About
Jonathan Ross invented Google's TPU as a 20% project, founded Groq in 2016 to break the AI inference bottleneck with the LPU — and in December 2025 Nvidia paid a reported $20 billion to license Groq's technology and hire Ross and his leadership team. A high-school dropout who talked his way into NYU's Courant Institute (taking PhD-level courses under Yann LeCun before dropping out again), he built the TPU from a nights-and-weekends accelerator into the chip behind AlphaGo, worked at Google X's Rapid Evaluation team, and grew Groq to a $6.9 billion valuation with landmark inference deals across Saudi Arabia and Canada before the Nvidia deal.
Beyond investing
- Founded
- Co-founded Groq in 2016 with fellow Google X alum Douglas Wightman to commercialize a from-scratch inference chip, the LPU.
- Education
- Dropped out of high school, then out of NYU's Courant Institute — where he was the first CS undergrad allowed into PhD-level courses, studying under Yann LeCun.
- More
- Started Google's TPU as a 20% project in 2013 after overhearing the speech team's compute complaints; it deployed to production in ~15 months and later powered AlphaGo. The December 2025 Nvidia deal — a ~$20B non-exclusive license plus the hiring of Ross and president Sunny Madra — reportedly came together in a three-week phone negotiation and drew antitrust scrutiny from lawmakers. Groq's February 2024 viral near-instant chat demo transformed the company's trajectory — Ross called it 'a game changer'. Under Ross, Groq became the exclusive inference provider for Bell Canada's sovereign AI network and anchored Saudi Arabia's $1.5B inference build-out with Aramco Digital and HUMAIN.
From Jonathan's own website — common ground for a warm intro.
Founder & CEO at Groq
Intro paths
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In turn, Jonathan can intro founders to Groq's investors below.
Groq's investors · 43
Acequia Capital (AceCap)Seattle · $100K – $5M checksAlumni VenturesManchester · $100K – $10M checksB CapitalGenevaBasecamp FundManchester · $100K – $10M checksBeyond CapitalSan DiegoBlueYard CapitalBerlin · $500K – $5M checksCambium CapitalHighlandCleo CapitalNew York · $100K – $1M checksConversion CapitalSan Francisco · $500K – $5M checksDisruptiveDallas · since 2026E1 VenturesSan FranciscoEniac VenturesNew York · $1.2M checksFirestreak VenturesGarage CapitalWaterlooGlobal BrainTokyo · $100K – $184M checksGood CapitalMt. PleasantID8 InvestmentsNew YorkIn-Q-TelTysons · $100K – $2.5M checksIneffable VenturesStamfordIntegra GroupeMenlo Park · $100K – $200K checksInvestopadJuniperoMiamiKDDI Open Innovation FundLauder PartnersLos AltosLobby CapitalPalo AltoLvna CapitalMiamiMana VenturesEsteroManhattan WestLos AngelesMighty CapitalSan FranciscoModi VenturesHoustonMorgan Creek CapitalChapel Hill · $1M – $5M checksOpen Field CapitalNew YorkRace CapitalPalo Alto · $250K – $2M checksRiverbend CapitalWashingtonSamsung Catalyst FundSan JoseStrategxy Ventures LLCBeverly Hills · $1M – $5M checksStrawberry Creek VenturesManchesterTDK VenturesSan Jose · $5M checksTranspose Platform ManagementHoustonTrousdale VenturesWest Hollywood · $1M – $5M checksType One VenturesLos Angeles · $100K – $5M checksUncork CapitalSan Francisco · $3M – $5M checksXTX MarketsBristol
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Experience
- NVIDIAChief Software Architectcurrent2025 — present
- groqceo + founder2018 — 2025
- groqcto + founder2016 — 2018
- X, the moonshot factoryrapid evaluator2015 — 2016San Francisco Bay Area
- Googlehardware engineer - started tpu effort2013 — 2015Madison, Wisconsin Area
- GoogleSoftware Engineer2011 — 2013Greater New York City Area
- Pacmid LLC.Head of Research & Development2009 — 2011New York, United States
Education
- New York UniversityHonors Mathematics and Honors Computer Science2006 — 2008
Podcasts & interviews
featuring Jonathan RossFrequently asked questions
- Where does Jonathan Ross work?
- Jonathan Ross is Founder & CEO at Groq.
- What companies did Jonathan Ross found?
- Jonathan Ross founded Groq.
Paths to reach Jonathan
People who overlapped with Jonathan at the same organization — a shared school or employer with one of them is a warm way in.
Together at NVIDIAJonathan: Chief Software Architect
Sandy Yuan2025–2026Advisor, AV & Robotics at Verissimo VenturesBeijing Normal University · Massachusetts Institute of Technology · MIT Sloan School of ManagementRaj Rao2025–2026Investor at Sand Hill AngelsNew Jersey Institute of Technology · NYU Stern School of Business · Pune Institute of Computer TechnologyMohamed Soliman2025–2026Co-Founding & Managing Partner at Ventioneers CapitalCairo University · McMaster University · Ryerson UniversityGarnet Heraman2025–2026Founder and Managing Partner at Aperture Venture CapitalColumbia University · NYU Stern School of Business · The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)Alán Aspuru-Guzik2025–2026Professor of Chemistry and Computer Science at Propagator VenturesUniversidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoBrooke Seawell2025–2026Venture Partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA)
Founder mafias
New York University mafia84
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Rajiv KhemaniMSFounded Auradine +3Ben ZisesReal Estate Finance and InvestmentFounded Superangelsyndicate +2Robby YungM.A.Founded The Sandbox +1Ivan KiriginBAFounded YesGraph +1Brien ColwellMastersFounded BringYour +1Juan MedinaMaster of Science (MS)Founded Isabl +1
+ 77 more
NVIDIA mafia80
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
Saurabh SrivastavaNemotron, Advanced Deep Learning ResearchFounded Warpdrive by Synthetic Minds +1Lee LiuWeb Software EngineerFounded Mezmo +1Musawir ShahSr. Software Engineer - TegraFounded Jerry +1Alex SismanisAndroid Developer InternFounded L1 Advisors +1Bhairav MehtaDeep Learning and Robotics ResearchFounded CharacterQuilt +1Neil MovvaDeep Learning GPU ArchitectFounded Sailresearch +1
+ 73 more
Same school
Also attended New York University360
Gabriella GiglioHR & Executive Talent at General CatalystAndrea EchstenkamperVP of Marketing at HeavybitRami BranitzkyPartner at Sapphire VenturesZach WhiteInvestment Team at 8VCAnkita TiwariPrograms Manager at StartXUri LopatinInvestor at Khosla Ventures
+ 354 more
Shared employers
Also worked at groq29
Jeannette zu FürstenbergPresident & Managing Director at General CatalystAbdo John HajjFounder of AJH Investments, a private investment office built for long-duration ownership.Tripp JonesInvestor at Uncork CapitalSunny DhillonFounder and Managing Partner at Kyber Knight CapitalJean WeillAssociate at C4 VenturesVictor Bunoust-RoquerePrincipal at Manhattan Venture Partners
+ 23 more
Also worked at X, the moonshot factory45
James WangGeneral Partner at Creative VenturesSteven WillingerGP at Blockchain BuildersMike McCauleyCo-founder & General Partner at Inovia CapitalVinay RajPrincipal at CVS Health VenturesMax LuoPrincipal at ACME CapitalAaron SistoPartner at First Spark Ventures, Llc
+ 39 more
Also worked at Google1,582
Ron ConwayFounder of SV AngelElad GilSolo general partner investing through Gil CapitalKai-Fu LeeChairman of Sinovation Ventures and CEO of 01.AIBrian SingermanCo-founder of GPx; Partner Emeritus at Founders FundJess LeePartner and Chief Product Officer at Sequoia CapitalTomasz TunguzFounder & General Partner at Theory Ventures
+ 1,576 more