Bijan Sabet co-founded Spark Capital in 2005 after a decade building early consumer internet startups, including WebTV, which Microsoft acquired for $425 million in 1997. He led Spark's investment in Twitter in 2007, when the company had fewer than a dozen employees, and served on its board until 2011 - two years before Twitter's 2013 IPO. He was also an early backer of Tumblr, which Yahoo acquired for $1.1 billion the same year. In 2021, Sabet transitioned from General Partner to Limited Partner at Spark to pursue public service, and was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic in 2022, serving until 2025 - a genuinely unusual second act for a venture capitalist.
Education
B.S., Boston College (1991)
Previous Experience
Senior Executive, WebTV and other Silicon Valley startups (1990s) - WebTV acquired by Microsoft for $425M in 1997
Entrepreneur in Residence, Charles River Ventures
Notable Investments
TwitterTumblrFoursquareStack OverflowBoxee
Board Seats
Twitter (2008–2011, former)
Tumblr (2007–2013, former)
Career Timeline
1991
Graduates from Boston College with a degree in accounting and computer science.
1990s
Works at WebTV and other early consumer internet startups; WebTV is acquired by Microsoft for $425 million in 1997.
2005
Co-founds Spark Capital with Santo Politi, Paul Conway, and Todd Dagres.
2007
Leads Spark's investment in Twitter when the company has fewer than a dozen employees.
2013
Twitter goes public; Tumblr, another Sabet-backed company, is acquired by Yahoo for $1.1 billion the same year.
2021
Transitions from General Partner to Limited Partner to pursue public service.
2022
Sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic, serving until 2025.