Aaron Krane

Aaron Krane is a serial entrepreneur, product designer, and angel investor based in San Francisco. He first gained recognition as the founder and CEO of Hitpost, a sports-centric mobile application company backed by Khosla Ventures, Floodgate (Mike Maples), RRE Ventures, and Quotidian Ventures. Yahoo acquired Hitpost in October 2013, marking Krane's first notable exit. Following the acquisition, he joined Khosla Ventures as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) in 2014, where he worked alongside the firm's consumer-focused investment team, including Keith Rabois and Ben Ling.

In 2015, Krane founded Drive Motors, an e-commerce platform for automotive dealerships, which he launched out of Y Combinator's Winter 2016 batch as a solo founder. The company was later rebranded to Modal and built digital commerce solutions for some of the world's largest auto retailers and brands. Modal raised capital from Y Combinator, Peter Thiel, Khosla Ventures, Ally Financial (Ally Ventures), and the Japanese dealer conglomerate IDOM, with a $15 million investment round reported in December 2020 and reaching $5.4 million in revenue with a 55-person team by 2021. Prior to his startup career, Krane also worked as a Product Manager and Producer at Technorati.

Krane subsequently co-founded Zellerfeld, a pioneering 3D-printed footwear company, where he serves as Co-Founder and President. Zellerfeld has developed proprietary in-house 3D printing technology capable of producing entire shoes with the push of a button, and has partnered with luxury brands including Louis Vuitton and Moncler, as well as designers like Heron Preston and KidSuper. The company has raised over $70 million, with backing from Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, 468 Capital, Valor Equity Partners, and Electric Feel Ventures. Krane also operates Krane Ventures, an investment vehicle backing founders in deep-tech, sustainability, and AI-driven industries.

Aaron Krane invests primarily at the Seed stage as an angel investor, with occasional participation in rounds up to Series C. Through Krane Ventures, he backs "legendary founders in deep-tech, sustainability, and the AI-industrialized future," with a preference for companies at TRL6+ (Technology Readiness Level 6 and above), indicating a focus on startups with demonstrated, mature technology rather than purely conceptual ventures. His personal investment interests span healthcare, education, consumer technology, media, telecom, and payments. As a designer-founder with multiple exits, Krane brings hands-on operational experience and strong networks within the Khosla Ventures and Y Combinator ecosystems to his portfolio companies.