Eric Gould

Eric Gould is a repeat founder, operator, and early-stage investor. He founded and served as President of IAG Research (the source of his [hidden] address), a real-time advertising and TV measurement company that he built with backing from Insight Venture Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners. Nielsen acquired IAG Research in 2008 (reported at roughly $265M), after which Gould became Co-Founder, President and CIO of Nielsen IAG and rose to EVP of Media & Advertiser Solutions at Nielsen. Following the acquisition he also spent time as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Bessemer Venture Partners.

Before his advertising-measurement career, Gould came out of Wall Street. He held senior derivatives roles including Global Head of Interest Rate Options at Credit Suisse and Director of U.S. Government Bond Options at Merrill Lynch — an unusual finance-plus-engineering background. He is a self-described hands-on technologist who "actively codes in six languages," blending technical depth with executive leadership across roles as CEO, CFO, COO, CIO and President. He earned a B.S. in Computer Science from Syracuse University (1985).

In 2011, Eric and his brother Alan Gould (co-founder of IAG Research and a fellow Nielsen executive) formed Peak Opportunity Partners / Peak Partners, an early-stage venture fund built on a "Founders Backing Founders" philosophy. Through the fund, Eric has been an active seed investor since 2012 and sits on the boards of iSpot.tv and StellaService.

Most recently, Eric and Alan Gould co-founded MutualMarkets, an AI platform for the "brand economy" that enables brands and content owners to create and traffic co-marketing ads. Eric serves as Founder and Co-CEO, again pairing engineering work with strategic leadership.

• Invests at seed and Series A, frequently providing what is "typically a company's first outside capital."
• Guided by a stated "Founders Backing Founders" philosophy — as former founders themselves, the Goulds emphasize genuine respect for founders and their drive to succeed.
• Backs both direct-to-consumer and B2B companies, spanning commerce, SaaS, AI, media/ad-tech, food & ag tech, healthcare and fintech.
• Values technical and data-driven businesses, consistent with Eric's measurement, analytics, and engineering background.
• Takes an operator's, hands-on approach, often joining boards (e.g., iSpot.tv, StellaService) rather than acting as a passive check-writer.