The .CO Icons & Innovators Series showcases interviews with the big thinkers, crazy dreamers, rule breakers and risk takers who spend their days breaking through boundaries, creating new possibilities, and transforming current realities to build the future online – on .CO, of course!
Meet Dave McClure, of 500.co
Venture capitalist and founding partner at 500 Startups, Dave McClure is a geek to be reckoned with! He has helped hundreds of startups with product and marketing strategy and regularly speaks on technology and entrepreneurship topics. With hundreds of experienced startup mentors around the world, a creative work space in the heart of Silicon Valley, and a vibrant community of startup founders, Dave is the guy behind the most disruptive startup-acceler
Who is Dave McClure?
Dave is a greedy, blood-sucking venture capitalist and the Founding Partner of 500 Startups, a global Internet seed fund & incubator program. Dave likes to hang out with entrepreneurs and invest in their startups if they’re foolish enough to let him. He has been in tech for over twenty years, and has worked with companies like PayPal, Mint, Founders Fund, Facebook, LinkedIn, Slideshare, Twilio, and Microsoft. Years ago he used to do real work like coding or marketing or running conferences, but these days he mostly does useless stuff like sending lots of email, blogging, and hanging out on Facebook and Twitter. Dave also likes to play ultimate frisbee when his knees don’t hurt.
What are you trying to do in your work?
I’m trying to change the world by better enabling & supporting technology entrepreneurship because I believe tech can solve many global challenges. I don’t believe Silicon Valley is the be all to end all, either; rather, there’s a whole world outside of the U.S. that often goes ignored by Silicon Valley, but represents huge opportunities for entrepreneurship. This is a huge challenge, but its something I deeply believe in.
500 startups helps find & fund tech entrepreneurs from all over the world, provides them with education & mentorship, access to capital, and helps them build bigger & better businesses. Along the way, we also aim to make money for our investors as those companies grow & succeed. Beyond these practical goals, we believe there’s a new and better model for technology investing & entrepreneur education that improves on traditional venture capital and business school methods.
What does innovation mean to you?
Innovation means a huge appetite for risk, an ethos of challenging accepted norms, and a drive to change the world.
Why .CO?
500 Startups is on a .CO domain, and many of our startups are also, so we’re big fans of the opportunity .CO opens up for online companies. On a more personal note, I just really like the entire .CO team and their story. They have had tremendous growth in such a short time span, against all odds. So, they’re true entrepreneurs and they understand what its like to be a startup.
What’s next for you?
We just hit 500 startups, so we’re aiming for infinity & beyond. Stay tuned!
