Allen Morgan

Sherpa to startups & active angel investor. Managing Director, Idealab's New Ventures Group.

After 12 years as a General Partner/Managing Director/Venture Partner at Mayfield Fund, I'm now fully-engaged in two pursuits: (1) as an active venture "Sherpa" and early-stage Angel investor and (2) as a Board Member and Managing Director, New Ventures Group, at Idealab in Pasadena, California (www.idealab.com). I'm also remaining as a Venture Advisor at Mayfield, and have joined as an Advisor to SoftTech VC.

As an angel/Venture Sherpa, my principal investment focus is on start-ups in the areas of eCommerce, consumer internet services (both consumer-facing and infrastructure), interactive entertainment, online advertising and new media.

At Idealab, I work on a number of things, ranging from various projects as a member of the Board of Directors, to managing the New Ventures Group, which is an "incubator within an incubator". Historically, most Idealab-incubated companies have been the "brainchildren" of Bill Gross, the founder and CEO of Idealab. While we'll continue to found companies that way, we have also started to invest in early-stage startups that are founded by other entrepreneurs, many of which will be housed at Idealab until they're ready to move into their own space.

Before joining Mayfield in 1999, I was a partner with two Silicon Valley law firms, Latham & Watkins and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. In both jobs, I represented lots and lots of startups.

As for schooling, I got an undergraduate degree (summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) from Dartmouth College, a second bachelor's degree and master's degree from Oxford University (Christ Church) and a J.D. from the University of Virginia.

Specialties

Active, deep engagement as a "Sherpa" in my portfolio of early-stage startups.