Manu Kumar earned a PhD in Computer Science from Stanford after founding and selling SneakerLabs and running iMeet, before founding K9 Ventures in 2009 - a firm credited with coining the term 'Pre-Seed' as its own distinct investment category. Kumar, who calls himself K9's 'Chief Firestarter,' invests 'frighteningly early,' often before a company has a product or even a formal team, and by design makes just 4 to 6 investments a year rather than casting a wide net. That discipline led him to become the earliest investor in Twilio, years before its 2016 IPO, and an early backer of Lyft ahead of its 2019 public debut. K9 has kept its fund size small on purpose ever since, running one of the tightest, most concentrated portfolios of any firm on this page.
Education
B.S. & M.S. Electrical & Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University (University Honors)
Ph.D. Computer Science, Stanford University (Distinction in Teaching)
Previous Experience
Founder, President & CEO, SneakerLabs - acquired in 2000
VP Interactive Technologies, E.piphany
Chairman & CEO, iMeet - merged with Netspoke, later acquired by Premiere Global Services