
Partner
Shawn Carolan
AIConsumerFintechRobotics + Hardware
As an early-stage investor, Shawn focuses on companies that serve the “utilitarian consumer”—the individual seeking better, faster, and cheaper ways to move through life. Because basic human needs are persistent, he looks at how people are spending their money and time to assess the value and utility of a product or service. This approach inspired Shawn to invest early in Roku, Uber, and Chime, long before they became household names.
Shawn’s technical background helps him appreciate new technologies that unlock innovation and become the foundation upon which categories are built, occasionally leading him beyond consumer into cutting-edge enterprise investments as well. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he graduated with highest honors. He then joined Chicago startup Open Port Technology as a developer. After becoming a manager of software architecture, he wrote wire protocols in C++ and obtained a patent. He left to attend Stanford GSB, and joined Menlo in 2002 after receiving his MBA. In a career that has spanned investing, technology and management consulting, he’s learned many lessons. But it was in starting and running his own startup, Handle, that he had his own founder’s journey firsthand, giving him experience with the highs and lows that are impossible to fully comprehend from the boardroom.
For fun, Shawn enjoys hiking with his family, running with his wife, Jennifer (founder of Reach Capital), CrossFit, snowboarding, and motorcycling.
Supported by: Kelsey Shackelford, [email protected]
Investment Portfolio
Milestones
Leadership


Partners


Milestones
Partners


Milestones
Leadership
Partners


Milestones
Partners


Milestones
Partners


Milestones
Partners


Milestones
Leadership


Partners


Milestones
Partners
Alma
Anycart
Arc
Chime
CinemaNow
Epic!
IMVU
JUMP
Kabata
Kinetic
Monarch
OpenSpace
Orro
PlaySpan
Roku
Scan
ShipBob
Siri
TeleNav
Uber
Unagi
Whisper Aero
YuMe
q&a
Investment Approach
From a friend who joined VC a year before me: “If two people always have the same opinion, one is unnecessary.” I love the simple truth. Being a good investor and partner is about becoming unique and deep in an area at the intersection of passion and economic opportunity. It’s how I found my way to “utilitarian consumer” companies that provide better, faster, cheaper ways to meet consumer needs using technology.
Our run with Anthony Wood, the founder of Roku, was an especially gratifying one. It came on the heels of a losing investment in CinemaNow (very early movie streaming service). Anthony and team had built the first robust video streaming product for $99, the “Netflix player by Roku”—just one channel! We led the first VC round when hardware was out of favor, but saw Anthony and team’s brilliant execution and strategy and shared the dream to become the streaming platform, while participating in the services revenue stream. Ten years after investing, I cried on the day of the IPO—it was so heartening to see all of their hard work and dreaming rewarded.
We are clear: Founders and the team run the company and we are there to support them. If the VC knows more than the team, they are both in trouble! We help in areas where the team has gaps by executing in the trenches, like finding and helping hire great people or sharing insights gleaned from considering over 1,000 investment opportunities a year and a portfolio of more than 100 high-performing companies.
Find an investor you want to bring bad news to because they will become part of the solution and not part of the problem. Running a startup is hard enough without having an investor that “chased heat” to find you and will get upset if things go wrong. The boardroom should be a place where you can expose your thorniest issues and find support. Something is always going wrong at startups.
I’m an engineer and product lover at heart, and have found throughout my career that my heroes are all entrepreneurs vs. other great investors. No matter how early you invest or how many ways you help, as an investor, it’s still someone else’s baby. I miss being on the hook for building something that makes the lives of customers better.