We are excited to announce that Adam Nelson has joined the firm as our newest Partner.  Adam will be moving to New York from the West Coast, where he spent the last few years in a variety of venture and operational roles, including as an investing Partner at Social Capital and Head of Revenue Partnerships at Dropbox.  

When FirstMark was founded over 10 years ago, it was unclear whether one could build a venture capital firm of national and international significance out of New York.  With the explosive growth of our home ecosystem as a backdrop, FirstMark has experienced its own rapid rise, evolving from a brand new firm to $1.6 billion under management and a world class portfolio that we are incredibly proud of.  

During that time, we have also developed and matured our own style and identity as a VC firm: one that puts the limelight on the entrepreneurs that we back, rather than ourselves; considers venture a complex craft that requires depth, patience and conviction, rather than a numbers game; and relentlessly focuses on building connective tissue both within and outside our portfolio to accelerate entrepreneurs with the best possible tools, resources and networks to succeed.

We proudly run communities and events that touch tens of thousands of people every year.  These communities include: the largest monthly events for Data & AI, design & product, and frontier technology globally; CloudNY, the premier annual conference for cloud/SaaS CEOs; a structured practice that connects Fortune 1000 companies and the startup world, in New York and beyond; and much more. These communities help form the foundation of a unique Talent network that accelerates the human capital of our portfolio.  We’re proud of the value these efforts create, not just for the FirstMark portfolio, but also for the ecosystem as a whole, and the way they inspire and ignite the ambitions of entrepreneurs and leaders in our community.

As part of this growth, we have been carefully and thoughtfully growing our Partnership.  We were thrilled to meet and get to know Adam, and he is a wonderful fit for a number of reasons:

Adam is an experienced investor.  Adam joins us from Social Capital, where he was a Partner and a rising star.  Social Capital was a dynamic venture firm, and many of their partners have gone on to launch firms of their own or find success at other firms.  Adam made impressive investments while at the firm, and has also built out a very strong angel portfolio of his own (his investments include Slack, Clearbanc, WeeCare, FareHarbor, amongst others).  He has also proven to be a strong board member and partner to the companies he has backed.  

Adam has seen transformative scale as an operator.  Prior to SC, Adam was at Dropbox, where he built and drove their Partner Network and Revenue Partnerships teams to scale.  Not only was he part of an incredible pre-IPO story, but he also actively built an important part of their revenue machine.

Adam enhances our networks as a Bay Area transplant.  Adam spent nearly a decade in Silicon Valley with some of the leading “brands” in the SV ecosystem. In addition to Social Capital and Dropbox, he has spent time at South Park Commons and Twitter, and attended Stanford GSB.  His professional networks will be a great addition to our own deep connective tissue with the West Coast.

Adam is a New Yorker.  While Adam spent many years on the West Coast, his New York roots go even deeper.  Adam grew up in NYC, attended college on the East Coast, started his career here and will now be moving back to NYC for his next chapter. 

Adam is an incredible person.  We spent a considerable amount of time both in and out of the office getting to know Adam.  His drive, intellect, humility, and core positivity were immediately evident. And as we talked to others who’d worked with Adam, the endorsements were resounding — not only for his intelligence (“off the charts horsepower”) but even more importantly, for his humility and collaborative approach (“consummate team player”, “hard worker”, “tremendous sounding board”, “we vs me” person.) 

Venture firms ultimately succeed through the strength of their people.  We could not have found a better fit with Adam. Please join us in welcoming him (back) to NYC and to the FirstMark family!  You can follow him on Twitter at @adamn.  

To read why Adam joined, please click here.