Michael Staton
Venture Capital · Fund Formation · Founder
TLDR
Grew Learn Capital from $40M AUM to $1.2B AUM. Raised over $300M USD across multiple fund vehicles. 4 IPOs: Coursera, Udemy, Nerdy (Varsity Tutors), and Chime. Notable acquisitions include Careem ~$3B to Uber, Sana Labs ~$1.1B to Workday, NearPod ~$700M to Renaissance, PhotoMath ~$500M to Google, General Assembly ~$375M to Adecco.
Unrealized portfolio includes several unicorns: Harmonic, Thinking Machines, Aalo Atomics, Andela, Maven Clinic, Ontra, and Outschool. Personal angel portfolio of 30 companies with ~7x MOIC and ~30% annual IRR.
Core Competencies
Venture Experience
Learn Capital
San Mateo, CA
- Raised $85M+ in capital; sourced 14 new LPs for $150M Fund III (IRR 25%+), over $120M for Fund IV
- Increased LP contacts 900%. Managed 70% of dealflow
- Founded LearnStart, seed fund of Learn Capital (Fund I & Fund II ~$25M, ~$50M AUM, IRR: 35%+)
- Investments into Coursera, Minerva, Brilliant, PhotoMath, SoloLearn, and others
- Primary presenter to Investment Committee. Led marketing, outreach, and thought-leadership
Hypernova Capital
SF, Miami, Istanbul · $30M AUM
- Developed fund strategy; created fundraising materials and dataroom
- Helped augment capital raise, bolster deal sourcing, source and win key investments
- Sourced and diligenced LP commitments and direct seed investments
Alpha Partners
New York, NY
- Sourced investments into Careem, Udemy, and Coursera
- Participated in investments into SpotHero, Lime, Gecko Robotics, Getaround, Ro, Brave Health, and Thirty Madison
- Increased LP and GP networks. Managed networking events in SF and Silicon Valley
- Fund II IRR of 35%+
Laerdal Million Lives Fund
SF · Stavanger, Norway
- Strategy and stakeholder management across $600M family office, global operating company, and Board of Directors
- Secured $100M USD anchor for hybrid fund (Impact/Venture, Fund of Funds/Direct)
- Recruited early team, generated strategy materials, sourced first investments
NewSchools Venture Fund Seed
Oakland, CA · Spun out as Reach Capital
- Managed dealflow; participated in investment committee meetings
- Investments into NearPod, Curriculet, Ellevation, and Educreations
Kauffman Fellows
Class 20
- Curriculum Advisory Board formation and current member. Class Chair
- Jeff Timmons Award for Outstanding Leadership among 40 fund managers (2017)
- Catalyst of "Peer Learning" — accelerated, self-organized learning for each class
- Mentor to Class Chair in Classes 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25
Founder Experience
Raised over $20M in capital as founder CEO, took to Series B. 2 exits, one ongoing.
Colearn Academy
Remote
- Raised pre-seed and seed rounds. Led product and curriculum vision
- Achieved state authorization to open and operate a virtual public charter school in Arizona
- Surpassed goal and cap of 180 full-time students. 84 NPS from parents
- Designed and implemented innovative education model, "Colearning"
Dev Bootcamp
San Francisco, CA
- Created growth strategy. Early media and PR wins
- Established elements of company culture affecting 4,000+ graduates
- Recruited key executives. Acquired by Kaplan
Uversity (formerly Inigral)
San Francisco, CA
- Raised $7M from Founders Fund, Retro Ventures, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Western Technology Investments
- Closed 20+ accounts, led 500% one-year customer growth, built team of 30
- Functional head of Customer Development, Market Development, and Product Strategy
- Acquired by TargetX
Distinguishments
EiR Entrepreneur & Team Coach, Perago
Life sciences accelerator, SFU Venture Labs
LP Fundraising Bootcamp, Instructor
Week-long workshop across Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia
Jeff Timmons Award for Outstanding Leadership
Kauffman Fellowship, among 40 fund managers
Contributing Author
"Stretching the Higher Education Dollar"
Speaking & Advisory
Regular speaker, panelist, and keynote across global venues including SxSW EDU, ASU Education Innovation Summit, Edtech Europe, World Innovation Summit for Education (Doha), Slush (Helsinki), South Summit (Madrid), GET (Beijing), ADC Forum (Melbourne), Switch (San Miguel de Allende), Center for Universal Education at Brookings Institution, American Enterprise Institute, EDUCAUSE, and Impact Capitalism Summit.
Education
Kauffman Fellowship, Class 20
Selected as one of 40 fellows. Class Chair. Catalyst and Benevolent Dictator of Peer Learning Series. 2015 – Present.
MA, International Development
2003 / 2006Clark University
"Towards Understanding and Managing Unintended Consequences in Economic Systems"
BA, Program of Liberal Studies
2002Clark University · International Studies Stream
Valedictory Speaker · Gamma Theta Upsilon
Geography & GIS · Asian Studies, Mandarin Chinese
Student Government President
Current Passions
Current content generation and market research under the umbrella brand The Lossless Group.