Bill Coughran
- Seed/Early
Engineering is easy. People are hard.
Backstory
My original plan was to be an academic. After I got my PhD in computer science, I went to Bell Labs. At the time, Bell Labs was quite academic. Some of the work I was involved with—core modeling and computer systems work—shaped my thinking about how to build large-scale systems and designs for many years, and it’s something that served me well at Google. Because there I had the opportunity to work with some of the most sophisticated systems at that time.
After my time at Bell Labs, I co-founded Entrisphere in late 2000. That company was acquired by Ericsson after I left. I joined Google in 2003. The toughest challenge at Google was managing such a wide variety of special technologists, and then a broad scope of research and development groups. What I bring, maybe, is intellectual breadth and pragmatic organizational psychology, coupled with a lot of operational experience. I’ve certainly overseen a wide range of technologies, from semiconductors up to large distributed systems, search, security, and other web and mobile services.
On the lookout for
The companies that interest me the most are companies creating solutions to technical problems that can change markets. I’ve always been drawn to creative problems and people with a technical point of view—networking, security, machine learning, and AI, to name a few.
But over the years, I found I truly enjoy day-to-day leadership and mentoring most of all. I’d describe myself as a technologist with general-management experience.
Get in touch with BillPersonal Side
- My grandchildren
- Economics
- History
- San Francisco Opera
Press & Media
Companies
Current Companies
Company Name | Short Description | Current Stage | Founders | First Partnered | collapse |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alkira | Alkira lets customers build and deploy global secure cloud networks in minutes. | Growth |
| Early (2018) | Collapse |
Chkk | Chkk keeps complex Kubernetes environments up and running. | Pre-Seed/Seed |
| Pre-Seed/Seed (2022) | Collapse |
Cohesity | Cohesity is a software-defined enterprise data management platform in the cloud that eliminates data silos. | Growth |
| Early (2013) | Collapse |
CtrlStack | CtrlStack simplifies real-time troubleshooting and change intelligence for DevOps. | Early |
| Pre-Seed/Seed (2020) | Collapse |
Graphiant | Graphiant is creating a new model for connectivity in a rapidly changing world. | Early |
| Early (2020) | Collapse |
Iambic Therapeutics | Iambic Therapeutics tackles challenging design problems in drug discovery with its physics-based AI platform. | Early |
| Early (2021) | Collapse |
JITX | JITX lets electrical engineers write code to design circuit boards. | Early |
| Pre-Seed/Seed (2019) | Collapse |
Lilt | Lilt is the leading AI solution for enterprise translations. | Growth |
| Early (2018) | Collapse |
Oso | Oso is an open-source library for developers to make it easier to build authorization in their applications. | Early |
| Pre-Seed/Seed (2019) | Collapse |
Prelude | Prelude is a technology company that hardens cybersecurity defenses. | Early |
| Early (2021) | Collapse |
Quantum Circuits | Quantum Circuts builds quantum computers designed to scale. | Growth |
| Early (2017) | Collapse |
Robust Intelligence | Robust Intelligence is a security company that integrates seamlessly into the AI-development life cycle. | Growth |
| Pre-Seed/Seed (2019) | Collapse |
Seaplane | Seaplane is the global platform for building and scaling applications. | Early |
| Pre-Seed/Seed (2020) | Collapse |
Stairwell | Stairwell is a cybersecurity company building enhanced security diagnostics. | Early |
| Pre-Seed/Seed (2019) | Collapse |
Stripe | Stripe is building an economic infrastructure for the internet. | Growth |
| Pre-Seed/Seed (2010) | Collapse |
Tecton | Tecton provides data management for ML. | Growth |
| Pre-Seed/Seed (2018) | Collapse |
Enduring Companies
Company Name | Short Description | Current Stage | Founders | First Partnered | collapse |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
FireEye | FireEye builds world-class cybersecurity and malware protection services. | IPO |
| Early (2004) | Collapse |
Graphcore | Graphcore, now a part of Softbank, designs processors for machine learning. | Acquired |
| Growth (2017) | Collapse |
Neeva | Neeva is search reimagined—ad-free, private and deeply personal. | Acquired |
| Early (2019) | Collapse |
nxyz | nxyz builds real-time, flexible blockchain data APIs. | Acquired |
| Early (2022) | Collapse |