Chris Hollod

Chris Hollod

Hollod in 2016
Born Chris Hollod
(1982-12-09) December 9, 1982
Georgia, U.S.
Residence Los Angeles
Occupation Venture Capitalist,
Angel Investor
Years active 2010–present
Website www.bigfishbigpond.com

Chris Hollod is a venture capitalist and an angel investor.[1]

Early life

Hollod graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Vanderbilt University with a degree in Economics.[2] Hollod grew up in Atlanta and ultimately moved to LA in 2009 to start working for multi-billionaire investor Ron Burkle.[3] Prior to joining A-Grade Investments, Hollod worked in Investment Banking and Private Equity.

Career

Hollod has worked with Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, and Ron Burkle as a Managing Partner at their venture capital fund, A-Grade Investments.[4] Hollod also worked for The Yucaipa Companies and oversees Ron Burkle's venture capital investments[5] and has been referred to in the press as "Ron Burkle's right-hand man."[6] In 2012, A-Grade Investments raised money from several billionaires including David Geffen and Mark Cuban.

In March 2016, Forbes released a comprehensive article on A-Grade Investments entitled "How Ashton Kutcher And Guy Oseary Built A $250 Million Portfolio With Startups Like Uber And Airbnb."[7] The Forbes article states that the team turned $30m into $250m, representing almost an 8.5x investment multiple.

Hollod is also a Founding Partner of Inevitable Ventures with D.A. Wallach.[8] He has also acted as an angel investor by investing his own money in deals, including the restaurant chain Sweetgreen and aerospace start-up Planet.[9]

Hollod has been involved in more than 100 venture capital deals (Uber, AirBnB, Spotify, and SoundCloud)[10] and was named one of the 32 most influential investors of 2013 (outside Silicon Valley).[11]

Fortune included Hollod in its "Meet the Uber Rich" article as an early investor in Uber[12] and the LA Times published a feature on him entitled "How I Made It: A Billionaire's Right-Hand Man."[9] He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal[13] and LA Times as a venture capital expert[14] and he has also judged several start-up competitions including Global Startup Battle and Start-Up Weekend Los Angeles.[15]

In a 2017 interview, when asked about what catches his eye when looking at a start-up, Hollod said, "If it's intuitively disruptive, and I have a visceral response to it, I then extrapolate that and think, how would the people I know react to this business? If someone solves a pain point I experience a couple of times a day or several times a week, that's the kind of business we're looking for. And of course, that entrepreneur has to have the passion to pursue solving that problem."[16]

Hollod sits on the board of directors of life/after/denim, a contemporary menswear and accessories brand backed by Ashton Kutcher, Ron Burkle, and Relativity Media.[17]

Philanthropy

Hollod and his brother started a non-profit wine label, KMH Vineyards, in 2016 in memory of their mother. They launched their first wine, a California Pinot Noir, in 2017 in partnership with Pencils of Promise.[18]

Personal

Hollod is writing a book entitled "Big Fish Big Pond," which will encourage millennials to break free of restrictive conventional wisdom. Hollod formed his own company, Hollod Holdings, to make his personal angel investments. [19]

References

  1. ↑ Yeung, Ken (November 7, 2012). "Startup Weekend begins its 2012 Global Startup Battle, aims to build 1,200 companies in over 130 cities". The Next Web.
  2. ↑ "Chris Hollod". Crunchbase. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  3. ↑ "Chris Hollod On Investing With Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, and Ron Burkle"
  4. ↑ "Chris Hollod". Crunchbase. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  5. ↑ "Global Startup Battle". Global StartUp Battle.
  6. ↑ "Ashton Kutcher And Guy Oseary Launch Sound Ventures, The Successor To A-Grade Investments". Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  7. ↑ "How Ashton Kutcher And Guy Oseary Built A $250 Million Portfolio With Startups Like Uber And Airbnb". Forbes.
  8. ↑ "Inevitable Ventures". Crunchbase.
  9. 1 2 "How I Made It: Billionaire's right-hand man Chris Hollod on becoming a big fish in a big pond". LA Times.
  10. ↑ "Inevitable Ventures". Crunchbase.
  11. ↑ Selby, Monica. "32 Most Influential Investors of 2013 (Outside Silicon Valley)".
  12. ↑ Griffith, Erin. "Meet the Uber Rich". fortune.com.
  13. ↑ Kahn, Howie (23 February 2016). "Investor D.A. Wallach Aims to Make an Impact".
  14. ↑ Dave, Paresh (1 February 2016). "Venture capitalists increase scrutiny on start-up deals amid stock market anxiety". Los Angeles Times.
  15. ↑ "Startup Weekend Los Angeles". Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  16. ↑ "Chris Hollod On Investing With Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, and Ron Burkle - socaltech.com". www.socaltech.com. Retrieved 2017-06-28.
  17. ↑ Vicki M. Young. "M3 Invests in Life/after/denim". www.wwd.com. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  18. ↑ https://bigfishbigpond.com/about-me/
  19. ↑ "Prolific VC Chris Hollod talks angel investing, rejection and the deal that got away". Built In Los Angeles. Retrieved 2017-06-28.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.