Howard Hartenbaum

Howard Hartenbaum is a seasoned venture capitalist with over two decades of experience backing transformative technology companies from their earliest stages. He is currently a Venture Partner at Lobby Capital, the firm co-founded by former August Capital partners David Hornik, Eric Carlborg, and their colleagues. Howard also continues to manage legacy investments as General Partner at August Capital Master Management Co. LLC. He joined August Capital in 2008 after serving as a General Partner at Draper Richards LP, where he made the founding investment in Skype and served on the company's board of directors -- an achievement that earned him a spot on the Forbes Midas List.

Before entering venture capital, Howard built a career in engineering and business development across multiple continents. He began in manufacturing engineering at Teledyne Relays, then moved to Honda Motor Company in Japan where he worked in ergonomics and user experience R&D. He later joined Hughes Electronics (HRL Laboratories), where he was responsible for business development, marketing, and sales of satellite, information security, and automotive technologies. His investment career began alongside legendary venture capitalist William H. Draper III at Draper Investment Company, progressing to Draper Richards LP. He also served as CEO of Public Mind, Inc. (2000-2001). In total, Howard lived and worked overseas for ten years in both Japan and Luxembourg, giving him a global perspective that informs his investing.

Howard's engineering training from MIT, combined with his international corporate experience and decades of venture investing, gives him a distinctive vantage point. He is known for his hands-on mentoring style, having participated in programs like Founders Network mentoring sessions where he offers one-on-one feedback to early-stage founders on their investor pitches. He resides in Silicon Valley with his wife, two daughters, and chickens.

Howard invests across consumer technology, marketplaces, enterprise software, media/content, e-commerce, social networks, food & beverage, and biotech at the seed and Series A stages. His investment philosophy centers on several key principles:

Howard's co-investors at Lobby Capital include Buddy Arnheim, David Hornik, Eric Carlborg, Jim Everingham, and Selina Tobaccowala.

• People first: "The big focus is on the people... the hardest thing is to have the right people there." Team quality is his primary investment criterion, which he emphasizes even more than market size or defensible technology.
• Novel and unique models: He seeks companies with truly differentiated approaches and business models rather than incremental improvements.
• Capital efficiency: He favors businesses that can add significant value to both sides of a marketplace while remaining capital-efficient, as demonstrated by his early investment in Turo (peer-to-peer car sharing).
• Consumer and consumer-like products: He gravitates toward companies with products directed at consumers or used in a consumer-like fashion, even in enterprise contexts.
• Near-term problems with big potential: He likes to invest in unusual companies addressing immediate problems even when the full market opportunity is not yet obvious.