About | 500 Startups

500 Startups provides early-stage companies with funding ranging from $10K to $250K via seed investments, our startup accelerator program, and new micro-fund models like the Twilio Fund. With over 160 experienced startup mentors around the world, creative work space in the heart of Silicon Valley, and a vibrant community of startup founders, we help our companies succeed in ways other venture firms do not. We are 500. Watch our video.

DESIGN Great products start with a great user experience—one that makes customers happy and brings them back for more. We help startups design functional solutions, not just pretty pictures.
DATA Successful startups can make informed product and marketing decisions, know how much customers are willing to pay, and what it costs to acquire them. We help startups learn how to define and measure customer-driven metrics.
DISTRIBUTION Startups need scalable, cost-effective customer acquisition. We specialize in distribution for search, social, and mobile platforms such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Apple, and Android.

Dave McClure

500 Startups / Founding Partner & Sith Lord

Dave uses his uncanny ability to function without sleep and frequent flyer miles to discover amazing geeks and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and around the world. Dave's ominous past includes work at Founders Fund, Facebook fBFund, PayPal, Mint.com, and SimplyHired. Hillbilly VC & Mad Dancing Skillz.

Christine Tsai

500 Startups / Partner & Chief Pug Herder

Christine can herd pugs (or cats) like no other. Before 500, she was at Google and YouTube for many years. While overseeing the 500 Mentor network, platform partnerships, & marketing, Christine can also be found deflecting speeding bullets with her bulletproof pointe shoes and serving as 500's artistic director & choreographer.

Paul Singh

500 Startups / Principal & Master of the Hustle

Paul has mastered the art of the hustle and has the extraordinary ability to extract a business model from a rock. Also from startups. Prior to 500, he was the founder of a handful of his own startups and spent some time at PBworks, AOL and Symantec.

Christen O’Brien

500 Startups / Partner & GM, Business Development

Christen is 'The Closer' at 500 where she uses her mysterious side-eye pose to close deals & keep the magic alive. Aside from leading corporate partnerships and overseeing 500's production of tech conferences, Demo Days, & 'Geeks on a Plane' world tours - she spends her free time with her husband and their blue Great Dane, Virginia Woof (get it?).

David Jaques

500 Startups / Chief Financial Officer

David keeps the money safe and makes sure that no one goes to jail. In prior lives, David has worked for Barclays Bank in London and New York, Silicon Valley Bank, PayPal and BlueRun Ventures.

Bedy Yang

500 Startups/ Principal & International Hunter-Gatherer

Bedy uses her multi-cultural power to find international startups and partners for 500. For now, her main focus has been Brazil / Latin America, as she has been catalyzing the startup ecosystem there through Brazil Innovators. With Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, and German as her weapons, she is infecting the world with the Silicon Valley Mindset, Bwahahahahah...