Obvious Ventures

Former solar entrepreneur who co-founded Energy Innovations (acquired by Suntech), Andrew Beebe brings hands-on operating experience, decade-plus cleantech investing, and thought leadership on AI-driven climate solutions.

Ev Williams co-founded Obvious Ventures in 2014 with James Joaquin and Vishal Vasishth. Before that, he co-founded Blogger (via Pyra Labs, acquired by Google in 2003), Twitter (where he served as co-founder, lead investor, and former CEO), and Medium, where he is currently Chairman. He also restarted Obvious Corp in 2011 with Biz Stone and Jason Goldman to pursue startup investing and incubation.

James Joaquin, a tech founder and seven-time CEO, co-created world positive venture capital and pioneered the World Positive/ESG term sheet to embed mission-driven governance and back founders building the future.

Mo pairs engineering and national-security technical diligence experience at In-Q-Tel, Lockheed Martin, NSF and PNNL with early-stage investing and board leadership in AI, autonomy and biotech; author on automation.

Rohan Ganesh combines hands-on medical AI and EMR experience, holds US patents validating clinical ML models, and brings biotech investing background, focusing on generative science producing biological hypotheses and therapies.

Vishal Vasishth is a two-decade advocate of World Positive Capitalism who co-founded a deep-tech/frontier firm that manages $1.5B across seven funds and has backed multiple IPOs and unicorns.

Kahini has led investments including Eka Robotics and Open Hands; she brings Google's early-stage AI fund experience, satellite embedded‑systems engineering, AI product/sales expertise, CMU ECE degrees and a Wharton MBA.

Amanda Denney is Marketing Director at Obvious Ventures, where she leads marketing and events, focusing on community building and storytelling. Before Obvious, she spent over six years at Elemental Impact leading portfolio operations and platform, supporting more than 160 venture-backed startups and running events for founders and investors. Earlier she worked in dealflow, marketing, and operations roles, including at Tenor (acquired by Google), where she supported product growth and go-to-market strategy.

Aneesh Chopra is President of CareJourney, an open data and analytics platform that rates physicians, networks, facilities, and markets in the shift toward value-based care. He previously served as the first U.S. Chief Technology Officer and wrote the book "Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government." He holds an MPP from Harvard Kennedy School and a BA from Johns Hopkins University.

Anico Steffen is a Senior Executive Assistant at Obvious Ventures, bringing experience in project management, event coordination, and executive support. Before joining the firm, she spent over five years in venture capital and private equity supporting CEOs and partner-level executives. She holds a BA in Psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Brian Hamilton is a fintech executive with over 25 years in banking, lending, and payments. He serves on the Board of Directors and as President of the CCBX fintech division at Coastal Community Bank, and previously co-founded and led ONE (acquired by a Walmart-led joint venture in 2022) and founded Azlo, a digital bank for small businesses. He has also held senior roles at Capital One, Wells Fargo, and Verifone, and is a graduate of Oregon State University.

Cristina Kilmartin is the office manager at Obvious Ventures, handling office management and experience design. Before joining the firm, she worked for 10 years as a department manager at Nordstrom and for five years as an office manager in the dentistry field. She is originally from Romania and now lives in the Bay Area.

Eric Ryan is a consumer products entrepreneur who co-founded the design-focused cleaning brand method in 2001, and later launched OLLY, a line of gummy vitamins and proteins, in 2015. He more recently co-founded Welly, which makes fabric bandages and ointments. He has received recognition including a Clinton Global Citizen Award and a spot on Fortune's 40 under 40.

Evan Williams, serial founder-turned-investor behind Blogger, Twitter and Medium, applies a product-builder lens and values—his veganism influenced backing of Beyond Meat—and uses behavior shifts to predict trends.

Glenn Kelman is the long-time CEO of Redfin, a real estate brokerage built on technology. Earlier in his career, he co-founded the enterprise software company Plumtree Software, which went public and was later acquired by Oracle Corporation.

Jack Rothacher works in finance at Obvious Ventures, with more than 15 years of experience across venture capital, finance, and accounting. He previously held controller and finance roles at 8VC, Formation 8, and Sequoia Capital, handling portfolio company financing, fund management, and reporting, and earlier worked in Deloitte's audit practice in San Francisco. He holds an M.B.A. from Western Governors University and a B.S. in Business Administration (Accounting) from the University of Arizona, and is a CPA who has passed Level I of the CFA program.

Jessica Nett is Chief of Staff at Obvious Ventures, drawing on experience in project management and executive operations. She previously managed office operations and executive support at the Berkeley Endowment Management Company and worked as a Research Analyst at Avid Park Ventures focused on investment diligence and industry research, with earlier roles at SVB Capital, Sequoia Heritage, and 5AM Ventures. She holds a BA in History, French & Francophone Studies from Santa Clara University.

Joanne Bradford is a technology, media, and financial services executive with more than 25 years of experience in high-growth companies. She was President of Honey, which she helped lead through its 2020 acquisition by PayPal, and previously served as COO and CMO of SoFi from 2015 to 2019, where new products including Invest, Money, and Mortgage were launched. Earlier she led revenue and marketing at Pinterest, Yahoo, and Microsoft, and holds a BA in Journalism from San Diego State University.

Joycelyn Feng contributes project management and accounting expertise at Obvious Ventures. She previously worked as a senior tax accountant in Ernst & Young's financial services practice, where she provided tax planning and compliance services to wealth management and investment firms, including hedge funds, private equity, and venture capital clients. She is a licensed CPA and holds a B.A. in Business Administration with an emphasis in accounting and marketing from the University of California, Irvine.

Julie Blunden previously served as COO of Plus Power and CCO of EVgo, and held leadership roles at SunPower, Green Mountain Energy, SunEdison, and the ClimateWorks Foundation. Over more than 35 years, she has worked as an executive and board member for energy companies, with a focus on commercializing and scaling businesses in solar, energy storage, EV charging, battery technology, and retail and wholesale energy markets. She earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and studied Engineering with Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College.

McKenzie Quinn is an Executive Assistant at Obvious Ventures with a background in project management, event planning, and EA work. She began her career at Christie's auction house in New York within the Estates, Appraisals and Valuations department, then worked on the Investor Relations team at D.E. Shaw before moving to San Francisco, where she held an EA role at Founders Fund prior to Obvious. She holds a BA in History and Art History from Vassar College.

Phil Edmundson founded and formerly led Corvus, a cyber insurance company, and now serves as Managing Partner of Edmus Ventures, where he backs InsurTech companies. Earlier in his career he co-founded and led the brokerage firm William Gallagher Associates, later acquired by Arthur J Gallagher, and has held leadership roles across the insurance industry.

René Lacerte is a technology entrepreneur who founded BILL in 2006, a financial operations platform for small and midsize businesses that went public in 2019 and later acquired Divvy, Invoice2Go, and Finmark. Before BILL, he founded the online payroll company PayCycle (acquired by Intuit in 2009) and earlier spent five years at Intuit working on bill payment, credit card, and payroll products. He holds an M.S. in industrial engineering and a B.A. in quantitative economics from Stanford University.

Richelle Parham is a C-Suite executive with over 25 years of global strategy and marketing experience at companies including Universal Music Group, eBay, Visa, Digitas, and Citibank. In 2021 she joined Universal Music Group as President of Global eCommerce and Business Development, and she previously served as a Managing Director at WestRiver Group, General Partner at Camden Partners, and Chief Marketing Officer of eBay. She holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Business Administration and Design Arts from Drexel University.

Rodney Brooks has cofounded six companies, including iRobot (maker of the Roomba), Rethink Robotics, and Robust.AI, where the team builds collaborative mobile robots for warehouses and manufacturing. He completed a Master's thesis on machine learning in Australia (1977) and a PhD on computer vision at Stanford (1981), and while on the MIT faculty developed behavior-based robot control. He directed the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab from 1997 to 2007 and was the founding director of MIT CSAIL.

Sachin H. Jain, MD, MBA, is President and CEO of SCAN Group and Health Plan, and previously led CareMore Health and Aspire Health as President and CEO. Earlier roles include Chief Medical Information & Innovation Officer at Merck & Co., faculty positions at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Business School, and service in the Obama Administration as senior advisor at CMS and first deputy director for policy and programs at CMMI. He holds a BA from Harvard College, an MD from Harvard Medical School, and an MBA from Harvard Business School, and is an adjunct professor of medicine at Stanford.

Sarah Beresford leads investor relations at Obvious Ventures, serving as the firm's liaison to its limited partner community. She was previously Director of Investor Relations at Playground Global, a deep-tech VC firm, and Chief of Staff at a Silicon Valley single-family office, and began her career as a management consultant in New York City. She holds a BA in Economics from Brown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Sarah Whitesell is a Finance Manager at Obvious Ventures with a background in partnership taxation and accounting. She previously worked in Ernst & Young's Wealth Asset Management group across their Sydney and San Francisco offices, focusing on compliance and international tax for financial services clients including venture capital, private equity, fund of funds, and hedge funds. She holds an M.S. in Taxation from the University of Washington and a B.B.A. in International Business and Accounting from the University of South Carolina.

Shereef Elnahal is a physician who served as U.S. Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health in the Biden Administration, where he oversaw the Veterans Health Administration's implementation of the PACT Act and a large workforce expansion. He was previously President and CEO of University Hospital in Newark, NJ (2019–2022) and served as New Jersey's 21st Health Commissioner. He holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Sue Siegel has worked as a CEO, venture capitalist, and board member across private, public, and non-profit organizations. She previously served as GE's Chief Innovation Officer, CEO of GE Ventures & Licensing, and CEO of Healthymagination, and earlier was a General Partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures focused on Life Sciences & Health. She also led Affymetrix, a genomics company, from a pre-revenue startup to a publicly listed company, and is a Senior Lecturer at MIT's Sloan School of Management.

Yet-Ming Chiang is the Kyocera Professor in MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering, where his research addresses advanced materials and technologies for decarbonizing the electricity sector and industrial processes. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of several scientific societies, and has received awards including The Economist's Innovation Award in the energy and environment category. He has co-founded multiple companies based on research from his laboratory.