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William Hockey

InvestorUnicorn founder

Founder at Plaid

San Francisco, CA

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

FoundedPlaid$13.4B

30 Under 30 2015 · Enterprise Technology

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About

William Hockey co-founded Plaid in 2013 and built the API layer that connects fintech apps to bank accounts — then did something no other fintech founder had: he bought a bank. He left Plaid's CTO seat in 2019, spent Plaid shares on Northern California National Bank for roughly $50 million, and turned it into Column, the developer-first nationally chartered bank now powering Brex, Mercury, Ramp, Wise and Bilt. Column has taken no outside capital at all: Hockey owns about 90% of a business doing roughly $200 million of revenue and over $100 million of free cash flow, and says investor offers have valued it near $6 billion. He studied computer science and economics at Emory and met co-founder Zach Perret as a Bain consultant in Atlanta.

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

Beyond investing

Founded
Co-founded Plaid with Zach Perret in 2013 after the two met as Bain consultants in Atlanta; he was CTO until stepping back in June 2019 and remains on the board. Built Column by buying Northern California National Bank of Chico for roughly $50 million in 2021, financed by selling Plaid shares — an OCC-chartered, FDIC-insured bank rather than a partner-bank arrangement. Hockey co-founded the financial services company Plaid with Zachary Perret when he was 21, in New York City. Hockey founded Column, a nationally chartered bank that provides banking infrastructure for fintech developers, launched in April 2022.
Education
Studied computer science and economics at Emory University.
Family
Hockey was born in San Luis Obispo, California.
More
Column has taken zero outside capital and is founder- and employee-owned; Hockey holds about 90%. Column powers Brex, Mercury, Ramp, Wise and Bilt and is among the largest US originators of real-time payments. Visa agreed to buy Plaid for $5.3B in January 2020; the Justice Department sued and the deal was abandoned a year later.

Mentioned above: the Emory University mafia → · the Plaid mafia →

From en.wikipedia.org — common ground for a warm intro.

Founder at Plaid

Intro paths

→

In turn, William can intro founders to Plaid's investors below.

Plaid's investors · 41

1435 CapitalSkillman · since 2016Acrew CapitalSan Francisco · $1M – $15M checks · since 2016Adventure FundBrooklyn · since 2016Altimeter CapitalMenlo Park · $1M – $25M checks · since 2026Ambush CapitalNew York · since 2016American Express Ventures (Amex)since 2016Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks · since 2016Base10 PartnersSan Francisco · $100K – $5M checks · since 2016BlackRockNew York · since 2025Bond Capital ManagementSan Francisco · $100K – $25M checks · since 2016BoxGroupNew York · $250K – $1M checks · since 2016BVP InvestorsChemistrySan Francisco · since 2016Citi VenturesNew York · since 2016Coatue ManagementNew York · $1M – $20M checks · since 2016EQUIAMSan Francisco · $1M – $10M checks · since 2016Felicis VenturesSan Francisco · $500K – $15M checks · since 2016Franklin TempletonSan Mateo · since 2025Goalvest VentureNew York · since 2016GV (Google Ventures)Mountain View · $250K – $50M checks · since 2016HDS CapitalNew York City · since 2016HomebrewBurlingame · $100K – $500K checks · since 2016Index VenturesSan Francisco · $540K – $10.8M checks · since 2016Kleiner PerkinsMenlo Park · $500K – $15M checks · since 2016Launchpad CapitalOakland · since 2016Manhattan Venture PartnersNew York · since 2016Manhattan WestLos Angeles · since 2016New Enterprise Associates (NEA)Menlo Park · $200K – $40M checks · since 2016NewView CapitalBurlingame · since 2016Norwest Venture PartnersMenlo Park · $10M – $30M checks · since 2016Omega Venture PartnersSilicon Valley · since 2016Pathlight VenturesOld Bridge · $500K – $5M checks · since 2016PruVen Capital PartnersLos Altos · $100K – $10M checks · since 2016Ribbit CapitalPalo Alto · $2M – $15M checks · since 2025RPS VenturesLos Altos · $5M – $20M checks · since 2016Runa CapitalLuxembourg · $500K – $5M checks · since 2016Silver Lake PartnersMenlo Park · since 2016Spark CapitalSan Francisco · $500K – $25M checks · since 2016The Players' Impactsince 2016Thrive CapitalNew York · $500K – $25M checks · since 2016Type One VenturesLos Angeles · $100K – $5M checks · since 2016

Co-founders at Plaid

ZPZach Perret
Zach PerretFounder

Experience

  1. ColumnCEO and foundercurrent2020 — presentSan Francisco Bay Area
  2. Scale AIBoard Directorcurrent2021 — present
  3. PlaidCo-founder and Board Directorcurrent2012 — present
  4. Bain & CompanyAssociate2011
  5. OpenStudyEngineering2010

Investments

Board seats

Plaid

Per curated public sources.

Podcasts & interviews

featuring William Hockey

Column CEO William Hockey On Brex, Bootstrapping, China

Upstarts Media · upstartsmedia.com

Why the Brands that Win in Fintech Will Not Be Financial Services Brands

20VC · thetwentyminutevc.com

Network5

Aatif AwanScout
Founder, Managing Partner at Indus Valley Capital
Ankur NagpalScout
Founder at Vibe Capital
Ben GormanScout
Principal at F-Prime Capital Partners
Ezra GalstonScout
Investor at Starting Line
Teddy HimlerScout
Founder and General Partner at Optimist Ventures

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

Frequently asked questions

Who is William Hockey?
William Hockey co-founded Plaid in 2013 and built the API layer that connects fintech apps to bank accounts — then did something no other fintech founder had: he bought a bank. He left Plaid's CTO seat in 2019, spent Plaid shares on Northern California National Bank for roughly $50 million, and turned it into Column, the developer-first nationally chartered bank now powering Brex, Mercury, Ramp, Wise and Bilt. Column has taken no outside capital at all: Hockey owns about 90% of a business doing roughly $200 million of revenue and over $100 million of free cash flow, and says investor offers have valued it near $6 billion. He studied computer science and economics at Emory and met co-founder Zach Perret as a Bain consultant in Atlanta.
Where does William Hockey work?
William Hockey is Founder of Plaid.
What check size does William Hockey write?
William Hockey typically writes checks of $5K – $50K.
What companies did William Hockey found?
William Hockey founded Plaid.
What boards does William Hockey sit on?
William Hockey holds tracked board seats at Plaid.
What companies has William Hockey invested in?
Investments tracked here include Berbix, Deel, Handle, Jeeves, Lowkey.gg, Meesho, Middesk, Modern Treasury, Prelim.
Where did William Hockey go to school?
William Hockey studied at Emory University (Computer Science).
What podcasts and interviews feature William Hockey?
Tracked appearances include "Column CEO William Hockey On Brex, Bootstrapping, China", "Why the Brands that Win in Fintech Will Not Be Financial Services Brands".

Founder mafias

Same school

Shared employers