Simon Ru
InvestorEconomic Empowerment | Gold House Ventures at Gold House Ventures · 2x Founder, Venture Partner, Gold House at UC Berkeley Skydeck
San Francisco Bay Area
Find your path to Simon
229 people in our graph share verified history with Simon — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.
Rajan MehraunlockedSimon: together at Ebay (2004–2005)
×5Simon: together at Ebay
Simon: together at PlaySpan (a Visa company)
×5Simon: together at Gold House Ventures
About
Simon Ru is a Venture Partner at Gold House Venture, a $50M social impact venture capital fund focused on Asian founders, where the firm has invested in more than 50 companies including ChowBus, Weee!, and Corgi. He previously held early product roles at eBay and PayPal, and founded and sold two startups to Fortune 100 companies. His background includes experience building two-sided marketplaces and fintech platforms.
Experience
- Gold HouseVenture Partnercurrent2026 — presentSan Francisco Bay Area
- UX Pilot AIBoard Observercurrent2026 — present
- MustardBoard Membercurrent2025 — present
- Eating Our Way To ExtinctionExecutive Producer2023 — 2025
- UpNest (acq. by Realtor.com)Founder & CEO2013 — 2023San Francisco Bay Area
- PlaySpan (a Visa company)Head of Digital Goods Marketplace, Head of Merchant Services2010 — 2012Foster City, CA
- Spare Change (acq. by PlaySpan/Visa)Co-Founder, CTO2008 — 2009Cupertino, CA
- PayPalSenior Product Manager, International2007 — 2008
- PayPalProduct Integration Manager, Merchant Services2005 — 2007
- EbaySenior Software Engineer2002 — 2005
Skills & more
Product Management13Monetization10E-commerce14Mobile Payments6Payments2Start-ups36Scalability1Real Estate1Entrepreneurship13Mergers & Acquisitions4User Experience2Mobile Applications4
+5 more
Mobile DevicesSocial GamesStrategic PartnershipsSaaSManagementLanguages Chinese
From Simon's professional profile.
Colleagues at Gold House Ventures
Abhijay Prakash
President, Blumhouse at Gold House Ventures
Agnes Chu
CEO, Firecracker Media Group at Gold House Ventures
Aileen Lee
Founder & Managing Partner of Cowboy Ventures
Albert Cheng
Vice President, Head of Prime Video U.S. at Gold House Ventures
Anderson Le
Artistic Director, Hawaii International Film Festival at Gold House Ventures
Andy Kim
CFO, Participant Media at Gold House Ventures
Anita Lee
Chief Programming Officer, Toronto International Film Festival at Gold House Ventures
Anjula Acharia
Founder & CEO, 5 Junction Records & A Series Investments/Management at Gold House Ventures
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Simon Ru?
- Simon Ru is a Venture Partner at Gold House Venture, a $50M social impact venture capital fund focused on Asian founders, where the firm has invested in more than 50 companies including ChowBus, Weee!, and Corgi. He previously held early product roles at eBay and PayPal, and founded and sold two startups to Fortune 100 companies. His background includes experience building two-sided marketplaces and fintech platforms.
- Where does Simon Ru work?
- Simon Ru is Economic Empowerment | Gold House Ventures at Gold House Ventures.
- Where did Simon Ru go to school?
- Simon Ru studied at University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business (MBA); University of California, Berkeley (BA, Interdisciplinary (CS & Econ)).
Same school
Also attended University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business885
Mark FiorentinoInvestor at Index VenturesRishi ModiInvestor at GV (Google Ventures)Yibo NianInvestment Director at Intel CapitalZhenyu TangInvestment Director at Intel CapitalDennisDirector of Trading at Pantera CapitalAnna ChenInvestor at Madrona Venture Group
+ 879 more
Also attended University of California, Berkeley2,000
Byron DeeterPartner at Bessemer Venture PartnersSteve WozniakCo-founder of AppleTony XuCo-founder & CEO of DoorDashAravind SrinivasCo-founder & CEO of Perplexity AIAli GhodsiCo-founder & CEO of DatabricksRyan PetersenFounder & CEO of Flexport
+ 1,994 more
Shared employers
Also worked at Mustard1
Also worked at UpNest (acq. by Realtor.com)1
Also worked at PlaySpan (a Visa company)12
Philipp StaufferFounder & General Partner at FYRFLY Venture PartnersShawn CarolanPartner at Menlo VenturesRachel LamCo-Founder and Managing Partner at Imagination CapitalVilash PoovalaFounder at Clip MéxicoCarolan ShawnGeneral Partner at Menlo VenturesT. Carolan ShawnGeneral Partner at Menlo Ventures
+ 6 more
Also worked at PayPal219
Peter ThielCo-founder & Partner at Founders FundRoelof BothaAdvisor & former Steward at Sequoia Capital; SpaceX board memberDavid SacksCo-founder & General Partner at Craft Ventures; former White House AI & Crypto CzarKeith RaboisManaging Director at Khosla VenturesJoe LonsdaleFounder & Managing Partner of 8VC; co-founder of Palantir and AddeparMax LevchinCo-founder of PayPal; founder, chairman & CEO of Affirm; partner at SciFi VC
+ 213 more