Where does Ellen Chisa work?

Ellen Chisa is Partner at boldstart ventures and Board director at Topos Bio, Inc. and Board director at OpenSauced.

What check size does Ellen Chisa write?

Ellen Chisa typically writes checks of $250K – $2M.

What boards does Ellen Chisa sit on?

Ellen Chisa holds tracked board seats at Generalist, OpenSauced, Topos Bio, Inc..

Where did Ellen Chisa go to school?

Ellen Chisa studied at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Electrical and Computer Engineering); Harvard Business School (MBA); University of Washington (Human Centered Design and Engineering).

Ellen Chisa

Investor

Partner at boldstart ventures · Board director at Topos Bio, Inc. · Board director at OpenSauced

Somerville, Massachusetts

Writes $250K – $2M checks · typically $1M

About

Ellen Chisa, Dark’s cofounder who built a backend language, editor and infrastructure, meets founders pre‑company and focuses on developer adoption via tight learning experiments to displace incumbents in 5–10 years.

Contact· published on Ellen's own website

e•••@boldstart.vcreveal

Invests in

AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareSaaS

Beyond investing

Founded: Chisa founded Darklang (Dark), a programming language company. Chisa dropped out during undergrad to launch her first startup with five friends.
Education: Studied at Harvard Business School (MBA) Studied at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (B.S, Electrical and Computer Engineering)
Hobbies: Her favorite arcade game is Tetris.
Family: Chisa lives in Somerville, MA with her husband and her cat, Gutenberg.
More: Chisa grew up in Rochester Hills, MI.

From Ellen's own website — common ground for a warm intro.

Board director at Topos Bio, Inc.

Intro paths

→

In turn, Ellen can intro founders to Topos Bio, Inc.'s investors below.

Topos Bio, Inc.'s investors · 1

boldstart venturesMiami · $1M – $3M checks · since 2025

Co-founders at Topos Bio, Inc.

Amir KhosrowshahiExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter

Ryan ZarconeExecutive Officer, Director, Promoter

Board director at OpenSauced

Intro paths

→

In turn, Ellen can intro founders to OpenSauced's investors below.

OpenSauced's investors · 2

boldstart venturesMiami · $1M – $3M checks · since 2023 TechstarsBoulder · $220K checks · since 2023

Co-founders at OpenSauced

Brian DouglasExecutive Officer, Director

Experience

boldstart venturesPartnercurrent2022 — presentSomerville, Massachusetts, United States
boldstart venturesFounder-in-Residence2021 — 2022Somerville, Massachusetts, United States
GeneralistBoard Directorcurrent2024 — present
Topos BioBoard Directorcurrent2025 — present
LiveblocksBoard Directorcurrent2022 — present
Noded AIBoard Directorcurrent2025 — present
StellateBoard Director2021 — 2024
DarkCofounder/CEO2017 — 2020San Francisco Bay Area
LolaVP Product2015 — 2017Boston, MA
KickstarterProduct Manager2012 — 2014New York, New York
MicrosoftProgram Manager2010 — 2012Redmond, WA
Alight LearningCo-Founder2008 — 2010Boston, MA

Skills & more

Leadership13Strategy3User Interface Design54Project Management29Software Development22Product Management30User Experience Design7Agile Project Management6Agile Methodologies7User Experience8User Scenarios4Project Planning3

+12 more

TestingMobile ApplicationsMobile TechnologyWindows PhonePhilanthropyScrumSoftware DesignEducationPresentationsUser-centered DesignMicrosoft OfficeAwesomeness

From Ellen's professional profile.

Deals · 2

Topos Bio, Inc.Board seat

via boldstart ventures · filed Jan 2025 · $10.5M raise

OpenSaucedBoard seat

via boldstart ventures · filed May 2023 · $3.5M raise

Attribution from SEC filings, press coverage, and firm rosters.

Other disclosed investments

Board seats

Generalist

Per SEC Form D filings.

Colleagues at boldstart ventures

Charlotte Chapanoff

Head of Marketing & Global Events at boldstart ventures

Ed Sim

Founder and General Partner at boldstart ventures

Eliot Durbin

General Partner at boldstart ventures

Ernest Addison

Senior Associate at boldstart ventures

Jennifer Moy

Chief Operating Officer at boldstart ventures

Natalie Ledbetter

Investor at boldstart ventures

Shomik Ghosh

Enterprise software enthusiast and taco bell aficionado

Sparky

Investor at boldstart ventures

Network5

Ed SimScout

Founder and General Partner at boldstart ventures

Eliot DurbinScout

General Partner at boldstart ventures

Shomik GhoshScout

Enterprise software enthusiast and taco bell aficionado

Ted LeonsisScout

Founder & Partner, Revolution Growth at Revolution

Ernest Addison

Senior Associate at boldstart ventures

Investors connected to Ellen in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Ellen Chisa?: Ellen Chisa, Dark’s cofounder who built a backend language, editor and infrastructure, meets founders pre‑company and focuses on developer adoption via tight learning experiments to displace incumbents in 5–10 years.
Where does Ellen Chisa work?: Ellen Chisa is Partner at boldstart ventures and Board director at Topos Bio, Inc. and Board director at OpenSauced.
What does Ellen Chisa invest in?: Ellen Chisa invests in AI & Machine Learning, Cybersecurity, Developer Tools, Enterprise Software, SaaS.
What check size does Ellen Chisa write?: Ellen Chisa typically writes checks of $250K – $2M.
What boards does Ellen Chisa sit on?: Ellen Chisa holds tracked board seats at Generalist, OpenSauced, Topos Bio, Inc..
Where did Ellen Chisa go to school?: Ellen Chisa studied at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Electrical and Computer Engineering); Harvard Business School (MBA); University of Washington (Human Centered Design and Engineering).