Co-Founder & Managing Partner at 8VC · Joined 2015
View Live Interactive Profile →Joe Lonsdale's path into venture capital ran directly through company-building - a PayPal internship and an early role at Peter Thiel's hedge fund Clarium Capital led him to co-found Palantir Technologies alongside Thiel in 2004, then Addepar in 2009, a wealth management platform that now oversees trillions of dollars in assets. That operating pattern, founding more than a dozen prominent companies before ever becoming a full-time investor, shapes 8VC's entire model: the firm doesn't just write checks, it actively builds companies from scratch through its 8VC Build program, leveraging Lonsdale's direct experience scaling Palantir and Addepar into category leaders. He founded 8VC in 2015 following the breakup of Formation 8, moved the firm from San Francisco to Austin in 2020, and has since become an outspoken advocate for American manufacturing and defense technology, founding the Cicero Institute think tank and co-founding the University of Austin alongside his venture work.