Where does Phil Black work?

Phil Black is Investment Team at True Ventures and Board director at Inventables and Board director at Automattic.

What check size does Phil Black write?

Phil Black typically writes checks of $500K – $3M.

What boards does Phil Black sit on?

Phil Black holds tracked board seats at Automattic, Copper, HelpShift, Kurtosys, StrongDM.

Where did Phil Black go to school?

Phil Black studied at Stanford University (A.B., Economics).

Phil Black

Investor

Investment Team at True Ventures · Board director at Inventables · Board director at Automattic

San Francisco Bay Area

Writes $500K – $3M checks · typically $20M

About

Philip Black co-founded an early institutional seed fund, backed Fitbit, Peloton and Automattic at earliest stages, maps companies across four risk categories, and coaches founders on reversible versus irreversible decisions.

Contact· self-published, not guessed

p•••@trueventures.comreveal

Likely email· guessed from name + firm domain, not firm-published

p•••@trueventures.comreveal80% confident

Invests in

AI & Machine LearningBiotechClimate TechConsumerDeep TechHardwareSector Agnostic

Beyond investing

Founded: Phil Black founded Blacksmith Capital, an early-stage seed investment fund. Phil Black co-founded True Ventures.
Education: Studied at Stanford
Hobbies: Phil Black enjoys art, wine, and travel, and names London as his favorite place outside the San Francisco Bay Area.

From published sources — common ground for a warm intro.

Board director at Inventables

Intro paths

→

In turn, Phil can intro founders to Inventables's investors below.

Inventables's investors · 7

Corazon CapitalChicago · $150K – $500K checks Draper AssociatesSan Mateo · $500K – $5M checks Dundee Venture CapitalPittsburgh · $500K – $3M checks Gen CapitalChicago GreycroftNew York · $100K – $5M checks Illinois VenturesChampaign True VenturesSan Francisco · $500K – $3M checks

Board director at Automattic

Intro paths

→

In turn, Phil can intro founders to Automattic's investors below.

Automattic's investors · 8

Aglae VenturesParis · $108K – $5.4M checks Akkadian VenturesSan Francisco · $250K – $10M checks ICONIQSan Francisco Lowercase CapitalJackson Manhattan Venture PartnersNew York Salesforce VenturesSan Francisco · $5M – $50M checks Savano Capital PartnersBaltimore · $300K – $5M checks True VenturesSan Francisco · $500K – $3M checks · since 2019

Co-founders at Automattic

Matt MullenwegFounder

Experience

Kurtosys SystemsChair of the Board of Directorscurrent2006 — presentLondon Area, United Kingdom
True VenturesCo-Foundercurrent2006 — presentSan Francisco, CA
AutomatticInvestor2005 — 2024
InventablesInvestor2009 — 2024
Blacksmith CapitalCo-Founder2003 — 2006
Synchronoss TechnologiesBoard of Director2000 — 2004
ABS VenturesGeneral Partner1999 — 2002
Telogy NetworksBoard of Director1997 — 1999
Weiss, Peck & Greer Venture PartnersGeneral Partner1995 — 1999
Summit PartnersSr. Associate and Associate1988 — 1994

Skills & more

Mentoring1Public Speaking1Mergers & Acquisitions7Business Modeling4Venture Capital37Board of Director experience1Start-ups25Angel Investing12Corporate Development12Entrepreneurship19Strategic Partnerships9Investments7

+3 more

Early Stage VenturesPrivate EquityIntegrity

From Phil's professional profile.

Investments

Board seats

AutomatticCopperHelpShiftKurtosysStrongDM

Per curated public sources.

Colleagues at True Ventures

Adam D'Augelli

Investor at True Ventures

Amanda Mann

Investor at True Ventures

Amy Errett

Venture partner at True Ventures and founding CEO of Madison Reed

Ann Crady Weiss

Investor at True Ventures

Ariel Winton

Principal at True Ventures

Brooke Van Natta

Investor at True Ventures

Carrie Wadsworth

Investor at True Ventures

Christiaan Vorkink

Vice President and Director at True Ventures

Frequently asked questions

Who is Phil Black?: Philip Black co-founded an early institutional seed fund, backed Fitbit, Peloton and Automattic at earliest stages, maps companies across four risk categories, and coaches founders on reversible versus irreversible decisions.
Where does Phil Black work?: Phil Black is Investment Team at True Ventures and Board director at Inventables and Board director at Automattic.
What does Phil Black invest in?: Phil Black invests in AI & Machine Learning, Biotech, Climate Tech, Consumer, Deep Tech, Hardware, Sector Agnostic.
What check size does Phil Black write?: Phil Black typically writes checks of $500K – $3M.
What boards does Phil Black sit on?: Phil Black holds tracked board seats at Automattic, Copper, HelpShift, Kurtosys, StrongDM.
Where did Phil Black go to school?: Phil Black studied at Stanford University (A.B., Economics).