John Zeratsky
Co-Founder & General Partner at Character
John Zeratsky is a Co-Founder and General Partner at venture-capital firm Character, where he supports technology startups with capital and sprints. He’s the bestselling author of Sprint and Make Time, and has reached millions with articles in The Wall Street Journal, TIME, Harvard Business Review, Wired, Fast Company, and other outlets.
John is a former Design Partner at GV (Google Ventures), where he developed the Sprint method and supported many of GV’s most successful investments, including Slack, One Medical Group, Flatiron Health, Blue Bottle Coffee, and Gusto. Previously, John was a design leader for YouTube, Google Ads, and FeedBurner, which was acquired by Google in 2007.
John studied journalism at the University of Wisconsin and graduated from the UW School of Human Ecology, where he’s now an advisor to the Dean and faculty. Originally from small-town Wisconsin, John has lived in Chicago and San Francisco with his wife Michelle. They spent 18 months traveling in Central America aboard their sailboat Pineapple before moving to Milwaukee in 2019.
UVC: John Zeratsky from Character on the role of design in venture ca…
In this episode the Understanding VC podcast, John Zeratsky, Co-Founder & General Partner at Character, discusses the significance of design in VC and the distinction between visionary and hypothesis-driven founders. Strategy is emphasized as crucial for success in the competitive …