Jason Citron
InvestorUnicorn founderCo-founder at Discord
San Francisco, CA
Writes $5K – $50K checks · typically $25K
FoundedDiscord$15B
About
Jason Citron sold his first company to GREE for about $104 million at 26 and turned down Microsoft's reported $12 billion offer for his second at 36, choosing to keep Discord independent — the voice-and-chat platform that became the home of gaming, and then of nearly every online community. A Full Sail game-design graduate, he built Aurora Feint and OpenFeint, then founded Hammer & Chisel, where the voice chat his team built for their own game turned out to be the real product. He handed the CEO seat to Activision veteran Humam Sakhnini in April 2025 — 'hiring myself out of a job' ahead of a public listing — and stayed on the board.
Beyond investing
- Founded
- Founded Aurora Feint in 2008 — its game shipped at the App Store's launch — and grew it into the mobile social platform OpenFeint, which GREE acquired for about $104 million in 2011. Co-founded Discord with Stanislav Vishnevskiy; the idea came from the team's own frustration with voice chat while building the game Fates Forever. Citron founded OpenFeint in 2009, one of the earliest major social gaming networks for mobile devices. Citron co-founded the game development studio Hammer & Chisel, which released the game Fates Forever in 2014. Citron launched Aurora Feint, an iPhone puzzle game, in 2008.
- Education
- Graduated from Full Sail University in game design and development in 2004; inducted into its Hall of Fame in March 2025. Studied at Full Sail University (BS, Game Design and Development, 2004)
- Awards
- Citron was inducted into the Full Sail University Hall of Fame in March 2025. Citron was named to the 2023 TIME100 Next list.
- Hobbies
- On stepping down he said he planned to take a break and play Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Blue Prince, and Baldur's Gate 3. Citron is a longtime gamer who cites Final Fantasy VI as his favorite game and describes himself as a Squaresoft fanboy.
- Family
- Citron was born in San Francisco and grew up in South Florida, becoming interested in technology after being gifted a computer by his grandfather.
- More
- Discord rejected Microsoft's reported ~$12 billion offer in April 2021, choosing independence and a later public listing; it then raised at a $15 billion valuation. Stepped down as CEO in April 2025 — framing it as hiring himself out of a job — handing the seat to former Activision Blizzard vice chairman Humam Sakhnini while staying on the board. Citron learned to write code in QBasic at age 13, with his first program being a text-based role-playing game.
From Jason's own website — common ground for a warm intro.
Co-founder at Discord
Intro paths
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In turn, Jason can intro founders to Discord's investors below.
Discord's investors · 45
AccelPalo Alto · $1.6M – $70M checks · since 2015Access IndustriesNew YorkAcquire FiAcrew CapitalSan Francisco · $1M – $15M checksAppWorks VenturesTaipei · $200K – $15M checksArcane GroupSingaporeArrington CapitalMiamiBaillie GiffordEdinburgh · since 2021BenchmarkSan Francisco · $100K – $30M checks · since 2020Berkeley FrontierBerkeleyBessemer Venture PartnersRedwood City · $5M – $100M checksBitkraft Esports VenturesSan Francisco · $100K – $5M checksCoatue ManagementNew York · $1M – $20M checksCogitent VenturesLondonCosmic Venture PartnersAustin · $100K – $5M checksDigital StrategiesDigitalOceanSan FranciscoDragoneer Investment GroupSan Francisco · $100K – $5M checksDVCRotterdamFidelity InvestmentsBoston · since 2021FirstMark CapitalNew York · $500K – $8M checks · since 2018Franklin TempletonSan Mateo · since 2021Gelt VC$25K checksGeneral CatalystSan Francisco · $30M checks · since 2015GreenoaksSan Francisco · $1M – $50M checks · since 2018Greylock PartnersSan Francisco · $100K – $200M checks · since 2020Griffin Gaming PartnersSanta MonicaIndex VenturesSan Francisco · $540K – $10.8M checks · since 2018InvestXVancouverIVP (Institutional Venture Partners)San Francisco · $15M – $75M checksKing River CapitalSydneyMagnus CapitalMana VenturesEsteroManhattan Venture PartnersNew YorkManhattan WestLos AngelesMapleblock CapitalMuchmore VenturesNew York CityPointer.CapitalLewesRepublic VenturesNew YorkRidge VenturesSan Francisco · $2M – $7M checksSequoia Capital’s Scout programMenlo Park · $25K – $100K checksSpark CapitalSan Francisco · $500K – $25M checks · since 2017TokoinTrammell Venture Partners (TVP)AustinV3V Ventures$100K – $1M checks
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Co-founders at Discord
SV
Stanislav VishnevskiyCo-founder and Chief Technology Officer
Experience
- DiscordBoard Member & Advisor to the CEOcurrent2025 — present
- DiscordFounder & CEO2012 — 2025San Francisco, California, United States
- CampusBoard Membercurrent2021 — present
- OpenFeintFounder & CEO2008 — 2011Burlingame, CA
- Youweb Inc.Entrepreneur2007 — 2008
- Doublefine ProductionsProgrammer2006 — 2007
- Stormfront StudiosProgrammer2005 — 2006
- Papaya StudioGame Programmer2005
Education
- Full Sail UniversityB.S., Game Design and Development2003 — 2004
Skills & more
Video Games56Game Design31Mobile Games30Social Games22Game Development28Entrepreneurship15Gameplay6PS34Xbox 3604Software Engineering3Product Development1Monetization7
+11 more
Start-upsCasual GamesMobile ApplicationsiOS developmentGame MechanicsProduct ManagementFilmMobile DevicesiPhoneRuby on RailsUser ExperienceFrom Jason's professional profile.
Investments
Board seats
Discord
Per curated public sources.
Podcasts & interviews
featuring Jason CitronNetwork1
Investors connected to Jason in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.
Frequently asked questions
- Where does Jason Citron work?
- Jason Citron is Co-founder at Discord.
- What check size does Jason Citron write?
- Jason Citron typically writes checks of $5K – $50K.
- What companies did Jason Citron found?
- Jason Citron founded Discord.
Paths to reach Jason
People who overlapped with Jason at the same organization — a shared school or employer with one of them is a warm way in.
Together at DiscordJason: Co-founder
David Sze2020–2026Advisory Partner at GreylockBuckingham Browne & Nichols School · Stanford University Graduate School of Business · Yale UniversityMitch Lasky2013–2026General Partner at BenchmarkHarvard University · University of Virginia School of LawDanny Rimer2017–2026Partner at Index VenturesHarvard University · International School of GenevaNiko Bonatsos2012–2026Investment Team at General CatalystHarvard Medical School · National Technical University of Athens · University of CambridgeWill Reed2016–2026Investor at Spark CapitalAmherst CollegeAlex Lim2016–2026Investor at IVP (Institutional Venture Partners)The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · Winchester College
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