Bill Trenchard
Location: USA
Founder partner at Founder Collective, an early stage venture fund created in June 2009, as well as a board member and advisor to several high tech companies. Most recently, Bill served as Chairman and CEO of LiveOps, a company he co-founded in 2001 (as CallCast) and led to $100 Million in sales as the industry’s leading virtual call center company.
NUMBER
#160Xs
610Investments
47Exits
38| Number of Portfolio Companies 5 | ||
| Location USA |
Founder partner at Founder Collective, an early stage venture fund created in June 2009, as well as a board member and advisor to several high tech companies. Most recently, Bill served as Chairman and CEO of LiveOps, a company he co-founded in 2001 (as CallCast) and led to $100 Million in sales as the industry’s leading virtual call center company. Prior to LiveOps, Bill was a managing director at idealab!, where he served portfolio companies in capacities ranging from board member to interim CEO. Bill was previously the Founder and CEO of Jump Networks, a leading web calendar and personal organizer acquired by Microsoft Corporation in April 1999. Bill was named one of BusinessWeek’s Best Young Technology Entrepreneurs in 2006 and has been featured in numerous media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, and USA Today. Bill is an angel investor in many high technology companies, including IronPort Systems (acquired by Cisco for $830M), PowerSet (acquired by Microsoft), and Xooplt (acquired by Yahoo). Bill currently serves on the boards of ReadyForce, LiveOps, Samasource, HomeRun, and Fina Technologies, a Cambridge Massachusetts based quantitative finance company. Bill has a Bachelor of Arts degree in science and technology studies from Cornell University, where he currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Entrepreneurship@Cornell council and the Cornell eLab business incubator.
Professional Summary
Accomplished technology investor and entrepreneur with an extensive track
record of identifying and supporting transformative startups across multiple
industries. As a Partner at First Round Capital, I specialize in partnering
with exceptional founders who are solving complex global challenges through
innovative solutions.
Professional Experience
Partner
First Round Capital | 2012 – Present
– Lead investments across diverse sectors including B2B, consumer, hardware,
SaaS, Fintech, Health, and Climate tech
– Actively seek and support pre-product-market fit founders with
unconventional problem-solving approaches
– Notable investments include Uber, Looker, Flexport, Verkada, Sift,
Superhuman, and Together AI
Entrepreneurial Background
LiveOps, Inc. | 2000 – 2021
– Co-Founder and CEO, leading the company to become the world’s leading
virtual call center
– Scaled the business to $100M in sales and hundreds of employees
– Served as CEO from 2003-2008, then transitioned leadership
Jump Networks | Early Career
– Founded web calendar and personal organizer
– Successfully acquired by Microsoft
Technology and Productivity Software Investments
In the business and productivity software space, Bill has invested in several
promising companies:
-
Sora
(Invested August 2021): An early-stage venture in business productivity
software -
Engagio
(Invested April 2015): Focused on business productivity solutions -
Aviso
(Invested April 2014): Another strategic investment in business
productivity software -
Parsable
(Invested April 2014): A seed-round investment in business productivity
software
Diverse Technology Sectors
Bill’s investment approach spans multiple technology domains:
-
Limitless
(October 2020): A hardware technology company -
MileIQ
(January 2015): A road-related technology platform -
Direct Match
(March 2016): A financial software company -
Earnest Operations
(December 2014): A consumer finance technology venture -
Kip
(June 2016): An innovative healthcare services technology -
Gyft (September 2013): An early-stage venture in consumer non-financial
services
Board Memberships and Advisory Roles
– Board Member: Airbase, Ossium Health, Edify
– Advisor: Remora, Naborly, Evergrow
Investment Focus
– Primary Investment Type: Angel Investor
– Status: Actively Seeking New Investments
– Geographic Focus: United States
Education
Cornell University | Bachelor of Arts
Skills
– Early-Stage Investment
– Strategic Entrepreneurship
– Technology Ecosystem Development
– Startup Mentorship
– Product Strategy
– Cross-Industry Innovation
Professional Philosophy
Dedicated to supporting founders who aim to solve significant global
challenges through innovative, first-principles thinking and unconventional
approaches to complex problems.
Professional Network
– LinkedIn Connections: 500+
– Professional Followers: 11,930
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