Umesh Padval

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

Umesh Padwal serves as Chairman and member of the Board of Directors of
Avalanche Technology. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Isovalent. He
is a Venture Partner at Thomvest Ventures. He specializes in investments in the
cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure sectors and works closely with founders
and CEOs to develop disruptive platform solutions. He currently serves on the
boards of Avalanche Technology, Bolster, ShiftLeft and Impinj, and as a board
observer for Clari and ShieldX. He has served on the board of directors of
Tactus Technology. He is also an investor in Baffle. Prior to joining Thomvest,
he was a successful entrepreneur, investor and CEO of a public company. Most
recently, he was with Bessemer Venture Partners for over 8 years in their Menlo
Park office. Prior to Bessemer, he was Executive Vice President at LSI after
acquiring C-Cube Microsystems, a public video infrastructure and distribution
company, where he served as President and CEO. He has served on the boards of
more than 30 public and private companies, bringing extensive experience and
skills valued by executives and founders. He previously served on the boards of
Mellanox (public, sold to Nvidia), ThousandEyes (private, sold to Cisco),
Integrated Device Technology (public, sold to Renesas), Lastline (private, sold
to VMware), Blue Willow Systems (private, sold to Philips), Avnera (private,
sold to Skyworks), Skyhigh Networks (private, sold to McAfee), C-Cube
Microsystems (public, sold to LSI), Entropic Communications (public, sold to
Maxlinear), Silicon Image (public, sold to Lattice), Elantec (public, sold to
Intersil), Berkeley Design Automation (private, sold to Mentor Graphics),
Monolithic Power Systems (public), Tilera (private, sold to EZchip) and PA Semi
(private, sold to Apple). He holds a B.S. in Technology from the Indian
Institute of Technology, Mumbai, and an M.S. in Engineering from Stanford
University. He has served on several advisory boards at Stanford University and
currently serves on the board of directors of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation
and Sutter Pacific Group.”

Professional Summary

Accomplished technology investor and entrepreneur with extensive experience
in venture capital, focusing on disruptive startups in cybersecurity, cloud
infrastructure, and Generative AI. Proven track record of identifying and
supporting innovative companies that solve critical enterprise
challenges.

Professional Experience

Managing Director

Thomvest Ventures
| San Francisco, CA | February 2016 – Present

http://www.thomvest.com/

• Lead investments in early-stage and late-stage startups across
  cybersecurity, cloud, and AI infrastructure
• Partner with serial entrepreneurs developing differentiated platforms
  addressing significant market pain points
• Leverage extensive CEO and board experience to support portfolio
  companies
• Maintain a robust network of C-level executives in technology
  sectors

Notable Board Memberships

• Private Company Boards:
  • AppCD (StackGen)
  • Bolster
  • Qwiet.ai
  • Clari
  • Avalanche Technology

• Public Company Board: Impinj

Investment Portfolio Highlights

Technology and Software Investments

Umesh has strategically invested in various cutting-edge technology companies
across multiple sectors:

Cybersecurity and Network Management

• Qwiet AI: Advanced network management software
• ShieldX: Innovative network management solutions
• Cylance: Pioneering network management technologies
• Lastline: Network security and management platform

Enterprise Software and Infrastructure

• Baffle: Sophisticated network management software
• ThousandEyes: Systems and information management
• Hedvig: Innovative database software solutions

Semiconductor and Hardware Technologies

• Avalanche Technology: Application-specific semiconductor innovations
• Tactus Technology: Consumer durables technology

Investment Approach

Focuses on early-stage and late-stage investments in:

• Cybersecurity
• Cloud infrastructure
• Generative AI
• Enterprise technology solutions

Previous Roles

Bessemer Venture Partners | Menlo Park, CA

• Focused on investments in cloud infrastructure, data center technologies,
  big data, and hardware sectors http://www.bvp.com/

LSI | Executive Vice President

• Joined after acquisition of C-Cube Microsystem, where he served as
  President and CEO http://www.lsi.com/

Successful Exit Portfolio

Extensive history of successful company exits, including:

• Isovalent (Sold to Cisco)
• Skyhigh Networks (Sold to McAfee)
• Lastline (Sold to VMware)
• Mellanox (Sold to NVIDIA)
• Thousand Eyes (Sold to Cisco)
• Cylance (Sold to BlackBerry)
• And numerous other strategic exits across technology sectors

Education

• Master’s Degree in Engineering, Stanford University

  https://careersearch.stanford.edu/

• Bachelor of Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai – h3 http://www.iitb.ac.in/

Additional Contributions

• Advisory Board Member, Stanford University
• Board Member, Palo Alto Medical Foundation
• Board Member, Sutter Medical Group
• Board Member, Resurge International

Core Competencies

• Venture Capital
• Startup Ecosystem
• Technology Investment
• Strategic Leadership
• Go-to-Market Strategy
• Enterprise Technology
• Generative AI
• Cybersecurity

Professional Philosophy

Dedicated to partnering with visionary founders, identifying transformative
technologies, and building successful companies that solve critical enterprise
challenges.

Professional Network

– LinkedIn Connections: 500+

– Professional Followers: 4,249

– 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

https://firstround.com/

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

http://www.liveops.com/

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

https://www.cornell.edu/

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