The House Fund Welcomes New Part-Time Partners
We are proud to welcome Brett Wilson, Co-founder and CEO of TubeMogul, and Jason Wang, Co-founder and founding CEO of Caviar, as Part-Time Partners in The House Fund. In this role, Brett and Jason will mentor The House Fund’s founders, as well as help source deals, conduct due diligence on investments, and drive the next wave of great Berkeley startups.
As a student entrepreneur at UC Berkeley in 2013, I was a year into building a startup, struggling, and seeking inspiration. I needed an accessible role model — someone in the Cal community.
At the time, the lives of myself and fellow students were becoming increasingly fueled and delighted by the on-demand movement and paving the way was Caviar — a fast-growing on-demand food delivery startup started by four Cal undergrad students and alums.
Caviar CEO Jason Wang immediately stood out as one of the role models I was looking for. I had first heard of Jason when he was building one of his first startups MunchOnMe. It was exciting to see him and his best friends building their dreams, defining a new industry, and satisfying the hunger of thousands across the country. Jason and his team didn’t seem too different from other student entrepreneurs on campus.
Neither did Brett Wilson and his co-founders of TubeMogul — a leading enterprise software company for digital branding. They met in a class, worked out of a scrappy basement on Bancroft Way, and leveraged any and all resources they could find on campus to get their idea off the ground. Based down the street in Emeryville, Brett and TubeMogul waved the Cal flag loud and proud as they rapidly grew to become an international company and employ hundreds of Cal alums and students, including some of my friends.
Brett’s and Jason’s companies are among the biggest exits and successes started by graduate and undergraduate students at Cal. In 2014, TubeMogul held an IPO (code named “Project Oski”) and Caviar was acquired by Square. Brett and Jason have been inspirations for not only myself, but also many other student and alumni entrepreneurs in the Cal community.
At The House Fund, we will invest in Berkeley’s top student, faculty, and alumni startups and help their founders build the foundations for great businesses. A huge part of our vision is to create a cycle of innovation, where the founders we support can point to Berkeley as a catalyst in their success and want to give back to the next generation — just as Brett and Jason have and will continue to do as part of The House Fund family.
Welcome home Brett and Jason!
-Jeremy
Apply for funding or our other startup initiatives: http://thehouse.build/apply/
The House Fund: The House Fund is a $6M pre-seed and seed stage venture capital fund investing in Berkeley’s top student, faculty, and alumni startups. We help Berkeley founders build the foundations for great businesses. The House Fund is part of The House family.
The House: The House is a startup institute built for Berkeley, and home to Berkeley’s founders. We help build foundations for great businesses with a support platform providing founders at all stages with what they need, when they need it.
The House Fund and UC Berkeley are separate and independent legal entities. An affiliation with one entity does not imply an affiliation with the other. The content of The House Fund on Medium is not created, controlled, maintained, owned or endorsed by UC Berkeley or its affiliates, trustees, officers, employees, or students.
