Mark Jacobstein

General Partner
Mark has been a successful founder for 30 years, founding or building industry-defining companies like Small World Sports, Guardant Health, and Digital Chocolate.

How I got here

Mark has built and run companies at the forefront of new technologies for thirty years. In 1994, he founded Small World Sports, the world’s first online fantasy sports business, which he later sold to Paul Allen’s The Sporting News. In 1995, he spun out one of the world’s first web agencies, Small World Software, which he sold to iXL before its 1998 IPO.

In 2003, Trip Hawkins convinced Mark to move to the Bay Area to co-found Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins-backed mobile games pioneer Digital Chocolate. Mark was then recruited to join loopt as the “adult supervision” for Sam Altman (Sam didn’t need any supervision). Later, Vinod Khosla recruited Mark to run mobile VOIP pioneer iSkoot, which he sold to Qualcomm in 2010.

Mark spent four years as the Chief User Engagement Officer at Guardant Health, which raised more than $500M before its 2019 IPO, and was the CBO for Immunai, a world-leading AI-driven biotech operating at the intersection of machine learning and genomics that raised more than $300M during Mark’s tenure. In 2023, Mark co-founded Jimini Health, which is leveraging LLMs and cutting-edge science to develop radically more effective, engaging, and scalable mental health solutions.

Mark has advised or invested in numerous startups, including Gerson Lehrman Group, Gusto, Elation EMR, Akash Network, SafeGraph, and Luminopia.

Mark earned his BA from Harvard, where he concentrated in Computer Science. He lives in Stanford, CA, with his wife and two (adorable) daughters.

What we'll work on together

  • Developing an overall company strategy: what part of the value chain do you want to own? What is your moat? What is the largest version of your vision you can achieve?
  • Crafting a narrative as compelling as your vision is large. Leadership requires selling (to your team, customers, and investors); selling is storytelling.
  • Fundraising, which requires a compelling pitch, the right strategy, and solid warm intros.
  • Building a company culture begins on day 1 with how you talk about your business, who you hire, and how you behave and make decisions. I help ensure that your culture is sustainable and authentically reflects the founder’s values.

Let’s Build Together

Ready to work with us? Let’s go! We’ll be your hands-on partners, joining you for every twist and turn toward success and innovation. Contact us to shape the future together.

Get in touch