Ho Nam

Co-Founder & Managing Director at Altos Ventures · Joined 1996

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Biography

Ho Nam immigrated to the United States from Korea with his family at age nine, and has said that experience of starting over shaped the patient, long-horizon approach he later brought to venture investing. After a Harvey Mudd engineering degree, he began his career at Bain & Company, then moved into venture capital at Trinity Ventures - an early Starbucks investor - before earning his Stanford MBA and spending time at Silicon Graphics and Octel Communications. He co-founded Altos Ventures in 1996 with Han Kim and Anthony Lee, and the firm's defining trait under his leadership has been patience most funds don't attempt: Altos held its Roblox position for well over a decade before the company's 2021 IPO, and its early stake in Coupang was worth an implied $62.1 billion at that company's own 2021 listing. Nam has since become a public voice for what he calls venture capital's spiritual side, writing about kindness, curiosity, and service as core to long-term investing rather than just financial technique.

Education

Previous Experience

Notable Investments

Coupang CPNGRobloxImmunetWhiteHat SecurityOpenSesamezlienBitfinderFresh Bellies

Career Timeline

1988
Graduates Harvey Mudd College and joins Bain & Company as an Associate Consultant.
1990
Joins Trinity Ventures as an Associate, an early investor in Starbucks among other companies.
1994
Completes his Stanford MBA and joins Silicon Graphics in sales and marketing, later moving to Octel Communications.
1996
Co-founds Altos Ventures with Han Kim and Anthony Lee.
2007
Altos' relationship with Roblox begins.
2021
Both Roblox and Coupang go public.

Sources & References

Harvey Mudd College Magazine ↗uAspire ↗