Chris Sacca

An accomplished venture investor, company advisor, and entrepreneur, Chris manages a portfolio of over seventy technology and consumer startups through Lowercase Capital. Primarily known for its investments in early stage technology companies like Twitter, Uber, Instagram, Twilio, Stripe, and Kickstarter, Chris and his wife and venture partner, Crystal English Sacca, have grown Lowercase into one of the most successful funds ever. Yet in early 2017, Chris announced that he and Crystal were stepping back from day-to-day investing to focus exclusively on their ongoing efforts to rescue our democracy, heal the planet, promote diversity within venture capital and technology, and reform our criminal justice system. Chris also dedicates time, energy, and funding to entrepreneurs building philanthropic startups that empower people who need help, such as charity:water, the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, Global Citizen Year, and many more. If you spend any time with him, he will likely rope you into getting involved as well. Chris began angel investing in 2006 and over the following decade, Lowercase’s portfolio grew from a handful of early stage startups to include some of the most iconic brands in tech. The performance of the fund made Chris one of youngest members of the Forbes Midas List in 2011 and vaulted him to the #2 spot by 2017. The Wall Street Journal once named Chris as “possibly the most influential businessman in America” and Vanity Fair named him to its New Establishment list. Chris has long been a fixture of the Silicon Valley startup community, in part for the kind of fruitful and fun collaborations with early stage companies, and in part for his unforgettable cowboy shirts which earned him a spot on GQ’s Worst Dressed List. Before setting out as an investor, Chris served as Head of Special Initiatives at Google, Inc. In that role, he founded and headed up Google’s Access division where his projects included Google’s multi-billion dollar 700MHz and TV white spaces spectrum initiatives, the company’s groundbreaking data centers in Oregon and the Netherlands, and Google’s free citywide WiFi network in Mountain View, CA. Chris also spearheaded many of Google’s business development and M&A transactions and was on the founding team of the company’s New Business Development organization. In recognition of his accomplishments, Chris was among the first Google employees ever given the Founders’ Award, Google’s highest internal honor. Early in his career, Chris was an attorney at the Silicon Valley firm of Fenwick & West, where he handled venture capital, mergers & acquisitions, and licensing transactions for technology giants. He then served in various executive roles at one of the world’s largest streaming and digital media companies, Speedera Networks (acquired by Akamai Technologies). Alongside his professional pursuits, Chris was deeply involved in Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. He worked as a speaking surrogate, advisor, field office volunteer, Co-Chair of National Finance, and a Trustee of the Presidential Inaugural Committee. During the reelection campaign in 2012, he continued his work as a National Finance Committee member, a host of the President’s roundtable discussion series, and as Co-Chair of Tech for Obama. Since the events of November 2016, Chris counts himself as a proud and active member of the #resistance and dedicates countless dollars and hours in hopes of helping this country through some dark days. Never one to shy away from sharing his opinions, Chris has spent years as a loud and candid fixture on television, radio, and podcasts. In 2015, he joined the cast of Shark Tank for two Emmy Award-winning seasons where he was a favorite thorn in the side of Mark Cuban and Kevin O’Leary. In 2018, Chris co-starred in the first episode of the ABC Series Alex, Inc. and may or may not have a little more acting up his sleeves. Chris graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center where he was a member of The Tax Lawyer law review and was honored as a Philip A. Ryan and Ralph J. Gilbert Memorial Scholar. He also graduated cum laude from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and was an Edmund Evans Memorial Scholar as well as a Weeks Family Foundation Scholar. In the course of his studies, Chris attended university at the Universidad Católica del Ecuador in Quito, Ecuador, University College Cork, in Cork, Ireland, and the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain. Throughout his career, Chris has carved out time for academic experiences and fellowships including time as an Associate Fellow of the Said Business School at Oxford University, an MIT Enterprise Forum Global Trustee, an Atlantic Council Vanguard 25 member, and a longtime Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute. Long before any of that, beginning in 7th grade, Chris attended night school at the State University of New York at Buffalo for six years of college mathematics classes wearing thick glasses, awkward braces, and knowing the entire time that technology and computers would be passions of his for life. When he’s not on the road, Chris lives with his wife Crystal and their three gutsy girls in California and Montana. He is an avid alpine and nordic skier, kitesurfer, helicopter enthusiast, recovering Ironman triathlete, average-proficiency crossword puzzler, and he has bicycled coast-to-coast across the United States of America. If that wasn’t enough Sacca for you, this is like Chris Sacca central. OH, and here is some more Sacca. Wait, we found some more about Chris. Apparently, Sacca does some writing here, and this is where Chris used to blog back in the day. It looks like Chris collects startups here. And, ahhh, check out Sacca’s pretty pictures.