Jesse Sullivan

Jesse Sullivan is the founder of Alter Global, an early-stage venture firm focused on technology founders in emerging markets. Alter says it was founded in 2015 out of Stanford Graduate School of Business and now backs entrepreneurs across Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

Before Alter, Sullivan worked in conflict and post-disaster environments. Alter’s biography says he served on a counterinsurgency team in Helmand, Afghanistan, advising U.S. military and NATO strategy, and later advised the Haitian Ambassador and the largest refugee camp after Haiti’s 2010 earthquake. Praxis also notes that he earned a NATO service award and was named CNN’s “Most Intriguing Person of the Day” for earthquake-relief work with the Haitian Ambassador.

Sullivan’s education includes an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, a master’s degree in Global Governance and Diplomacy from the University of Oxford, and an honors BA in Theology and International Studies from Saint Louis University. His LinkedIn profile lists Stanford GSB from 2013 to 2015 and notes the Arjay Miller Social Change Leadership Award.

Alter’s own framing ties Sullivan’s investment work to job creation rather than aid: he founded Alter “with a desire to use entrepreneurship to combat global poverty,” and concluded from Afghanistan and Haiti that durable progress requires companies that create jobs and economic agency.

• Alter’s stated thesis is to “catalyze emerging tech ecosystems by backing future success stories led by role model founders.”
• The firm looks for “highest character, highest competency management teams leading the most scalable ventures.”
• Alter focuses on early-stage companies in emerging markets, namely Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
• The firm favors technology companies that can become local category leaders and create ecosystem effects: Alter describes its goal as catalyzing “tech unicorns” that create jobs and transform a country.
• Alter’s portfolio suggests a strong bias toward foundational market infrastructure: fintech and payments, SMB commerce tools, logistics and fulfillment, insurance, education, construction-tech, and AI-native operating platforms.
• Alter’s model includes more than capital: it connects portfolio companies with talent, expertise, investments, and its Alter Fellows program.