Where does Ryan Shea work?

Ryan Shea is Co-founder of Stacks.

What check size does Ryan Shea write?

Ryan Shea typically writes checks of $10K – $50K.

Where did Ryan Shea go to school?

Ryan Shea studied at Princeton University (BSE, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering); Y Combinator (Entrepreneurship); Stanford University (Summer Program).

What awards has Ryan Shea received?

Was the top scorer in New Jersey for the New Jersey Math League. Received perfect 800 scores on the Math and Chemistry SAT 2 subject tests.

Ryan Shea

InvestorFounder

Co-founder at Stacks

New York, NY

Writes $10K – $50K checks · typically $20K

FoundedStacks

Find your path to Ryan

1,950 people in our graph share verified history with Ryan — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Deep NisharunlockedRyan: together at Stanford University (2015–2018)

×6Ryan: together at Stanford University

Ryan: together at Harvard University

×2Ryan: together at Y Combinator

About

Ryan Shea co-founded Blockstack, now Stacks, with Muneeb Ali in 2013 out of Y Combinator, building a decentralised identity and application layer anchored to Bitcoin. The project ran the first SEC-qualified Reg A+ token offering in 2019, a landmark for regulated token sales. A Princeton engineer, he left day-to-day work on the protocol in 2020.

Beyond investing

Founded: Co-founded Stacks, a platform for building smart contracts on Bitcoin. Launched Autofoundry, a CLI for spinning up GPUs across cloud providers to run AI experiments. Launched AI IQ, an AI benchmarking site that scores frontier models on a human IQ scale.
Education: Studied Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University with minors in Computer Science and Robotics.
Communities: Served as President of the Princeton Entrepreneurship Club.
Awards: Was the top scorer in New Jersey for the New Jersey Math League. Received perfect 800 scores on the Math and Chemistry SAT 2 subject tests.
More: Contributed programming expertise while shadowing researchers at the Endy Lab (Stanford), Church Lab (Harvard), and Esvelt Lab (MIT).

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

Co-founder at Stacks

Intro paths

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In turn, Ryan can intro founders to Stacks's investors below.

Stacks's investors · 14

Arrington CapitalMiami · since 2016 CompoundNew York · $400K – $1.5M checks · since 2016 Continue CapitalSan Francisco · since 2016 Digital Currency GroupNew York · since 2016 Dorm RoomBrooklyn · $90K – $250K checks · since 2016 Fenbushi CapitalShanghai · $1.3M – $30M checks · since 2016 Frontier VenturesCupertino · $100K – $5M checks · since 2016 Fundamental Labs$500K – $50M checks · since 2016 Lightspeed Venture PartnersMenlo Park · $1.7M – $87M checks · since 2016 Lombardstreet VenturesWoodside · $500K checks · since 2016 Lux CapitalNew York · $100K – $100M checks · since 2016 Recruit Holdingssince 2016 Transmedia CapitalSan Francisco · $5M checks · since 2016 Union Square Ventures (USV)New York City · $1M – $8M checks · since 2016

Co-founders at Stacks

Muneeb AliCo-founder

Experience

AI IQCo-foundercurrent2026 — presentNew York City Metropolitan Area
FDAContractor and Nominee for Chief Technology Officer2025
FDASenior Advisor2025Washington DC-Baltimore Area
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)Senior Advisor2025Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Opus WalletCo-founder and CEO2022 — 2024New York, New York, United States
VoterbaseCreator2020New York, New York, United States
MIT Media LabVolunteer2020Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Harvard UniversityVolunteer2020Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Stanford UniversityVolunteer2019Stanford, California, United States
StacksCo-founder & CEO2013 — 2018New York, New York, United States
OmniActive Health TechnologiesMarketing and Operations2013Morristown, NJ
GraphMuseCo-founder2012 — 2013Greater Philadelphia
ZocDocSoftware Engineering Intern2011New York City Metropolitan Area
NowINeedCo-founder2009 — 2010Princeton, New Jersey, United States

Skills & more

Python28JavaScript22Java12C11PHP6Objective-C2BlockchainAngularJSManagementFundraisingHiringSoftware Engineering15

+7 more

Software DevelopmentStart-upsEntrepreneurshipProduct DevelopmentPublic SpeakingBitcoinCryptocurrency

Languages English · Spanish

From Ryan's professional profile.

Investments

Investor

AlbedoAnchorageCoinTrackerEmbarkExtropicFilecoinImpossible MiningLatticeLevelsLightningLoyalMercuryOpenSeaPrivyRunwiseSiPhoxSupabaseWorldcoin

Per the investor's own website.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Ryan Shea?: Ryan Shea co-founded Blockstack, now Stacks, with Muneeb Ali in 2013 out of Y Combinator, building a decentralised identity and application layer anchored to Bitcoin. The project ran the first SEC-qualified Reg A+ token offering in 2019, a landmark for regulated token sales. A Princeton engineer, he left day-to-day work on the protocol in 2020.
Where does Ryan Shea work?: Ryan Shea is Co-founder of Stacks.
What check size does Ryan Shea write?: Ryan Shea typically writes checks of $10K – $50K.
What companies did Ryan Shea found?: Ryan Shea founded Stacks.
What companies has Ryan Shea invested in?: Investments tracked here include Albedo, Anchorage, CoinTracker, Embark, Extropic, Filecoin, Impossible Mining, Lattice, Levels, Lightning, Loyal, Mercury, and 6 more.
Where did Ryan Shea go to school?: Ryan Shea studied at Princeton University (BSE, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering); Y Combinator (Entrepreneurship); Stanford University (Summer Program).
What awards has Ryan Shea received?: Was the top scorer in New Jersey for the New Jersey Math League. Received perfect 800 scores on the Math and Chemistry SAT 2 subject tests.

Founder mafias

Y Combinator mafia10,230

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

Sam AltmanPresidentFounded Tools for Humanity +3 Garry TanPresident & CEOFounded Y Combinator +1 Jessica LivingstonCo-founderFounded Y Combinator Alexis OhanianPartnerFounded Reddit Fred EhrsamYC Summer 2012Founded Nudge +1 Matt HuangYC Winter 2011Founded Paradigm +1

+ 10,223 more

Stanford University mafia1,932

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

Peter ThielJ.D.Founded PayPal +1 Reid HoffmanB.S.Founded LinkedIn +2 David SacksB.A.Founded Yammer Keith RaboisB.A.Founded Opendoor Garry TanBSFounded Y Combinator +1 Joe LonsdaleBSFounded Opto +5

+ 1,925 more

Department of Health and Human Services mafia18

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

Michael SimonImmediate Office of the SecretaryFounded The Arena +1 Griffin MulcaheyManagement and Policy AnalystFounded Zivian Health +1 Jim HickmanSpecial Assistant, Legislative AffairsFounded Centerforyouthwellness Dr. Emir SandhuAssociate, Office of the National Coordinator for Health ITFounded OpenBiome Dan RiskinUS Health IT Advisory Committee, Congressional appointeeFounded Health Fidelity Todd ParkChief Technology OfficerFounded Devoted Health

+ 11 more

Same school

Also attended Princeton University877

Fabrice GrindaCo-founder & Managing Partner at FJ Labs Dario AmodeiCo-founder & CEO of Anthropic Fei-Fei LiCo-founder & CEO of World Labs; Sequoia Professor of Computer Science at Stanford Cat WuInvestor at Index Ventures AndrewAdvisor at Clear Ventures Christal NgAssociate at Golden Gate Ventures

+ 871 more

Also attended Y Combinator2,000

Suhail DoshiFounder of Mixpanel; founder of Particle Arhaan A.Deeptech Fellow at Clear Ventures Akshat GoenkaInvestor at Moonfire Ventures Jon XuGeneral Partner at Y Combinator Chris GoldaGeneral Partner at Y Combinator Ted ChaiAssociate at Scale Venture Partners

+ 1,994 more

Also attended Stanford University2,000

Peter ThielCo-founder & Partner at Founders Fund Reid HoffmanCo-founder of LinkedIn; Partner at Greylock David SacksCo-founder & General Partner at Craft Ventures; former White House AI & Crypto Czar Keith RaboisManaging Director at Khosla Ventures Garry TanPresident & CEO of Y Combinator Alfred LinPartner at Sequoia Capital

+ 1,994 more

Shared employers

Also worked at MIT Media Lab160

Matt DonahoeCo-founder of Skydio Wesley ChanInvestor at Felicis Ventures Dr. Catherine HavasiAdvisor at AI Capital Will JackInvestor at Alsop Louie Partners Arjan SchütteFounder & Managing Partner at Core Venture Capital Kevin TuPartner at DFJ

+ 154 more

Also worked at Harvard University423

Nathan BlecharczykCo-founder & CSO of Airbnb Rachel HansenInvestor at Index Ventures Dave MunichielloInvestor at GV (Google Ventures)Nicole GaudelliEntrepreneur in Residence at GV (Google Ventures)Logan HilleLife Sciences Analyst at CincyTech Walter KowtoniukInvestor at Third Rock Ventures

+ 417 more

Also worked at Stacks15

Albert WengerUnion Square Ventures partner, technology investor, and author of The World After Capital Patrick ChangFounder and Managing Partner at Dispersion Capital Wei JiangFounder & Managing Partner at CatchLight Capital Partners Dmitry AlimovFounding Partner at Frontier Ventures Mo El-BibanyGeneral Partner at Page One Ventures Yacine GhalimPartner at Heartcore Capital

+ 9 more

Also worked at OmniActive Health Technologies1

Naresh PatwariManaging Partner at Jashvik Capital