in the past five years including: Mint.com (acquired by Intuit), CreditKarma, KissMetrics, Mashery, Simply Hired, SlideShare, TeachStreet, and Twilio.
Dave is the co-founder of Startup2Startup & Finance4Founders, monthly dinner meetings for Silicon Valley startup entrepreneurs & investors. He leads a travel group called GeeksOnaPlane to promote cultural exchange & education for tech entrepreneurs around the world. Dave also supports the StartupVisa program to reform & improve US immigration policy for entrepreneurs.
Dave has been a conference organizer for many tech and startup events including STARTonomics, Graphing Social Patterns, and Web 2.0 Expo, and has been a guest lecturer on social network platforms & applications at Stanford University. Dave has been a boardmember for microfinance accelerator Unitus, an advisor to microfinance lender Kiva.org, and co-founded the Silicon Valley Microfinance Network.
Previously Dave launched and ran marketing for job search engine Simply Hired, and its evil twin SimplyFired.com. From 2001 to 2004, Dave worked at PayPal (acquired by eBay in 2002) as Director of Marketing, where he started the PayPal Developer Network program. Prior to PayPal, Dave was a database consultant & programmer for several companies, including Microsoft and Intel. In 1994 he founded Aslan Computing, an internet & e-commerce consulting group later acquired by Servinet / Panurgy in 1998.
Before coming to Silicon Valley, Dave barely graduated from the Johns Hopkins University with a BS Engineering in Mathematical Sciences and a minor in frisbee, billiards, & foosball. His interests include microfinance and economic innovation, entrepreneurship and venture capital, ultimate frisbee, cartoons and animation, and an ever-growing collection of funny-looking hats.
For more info visit Dave’s LinkedIn profile or his blog: Master of 500 Hats.
—
[Community / Personal Interest]
Think Globally. Dave has a significant interest & involvement in microfinance & microcredit. In 2004 Dave began helping Unitus, a venture accelerator for microfinance institutions around the world, to help spread awareness in the SF Bay Area & to educate people on the tremendous opportunity Unitus sees to eradicate poverty in our lifetime. Dave served as a Unitus board member from 2005 thru 2009. In 2006 Dave became an advisor to Kiva.org, an internet-based microfinance startup that helps lend money to entrepreneurs & the working poor in developing countries. In 2009 Dave became an advisor to Vittana, which enables access to peer-to-peer education loans for students around the world, and to SamaSource, which helps provide computer-based work to women, youth, and refugees living in poverty in Africa.
Act Locally. In 2005, Dave became a founder & board member for the Silicon Valley Microfinance Network (SVMN), a local user group that covers topics & issues in microfinance. In 2004 Dave joined the Full Circle Fund, a non-profit foundation dedicated to helping people in the local SF Bay Area with specific issues in Education, Affordable Housing, and Technology Access. Dave has previously been a member of Full Circle’s Technology Impact Circle.
Other Stuff: Dave lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he landed after barely graduating from the Johns Hopkins University in 1988 with a BS in Mathematical Sciences Engineering and a minor in frisbee, billiards, and foosball. His interests and hobbies vary widely, including microfinance and economic innovation, entrepreneurship and venture capital, jazz and classical music, politics and business, numerous sports and games, ultimate frisbee, cartoons and animation, and an ever-growing collection of funny-looking hats…
photo: CC / technotheory
