Fred Wilson (born August 20, 1961) is an American businessman,
venture capitalist and blogger. Wilson is the co-founder of
Union Square Ventures, a New York City-based venture capital firm with investments in
Web 2.0 companies such as
Twitter,
Tumblr,
Foursquare
Four square is a ball game.
Four square may also refer to:
Internet and entertainment
* Foursquare City Guide, a local search and discovery app
* ''4 Square'' (game show), a British game show
* ''4 Square'' (TV series), a Canadian children's s ...
,
Zynga,
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
,
Etsy and
MongoDB.
Career
Fred Wilson began his career as an associate and then became a General Partner at Euclid Partners. He worked at Euclid Partners from 1987 to 1996.
In 1996 Wilson and
Jerry Colonna began Flatiron Partners, which was named after the
Flatiron District. Based in New York City, it grew into an investment fund that focused primarily on follow-on investing, with investments in notable
dot-com bubble successes and failures, including
Alacra,
comScore Networks,
Yoyodyne,
Geocities,
Kozmo.com
Kozmo.com was a venture-capital-funded online company that promised free one-hour delivery of "videos, games, dvds, music, mags, books, food, basics & more" and Starbucks coffee in several major cities in the United States. It was founded by youn ...
, ''
The New York Times'' Digital,
PlanetOut, Return Path,
Scout electromedia, Standard Media International,
Starmedia
StarMedia (stylized as starMedia) is a Latin American Internet brand, co-founded in August 1996 by Fernando Espuelas and Jack Chen as the first pan-regional Internet portal for Spanish and Portuguese speaking audiences. During the dot.com boo ...
, Favemail, and VitaminShoppe.com. The firm's 1996 fund capitalized at $150 million with two investors: SOFTBANK Technology Ventures and Chase Capital Partners, the private-equity arm of
Chase Manhattan Corp. The firm later raised another fund capitalized at $500 million with Chase Capital Partners as the sole active LP. In 2001 Wilson and Colonna shut down Flatiron.
In 2004 Wilson and Brad Burnham founded
Union Square Ventures. TheFunded.com, a social networking site for technology entrepreneurs, rated him their favorite venture capitalist in 2007.
Wilson has served as a judge for Mayor
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...
's
NYC BigApps competition in NYC.
Blogging
Wilson publishes a blog called AVC: musings of a VC in NYC. Wilson publishes one post per day, usually on a topic related to venture capital entrepreneurship or the Internet.
Personal life
Wilson attended high school at
James I. O'Neill High School
James I. O'Neill High School is a public high school in Highland Falls, New York and a part of the Highland Falls-Fort Montgomery Central School District.
History
James I. O'Neill High School opened in 1971, replacing the existing Highland Falls ...
. Wilson is married to
Joanne Wilson, a prominent angel investor and author of the Gotham Gal blog. They have three children and live in New York City and
Venice Beach. All of his children attended
Wesleyan University.
Wilson has a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from
MIT and an
MBA from the
Wharton School of the
University of Pennsylvania.
He is an active philanthropist and community advocate having worked on initiatives including the redevelopment of Union Square and Madison Square in New York City. He is also a board member of
DonorsChoose.org, an online charity that connects individuals to classrooms in need. Currently, Wilson is involved in the Pier 40 Partnership.
References
External links
Union Square VenturesA VC Blog
– Fred Wilson's blog.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Fred
1961 births
Living people
American bloggers
American financiers
American investors
American venture capitalists
MIT School of Engineering alumni
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni