Where does Pete Koomen work?

Pete Koomen is Founder of Optimizely and General Partner at Y Combinator.

What does Pete Koomen invest in?

Pete Koomen invests in Developer Tools, SaaS.

What check size does Pete Koomen write?

Pete Koomen typically writes checks of $5K – $50K.

What companies did Pete Koomen found?

Pete Koomen founded Optimizely.

Where did Pete Koomen go to school?

Pete Koomen studied at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (M.S., Computer Science); Case Western Reserve University (Dual B.S., Mathematics).

What podcasts and interviews feature Pete Koomen?

Tracked appearances include "Inside YC's AI Playbook", "AI Apps Are Broken — Here's How To Fix Them", "The Right (And Wrong) Way To Spend Money At Your Startup", and 3 more.

Pete Koomen

InvestorFounder

General Partner at Y Combinator · Founder at Optimizely

Reno, Nevada

Writes $5K – $50K checks · typically $25K

FoundedOptimizely · YC

About

Co-founder of Optimizely, which grew past $100M ARR before acquisition. Holds a master's in CS from UIUC.

Contact· published on Pete's own website

p•••@ycombinator.comreveal

Invests in

Developer ToolsSaaS

Beyond investing

Founded: Pete Koomen co-founded Optimizely (YC W10), which helps companies run experiments on their websites and apps, and grew it to over $100M in ARR before its 2020 acquisition.
Education: Studied at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (Master's, Computer Science)

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

Founder at Optimizely YC W10

Intro paths

Pete went through Y Combinator (Winter 2010) — any YC alum in your network can reach them through the YC community.

→

In turn, Pete can intro founders to Optimizely's investors below.

Optimizely's investors · 26

Accenture VenturesSan Francisco · since 2019 Advancit CapitalBoston · $500K – $1M checks Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks · since 2015 Ashton Kutchersince 2010 Bain Capital Bain Capital VenturesBoston · $1M – $100M checks · since 2015 Battery VenturesBoston · $500K – $100M checks · since 2012 BenchmarkSan Francisco · $100K – $30M checks · since 2015 Bridge BankSan Francisco · since 2019 Citi VenturesNew York · since 2015 Correlation VenturesSan Francisco · $100K – $4M checks · since 2015 Corsa VenturesAustin Danhua CapitalPalo Alto · since 2015 Firebolt Ventures Management Company, LlcPalo Alto Founder CollectiveCambridge GV (Google Ventures)Mountain View · $250K – $50M checks Index VenturesSan Francisco · $540K – $10.8M checks · since 2015 Insight PartnersNew York · $120M – $350M checks Kapor CapitalOakland · $100K – $1M checks Kleiner PerkinsMenlo Park · $500K – $15M checks Lowercase CapitalJackson Omega Venture PartnersSilicon Valley Salesforce VenturesSan Francisco · $5M – $50M checks · since 2015 Sugar CapitalSonoma · $1M – $2M checks Tenaya CapitalPalo Alto · $5M – $10M checks · since 2015 Y CombinatorSan Francisco · $500K checks · since 2010

Co-founders at Optimizely

Dan SirokerCo-founder and former Chief Executive Officer

Experience

Y CombinatorGeneral Partnercurrent2023 — present
Y CombinatorVisiting Group Partner2022 — 2023
OptimizelyCo-founder2010 — 2021
CarrotSticksCo-founder2009
GoogleProduct Manager2006 — 2009

Skills & more

Software Product Management19Product Management53A/B testing65Conversion Optimization38Mobile Devices25Monetization33

From Pete's professional profile.

Podcasts & interviews

featuring Pete Koomen

Inside YC's AI Playbook

Lightcone

AI Apps Are Broken — Here's How To Fix Them

The Breakdown

The Right (And Wrong) Way To Spend Money At Your Startup

Office Hours

How To Use AI In Your Startup

Office Hours

Enterprise Sales for Founders

Startup school

How to convert more visitors into customers

Design Review

Colleagues at Y Combinator

Aaron Epstein

General Partner at Y Combinator

Andrew Miklas

General Partner at Y Combinator

Ankit Gupta

General Partner at Y Combinator

Brad Flora

Backing expeditions into the future

Chris Golda

General Partner at Y Combinator

David Lieb

General Partner at Y Combinator

Diana Hu

General Partner at Y Combinator

Garry Tan

President & CEO of Y Combinator

Network2

Ash PatelScout

Co-Managing Partner at E12 Venture Capital, Llc

Caroline BroderScout

Principal at Base10 Partners

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

Frequently asked questions

Who is Pete Koomen?: Co-founder of Optimizely, which grew past $100M ARR before acquisition. Holds a master's in CS from UIUC.
Where does Pete Koomen work?: Pete Koomen is Founder of Optimizely and General Partner at Y Combinator.
What does Pete Koomen invest in?: Pete Koomen invests in Developer Tools, SaaS.
What check size does Pete Koomen write?: Pete Koomen typically writes checks of $5K – $50K.
What companies did Pete Koomen found?: Pete Koomen founded Optimizely.
Where did Pete Koomen go to school?: Pete Koomen studied at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (M.S., Computer Science); Case Western Reserve University (Dual B.S., Mathematics).
What podcasts and interviews feature Pete Koomen?: Tracked appearances include "Inside YC's AI Playbook", "AI Apps Are Broken — Here's How To Fix Them", "The Right (And Wrong) Way To Spend Money At Your Startup", and 3 more.