Del Johnson

Del Johnson is a venture capital investor, tech writer, and keynote speaker who builds organizations that identify outlier talent beyond the reach of traditional networks and signals. A graduate of Columbia Law School, Del declined his big law firm offer to join Backstage Capital, a VC fund dedicated to eliminating tech disparities through investing in high-potential underrepresented founders. As an investment Principal, Del leads the fund’s scouting, diligence, and operations in New York. To date, his fund has invested over $7 million into over 100 startups led by founders from groups traditionally overlooked by venture capitalists. Del honed his skill for talent identification working with the People Operations team at Google, where he was recognized for developing the first internal initiative to source and hire women software engineers from coding bootcamps. As an award-winning business development and account management professional at Oracle, he perfected the art of negotiating and closing complex deals with senior executives. In addition to his Columbia law JD, Del holds a Bachelors from the University of California, Berkeley.