As a general rule, you don’t think “soul” when you think “businessman.” Of course, in today’s ever evolving, interconnected world, one quickly learns that there is always an exception to the rule. Andy Weissman is that exception. Simply saying that he is exceptional, however, would be far too much of an understatement.
A graduate of Wesleyan University (BA) as well as the Georgetown University Law Center (JD), Weissman began his career at the forefront of the internet bubble at AOL in the mid 90’s. It was there that Weissman learned, firsthand, about the perpetually momentous and shifting nature of the internet—lessons he would take with him into later ventures.
Post AOL, Weissman served as Managing Director at Soundview/Dawntreader Ventures. In 2007, Weissman left Dawntreader to cofound Betaworks, a social and real-time app investment group, alongside CEO John Borthwick. Serving as Chief Operating Officer, Weissman built a reputation as a mentor and friend as he helped guide entrepreneurs and expand their businesses, while also directing the company to develop its own web-tools—most notably Bit.ly . In 2010, Weissman joined About.me to serve as an adviser, and in 2011 he left Betaworks to join Union Square Venture as a partner.
Weissman has since invested in such notable companies as Twitter, Tumblr, and Codecademy, and currently sits the board at Splice, Codecademy, and CircleUp. An entrepreneur, father, and music lover, Weissman writes about all that interests him on his blog, where he often muses about the grander interconnectedness of the emerging internet trends and our fluctuating society. A New York native through and through, when it comes to the city and all things internet related, Weissman doesn’t just have his finger on the pulse; he’s the one helping to prime the pump.
VC Firm:
Union Square Venture – Partner
Sector Focus:
Health Care Information Technology, Information Technology, Mobile
Selected Investments:
Path, Embedly, ShowMe, Bit.ly, UserVoice, gdgt, Hot Potato, Twitter, Tumblr, Songkick, Tweetdeck, Codecademy, StockTwits, Outside.in, Ditto.me, Lotame, Daily Booth
Boards:
Codecademy
Splice
CircleUp
Expertise Areas:
Internet, Social Networks, Mobile, Real-time Applications & Services
Blogs, Twitter & Website:
Twitter
Website
Memorable Quotes:
On the function of the internet: “What if the power of connected networks such as the Internet is that they unbundle all that came before them? They disintermediate incumbent industries but also do the same to any new attempts at re-aggregation?”
On the up-trend of greatness: “Sometimes I think we live in an age of amazing exceptionalism. Entrepreneurs creating transformative things, athletes performing beyond their abilities, artists creating mind blowing spectacles. All of this greatness is available to us as never before, in a constant stream of updates, pictures, videos on demand, and blog post analyses. Never has greatness seemed so . . . close and attainable.”
Discussing the expressive power of the web: “Empowering new people to do things is fundamentally important. Empowering new people to have the option to, themselves, be creators is as important. This completely changes the way we access, or perceive, media, because individuals have the power, the ability, to be in control.”
