Where does Joseph Ruscio work?

Joseph Ruscio is General Partner at Heavybit and Board director at L9 Labs Inc. and Board director at Highly Valued, Inc. and Board director at Exceptional, Inc..

What check size does Joseph Ruscio write?

Joseph Ruscio typically writes checks of $500K – $5M.

What boards does Joseph Ruscio sit on?

Joseph Ruscio holds tracked board seats at Devenue Inc., Exceptional, Inc., Highly Valued, Inc., L9 Labs Inc., Streamfold.

Where did Joseph Ruscio go to school?

Joseph Ruscio studied at Virginia Tech (Master of Science (M.S.), Computer Science); Illinois Institute of Technology (B.S., Computer Engineering).

Joseph Ruscio

InvestorFounder

General Partner at Heavybit · Board director at L9 Labs Inc. · Board director at Highly Valued, Inc. · Board director at Exceptional, Inc.

San Francisco

Writes $500K – $5M checks · typically $2.5M

About

General partner at Heavybit with a background in academia, startup management, and venture capital, focused on helping practitioner-first teams scale go-to-market and organizations. Works with startups such as Tailscale, Localstack, Groundcover, and Partnerpage.

Invests in

AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityData & InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsEnterprise Software

Beyond investing

Founded: Helped found Librato, where he continues to work as an engineer.
Hobbies: Enjoys running, snowboarding, and home-brewing in his spare time.
Pets: Has cats.
Family: Lives in San Francisco with his wife Jory and their cats.
More: Authored and released the open-source Ruby 'Aggregate' statistics gem.

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

Board director at L9 Labs Inc.

Intro paths

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In turn, Joseph can intro founders to L9 Labs Inc.'s investors below.

L9 Labs Inc.'s investors · 1

HeavybitSan Francisco · $500K – $5M checks · since 2025

Board director at Highly Valued, Inc.

Intro paths

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In turn, Joseph can intro founders to Highly Valued, Inc.'s investors below.

Highly Valued, Inc.'s investors · 1

HeavybitSan Francisco · $500K – $5M checks · since 2022

Co-founders at Highly Valued, Inc.

Joshua N. KalderimisExecutive Officer, Director

Board director at Exceptional, Inc.

Intro paths

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In turn, Joseph can intro founders to Exceptional, Inc.'s investors below.

Exceptional, Inc.'s investors · 1

HeavybitSan Francisco · $500K – $5M checks · since 2023

Co-founders at Exceptional, Inc.

Vanessa GennarelliDirector, Founder, Chief Operating Officer

Mike McQuaidDirector, Founder, Chief Technology Officer

John BrittonCEO, Director, Founder

Experience

Heavybit IndustriesGeneral Partnercurrent2018 — present
Heavybit IndustriesPart-time Partner2016 — 2018San Francisco Bay Area
Reo.DevSeed Investor & Board Directorcurrent2024 — present
WorkbrewSeed Investor & Board Directorcurrent2023 — present
groundcoverSeed Investor & Board Directorcurrent2021 — present
LocalStackSeed Investor & Board Observercurrent2021 — present
PartnerPageSeed Investor & Board Directorcurrent2020 — present
TailscaleSeed Investor & Board Observercurrent2019 — present
Sanity.ioSeed Investorcurrent2019 — present
OrbitPre-Seed Investor & Board Observer2019 — 2024
SolarWindsChief Strategist for Cloud2017 — 2018
SolarWindsSenior Director of Engineering2015 — 2017San Francisco Bay Area
EvergridDirector of Engineering2005 — 2007
California Digital CorporationLead Software Engineer2004 — 2005
Virginia TechGraduate Research Assistant2003 — 2004
MotorolaSoftware Engineering Intern1998 — 2002

Education

Virginia TechMaster of Science (M.S.), Computer Science2002 — 2007
Illinois Institute of TechnologyB.S., Computer Engineering1997 — 2001

Skills & more

Ruby8C3JavaScript4Linux13SaaSGit7SQL2Ruby on Rails3Cloud Computing5Distributed Systems15Scalability7Test Driven Development2

+3 more

Shell ScriptingSoftware DevelopmentSoftware Engineering

From Joseph's professional profile.

Deals · 5

Devenue Inc.Board seat

via Heavybit · filed Jun 2026 · $11.3M raise

L9 Labs Inc.Board seat

via Heavybit · filed Dec 2025 · $6M raise

Exceptional, Inc.Board seat

via Heavybit · filed Nov 2023 · $3.2M raise

StreamfoldBoard seat

via Heavybit · filed Nov 2022 · $3.2M raise

Highly Valued, Inc.Board seat

via Heavybit · filed Feb 2022 · $3.7M raise

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

Colleagues at Heavybit

Adam Jahnke

Other at Heavybit

Amir Zohrenejad

Part-time Partner at Heavybit

Andrea Echstenkamper

VP of Marketing at Heavybit

Andrew Park

Content and Communications at Heavybit

Events Coordinator at Heavybit

James Lindenbaum

Co-founder at Heavybit

Network1

Andrew McLoughlin

Brit in San Francisco; seed-stage venture capital investor

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

Frequently asked questions

Who is Joseph Ruscio?: General partner at Heavybit with a background in academia, startup management, and venture capital, focused on helping practitioner-first teams scale go-to-market and organizations. Works with startups such as Tailscale, Localstack, Groundcover, and Partnerpage.
Where does Joseph Ruscio work?: Joseph Ruscio is General Partner at Heavybit and Board director at L9 Labs Inc. and Board director at Highly Valued, Inc. and Board director at Exceptional, Inc..
What does Joseph Ruscio invest in?: Joseph Ruscio invests in AI & Machine Learning, Cybersecurity, Data & Infrastructure, Developer Tools, Enterprise Software.
What check size does Joseph Ruscio write?: Joseph Ruscio typically writes checks of $500K – $5M.
What boards does Joseph Ruscio sit on?: Joseph Ruscio holds tracked board seats at Devenue Inc., Exceptional, Inc., Highly Valued, Inc., L9 Labs Inc., Streamfold.
Where did Joseph Ruscio go to school?: Joseph Ruscio studied at Virginia Tech (Master of Science (M.S.), Computer Science); Illinois Institute of Technology (B.S., Computer Engineering).